Macon Magazine

right now in Greenwood Bottom — the significance of it, the event that happened in Tulsa, Oklahoma, like, Black Wall Street — with Macon becoming his own little mini Black Wall Street when you look at downtown with so many Black-owned businesses flourishing, it's just dope for us to be right down there in the mix of it on Edgewood." And of Tybee: "We're building our brand and our business right here, where our people used to be at, used to flourish, so that's how we know it can work, and just do it, and grow right here in Middle Georgia, in the 478." Wes Stroud, a community leader and driving force behind revitalization efforts in Greenwood Bottom, agreed with Hughes. "From the Douglass Theater to Guap Records, MLK Boulevard and the history of Greenwood Bottom and Tybee are so vital to Macon's music history, that it only makes sense Guap would find a home in the community. The proximity of Guap Records to The Roxy Theater places it not only in a great physical location but also an amazing cultural location. Watching a small Black-owned record label lay roots in a community and grow with the city is amazing. To watch people from the community, recommit to the community, makes the story of Guap Records a testament to the phrase 'for us, by us.' Seeing the label get so involved in positive outreach assures me that they are seriously committed to the culture of Macon and the Middle Georgia area." "Your upbringing and your hometown shapes a lot of who you are," Hughes philosophized. "Different places put values on different things. Me being from the country, respect is a big value. You want to do good business because I'm used to being around people who know me, people who know where I live, who know who my family is, versus being from the big city where you can get away with a lot more because it's so many people … I came up in Deadwood, and I'll always be from Deadwood. But Macon is my second home. They adopted Guap, and embraced us in everything we do. And Macon will always have our support. The 478 – that's what made me, that's what I stand on. That's why our studio is here, that's why I live here, that's why our brand is here." Guap Records focuses on community renewal and mentorships, Hughes continued, "not necessarily for us, in race, but it's for us as a people, as a community of Middle Georgia. Because Middle Georgia is one of the most powerful music places in the world. And it's up to us to know our history and rewrite our history. And we're doing it, and we're blessed to be good at it." THE EVOLUTION OF THE 478'S SOUND While Macon is cranking out breakout acts – Baby Jungle reports he's also negotiating a distribution deal – it does not really have a singular hip-hop "sound." Think of it more as a choir of different voices, with plenty of highly individualized freestyling. "There's too much diversity in our artists for there to be just one sound," Hughes said. Moreover, Guap is more than just a feeder system for the alpha-dogs in Atlanta. "We are our own world," Hughes said. "We are on pace to become a powerhouse name right here in Middle Georgia. We want to help put the 478 on the map. The 478 has so much talent it is just crazy! The difference I see in Macon and Atlanta is Atlanta is the hip-hop capital of the world right now, and it's amazing. But...when you speak names like Otis Redding and Little Richard...I mean, we love Atlanta. They show us a lot of love. But we're our own thing." Hughes presides over a scene of bustling creative fermentation. He organizes "cyphers," which are a little like guitar pulls or song- writers-in-the-round events. "We gather all the top talents from the 478, put them in the studio, and record a freestyle over a beat," he says. "[The cypher project was] created by me and shot by BP, a cameraman from Macon who created the Virtual Platform, Macon Mic Up. We film at different locations throughout the city." The end result? "The reason behind it is to bring out all talents from different parts of the 478 and have them on one song. Through doing it we hope to create new bonds and make artists come togeth- er and work with each other and collaborate more. There is a lot of unity in our scene, a lot of love. People support each other." GETTING GUAP – THE BUSINESS SIDE Guap does more than just record; it also incubates. Hughes sometimes works pro bono with up-and-coming artists and sound engineers. He o en finds himself schooling some of the younger ones. "They may know 'Dock of the Bay,' but some of them don't know much about Otis Redding, who was a smart businessman as well as singer. So I encourage them to learn about local history and sample from some of our homegrown greats. I encourage them to be professional, to return phone calls and emails and handle the business end wisely." Anthony Parker is a well-respected label consultant who goes by "Big Amp." He said, "there's a problem in hip-hop with what we call 'giving a person flowers,' meaning [we don't give] acco- lades that acknowledge accomplishments. But you don't find that with Guap. They are real big on teaching. They use mentoring and internships and shadowing, and you don't always find that in hip- hop. What they are doing is providing hope. They have a CEO who made it, and they are opening their doors to youth. It would've been easy for them to run to Atlanta, but they stayed home and started cultivating their own backyard. When I pop in at Guap and do a meet-and-greet, Snap makes sure everyone is using proper etiquette, that everyone is professional. That's something that is missing in a lot of places. I think Guap is off to a great start." Personal growth is a happy side effect of business mentorship, Hughes said. But that "side effect" has a massive impact. By starting professional email account for artists and mentoring them in all the financial aspects of the trade, Hughes and the other Guap visionaries don't just let artists create music and distribute it; they teach each artists to be a business – and to always be about their business. That brings capital to Greenwood Bottom and the rest of Macon and Central Georgia. Their personal growth becomes a key aspect of economic revitalization for their community. To reward all of this talent and give it a chance to glam up and shine, Guap Records has launched The 478 Awards, which sold out the Grand Opera House last year for a black-tie, red-carpet event. "We're making that an annual thing," Hughes says. The company is in the dream business, so what are the gua- pmores' fantasies for the future? Platinum records, Grammys, BET Awards. "We want to be the biggest indie label in the South," said Dupree, and his company's track record so far makes industry watchers take those aspirations seriously. Why? "Music, man," says Hughes. "It's the most powerful tool in the world for uniting people. Music don't got a race or a color. It brings together Black, white, and Chinese. It can make that old, racist way of thinking die. It can change lives." 58 maconmagazine.com | JUNE/JULY 2023

• Cover