Sparks37

From Steve Rifkind’s Loud Records to Eminem’s Shady/Aftermath, Bobby Creekwater knows what its like to be on a major label. Unfortunately, he knows what a major headache that can be too.

Introduced to the world as one half of early-2000s duo Jatis, Creekwater and his partner in rhyme Charlie Hustle were supposed to fall in the line that trailblazing Southern duos UGK, 8Ball & MJG and Outkast laid out. The same lane that fellow Georgia boys Field Mob were walking at the time. Backed by Loud records who put out tandems like Mobb Deep and dead prez, things were looking up.

“We were bright eyed and bushy tailed,” admits Creek from inside his Southwest Atlanta studio, with Hustle sitting across the room on the couch. “We was doing what we loved and getting paid for it. Might not have been what we were supposed to be getting paid, but, it was beautiful time. We were in love with the music, but we hadn’t been tainted by the industry yet.”

After the deal with Loud fell through, Jatis landed at Columbia where things didn’t fare much better. After years of disenchantment with the industry Creek began establishing himself as a solo artist, eventually garnering the interest of Eminem’s powerhouse imprint, Shady Records.

But years and mixtapes later, Creek’s debut album A Brilliant Mistake has seemingly been a myth. However, over the last year and some change Creek has built a presence on the net, making even his own label take notice. Now, finally, the world may get to hear Bobby Creek on a large scale.

Ozonemag.com caught up with Creek and got him to speak on everything from his label situation to his controversial song “Big Brother.

You’re currently prepping a release for your BC Era II mixtape. What’s gonna be the difference between this and the first one?

The first BC Era was a collection of songs that we wanted to get to the people, so we just put it online. This second one has a direction, its preparing people to really come into the world of Bobby Creekwater. Really see who BC is, telling more of my story.

A lot of artist are just giving music away over the internet now. Why did you choose to use that approach rather than sell it?

I made my peace with the web being the future. That’s partly me staking my claim and making my peace with it. I don’t know if it was because I was ignorant to it, but then I realized that the whole world is on here, and it makes the world a smaller place. You can reach out to someone in Russia or England, easily. So, that was our introduction to the web, and the web’s, introduction to us.

You received a pretty warm reception.

We didn’t expect the feed back we got. We got 100k downloads and people were responding to the music. It made us realize there was a lot of people like us still looking for good music. People were reaching out to me saying they loved it and was inspired by it. I just wanted to know my music was appreciated. I didn’t need to hear people say they bumped it everyday, I just wanted to hear people say “I appreciate ya for making good music.” I dont think i had any big expectations, my thing was I just had to get this music out to the people.

Before the first BC era, there was a spell when we didn’t hear from you at all. What was going on?
Real life shit was going on. Family, making adjustments at the label, a lot of politicking. I had another daughter. That definitely slows you down, you can ask any father that.

Yeah, because after you dropped the Anthem 2 The Streets II mixtape and had a couple placements on the Re-Up compilation, it looked like you were finally coming out.

For me I actually thought it was on at that point and time too. But its politics. You find out you may have to take a left turn when you want to take a right turn. You want go straight but you have to take a detour. But we’re back on the right street now, had to get some things in order with my family. But as far as the label, everything is back on track. Em is getting ready to do his thing, and they are setting me up with a real good look.


Bobby Creekwater (top row, second from right) with the rest of the Shady/Aftermath roster, circa 2006-07

That’s good to hear. Do you think that was a direct result from “Big Brother?”



It definitely got some attention. I put it out because I had it on my heart. I just wanted to holler at the homie [Eminem] through the music. That’s how I get stuff off my chest. It reached who I needed it to reach. With artists, the music is how we converse. It definitely got what I needed to get done, done.”

You’ve mentioned that you are producing some of your own tracks on BC Era II. How long have you been doing that?

I started making beats because I had to. When we lost a label situation, the dude that was making beats for us, went on his own way at the time. So we had nobody to produce quality beats. So from that point, I had to. I had no choice. My homegirl had some equipment at her house, she was a DJ from Japan, I was staying with her at the time, she had equipment, beat machine and a couple other things and for a whole summer I stayed over there eating Cherrios, making beats. No one knew where I was. My homie Jimmy Swagger had a studio at the time, told him I had some beats and we got to working. Then someway they ended up in the hands of Riggs Morales at Shady/Interscope.

So they found you in a sense.

I was in denial at first. The beats got to Riggs because of an A&R named Shawn Caine he was my A&R at Loud, he’s at Bad Boy right now. He has an artist named Aasim. They would come here to record in the summer time, rent a mansion in Fayetteville out around Holyfield’s house. Caine was showcasing some of the songs for Riggs and he heard me on one of the songs and was like who is that, Caine was like this Bobby Creek. He put me in contact with him, I flew myself up to New York. Had all the songs I produced, he wanted to hear more music, he liked what he heard, he played it for Paul Rosenberg, who played it for Em. At the time I was over the industry, we had just got out of that situation with Columbia. So when Shady came to me, I was still thinking like that. I didn’t let myself get to excited at first because I didn’t want to get let down. But by the time I had that second plane flight I was like, ok, its going down.

Since you signed with Shady, your album situation has met release issues over the years and a lot has changed. With the label already moving slow, were you at anytime hesitant to even want to come out, given the climate of the music?

At one time I did fall victim to that, feeling like damn where is hip hop going? I can’t do that, why bother? I fell into the rut for a second, but the net helped me realize its a lot of people just like me. You can’t please everybody, no matter what you do, that’s just how the world is. I’d look online and hear a dope song, and see someone in the comments hating. That’s when I was like ok, some people are just born to hate, that’s their job. When I made peace with that fact, I was able to do my job better while I let them do theirs. Artist are lying if they say that shit don’t get to them. You never know who that blogger or commenter is. But you have to develop thick skin in this industry anyway.

What, and who if applicable, has kept you motivated amidst the obstacles?

The music and fans. When you see that one die hard fan. I bumped into a dude when I was in Miami, in a Hatian ‘hood, and I see this dude with dreads and golds, solids. At the time I was quick to judge a book by its cover. Immediately I just thought he ain’t bumping nothing but that Jeezy and Gucci. Dude walked up to me, I’m like what the fuck is dude about to say. He opened his mouth and said “Bobby Creekwater, I’ve been bumping your shit for years, I still bump Anthem to the Streets 1.” And I’m just sitting there in disbelief, it took me a minute to respond. That really got me. I could dress it up and make it look sweet, but ima keep it 100%. It ain’t much out there to keep you inspired, its been hard to find inspiration. But we’re standing on the shoulders of giants. Meaning that everyone that came before us, Marvin Gaye, Al Green are still inspirations. I still bump Curtis Mayfield. I still listen to Goodie Mob, Outkast, Jay-Z, Jeezy’s first album.



A lot of music that inspires us revolves around some sort of struggle. Do you think artists are making enough of that kind of music?

You can’t be hard all the time. You’ve been fucked up before. Your shirt ain’t always been that clean, everybody done been through something. I don’t feel like that’s brought up in the music enough, so its become unrealistic. There no balance.

At the same time, I’ve heard people say they don’t want to be reminded of how fucked up they might be.

Yeah, that’s cool but at the same time people want to identify with you. They wanna feel like they can relate to you and you relate to them. People are fucked up, they want to hear you say hey I’m fucked up too, but don’t worry about it, don’t get down. Keep ya head up, that helps. Ain’t nobody gonna tell me that nobody wants to hear that shit. Its not to remind of their situation, its to remind them that they can over come that situation.

Cool. So, the album. Is it still called A Brilliant Mistake? Have you been making a lot of changes along the way?

Yes. Its still A Brilliant Mistake. I might have had a outlook on a situation at the time so that’s what came out in the verse. But as you grow as a man you do realize “damn, I was wrong, I ain’t have to do that shit.” So, yeah, I’ll go back and change the verse. Stuff like that.

Who all did you work with on it?

Originally I had a couple producers working with me that didn’t work out. But now I have a couple more dope producers working with me. I got Alchemist, Cashis, Em, but for the most part I’m holding it down myself. I don’t think I need 40 guest appearances.



Do you have an idea of when it will be coming out?

[pauses] Not yet. I feel like you know when an album is supposed to come out. When you’re relevant enough you’ll know. When everybody is saying Bobby Creek at the same time, you’ll know its time to come out. That’s why we’re building awareness with BC Era.

You said you don’t want to be let down again. If something happens again, are you going to tough it out?

I’m in a different space now. I’ve been through a lot, so I’m in a different space. I’ve been made tougher by my experiences so, I don’t think I can be let down at this point. Its grind time at this point, shouts out to Killer Mike. There ain’t much more you can throw at me. They threw everything at me but the moon. Considering the moon is coming next, I’m prepared for it.

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In stores on December 15th.

Deuce Six

Good read, hope we eventually get that album