Photo credit: Jay Vision Photography

Hip Hop has always been about authenticity, and few groups embody that spirit like Nappy Roots. Since breaking onto the scene in the early 2000s, the Kentucky-bred collective has remained true to their Southern roots, crafting music that blends storytelling, soul, and real-life struggles. 

From their breakout album ‘Watermelon, Chicken & Gritz’ to their continued success as independent artists, Nappy Roots has consistently delivered music that resonates with fans who appreciate substance over hype.

But their impact doesn’t stop at music. The group has expanded into entrepreneurship, launching their own brewery and further cementing their influence in culture and community. 

The Hip Hop Museum caught up with Skinny DeVille, B. Stille, Ron Clutch, and Fish Scales to talk about the career of Nappy Roots, their influence on the growing blending of Country and Hip Hop, and how they came to build their own brewery, Atlantucky.

Adam Aziz: I want to go back to your major label debut album. ‘Watermelon, Chicken & Gritz’ went platinum, which is not something many people can say for their debut album. However, your second album, ‘Wooden Leather’, didn’t do as well. Why do you think that was?

Skinny DeVille: No one knew who we were when we came out with ‘Watermelon, Chicken & Gritz.’ We kind of came out of nowhere. Coming from Kentucky, it was a place that wasn’t on the Hip Hop scene at all. You had some country people like Nelly and Bubba Sparxxx. The country Hip Hop vibe didn’t come out of nowhere but when we came out of Kentucky, it wasn’t on the Hip Hop scene.

And on the second album, we had a bigger budget. We were able to do what we wanted to do. And we had fun with it. But I think people already had their conceptions of what Nappy Roots was the second time around. I think that fans, they liked you for the first thing, but they kind of want to hear the same thing again, maybe. 

We were right ahead of the mergers Atlantic Records was going through, and I think we got lost in the sauce over time. People were more concerned about their jobs than actually promoting the artists. We had some really good records on that second album. We had a Lil’ Jon record that we wanted to run with, and Lil’ Jon was hot then, and Atlantic didn’t want to run with that. We wanted to grow, but they wanted to keep that country vibe. And it’s like man; we can’t do the same song and dance. All those things resulted in us getting lost in the sauce in 2003.

AA: What do you make of the ongoing infiltration and collision of Country and Hip Hop? Country artists like Morgan Wallen talk about how artists like Young Thug influence them. Collaborations between country and Hip Hop have always existed, but they seem more prevalent now.

SD: When we did it, it was a new idea. Like I said, Bubba Sparkxxx, Petey Pablo, Nelly, they helped soften the splash. You know, we’re jumping from 200 feet, and you know, water still feels like concrete when you jump that high up, but if something hits before it, it’s not as hard.

And we helped soften the blow. I think we took it to another level, and the new artists that came after us, I think, we inspired that era, in a sense, you know, and it helped them have a more of a foothold in the concept of Country Rap, or Country Hip Hop, you know, there’s a lot of artists out now that are embracing what we helped start. 

We still make those country ass songs, but times change, and we have to change with the times. You’ve got Shaboozey with his hit song that he got from J Kwon. There’s a place where both of them can live in harmony. You’ve got the CMAs that are embracing Hip Hop.

Colt Ford is a big southern golfer who turned to Country Rap. We did a song with him. There are a bunch of artists who wouldn’t be where they are if it wasn’t for Nappy Roots. We took inspiration from Wu-Tang, Goodie Mob, and Master P—like if they can do it, we can do it. We took what was already dope and made it ours, which still reverberates today.

AA: To go back to ‘Wooden Leather”, there is a lyric on the song “Sick and Tired” where former group member R. Prophet raps: 

“Seems like the media portray us against bein rich

Like we shouldn’t enjoy shrimp and occasional trips”

Can anyone talk about that lyric or song?

Fish Scales: People do put you in a box when they first see you. You sing songs like “Sick and Tired” and “Po Folks,” then you pull out the latest iPhone or flip phone and the gadgets we had back in the day, two-way pagers and all that. I remember sometimes we were hiding our shit. You want people to embrace you the same way, but you start making a little money and want different things. You want to take different trips. You want to eat different foods. You don’t want to keep on eating the watermelon, chicken, and grits you know what I’m saying? And then filet mignon, it looked a little better. We did spend a little time transitioning on how we would do this and how we would portray ourselves to the public while still keeping it real. But I want to advance and get nice things as well.

That particular line on “Sick and Tired” came from Prophet who was from Oakland and Kentucky and he always wanted to go more the urban route. We were making money, but our image as a group was poor. And we had to play to the image of how do we stay looking and portraying as poor, but weren’t in that exact position anymore.

We’ve always had that kind of dilemma. There was a point where we wanted to make club music because we would go to these parties and clubs, and the DJs couldn’t play Nappy Roots because we didn’t make that type of music. But we’re still here in 2025 because we stuck to our brand.

Ron Clutch: If I can add one thing. When I went to college in Bowling Green, Kentucky, that was like going back in time; it was definitely larger than Taylorsville, Kentucky, where my grandfather was from, which is where we shot the video for “Po’ Folks.” We had a lot of different viewpoints that we had to juggle. Louisville is the biggest small town in the world. We had a Muhammad Ali mentality. 

We like to indulge. We like to hang out. It’s a great problem we have. We started with a good base, not just being country but down to earth. Love, family, and friends—those things never go out of style and are relevant today. 

AA: After you guys went platinum with your debut album, there wasn’t a real, impactful moment for Kentucky Hip Hop until Jack Harlow came along and gave the city a resurgence. Do you agree?

SD: Bryson Tiller. I would put Bryson between us and Jack Harlow. Bryson came out with a big debut. 

B. Stille: I had to sign Bryson into school because he was at the studio late at night. Jack Harlow’s first concert was our release party. Jack was like 11 years old. He’ll tell that story to this day. 

One thing I’m trying to do now is develop the talent because there are no A&Rs running to Kentucky. We didn’t have that guidance back in the day. 

AA: How did that Rock remix of “Aw Naw” with Marcos from P.O.D. come together back in the day?

SD: Good A & R, Marcos, and P.O.D. were also on Atlantic Records. We were label mates, and he loved the song. He produced it. That was so gangster for us. It didn’t sound forced. I was a big fan of P.O.D. back in the day, too. 

AA: You’ve gotten into the business of beer and brewing. How did that come about?

FS: Beer has always been a part of Nappy Roots, from college to drinking cheap beer.

I developed a huge love for craft beer about twelve or thirteen years ago. And us touring so much, it opened the door for me to be able to find breweries and different beers. Craft beer is a regional thing. I’m in North Dakota, Minnesota, and all these small towns where great beer is being made. People in Atlanta couldn’t get the beers that I was able to come back home with. My job became, when we have a show, I have to find a brewery that we can go to before the show or in between soundcheck so that we can go and promote, maybe get an extra hundred people to come out to the show that night. And in doing that, the owners would see Nappy Roots coming into their brewery, and they would be like, yo, let’s give them a tour. So we did a lot of tours, we filmed it. We made that a thing, like Nappy Roots is a craft beer, Hip Hop group.

We were the only people in that lane. I don’t think Little Brother or anybody was into craft beer when we were starting to do it. And after seeing it so many times, we were like, yo, we could do this. Let’s try to do it. I had just got a new home and a brand new garage, and I never drove a car in it. So it was like, let’s start home brewing. And we did that for about four years before the opportunity came for us to get our own commercial brewery. We took the opportunity. It took us about a year and a half to get it up and running. And now we have a full commercial brewery called Atlantucky in downtown Atlanta.

It’s like a 6,000-square-foot brewery. We make our own beer. Skinny and I are in the back brewing the beer every week. And it’s a big thing. Man, like the whole of Atlanta is supporting it. We’re the second black-owned brewery in Georgia. That’s a huge accomplishment. And we’re creating a lot of buzz. In Atlanta, people know me as a brewer before I’m a rapper.

We’re creating a whole new market for beer and combining it with music. If we were just still here in 2025, talking about rap music or our music, I think we would be selling ourselves short. So the fact that we have our own brewery, and it’s cool as hell, and the beer is amazing, I think adds so much to the Nappy Roots story.

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Read more interviews on The Hip Hop Museum!