HOOD Illustrated Magazine #DownSouthHustlin @ SXSW Day 3

On my Final Day in Austin, Texas the primary goal was to get rid of all the work we had shipped down to Austin, Texas. I headed back down to the #YouTube Studios for the final day of Sway in the Morning and solidify the brand in front of the attendees of the show. I missed Talib but ended up catching up with Wyclef outside and he gave us a quick drop. One of the artist on the rise that caught my attention a few weeks ago is the new signee to J.Coles Dreamville imprint. BAS ... He has a refreshing sound and a cool person face to face. Jack Thriller was in the building along with a host of industry heavy hitters.
As my time was ending and my product was running low due to those 3 packages never arriving; I hit 6th street along with a run thru the Convention center to see who would pop up… This was around 1:30pm and I had to be at the airport at 3pm… My phone was running low on power so I posted up at parking lot and just my luck I see Kevin Gates and his entourage headed toward their whips ready to leave. I approached him with the intention of getting a pic holding the magazine but to my surprise it quickly turned into “Are you gonna pay me to be in your magazine?” I was caught by surprise and let him talk his talk. (His squad; better yet security squad had were militant in their stance and appeared to be his eyes and ears if any f#ckery were to go down. As you can see from the pictures they all possessed a mean mug that at first glance you knew his Muslim brothers were all about that business) … Of course I wasn’t gonna pay him for a pic or to throw some chip in his pocket to be featured in my publication. Gates has his philosophy on how things should go down and everybody is entitled to their opinion; I am no way salty about the whole exchange because a pic or interview is never a given and I respect a person’s mind if they choose to rock with HOOD Illustrated or they don’t. To get to his point; as Kevin Gates broke it down to me; being the first person to approach him. He said “I can’t do nothing for you bro” and you can’t do anything from me. That’s all in God’s hands. Only God can put you’re in the right position; as he continued to talk... I listened to see if it was a point I was missing. Shortly after our interaction the conversation switched to a group of street niccas who claimed their loyalty to Gates… At this point he told everybody to cut off their cameras; let’s group together and have a real nicca moment. It was like he was the captain of a team who was facing 4th down and 1 with 1 second left on the clock and we was down 5 points !!!! His motivation and no punches pulled mentality is one of the reasons that he the people like him; the people who come where he’s come from respect his mind and can relate to his struggle. He saluted the young niccas who was on their grind out there giving away their mixtape because just 3 years ago in that same city and that same area he was out there doing the same thing at SXSW and mf laughed at him when he got on that stage… “Look at me now” is what he said. This moment in time started off confusing to me but at the end of it all I understood the angle Kevin Gates was coming from and respect that his GOD is the sole responsibility of where he is right now…
Check for the video footage HOOD Illustrated captured prior to the huddle up which will be available in the coming days. … Check out the pics on www.HOODILLUSTRATED.com … Please share

Check for The Day 2 Recap of HOOD Illustrated Magazine #DownSouthHustlin #WeDaMidwest #1MidwestHipHopMagazine #MidwestGrindin #Welcome2ThaMidwest #HipHopResource #BestInThaMidwest … Get familiar with the Brand!!!