The Makings of Legend Sleepy Brown

When you cross paths with a legend, what do you do?

Luckily in my case, I crossed paths with legendary artist and producer extraordinaire, Sleepy Brown at Decatur Boxing Club at DJ Nabs class entitled Jabs and Abs with Nabs. We hit it off as friends, after he complimented and attempted to emulate my signature left hook.

Sleepy along with the Dungeon Family, were one of the pioneers of the hip hop sound of Atlanta. Today, Atlanta is one of the number markets for hip hop and we can thank Sleepy and his crew for that.

Pearl: Tell us about yourself, where are you from?

Sleepy Brown: I was born in Savannah, and raised in Atlanta.

I am a part of Dungeon Family, Organized Noize, and I am a third member of Outkast, the silent one; and a part of the Atlanta scene coming up in the 90s of hip hip.

Pearl: The silent member of Outkast?

Sleepy: Well I have been with them since the beginning, singing most of the hooks, and producing.

Pearl: Tell us about your parents? And your lineage?

Sleepy: I come from a very musical family on my father side. All of my great aunts and great uncles all played instruments and they all played with some kind of band. From that came my Dad, who ended up being in a very popular band in the 70s called “Brick”. His name is Jimmy Brown, so I grew up backstage at Funk concerts. The Philips Arena used to be called the Omni back in the day, and I would go to all the Funk Fests with him. It would be Cameo, Con Funk Shun, and LTD, all these funk bands, and my Dad and his band would be performing. So because I come from a very musical family, I always felt like music was my calling. From the beginning, it was nothing but music.

Pearl: So you came on this earth, and entered into a musical family!

Sleepy: Mmm Hmmm, absolutely, sure did.

Pearl: You made it easy for yourself, some people are artistic, but don’t jump into a musical family!

Sleepy: No…I still had to learn my craft, but one thing I got from it, is learning how to play by ear. You know what I mean? I can put sounds together.

Pearl: What was the journey of becoming Sleepy Brown, because sometimes artists think “boom”, it just happens. What were some of the internal things you had to do, to step up your game; and the business side, to get the best leverage?

Sleepy: I was just kind of lucky enough …. I don’t know, I can’t say what I did, or how I did it, cause I just kind of kept doing it, you know, I just kind of kept working at it. I think once I got with Rico and Ray and really started learning about production and everything, it made sense to me. The journey of music to me was just the difference styles of music coming up. How it went from R&B to hip hop, and how hip hop came in. See I was around when hip hop first hit the masses. So I think for me, the journey was just appreciating music, coming from the funk era with live instruments, then going to drum machines and keyboards. It was really a dope era to grow up in. My whole thing was a whole learning experience, that’s all I wanted to do is learn. I felt like I had a lot to learn, that I wasn’t as good as I could have been, back in the day, which was true. I had to learn my craft, but you know, it’s just work experience.

Pearl: So are you happy where you are now?

Sleepy: Yes. The only decision I am mad about is the ones I made not thinking, doing some stupid shit. Otherwise, besides that, I am happy. The music, we have done, it’s coming back, it’s not getting old. It’s timeless, and I appreciate us, doing that kind of thing.

Pearl: I could ask you about your discography, but I can look that up? Do you want to list off the songs you have done?

Sleepy: Sure.

Pearl: Ok, well let the people know.

Sleepy: Waterfalls from TLC, Don’t Let Go from EnVogue from the Set It Off soundtrack (which we did the soundtrack), Player’s Ball, The Way You Move, Can’t Wait, and countless other stuff.

Pearl: So what are some of the things that you are working on now?

Sleepy: Right now, we are doing the SuperFly soundtrack, for the movie coming out in June, and I’m working on my album, and the Organized Noize Project. We are also working with new artists coming up.

Pearl: Nice, doing what you do, at a quality level. You know when I listened to your latest single, I was stuck, I was like………. taking it all it. Then finally, I was able to get out the trans. I’d love to hear that, before this interview is over. I’m glad you produced that song, and placed the vocals on it.

Sleepy: Yes, I am very excited about that record, it’s pretty sexy.

Pearl: Yes, it is. Is there anything else you would like to mention to our readers about Sleepy Brown in 2018?

Sleepy: Hopefully, you will be hearing a lot more from me, and I will be working on some more stuff soon. You know, I’ve been getting good reviews from Pearl and other people about the record that I am doing so, you know, it should be a good thing.