I am excited about the release of the new film “The Art of Organized Noize” which covers the start of the Hip Hop movement in the Atlanta area, and the three men that were the architects of the sound, Rico Wade, Patrick “Sleepy” Brown, and Ray Murray. The 3 of them as the production team, Organized Noize, laid the sonic blueprint for The Dungeon Family, whose members include rappers Outkast, Goodie Mob, Killer Mike, Slim Cutta Calhoun, Witchdoctor, & Joi.
At the height of the success of Organized Noize, the production team was responsible for TLC’s hit single “Waterfalls”, and their album “Crazysexycool” shot up from 2 million to 11 million in sales. The phone began to ring for production work, and Organized Noize produced hits for Ludacris, Mista, and remixes for Lenny Kravitz and others. After producing the song “Don’t Let Go” from the Motion Picture Soundtrack “Set it Off” for the R&B group EnVogue, things really took off. They had outgrown their original deal with LaFace Records, and signed a 20 million dollar deal with Interscope Records.
When the team could not deliver the hit records like they had done in the past, they walked away from the deal with Interscope, leaving 17 million dollars on the table. The movie fills in all the gaps that you may not have known about the huge role that Organized Noize played in the Atlanta Hip Hop movement. One interesting but bittersweet fact is that Outkast’s 10 million selling, Grammy Award winning album “Speakerboxx/The Love Below” does not contain any productions from Organized Noize. In a scene in the movie, Rico Wade explains this and is painfully emotional about it.
“The Art of Organized Noize” was released on Netflix March 22, and the trailer can be seen here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6xJaOzjjBAI The film premiered at the SXSW Music Conference a week before it’s release on Netflix, and a panel discussion at SXSW with Organized Noize can be seen here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gOT8GpoIIhY&nohtml5=False
The production team is now looking forward to releasing new material, as well as re-releasing some of their back catalog, and unreleased material.
