August 14, 2007 @ 2:39 pm

TJ Chapman: The Golden Ear

Jon Caramanica

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Ace of Bass. From our September 2007 Juice issue.

For over a decade, TJ Chapman has been breaking Southern rap records - far longer than it's been cool to do so. With his TJ's DJs record pool - and crucially, its website tjsdjs.com, which brings the latest regional hits to a global audience - he's come a long way from his days as a personal manager for Miami bass maestro Beatmaster Clay D. But the father of three still isn't getting much sleep - he co-manages up-and-coming Atlanta rapper B.O.B., who is signed to Atlantic, and he still listens to any song e-mailed his way. "It's a job in and of itself," he says with a heavy sigh. "But you never know what you might find." NAME: Thomas Mills Chapman
AGE: 36
BORN : Panama City
RESIDES: Tallahassee, FL PERSONAL MOTTO:
"It's all about the relationships." SOMETHING I DO EVERY DAY FOR SANITY:
"Smoke weed." PLACE WHERE I'M MOST PRODUCTIVE:
"Either at home or in my hotel room with my laptop - I travel nowadays five to six nights a week - mostly in the South, but all over the country. They always looked at the booty or the bass music [the South] did, and always ridiculed us. I think when it started changing with Outkast, Goodie Mob, and Dungeon Family, it put Atlanta on the map with some different music. The South was like an incubator with all the tools and things to equip us to be better artists. But we were never in these major markets where these labels exist. We had to support ourselves." FAVORITE ARTICLE OF CLOTHING :
"I'm a true LRG junkie." MOST FRUSTRATING MOMENT:
"I get frustrated with the T-Pain situation because I was supposed to be part of it in the long term. I don't get caught up on it. But it's hard when this dude is everywhere - it's hard not to think about it with people congratulating you on his success. I've done it many times before T-Pain and I'll continue to do it after T-Pain. PERSON I ADMIRE MOST/PERSON WHO TAUGHT ME HOW TO HAVE JUICE:
"Wendy Day and Julia Beverly. Wendy is a beast, I only hope to achieve some of the things that she's done in the music business, and she's a mentor to me. She helps guide me. As far as Julia, I have never seen a person with that type of work ethic and drive." 5 YEARS AGO, MY GOAL WAS: :
"I wanted to really spread my hustle, branch out. I had opened a couple of retail stores - clothing and record stores. I really wanted to have a franchise of stores, but man, I was mistaken. They passed a while ago - it was a great learning experience for me. We did lose money, which really set me back and hurt me." 5 YEARS FROM NOW, MY GOAL IS:
"To run the whole music game period. I want to be on top of everything - have a label that's doing historic things as far as sales, artists and new ways of doing things. I want the award show and conference to be global and maybe virtual by that time. " BIGGEST PROBLEM FACING OUR GENERATION:
"I feel like it's ourselves - until we as a people start teaching ourselves and our peers how to better handle things and until we can start accepting responsibility for our own actions. Everybody talking about hip hop is dying. I don't think hip hop is dying. A lot of [the perception that hip hop's dying] has to do with the artists. Instead of just focusing on the music, we're having too many beefs, too many battles. Focus on the music. " FAVORITE BOOK:
"My bible is All You Need To Know by Donald Passman. I buy that for a lot of artists and new managers. It's an invaluable tool. Some don't read it but they eventually look at it. Before they know it they're caught up on it." FAVORITE MOVIE:
"The Five Heartbeats because I can relate to it. I feel it's a story that any and everybody goes through - trying to make it in this music business." SONGS I LISTEN TO WHILE I'M WORKING :
"The first five groups I helped break: Beatmaster Clay D -"Give Me A Bottle," Prince Raheem- "Lose My Money," 69 Boyz - "Tootsee Roll," Lil Jon -"Who You Wit," Ying Yang - "Whistle While You Twurk," (before lawsuit), Pastor Troy - "Aint No Play in GA."

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