Nappy Roots Get Hummin'

Nappy Roots will release their fifth album, The Humdinger, on August 16th. This time around, the Kentucky hip-hoppers worked with a slew of producers: Sol Messiah (TLC, Dead Prez), Rick Rock (Jay-Z, Fabolous), Mr. DJ (OutKast) and Groove Chambers, who produced the group's hit "Awnaw" off 2002's Watermelon, Chicken & Gritz.

"I feel like hip-hop has noticed Nappy Roots and the realness we bring to the music," says B. Stille. "And that realness is on The Humdinger." All six members -- B. Stille, Skinny DeVille, Big V, Fish Scales, R Prophet and Ron Clutch -- shape the group's trademark blend of uptempo beats and down-home lyrical flow. "The Nappy Roots sound is six parts: one-sixth street, one-sixth conscious, one-sixth club, one-sixth booty-shaking, one sixth 'it is what it is,' and one-sixth backpacker," says DeVille. "We're in a lane on a highway that's not heavily traveled on. The South ain't all just hard gangsta rap and crunk. It is as vast and as deep as the ocean, and I love it."

Nappy Roots debuted "Rewind," the album's club-friendly first single, in New York late last month. The track -- a plea to a DJ to replay a song -- shows off the group's sunnier side. "Everything isn't going to be positive, because we deal with real life," Skinny says. "But you can still get off a good record without mentioning the words 'gun,' 'bitch' or 'gang of diamonds.'"