Indiecore Memphis: The Sidewayz reaching higher than Highland with Trü Grit

Sub bass and crisp hi-hat samples vibrate the outer walls of “One Sound Studio,” on South Parkway, roughly 5 miles from the Mississippi river. Havier “Havi” Green, 1/2 of Memphis rap duo The Sidewayz, rings the doorbell and looks down at his phone.

“Hold up, I gotta text something nasty to this girl.”

“Nasty” was the perfect way to describe the unreleased tracks Green demoed from The Sidewayz’ upcoming EP Trü Grit, which is scheduled to be shared May 27th at a Crosstown Arts listening party and a live performance May 28th at Lounge 11. Producers of the beats used on the project will be at Lounge, including some University of Memphis alumni.

With the steady, Yeezus-esque crawl of the single “Sinbad,” the dreamlike city-synths and Dragon Ball Z-references of “Hentai Girl,” the Jack-White-meets-Rolling-Stones guitar tone of “Radio,” and the sinister strings on “Wicked,” which Green describes as his “Wagner shit,” the rapper has collected an incredibly strong handful of instrumentals to work with on the new Sidewayz project that he calls “his baby.” After all, this will be a departure from the group’s previous releases; fellow Sidewayz MC Salazar “Sal” Diego is almost nowhere to be found featured on the tunes.

“We’ve got hella projects It was just time for me to do something for myself,” Green said. “When you listen to this it’s got a different feel to it. There’s a lot of simplified repetition that goes good with the beat, but a lot of it is because a nigga ain't never wrote no second verse!”

Green expressed his aspiration to perform this release in front of more EDM crowds and how he discovered an elegant solution to writer’s block.

“I’ve got a song- The third verse is just me saying party,” Green said. “Just 16 bars. ‘party’, ‘party’, ‘party’, ‘party’- and it’s hot!”

There are plenty who vouch that The Sidewayz blend the lyrical lines between crazy and creative like no other Memphis artists. Producer Tristan Jones, or “T-Mix” has worked previously with 8ball & MJG, and crafted instrumentals for Lil Wayne. The producer is best known for his work on Tha Carter 1 and 2.

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Havier was lucky enough to nab T-Mix for upcoming Trü Grit track “M.E.M.P.H.I.S.” which will indeed feature Havi’s Sidewayz partner-in-crime, Salazar. T-Mix explained how the two rappers represent a dying breed.

“Everybody’s ‘trap-rappin now, but these dude’s man- They’re the last of the backpackers,” T-Mix said, “They’re lyrical man. They’re coming with something all original; a whole new sound that’s needed out of Memphis. Hopefully it’ll wake up some more guys with that lyrical skill in the town.”

Mix, who began with Cash Money Records since 2003, continued to praise Havier for his unique style.

“Havier is his own entity,” T-Mix said. “He’s a monster-in-the-making; a super hot MC as far as I’m concerned.”

However a skilled rapper Green and Diego are hyped up to be, Green admitted that they both had humble beginnings. The two’s mothers are best friends, having met each other at age 4, and eventually raised their children practically as brothers in Westwood, Memphis. Sal and Havi bonded over the “Limewire” craze in their elementary years, downloading tons of music. The two began with the catalogue of Bob Marley and later moved on to indie rock.

“I was working at Hollister so a lot of like The Killers, Kings of Leon was playing there, Modest Mouse...” Green said. “It was like school for us we’d go back and listen to the Killers and be like ‘Alright who The Killers listen to? They listen to Bruce Springsteen and The Beatles and you can hear the Dire Straits. It just got out of hand really quickly, we were listening to classical music before we knew what was going’ on.”

Green noted that both Diego and himself were inspired by the same musical position, too.

“We both wanted to be the lead singer,” Green said, “...Brandon Flowers, John Lennon, Lou Reed; They do poetry but they got on leather jackets while they’re doing it.”

Poetry became a larger part of Havier’s life after his freshman year at Vanderbilt University when his high school fling broke his heart at a time when he was writing for her on a regular basis. Armed with his newfound skill to rhyme Green began working on raps he would only show to his actual older brother, who convinced Green to include Diego. The two collaborated on a mixtape that summer and immediately recognized the chemistry once Sal wrote to one of Havi’s songs.

“It was just epic, we listened to it the same night that we did it and just walked around south Memphis like dude we gotta do this,” Green said. “I got more of like a witty sarcasm to my flow and he’s just got a rawness about him. He’s abrasive and brash with what he says; it kinda balances each other out.”

The two moved to Midtown in 2010, and then off of Southern marketing themselves to the Highland area where Green discovered a growing fanbase of friends at Oasis Hookah Bar and the University of Memphis.

“I was at McDonald’s buying my daily sandwich and I was bumpin’ Skrillex with bigass headphones,” Green said. “This guy named Drew behind me he was like ‘you need to come with me next door.’ He invited me over, I just stepped in and it was just cool as f***. Everybody was smoking hookah there chillin out. I gave them my first mixtape [Endless Summer] and ever since they were like 'man just come and hang out here.”

Who might that handsome concert attendee be to the left?

Oasis on Highland became a place where The Sidewayz performed many times to a regular audience and where Diego even became employed for a time. Sal’s Southern apartment then became known as the infamous “Sidewayz Zoo,” where fans of the duo’s mixtape would come to hang out with the two rappers.

“It was a little animalistic so we had to have a name for it. We don’t judge you; you can be a panda bear, you can be a lion, you can be a rat. That's what the Sidewayz is about man; being that animal that you’re supposed to be instead of being human all the time,” Green said. “I just feel bad. I feel almost responsible for so many University of Memphis kids just ...dropping out of school though! I’d be like [inhaling sound] ‘yo don’t yall have a final tomorrow?’, ‘naw man. fuck that shit”

During the days of “The Sidewayz Zoo” the group released an LP called Social Pop Art in 2012 with original beats, and several smaller projects since then when Green mentioned to The Memphis Flyer in 2014 that The Sidewayz would be releasing a new project “every month.” These smaller releases included New World Boredom, Life or Death, Planet Killtime, and Saint Savage. The world and Memphis has not seen another Sidewayz release until now.

“When we kinda died out it was ‘cause we burned out,” Green said. “You gotta know when to hold them, and we didn’t know.”

No matter what The Sidewayz are holding the duo continue to innovate South Memphis rap and music in general. Producer T-Mix certainly believes their breakout success is on the horizon.

“All they need is that little push and that little break. They’re ready,” T-Mix said, “They’re focused. They’re humble but they hungry. They’re gonna tear the world up.”

photo by Crystal Foss

Mix certainly has experience watching breakout stars perform their craft. He shared what it’s like to share a studio with Lil Wayne.

“He’ll get in a corner man and like ten fifteen minutes and before you know it ‘I’m ready lets go” T-Mix said. “You might see him laugh at himself, or he might smile, or he might ‘mean mug’ You don't know what the hell he doing. Just like that he’s got a full song in his mind- no pen no paper.”

Havi revealed that his accomplice's studio process is quite similar.

“Sal don’t write shit. He won’t pick up a pen,” Green said, “It’s foreign to him.”

After humorously joking that Sal may have forgotten how to write, Green summed up The Sidewayz’ original goals for themselves and the city that producer T-Mix prophesied them to revolutionize.

“We were trying to prove we were the edgiest creative mothafuckers in Memphis,” said Green. “Now we already know we’re the edgiest, most creative. There’s a buzz growing in Memphis. I feel it.”