Collective Efforts

Ben Hameen, Bambu and J-Mil kick back with bottles of Bass ale and laugh about it now, but for an entire year they endured living in a rental house infested with rats. "There were so many rats, we had owls in our yard," J-Mil says in his jagged razor-blade voice. "When's the last time you saw an owl?"

It's not the kind of satirical question you might expect from Collective Efforts, a group that has spent the last half-decade crafting hopeful hip-hop in response to the woes of the world. But something positive did arise from their time spent in the Rat Cave. Released in '06, the group's third full-length, Medicine, offered solace from the South's snap-or-trap onslaught. But poor promotion unjustly condemned the three MCs – then signed to Atlanta's now-defunct indie-rap label ATF Records – to hip-hop purgatory. With an abundance of Southern-accented beats, soulful hooks and credible collaborators such as Gripplyas, the self-produced unit wasn't just underground; it was underexposed.

"People like to be able to sum music up," Ben Hameen says, "Like, 'OK, well, this is the live, conscientious, positive-lyric, soulful, white-boy hip-hop from Atlanta.'" That would make CE an ironic pick to perform at a six-day concert series (Jan. 24-Feb. 2) celebrating Georgia music and the Grammy Awards.

But the blue-collar MCs know how to earn their keep. They hold down regular 9-to-5s while working on new material. (Full disclosure: J-Mil is a graphic designer for Creative Loafing.) Meanwhile, they've moved up from the Rat Cave to a home with a basement studio in Tucker they like to call the Estate.

It's the kind of upgrade they could get used to.