Music

Stickyz to rap it up with Arkansas Bo

Arkansas Bo’s latest, The Edification, will be released Friday.
Arkansas Bo’s latest, The Edification, will be released Friday.

Little Rock rapper Big Piph and his band Tomorrow Maybe headline a multi-act rap bill at Stickyz Rock 'n' Roll Chicken Shack on Friday.

Aaron Joseph Newman, Marcel P. Black and DJ Silky Slim are set to appear, as is Stuttgart rapper Arkansas Bo.

Big Piph &

Tomorrow Maybe

Opening acts: Arkansas Bo, Aaron Joseph Newman, Marcel P. Black and DJ Silky Slim

9 p.m. Friday, Stickyz Rock ’n’ Roll Chicken Shack, 107 River Market Ave., Little Rock

Admission: $15

(501) 372-7707

stickyz.com

For Bo, whose real name is Marlan Jennings, the show is also a CD release party as he celebrates his latest, The Edification. CDs will be for sale at the gig.

The first single, "Thick Wit It," was done with his pal Devin the Dude, the Houston rapper who has worked with Dr. Dre, Scarface and others. The song was released Tuesday on iTunes.

"Devin was one of the first major artists I'd ever worked with," says Jennings, 40. He has had nine solo albums and has appeared on two records with the group Suga City.

He began rapping as a teenager, "but I didn't start taking it seriously until, like, 2000," he says.

By 2004, he had dropped his debut, Porch Thinking. "I was living in Denver at the time," he says. "It was when Lil' John and T.I. were hot."

The Edification is the follow-up to 2015's Who Stole the Soul, which is available at Jennings' Arkansas Bo Bandcamp website.

"I think it's more soulful and strict," Jennings says of the new album. It also is Jennings' manifesto on the state of music today, and it should be noted that he is not a fan of tight-fitting jeans.

"I'm in a mind state right now, as far as hip-hop, that these young cats out there need some kind of guidance. That's why I called it The Edification. I'm trying to edify these young cats, so I probably sound like somebody's daddy," he says, laughing. "We didn't rock skinny jeans when I was coming up and we didn't disrespect women."

The show will reunite Jennings with his old recording buddy Piph, who was born Chane Morrow. The pair made music on Piph's indie Conduit label, have appeared in videos together and have recorded on each other's albums.

"We've recorded a lot of songs together. Me and Chane knew each other back in '99 or 2000. We started getting acquainted in '03 or '04."

They didn't exactly hit it off: "We didn't get along at first. We had this kind of angry-man tension with each other, but he wound up being one of my best buddies. He's one of the coolest cats I've ever met in my life."

The two even have an entire project recorded, but a release hasn't been set, Jennings says.

Looking toward Friday's show, Jennings plans to hit the crowd with the new material first and then move on to his older work.

"I'll go out with a bang with some of my old-school stuff," he says. "It's gonna be cool."

Weekend on 03/23/2017

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