Talking Hip Hop Business, a new feature here at ProHipHop, gets off to a unique start with Tahir of Hedrush LLC discussing the concept of Hood Economics.

You may know Tahir from his work with Abu as the production team of Hedrush. Their work appears on albums from Dead Prez, The Coup, The Roots and Thrill A Playa, as well as in the films Soul In The Hole, Brooklyn Babylon and The Ladykillers. They are now part of a larger project, Hedrush LLC.

I decided to kick off Talking Hip Hop Business with this interview after receiving a review copy of Tahir’s third release, Hood Economics. I was interested in the ideas behind the album that clearly indicated an alternative to notions of buying into the system and financial empowerment that are currently so prevalent in discussions of hip hop business. I think it’s important to recognize that hip hop’s entrepreneurial energy can also be taken in more radical directions.

However, though Tahir accepts the label of “conscious artist,” he also clarifies that he “hit[s] the strip club just like the next man.” At the same time, he’s “not happy with our poor economic situation in the hood and the way police mistreat us.” Tahir’s work is a unique mix of the dirty south and revolutionary consciousness. Perhaps this phrase has already been coined, but I think of Tahir as a proponent of the “Revolutionary Dirty South.” In any case, check out what Tahir has to say about Hood Economics in this first installment of Talking Hip Hop Business.