Sonia Murray

Apr 15, 2024 | gpb.org | Sonia Murray

"One for the money, yes sir/Two for the show/A couple of years ago on Headland and Delowe/Was the start of something good..." "Elevators," OutKastThe first time the world officially saw OutKast, the first image in its 1994 debut "Players Ball" video was actually of Rico Wade. Out of a shadow, the then neighborhood-famous Atlanta legend emerges - no shirt on, hair braided to the back in thick corn rows, talking his Rico Wade talk.

Feb 7, 2024 | ajc.com | Sonia Murray

This story was originally published on Aug. 5, 2001. Twenty-two-year-olds who have a Porsche Boxster and a Lincoln Navigator parked in front of their million dollar-plus home just shouldn’t look like this. And yet here is Usher Raymond, one of R&B’s biggest pop stars, looking deeply pensive. Almost as pensive, in fact, as legendary singer Marvin Gaye looks in the towering painting of him that hangs in the foyer of Raymond’s Alpharetta manse. It couldn’t be comeback jitters.

Feb 6, 2024 | ajc.com | Sonia Murray

“Born in Atlanta, that means something here...”As the widely accepted story goes, the global phenomenon known as hip-hop began Aug.11, 1973, in the recreation room of a back-to-school fundraiser in the Bronx, New York, with DJ Kool Herc on the turntables. Two years later and some 800 miles south, Michael Santiago Render was born in Adamsville.

Oct 10, 2023 | ajc.com | Atlanta Living |ArtsBy Sonia Murray |Sonia Murray

The brand of hat known for its kangaroo logo goes back to at least 1984 and the group UTFO. (Remember the guy who actually called himself Kangol?) It was probably best worn by LL Cool J (above) in his early “I Need a Beat” days, and most worn by actor Samuel L. Jackson. The gold rope chainThe members of Run-DMC layered chains atop their black outfits, but to this day no one piles them on in more memorable fashion than the British artist Slick Rick.

Oct 10, 2023 | ajc.com | Atlanta Living |ArtsBy Sonia Murray |Sonia Murray

More likely the Fayetteville resident is thinking about the dry cleaning she forgot to pick up. Or whether she’s going to hit the Waffle House after work. Or something equally mundane. And when hip-hop superstar Nelly swiped a credit card down her behind during an outdoor shoot for “Tip Drill,” in what became one of the most infamous music video scenes ever?