By 2010, the rise of Alley Boy begins with that release, a mixtape elegantly named Definition Of Fuck Shit, and hosted by DJ Holiday and The Empire. Such starts a fantastic series continued with another mixtape named the same, and also Purgatory, The Gift Of Discernment, and others. By then, thanks to the success of the single "Tall", with Young Dro, to some support from the man of the times, Waka Flocka Flame, and also to Alley Boy's partnership with Atlantic Records, people start to pay attention, outside of Atlanta.
Prior to this, Alley Boy had built his place in the city rap scene. In 2005, while imprisoned, he and his soul brother Big Bank Black had launched Duct Tape Entertainment, a new label, to focus on their rap careers. Inspired by Gucci Mane, Alley Boy connected with a few years back, they went the typical way, switching from thuggery to rap music.
Alley Boy, indeed, has been a delinquent for real. Grown in Edgewood Court, one of Atlanta's less reputable neighborhoods, and raised by his grandmother, both his parents being junkies, he started dealing as a young teenager, and he was jailed for the first time by the age of 19, on murder charges. His alias, as a matter of fact, comes from the prison alleys. Prior to that, Curtis Freeman was known as Lil' Curt.
Now a rapper, he uses his brutal past and personality as a marketing argument. In 2011, for example, he and his band publish a video of them kicking Yung L.A., a former T.I. protégé, because he tattooed the Duct Tape Ent. logo - a duck… - on his face, though he never belonged to the gang.
Alley Boy is no joke, he's dangerous. That's what he shows on Definition Of Fuck Shit. This is all about his criminal experience, his authenticity, the real sound of the street, and all the clichés and routines of Atlanta's trap music, thug stories, gun obsession, and bombastic 808 sounds, but with an intensity that grabs you by the throat, and is stronger than the competition. This is just a mixtape, with the usual flaws: too many tracks, useless skits, DJ Holiday's painful shouts at every turn. And though, it is everything but boring.
There's "Tall" of course, but it's even not the strongest track. Other highlights such as "50 Bars of Poison", "Rappin' & Robbin'" and "Throw It Up", are even catchier. They are punchy and breathtaking, exactly like the machine gun that is heard here and there on the mixtape. Same with "Get To It", a track the producer The Devil will recycle in 2014, on a conceptual mixtape dedicated to the theme of violence. Moreover, while staying on trap music grounds, Alley Boy and his beatmakers know how to diversify their musical offer.
In addition to the bangers, we have the organs on "You Dont Know" and "I'm Strapped", the quieter sound of the solid "Campaign", and the bouncy "Play Maker", a track produced by Zaytoven, logically sounding like Gucci Mane.
The violence is counterbalanced by melodic moments, like "Alone", an Auto-Tuned lament, Kool Ace's weird hook on "Dont Hate Me", and the less compelling and R&B-influenced "Shiester". That mixtape is an extraordinarily dense 73-minute-long feast. And though, it is just a beginning, it is the first of other releases where Alley Boy won't change his formula, but retain his hotheadedness and the same ardor.