In a Small Pocket of Charlotte No-Man's-Land, Ahmir Foreshadows the Funk to Come

Pulling up to Ahmir’s listening party on a waning hot Friday afternoon, I didn’t know quite what to expect. As I weaved around speedbumps in a mostly abandoned parking lot that stretched forward almost a quarter of a mile, I double checked the address to make sure I was in the right place. 

Tucked in an inconspicuous interstice of the city between Lower South End and the airport, this random industrial park was home to GAT3, the studio previously featured in DaBaby’s music video for his breakout hit “Suge.” But while DaBaby used the space to conjure ’90s music industry villainy, Ahmir would be channeling something considerably warmer: the comfortable confines of his bedroom.  

Folks trickled into the studio’s Onyx Room, slowly at first, then building into a steady flow just after eight. As we slipped into the central studio space, whose hardwood floors evoke the classic feeling of a ’70s wood-paneled recording room, we were met with an altar of sorts. Ahmir transported us into his most intimate space with an analog speaker set flanking a tiny VCR-equipped TV that was playing vintage movies on loop. Atop the speakers lay stacks of Ahmir’s books, like Vikki Tobak’s Ice Cold and Iraqi architect Zaha Hadid’s completed works, each stack adorned with one of the rapper’s distinctive “A” fitteds. 

As we gathered to begin the evening’s sonic journey, Ahmir explained that the low-key decor was intended to convey the interiority behind the new mixtape we were there to hear: 4theloveofthegame. 

The next day, he was set to release a different project, 2017, a mixtape written mostly in the late 2010s that marks the retirement of his rap name Ahmir the King. Its successor, 4theloveofthegame, represents Ahmir as purely himself, slipping off his crown to reveal the substance underneath. And that substance is funky.

As he pressed play, the room gently bounced along with his up-tempo flows over beats that bridged Southern soul with West Coast funk. After about four songs, Ahmir paused the music to give his straining speakers a break. “2017 was to get people used to new sounds,” he explained. “But with this new project I wanted to push further.” His sounds pushed so hard, it turned out, that we had to migrate to the control room to use the studio speakers instead of his bedroom analogs. 

Looking around the room, it was a quiet gathering of some of Charlotte’s most spectacular figures. Leroy and Mike Jones plopped down on the leather couch, dancing along as Ahmir transitioned from his mixtape into loose, unreleased cuts. Cyanca, fanning herself in the corner, called out to Ahmir with encouragement, and Nigel Malone snapped photos with his old Olympus point-and-shoot. DJ Jonny Kaine swayed along, and WhoNoz producer Jared Jamaal nodded as Ahmir played some radio-ready, high-tempo bops to end the night. 

In this small pocket of Charlotte no-man’s-land, the evening felt exactly like Ahmir had envisioned it: a family affair. As we gathered around the massive analog control board as if it were a fireplace in his living room, he fielded a few questions after the music faded. He explained that he was inspired by his travels on MAVI’s 2024 Shadowbox tour, but ultimately he wanted to stop sitting on work that he had recorded but couldn’t find a home for, hence the mixtape format. 

He concluded the night with a simple tricolon that synthesized the support Charlotte’s scene had lent him that night: “Mixtapes are back. Hip-hop is back. Ahmir is back.” Once Charlotte, and the world, hears what’s coming, I’m sure they’ll agree.

Tyler Bunzey is an educator and music journalist who's covered queer pop, R&B, and more for places like CLTure and QC Nerve, and wrote two of the features (on Cyanca and Gordon Holliday, respectively) in the debut issue of Super Empty magazine. He runs the Cultural Studies major program for Johnson C. Smith University. He can be found on Twitter/X at @t_bunzey.