Award-winning Athens hip hop artist to perform entire new album at free listening party

Beloved Athens hip hop artist Motorhead 2x is celebrating his birthday early this year, and everyone's invited. A free listening party for the award-winning rapper's latest album is scheduled to take place at 8 p.m. on Sunday, Sept. 2 in the Lab space at Ciné, which is located at 234 W. Hancock Ave. in downtown Athens. The official release date for "Good Kid Classic City" is Wednesday, Sept. 4, Motorhead2x's birthday.

Produced by OKPeter, "Good Kid" is Motor's sixth album, and guests who come to the Labor Day show will be treated to a surprise performance by four unnamed artists before all eight tracks of "Good Kid" will be played through the movie theater-quality audio system at Ciné. After having a chance to chill and mingle during the album, which will also be available for sale on CD, Motor plans to perform "Good Kid" in its entirety.

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"I want to get stamped from my people," Motor told the Banner-Herald. "I feel like a lot of them know me from playing football at Clarke Central High School or rapping downtown, but they don't realize that I've been making music since I was 14 years old."

Motor was part of the first Camp Amped program at Nuçi's Space , a summer and after school music camp for middle and high school students. Though Motor would go on to be known for his high-energy performance and comedic stage antics, it was at Camp Amped that he was given a platform to develop that style and persona. After winning Album of the Year at the 2022 Athens Hip Hop Awards , Motor helped raise thousands of dollars for Nuçi's at the 2023 FortyFest fundraiser concert .

Unlike previous releases where he shared the spotlight with other area artists, "Good Kid" is a more personal effort from Motor, who engineered the the entire album himself based on beats by OkPeter and only shares one track with a featured artist: Project Pat, an affiliate of Grammy Award-winning Tennessee group Three Six Mafia.

Motor told the Banner-Herald that "Good Kid" is his attempt to wear his Athens roots on his sleeve, and hopes that people who have never seen him perform will consider coming to the show.

"I really wanted this album to be special," said Motor. "I want this to be the one that nobody's gonna forget."

This article originally appeared on Athens Banner-Herald: Award-winning Athens hip hop artist to perform entire new album at free listening party