LEE HARVEY OSWALD (LHO)

...The previous night of Atlanta’s A3C Festival set the bar pretty high, but there was still a whole lot of hip-hop left to go. Plus, I personally had to switch from just being a fan to grindin’ producer/artist mode. I had my own 15 minutes of fame performing in the middle of the istandard producer showcase. The first act, ATL’s Lee Harvey Oswald presented a unique take on instrumental turntablism by wearing ski masks and having partially covered strippers dance with them on stage. I overheard the girls complaining about wearing the ski masks though...
-Coolout
- URB Magazine

...Mr. Fish performs with Lee Harvey Oswald at the Drunken Unicorn at MJQ Concourse on July 11. For more information, visit www.thedrunkenunicorn.net.

"Reeling in the beats with Mr. Fish:
A Quick Q&A"

Mr. Fish, a member of Atlanta’s rapidly growing underground hip-hop scene, works with a group of like-minded DJs at Zone 7 Music, making beats, recording music and performing. The Sunday Paper recently spoke to him about the scene, Atlanta’s music community and the best spots for late-night grub.—Gray Chapman

Q What got you started with DJing?
A For me, it all started about five years ago, at Apache [Café], downtown over by the Varsity. They used to do beat battles and MC battles, and I’d watch that, and I started messing around with it. I tried it one month just to see what it was like, and ever since then, I’ve kept going back, trying to get my beats out.

How would you describe your music?
I like a lot of old music, like funk and older rock ’n’ roll. I don’t listen to the radio because I just feel like a lot of it’s really repetitive. Old jazz artists inspire me, like people from [the prestigious record label] Blue Note.

How’s the Atlanta DJ scene doing?
It seems like the support for hip-hop here is not where it should be. It’s more in the party scene, instead of people going to an event because the music is right. It’s really commercial right now. But we have a good community in the underground hip-hop movement. The people working on the actual music right now are really strong. It’s quiet, but it’s brewing.

What are your thoughts on Atlanta?
I like it in the Dirty South. The one thing I don’t like here is the direction that music is taking right now. People are just wanting to get paid instead of really trying to do something. It’s easier to get paid than it is to learn how to play some real music, and sing without using pitch correction and voice boxes. The whole indie-rock thing in Atlanta’s gotten really big, so it’s sort of taken over. I don’t understand why people are so caught up with all this commercial, dancing music—you can’t dance every day.

What are you working on now?
I’m working with my friend Steve to eventually come out with an album that’s more like old rock ’n’ roll with a little twist to it. I’m also doing projects with Lee Harvey Oswald, Mighty Erfling, King Robot and a bunch of Zone 7 productions. The Zone 7/Lee Harvey Oswald album will be out soon, probably in the next five months.

Any favorite spots to eat after a late night of DJing?
Fellini’s Pizza—they stay open late, and we’re always working late. Plus, it’s good food. That, and Wendy’s—anything that’s open late and is convenient.
-Gray Chapman




- Atlanta Sunday Paper

Creative Loafing’s “Best of Atlanta” 2008
Critic’s Pick, “Best Hip-hop Act”

LEE HARVEY OSWALD (www.myspace.com/misterleeharvey )
is a ski-mask wearing, blazer-sporting hip-hop act with two DJs who mix it up on the tables while MCs take turns on the microphone, letting loose funky verses.
Top it off with a pair of busty, wriggling lady dancers and you’ve got yourself one salacious show.
The members, the lyrics, the beats – they all deliver a hard, almost tangible punch right in the middle of your chest. Imagine the Beastie Boys, circa 1984, with a little more street cred. Mix old school energy with turntablism, eye candy and that, ladies and gentlemen, is where it’s at. -Stephanie Glynn Turner
- Creative Loafing Atlanta

“Do you really like these sleazy DJs that distract you with their drugged-up strippers? Ugh!”
These are the comments of Ms. Dana Dumpnutt , arguably the ATL scene’s most bitter ex- DJ whore, on the topic of Hip-hop crew LEEHARVEYOSWALD’s infamous live performance.
Believing she'd remain anonymous, Dumpnutt, moderator of the popular “Scorned and Frigid Thirtysomethings of MySpace” social networking forum, recently posted the above comments on the MySpace profile of a LEEHARVEY fan in her "Top 8 Friends" (none of whom claimed to remember having ever actually met her).
Ms. Dumpnutt's deep hatred of both DJs and strippers is said to be the final outcome of an 18 month job search over the course of which she was turned down for work as an exotic dancer by every Atlanta gentleman’s club- from the Cheetah Lounge to the Clermont to the now defunct "Bulletwounds & C-Section Scars Cabaret" (formerly Stretchmarks)- in business at the time. Blaming the club DJs' "poor song selections" for her stubby-hooved inability to dance, and holding accountable any young lady who passed the stripper audition for her father's completey understandable refusal to hug her, she soon discovered that accusing them all of heavy drug use also won her the sympathies of her fellow mall security officers. Neither the alleged sleazy DJs nor purported Drugged-up strippers of the LHO camp could be reached for comment before this article went to press.

- Bobby Oswald-Smeade