Lexington Man In Atlanta Connects Hip Hop And Basketball

Hip Hop and basketball are connected.  The man you’re about to meet says they are so intertwined they are one.  Atlanta, site of the SEC Tournament, is a main hub for hip hop.

Lexington’s Finis "KY" White is at the center of it all.  He’s friends with John Wall and other former UK players and a colleague of the biggest music stars.

You’ve made it in the music business when you’ve got a recording studio about to hang up a painting of you, and you are not a music artist. 

Finis White has made it.  He lives in Atlanta, where people call him KY, because he wears so much blue.

"Everywhere I go I represent Kentucky," said White.

And sets trends.  White says he started the "We Are UK" slogan.

"I was actually working on the Young Money album, and that first album was called, "We Are Young Money" and I actually took that and I was like ok we are UK, and I started doing that, and then it kind of exploded from there," said White.

But he’s best known for his music, where he sets more than trends.

"He’s actually changed I think the sound of music at some point. Especially hip hop," said Russell Freeman, owner of Hot Beats Recording Studio.

Plaques fill the hallways at Hot Beats, and Finis worked on most of the songs and albums hanging up like Lil’ Wayne’s "Tha Carter Three."

"This was like really one of the first ones that I worked on that was real real big," said White.

He also worked on 2 Chainz "Based On A T.R.U. Story."

"This means a lot, and this was his (2 Chainz) first platinum single, the "No Lie" with drake," said White.

He is an engineer.

"Probably the best in the country right now, I would say.  Oh yea, definitely, and I wouldn’t just say that.  Dude is incredible, and that’s why people keep coming," said Freeman.

As an engineer Finis makes tomorrow’s hits today.  The day we met him he was working on new stuff from 2 Chainz.

"When I’m done it’s going to sound totally different," said White.

He spends 6-10 hours per song.

"Bass it hitting to hard, vocals too too loud, or too low, and it’s just tweaking those things," said White.

He worked in the studio alone, because 2 Chainz trusts the songs will come out right.

"He always sends me his vocals, because if I send it to someone else they might mess the vocals up," said White.

The Bryan Station grad works around the clock.

"Sleep’s not an option, because it’s a 24-hour job.

Except if the Cats are playing.

"I try to put my schedule around those games," said White.