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His beats are the soundtrack for the streets of Atlanta, Orlando, Memphis, New Orleans and any other city that fits the description of the ‘dirty south’. His sound is trap music. His sound is hustler music. His sound is gangster music and it’s responsible for some of the biggest rap hits on the charts. DJ Toomp, one half of NZone Entertainment, has been cranking out hits since the 80’s and unlike other producers who have come and gone, DJ Toomp (Zoneboy Productions) continues to have consistent hits that resonate with the streets year after year after year.

Bernard Parks Jr. the other half of the NZone Entertainment has music industry roots that reach back to the birth of the new Motown, Atlanta, GA. Parks was one of the masterminds behind Goodie Mob, Organized Noize and the Dungeon Family. He was an instrumental part of the creative explosion back in the early 90’s that gave birth to the music hotbed Atlanta is today. It is that history that gives Parks the insight to see this business for what it is, and to separate the bullshit from the real shit.

“We want to be the new LaFace. They didn’t just produce hit records. They had the ability to connect the dots and create real stars, not just one hit wonders. If you look at the past two years the biggest acts worldwide are from the LaFace camp; Outkast and Usher. LaFace has been gone for awhile, but that legacy will be here forever,” Parks says.

NZone Entertainment is a combination of the best of DJ Toomp and Bernard Parks, Jr. “Because of Toomp, NZone Entertainment can be track driven. This label is basically on his back. He’s the creative one. He has a sound, and an eye to pick talent,” Parks says of his partner. “Me, I’m the aggressive one, I handle the business side. We balance each other out. I can talk a lot of shit ‘cause I know Toomp’s always gonna give me that heat to back it up.”

. That heat is what’s responsible for much of the T.I.’s rise to the platinum throne over the past few years. After years of collaborating with other artists to make hits and propel them to superstar status, Toomp and Parks felt it was time to do the same for their own artists and keep that heat within the family, so to speak. Parks recalls a conversation with Jimmy Iovine in which the industry legend dropped a verbal gem that resonated within him. “He said ‘Don’t ever give your hits away.’ With NZone Entertainment, that’s ours, we’re not giving our hits away,” Parks says.

Since the goal for NZone Entertainment is producing real stars as opposed to commercial hits, Toomp and Parks have been painstakingly selective when dealing with potential artists. Jack Bona, a down south version of Slick Rick with a quick wit and aggressive storytelling ability, was the label’s debut artist. “We liked Jack because he represented something different, and we knew people would relate to him. He can be a jokester. He’s educated and he’s a serious songwriter,” says Parks. A year later, a young rapper named Suga was signed as the second act. With braids and a stronger street edge, Suga is a total different flavor than the clean cut Jack Bona. “We wanted well-rounded, versatile acts. Suga is that smooth-talking ladies man. Besides writing his own lyrics, he brought us records that he actually produced,” Parks notes.

One of the biggest differences in the make-up of NZone Entertainment and the many other independent labels making their way into the industry is the partners’ vision and ultimate goal. “This is not ego or competition driven,” says Parks. “Toomp isn’t producing all the tracks on our artists. We want other people to get involved in this. Our ultimate goal is to become powerful to empower others. Down the line we want our artists to be creating other artists so that we’re building something that will be here for generations to come,” Parks stresses.

For the moment NZone Entertainment, in conjunction with DJ Toomp’s production company Zoneboy, is focused on launching the careers of its two stars. Down the line, plans include branching off into various genres of music including R&B, alternative, and wherever else the partners see star potential.. Parks has a clear focus of where he and his partner see the company going and he knows the steps they need to take to get there. Today, he acknowledges the need to put out records that resonate with what DJ Toomp’s reputation is built on: that distinguishable hard core street sound. “Right now we just want people to know that NZone Entertainment understands and knows good music,” he says, “after we get this thing going there is no limit.”