Years before Atlanta became the black music mecca it’s known as today, producer Dallas Austin had a vision of becoming the next Prince. In the same way the purple wunderkind turned his hometown of Minneapolis into a promised land of musical opportunity for The Time, Shelia E., Vanity 6, and Mazarati in the ‘80s, Austin too wanted to create “revolutionary street music.”

Back in the spring of 1992, Austin was a 22 year-old studio-whiz finally coming into his own as a producer. A skilled musician who’d been making beats and playing guitar since he was a kid growing up in Columbus, Georgia, the lanky teenager was given his break in 1989 when Joyce “Fenderella” Irby hired him to produce her first post-Klymaxx solo single “Mr. DJ,” an up-tempo funk jam featuring Doug E. Fresh.

Irby, who recorded for MCA/Motown Records, signed Austin as an apprentice to her production company Diva One, which paved the way for him to make tracks for other MCA and Motown artists. “People don’t even realize how much Joyce Irby contributed to the building of the early Atlanta music scene,” says 49-year-old singer and Atlanta native Theophilus Glass. Coming from the notorious crime and heroin-saturated Georgia community known as “The Bluff,” Glass remembers those early days well. “There were a few established artists like Cameo, Brick and Gladys Knight there in the ’80s, but Irby paved the way for LaFace and So So Def.”

Austin hadn’t yet developed a distinctive sound, but he was soon behind the boards twisting knobs for the Michael Bivins-represented boy bands Another Bad Creation (“Iesha,” “Playground”) and Boyz II Men (“Motownphilly,” “It’s So Hard to Say Goodbye to Yesterday”). However, the year before those tracks were released, Austin worked on a new jack swing project called Glasswurk for the same label.

Glasswurk was a suit-wearing trio featuring Glass –whom the group was named after – and Derrick Culbreath and Melvin Davis. “Originally, I auditioned for another group called Brand-X,” Glass says. Coming from the wild side of town, Glass had a bad reputation. “I was known around Atlanta as a thief, but I was also into music. I loved Prince, but when I auditioned, I performed the Cameo song ‘Sparkle,’ and Joyce loved it.”

Glass got the job, but Brand-X fell apart a few months later before recording any material. Glass then played Irby and (Motown/MCA bosses) Jheryl Busby and Louil Silas a few demoed tracks he’d made with Dallas. Silas, who’d been instrumental in helping Teddy Riley, New Edition and Bobby Brown, sell millions, got excited over what he heard.

Unfortunately, their 1990 debut, The House That Glass Built, was a musically bland affair that lacked the aural innovations Austin would later display. After Busby abruptly left the label, Glasswurk was shelved and forgotten. Dallas Austin departed from Diva One and briefly contemplated leaving the music industry altogether.

Two important producers that remained impressed were instrumental in keeping Austin in the biz: In-demand producers Antonio “LA” Reid and Babyface (Kenny) Edmonds, who had started LaFace Records in 1989. Impressed by Austin’s studio prowess, Reid and Babyface recruited the producer to their camp. Austin’s first project for LaFace was writing and producing the majority of Ooooooohhh... On the TLC Tip in 1992. The girl group saved the label after the failures of newcomers Damian Dame (1991) and former Motown star Jermaine Jackson (1992).

“Dallas was a rookie, but LA and Babyface were able to bring the genius out of him,” Lamont Boles, former LaFace head of Artist Development, says. “LA is a hell of a drummer and Babyface always had catchy hooks, and they passed that on to Dallas.” A few months after the multi-platinum success of TLC, Austin came to the Glasswurk guys with a different blueprint.

He asked them to shed their loud suits for cool street gear, and created new monikers for themselves: Derrick Culbreath, who also played drums, became Boo Boo, Melvin Davis went under the name Elocc, and Glass became the straitjacket-wearing Manic. Changing their name to Highland Place Mobsters, Dallas joined the band, playing guitar and keyboards, and began working on their second debut 1746DCGA30035. (The name came from the Decatur, Georgia address where they all lived in a section of town known as Highland Place.)

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