Baku Real Estate Trends

Major shoutout to Leopolis for giving us the heads up about this exciting new trend in the Baku real estate market: the arrival of hip hop moguls.

Willie D of the Geto Boys has apparently set up shop in Baku! (not to be mistaken for Willie D of Boogie Down Productions. Boy. I'll never make that mistake again).

"The latest issue of Rolling Stone (Nov. 16) contains what they call "The Hip-Hop Report 2006." Sadly, it mostly consists of predictable features on Sean "Diddy" Combs, Nas, Young Jeezy, Lady Sovereign and 2Pac's legacy. In other words, exactly what you'd expect from a mainstream music magazine like Rolling Stone. But nestled between the standard fare is a collection of tasty appetizers titled "Life After Hip-hop." In this section, the mag visits a number of MCs that have exited the spotlight and finds out what they're up to. The results are surprisingly interesting. The most unlikely story might that of the Geto Boys' Willie D (pictured). While his exploits in the boxing ring have been featured in The 411 Online a couple of times, we had no idea he was living overseas in Azerbaijan making real-estate investments. "Azerbaijan ain't like the USA," Willie D said of the country located between Russia and Iran. "It took some time getting used to. You're going to have some problems going to the bathroom when you start eating that food, and you'll get your ass killed if you talk about the government."

Enquiring minds want to know: what's the appeal? Is it the top-shelf bitches at ghetto prices? The ready availability of bling? The bubonic chronic? Has he got to clean up some ill-gotten gains? Is he working for AmCham? Clearly, he's already dialed in on the ass-tastic cuisine and the whole freedom of speech thing.

First hand report from Baku:

"He's an easy parent to pick out of the crowd on parent teacher conference day...his bling outshines even the Stonepay women."

 

Is Coolio next?

And give it up for Geto B, who did a little diggin' and came across this interview on HoustonSoReal. I, too, chose Azerbaijan over Paris. Really, no comparison at all.

"Well on a more positive note, what are you up to right now? There were rumors that you had moved to Paris, but now you are in Azerbaijan. What happened to Paris?

I did initially move to Paris man. But me and my wife realized quick that Paris is not a place to raise kids. We were at this hotel resort in Paris while they were getting the apartment ready for us. We were gonna live in an apartment while we built a house out there. So we were at the resort and this woman comes up and says “You may want to get your kids out of the pool about seven, because people gonna start taking they clothes off.” And sure enough, seven o’clock comes around and here come people taking they clothes off and getting in the pool.....We started searching for another place to live right away that could accommodate all our needs. For me Paris was gonna be my thing where I could deal with the music in Paris, but the very next place that we saw that could fit both of our needs, my wife being an engineer and me doing music and real estate, was Baku, Azerbaijan. The real estate market is big time happening over there right now and you can get in on the front end. Also it’s a much better place to raise kids. They’re at an international school. My son, he’s 5 years old and has 17 kids in his classroom from 14 different countries and my daughter has 20 people in her class from 15 different countries.

Azerbaijan is right on the Caspian Sea, is it beautiful over there?

It is beautiful man. Some of the buildings are shabby because it is a poor country overall but the landscape is just beautiful man with the water and the hilly country. It’s reminiscent of Athens. They got a lot of buildings that look like Russian buildings because when Russia invaded they built shit like they had. The buildings go up to no more than ten floors. They have a few that go up to twenty floors, but that’s it. I don’t know why. I do know they get an earthquake every ten years. There’s one due in the next year or two.

Reminiscent of Athens: Don't we all feel that way?

Comments

[Jen]

Whoa it's time to go back I think. We definitely saw this coming.

[Kristian]

Interesting. Thanks. Coolio has been to Baku. He played there are few years ago. Is that what inspired your reference?

[carpetblogger]

It would be hard to identify a more pivotal cultural event in Baku than Coolio's concert in late 2003.