| Southern hip-hop/Southern rap | |
|---|---|
| Stylistic origins | Hip hop - Bounce music - Gangsta rap |
| Cultural origins | 1980s, Southern United States |
| Typical instruments | Synthesizer - Drum machine - Turntables - Rapping - personal computer - sequencer - sampler |
| Mainstream popularity | mid-2000s-present |
| Derivative forms | Crunk |
| Subgenres | Bounce - Snap music - Miami Bass - Atlanta hip-hop - Chopped and Screwed - Electro hop
(complete list) |
Southern hip hop, also known as Southern rap, is a blanket term for a subgenre of American hip hop music that emerged in the Southern United States, including New Orleans, Louisiana; Houston, Texas; Nashville, Tennessee; Atlanta, Georgia; Memphis, Tennessee; Charlotte, North Carolina and Miami, Florida. The music was a reaction to the 1980s flow of hip hop culture from New York City and California, and can be considered a third major American hip hop genre, after East Coast hip hop and West Coast hip hop. Many early Southern rap artists released their music independently or on mixtapes after encountering difficulty securing record-label contracts in the 1990s. Atlanta, Georgia, is a prominent city in the region's hip hop scene.
History[]
Throughout the 1980s and 1990s, the American hip hop music market was primarily dominated by artists from the east seaboard and the west coast. Los Angeles, California and New York City were the two main cities where hip hop was receiving widespread attention. In the 1980s, cities throughout the Southern United States began to catch on to the hip hop music movement. The Geto Boys, a hip hop group from Houston, were among the first hip hop artists from the Southern United States to gain widespread popularity. Southern hip hop's roots can be traced to the success of Geto Boys' Grip It! On That Other Level in 1989, the Rick Rubin produced The Geto Boys in 1990, and We Can't Be Stopped in 1991. After the Geto Boys rose to stardom, Houston became the center for Southern hip hop. Miami also played a major role in the rise of Southern Hip-hop during this time frame with successful acts like 2 Live Crew, Uncle Luke, and other artists who relied heavily on the Miami Bass sound. In the late 1980s, other rising rap groups such as UGK from Port Arthur, Texas, and 8 Ball & MJG from Memphis, Tennessee, moved to Houston to further their musical careers.
By the 1990s, Atlanta, Georgia had become a controlling city in southern hip hop music. Hip hop groups such as OutKast and Goodie Mob played a huge part in helping the South become a center for hip hop music. OutKast's Big Boi and Andre 3000 became the first southerners to record album sales like the powerhouse rappers on the East and West coasts. The most successful Southern labels came out of New Orleans during the mid-to-late 90's. The city had rooted its particular style in its very own Bounce music. This style was first introduced by way of the "Triggerman" song by New York rap group Showboyz in the late 1980s. Cash Money Records, No Limit Records, the now-defunct Big Boy records revolutionized financial structures for successful Southern rap labels. Their artists went on to sell millions of albums and have gained much respect in the hip-hop community. By the early 2000s, artists from all over the South had begun to emerge. Artists like T.I., Lil Flip, Ludacris, Nappy Roots, Trick Daddy, Trina, and Trae all made their mainstream debuts during this time frame. In 2004, OutKast won six Grammies for their album Speakerboxxx/The Love Below, including Best Album. Big Boi, Andre 3000 and many other Atlanta rappers played an enormous part in bringing Southern hip hop to the popularity level it has reached today. In 2005, the Houston rap scene got wide audience, and many Houston rappers started to get nation-wide and world-wide audience such as Paul Wall, Mike Jones, Chamillionaire, UGK, Pimp C, Bun B, Lil' Flip, and Slim Thug. During this time, Baton Rouge made its mainstream entrance through rappers of Trill Entertainment, a label started by Pimp C. The most prominent artists from this label are Webbie, Lil Boosie, Foxx, and Mouse on the Track.
Unlike hip hop in other regions of the United States, numerous Southern rap artists did not come from larger cities. Notable examples include Field Mob, natives of Albany, Georgia, Bubba Sparxxx, from LaGrange, Georgia, and Nappy Roots, from Bowling Green, Kentucky.
Recent hip hop music has seen a rise in interest for: Big Season Muzik, J. Cole, Big K.R.I.T., Curren$y, Yelawolf, B.o.B, 2 Chainz, BlackMask and Gucci Mane.
Atlanta[]
In 2009, the New York Times called Atlanta "hip-hop's center of gravity", and the city is home to many famous hip-hop, R&B and neo soul musicians. Local multi-platinum artists include OutKast, Ludacris, T.I. Usher, Ciara, B.o.B (rapper in songs Airplanes and Nothin' on You), and Young Jeezy Others include:
- Andre 3000
- Audio (B5)
- Big Boi
- Bobby Creekwater
- Bobby V
- Boyz N Da Hood
- 2 Chainz rapper)
- Cee Lo Green
- Cherish
- Crime Mob (rap group)
- D4L (rap group)
- Diamond
- Dolla (rapper)
- Drumma Boy
- Goodie Mob (rap group)
- Gorilla Zoe (rapper)
- Gucci Mane (rapper)
- Janelle Monáe
- Jermaine Dupri
- Keri Hilson
- Killer Mike (rapper)
- Lecrae (rapper)
- Lil Jon (rapper)
- Lil Scrappy (rapper)
- Lloyd
- Monica
- Natalac
- Nivea
- Pastor Troy (rapper)
- Pill
- Soulja Boy (rapper)
- Stat Quo (rapper)
- Shop Boyz
- The-Dream
- Ying Yang Twins
- Young Dro (rapper)
- Yung Joc
In the 1980s and early 1990s Atlanta, Georgia's hip hop scene was characterized by a local variant of Miami's electro-driven bass music, with stars like Kilo Ali, MC Shy-D, Raheem the Dream and DJ Smurf (later Mr. Collipark). MC Shy-D is credited with bringing authentic Bronx-style hip-hop to Atlanta (and Miami), such as 1988's Shake it produced by DJ Toomp; Jones was signed to controversial southern rap label Luke Records, run by Luther Campbell aka "Uncle Luke". Arrested Development won the Grammy in 1992 with Tennessee, while Mr. Wendal & People Everyday and Kris Kross won with their hit song Jump.
By the mid-1990s, the rise of OutKast, Goodie Mob and the production collective Organized Noize, let to the development of the Dirty South style of hip-hop and of Atlanta gaining a reputation for "soul-minded hip-hop eccentrics", contrasting with other regional styles.
From the late 1990s to early 2000s, producer Lil Jon was a driving force behind the party-oriented style known as crunk. Record Producers L.A. Reid and Babyface founded LaFace Records in Atlanta in the late-1980s; the label eventually became the home to multi-platinum selling artists such as Toni Braxton, TLC, Ciara. It is also the home of So So Def Records, a label founded by Jermaine Dupri in the mid-1990s, that signed acts such as Da Brat, Jagged Edge, Xscape and Dem Franchise Boyz. The success of LaFace and SoSo Def led to Atlanta as an established scene for record labels such as LaFace parent company Arista Records to set up satellite offices.
In 2009, the New York Times noted that after 2000, Atlanta, Georgia moved "from the margins to becoming hip-hop's center of gravity, part of a larger shift in hip-hop innovation to the South." Producer Drumma Boy called Atlanta "the melting pot of the South". Producer Fatboi called the Roland TR-808 ("808") synthesizer "central" to Atlanta music's versatility, used for snap, crunk, trap, and pop rap styles. The same article named Drumma Boy, Fatboi, Shawty Redd, Lex Luger and Zaytoven the five "hottest producers driving the city".
Houston[]
- Main article: Houston
Preceding the early 1990s, most Southern hip hop was upbeat and fast, like Miami bass and crunk. In Houston, a different approach of slowing music down, rather than speeding it up, developed. It is unknown when DJ Screw definitively created "screwed and chopped" music: although people around Screw have indicated any time between 1984 to 1991, Screw said he started slowing music down in 1990 and also in Tulsa Oklahoma Dj Dinero And Dj Z-Nasty helped popularize Chopped And Screwed music in the Mid South. There is no debate, however, that DJ Screw invented the music style." He discovered that dramatically reducing the pitch of a record gave a mellow, heavy sound that emphasized lyrics to the point of almost storytelling. After messing around with the sound for a while Screw started making full length "Screw Tapes". At first the music was only referred to as "Screw music", was limited to the South Side of Houston, and was seen as laid-back driving music. As Screw's tapes started to gain popularity he started selling his tapes for around $10. Screw was known to feature some of Houston's most renowned rappers from the South Side. This eventually led to the formation of the Screwed Up Click. Between 1991 and 1992, there was a large increase in use of purple drank in Houston. Purple drank has been considered to be a major influence in the making of and listening to chopped and screwed music due to its perceived effect of slowing the brain down, giving slow, mellow music its appeal. DJ Screw, however, repeatedly denounced the claim that one has to use purple drank to enjoy screwed and chopped music. Screw, a known user of purple drank, said he came up with chopped and screwed music when high on marijuana. In the mid-1990s, chopped and screwed music started to move to the North Side of Houston and to such people as DJ Michael "5000" Watts and OG RON C. It wasn't long until a rivalry between north and south Houston started over who were the "originators" and who were the "adopters". Michael "5000" Watts always gave credit to DJ Screw as the originator of chopped and screwed music. It is also believed that Michael "5000" Watts came up with the term "screwed and chopped". As time passed and a younger generation got into the style, there became less worry over who was an originator of the style and who was an adopter. In the late 1990s, with the help of P2P groups such as Napster, chopped and screwed music spread to a much wider audience.
As the spread of Southern Rap continued the year 2000 became a breakthrough year for one founding group. UGK made a high-profile guest appearance on Jay-Z's smash hit "Big Pimpin'" and also appeared on Three 6 Mafia's hit "Sippin' on Some Syrup". Both of these collaborations greatly increased their reputation, and helped fuel anticipation for their next project. Jive Records failed to capitalize on this new-found interest in the duo, as their fourth album, 2001's Dirty Money, came and went with little fanfare.
Swishahouse was founded in North Houston in the late 1990s by Michael '5000' Watts and OG Ron C as a response to the popularity of chopped and screwed music from Houston's south side. The label began by distributing mixtape series such as Before da Kappa, After da Kappa, Choppin Em Up and Fuck Action (which featured chopped and screwed versions of R&B songs). Acres Homes/Northside/Homestead are where many of the current/former artists hail.A song that originally appeared on the compilation album The Day Hell Broke Loose 2, Mike Jones' "Still Tippin'", achieved mainstream success in 2004, leading to Swishahouse signing a national distribution deal with Asylum Records. Jones released his major label debut, Who Is Mike Jones?, on Swishahouse/Warner Bros. in April 2005; the album was certified platinum that June. Aftermath A&R Angelo Sanders said that the great advantage to independents like Swishahouse is that, "They're able to get their product out on the streets to specific regions at a greater speed than a major ... They're able to flood that whole Texas market with a product before the majors are able to notice what is going on out there." Paul Wall's major label debut, The Peoples Champ, on Swishahouse/Atlantic, was released in September 2005, eventually topping the Billboard 200. Before embarking on his rap career and while still at school, Wall had worked in the Swishahouse office. In 2006, rival label Dope House Records and Swishahouse teamed up to release South Park Mexican's ninth album, When Devils Strike. A chopped and screwed version was also released.
- Kirko Bangz (rapper)
- Bun B
- Pimp C
- Chamillionaire
- The Color Chanin' Click
- Devin the Dude
- E.S.G.
- Fat Pat (rapper)
- Big Hawk
- Mike Jones (rapper)
- Lil' Keke
- Lil' Flip
- Lil' Troy
- Big Moe
- Scarface (rapper)
- DJ Screw
- Screwed Up Click
- Slim Thug
- Paul Wall
Crunk[]
- Main article: Crunk
The term crunk is used as a blanket term to denote any style of southern hip hop, but it is mainly used to denote a musical style that originated in Memphis, Tennessee, in the mid-to-late 1990s. It was popularised by Atlanta rapper Lil' Jon, and gained mainstream popularity in the period 2003–04. A typical crunk track uses a drum machine rhythm, heavy bassline, and shouting vocals, often in call and response manner.
Notable musicians[]
Southern rappers generally originate from the Atlanta, Georgia metropolitan area, New Orleans, Louisiana, Baton Rouge, Louisiana, Houston, Texas, Dallas, Texas, Memphis, Tennessee, Charlotte, North Carolina, Tampa, Florida, Nashville, Tennessee, and Miami, Florida.
Links[]
See Also[]
- List of Hip-Hop genres
- List of southern hip-hop artists (rappers and rap group)
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