According to HipHopDX, 'Not only is the South on the radar, but now the region that was an underdog is the barometer for rap music and hip-hop culture.' īy the early to mid-2000s, artists from all over the South had begun to develop mainstream popularity with artists like Slim Thug, Paul Wall, Mike Jones, and Lil Keke from Houston T.I., Ludacris, Bubba Sparxxx, Lil Jon, Gucci Mane and Young Jeezy from Atlanta Trick Daddy and Rick Ross from Miami Master P, B.G., Lil Wayne and Juvenile from New Orleans, and Three 6 Mafia and Yo Gotti from Memphis all becoming major label stars during this time. By the early 2000s, these scenes found mainstream success through Disturbing tha Peace in Atlanta, Cash Money Records and No Limit Records out of New Orleans, and Hypnotize Minds out of Memphis, revolutionizing financial structures and strategies for independent Southern rap labels.

Both scenes borrowed heavily from a production style first introduced by way of the obscure late-1980s New York rap group The Showboys, heavily sampling the beats from their song 'Drag Rap (Trigger Man)'. Po Folks and worked with Kanye West, Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis, and others.The most successful Southern independent labels during the mid-to-late 90s came out of the cities of Memphis and New Orleans. They eventually went triple platinum with hits such as Watermelon, Chicken & Gritz. In 1995, another iconic group, Nappy Roots, started releasing music. That was the first time when people began to take Southern rap seriously.' But it's like this: the South got something to say, that's all I got to say.' As stated by rapper T.I., 'Outkast, period. The duo Outkast had just been awarded Best New Artist, and within the tension that was the East Coast–West Coast feud, member André 3000 came up on stage followed by boos and said, 'But it's like this though, I'm tired of them closed minded folks, it's like we gotta demo tape but don't nobody want to hear it. Ī defining moment for Southern rap was at the 1995 Source Awards. Local production crews such as Organized Noize that represented hip hop groups such as OutKast and Goodie Mob played a huge part in helping the South become a center for hip hop music. īy the mid-1990s, Atlanta had become a center in Southern hip hop music. Southern hip hop's roots can be traced to the success of the group's 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. 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. In the mid 1980s, cities throughout the Southern United States began to catch on to the hip hop music movement. and groups like the Wu-Tang Clan, Mobb Deep and Bad Boy Records. The West Coast was mainly represented by groups like N.W.A., Death Row Records, and the East Coast had people like The Notorious B.I.G. Los Angeles and New York City were the two main cities where hip hop was receiving widespread attention. Throughout the 1980s and 1990s, the American hip hop music market was primarily dominated by artists from the East Coast and West Coast.

History New Orleans rapper Lil Wayne Miami rapper Uncle Luke, considered one of the pioneers of Southern Hip Hop By the early 2000s, many Southern artists had attained success, and as the decade went on, both mainstream and underground varieties of Southern hip hop became among the most popular and influential of the entire genre. Many early Southern rap artists released their music independently or on mixtapes after encountering difficulty securing record-label contracts in the 1990s.

The music was a reaction to the 1980s flow of hip hop culture from New York City and the Los Angeles area and can be considered the third major American hip hop scene, alongside East Coast hip hop and West Coast hip hop. Southern hip hop, also known as Southern rap, South Coast hip hop, or dirty south, is a blanket term for a regional genre of American hip hop music that emerged in the Southern United States, especially in Atlanta, New Orleans, Houston, Memphis, and Miami-five cities which constitute the 'Southern Network' in rap music.

Mumble rap cultural origins