Southern hip hop (also known as Dirty South hip hop) is a form of hip hop music that emerged in the late-1990s as a popular force from cities such as Dallas, Charlotte, Atlanta, Memphis, Jackson, Nashville, Houston, Louisville, New Orleans and Miami.
History and rise to popularity
In the 1980s, the rise and spread of hip hop culture from New York City and California spurred cities in the Southern United States to develop and nurture their own respective hip hop scenes. Without large urban markets like New York City and Los Angeles, major record labels largely ignored the south for decades. Southern rap artists were forced to release their music independently. The mixtape scene has factored largely in the success of many of today's southern rap artists that were once sneered and reviled by many on the Coasts.
Houston
The first rap group to gain national notice for southern rap music were the Geto Boys. The Geto Boys hailed from Houston, and consisted of Willie D, Dr. Wolfgang Von Bushwickin the Barbarian Mother Funky Stay High Dollar Billstir, and Scarface.
Houston was the first major city outside of New York City and Los Angeles to attract attention from the rap world.
Soon after the Geto Boys' success, Houston became a main center of Southern hip hop. Now-popular groups such as UGK (from Port Arthur, Texas) and 8 Ball & MJG (from Memphis) moved to Houston in the late 80s to begin their musical careers. Both groups went on to release influential albums.
Houston is also home to Rap-A-Lot Records, the first successful Southern rap label, coincidentally headed by Scarface and J. Prince.
Atlanta
By the late 1990s, Atlanta had emerged as a major city in hip hop and the city's success and influence in the rap world continues on today. While OutKast, Goodie Mob, and a number of other Atlanta-based acts balanced critical and commercial success.
New Orleans
The late 1990s also saw the emergence of New Orleans as a hotbed for rap music thanks to rappers such as Master P, Mystikal, TRU, Mia X, C-Murder, and Silkk the Shocker.
A number of other southern cities were the home base for popular hip hop acts: The controversial Three 6 Mafia, Eightball and MJG, Playa Fly and Kingpin Skinny Pimp hailed from Memphis, Tennessee, Nappy Roots from Bowling Green, Kentucky,Dru Money from Charleston, South Carolina, Petey Pablo from Greenville, North Carolina, Little Brother from Durham, North Carolina, and Missy Elliott, Clipse, Pharrell, Timbaland, and The Neptunes from Virginia.
Typical features
Stylistically, Dirty South is notably different from its northern and western counterparts. Whereas East Coast hip hop has historically been associated with complex lyrics and sparse urban beats, and West Coast hip hop is known for its relaxed G-Funk vibe; contemporary Southern rap is largely characterized by its upbeat, exuberant, club-friendly tunes and simplistic, heavily rhythmic lyrical delivery.
The production style of southern rap can veer towards either a soul-based sound (Dungeon Family, Arrested Development) or a bouncier sound (No Limit, Cash Money, Mystikal). Where most East Coast rap operates at tempos around 90-120 beats per minute, and West Coast rap operates around 100-120 beats per minute, Southern rap runs rhythms at 140-160, upwards of 180 beats per minute, and then places each snare hit twice as far apart.
This leaves more time to be filled between the kick (on the down beat of the first measure) and the snare (on the downbeat of the second). Sometimes this space is filled with quick trills of hi-hats, a style pioneered by Three 6 Mafia and Hit Man Sammy Sam's Big Oomp Records; other times, it is filled with additional snare patterns; for instance, Pastor Troy's "Ain't No Mo Play in G.A.," or Miracle's "Bounce." Sampling, while still used, is less common in Southern hip-hop production. Even still, newcomers such as The Association's/Audio Assassins' K.O.B.R.A. has been known to bridge the gap between samples and true southern flavor.
A mainstay feature of hip-hop has always been giving 'shout-outs' to entire coasts, states, or cities, but a more recent trend that is particularly common in southern rap has been to include much more specific shout-outs to specific neighborhoods or local jurisdictions, such the wards of New Orleans, for example, and particular housing projects.
Famous dirty south rappers
B.G.
Boyz N Da Hood
Bubba Sparxxx
Bun B
C-Murder
Chamillionaire
David Banner
Juvenile
Lil Flip
Lil Jon & The East Side Boyz
Lil Keke
Lil Scrappy
Lil Wayne
Ludacris
Master P
Mike Jones
Outkast
Pimp C
Pitbull
Project Pat
Rick Ross
Shop Boyz
Three 6 Mafia
T.I.
Trick Daddy
Ying Yang Twins
YoungBloodZ
Young Buck
Young Jeezy
Yung Joc
Z-Ro
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Crunk is a genre of hip hop music. The genre has a high-energy and club-oriented feel. While other hip hop styles might involve a more conversational vocal delivery, crunk usually involves hoarse chants and repetitive, simple refrains. Lyrics are based on a rhythmic bounce, which is very effective in a club environment.
Chopped and Screwed was developed in Houston, Texas which remains the location most associated with the style. The late DJ Screw, a South Houston DJ, is credited with the creation of and early experimentation with the genre. DJ Screw began making mixtapes of the slowed-down music in the early 1990s. This provided a significant outlet for MCs in the South-Houston area, and helped local rappers such as Lil' Flip, E.S.G., UGK, Lil' Keke and Z-Ro gain regional and sometimes national prominence. Originally, this process involved mixing two copies of the same record, slowed down either on the turntables using pitch shift or through use of an after-mixer device. Phasing, flanging and echo effects were originally the result of the two records being played at millisecond intervals.
The Dallas style of hip-hop was developed in the early 2000s. This style of hip-hop includes a combination of many hip-hop sounds thus causing the style to not be defined by one sound like many other regional scenes. Prominent Dallas hip-hop artists include Big Tuck, Tum Tum, Play-n-Skillz, Steve Austin, Kottonmouth, Mr. Pookie, and many others. The biggest slogan of Dallas area hip-hop is Dallas Got Next which refers to how Dallas will become the next big rap city. And with Tum-Tum and Steve Austin exploding in 2007 that slogan was quickly becoming true. Tum Tum's hit single Caprice Musik put the Dallas Style into the national spotlight for the first time. This paved way for Steve Austin to release his very successful Billboard Top-Ten single of Bussa Move that peaked to number three at one point in Single-Sales on the Billboard charts.
Miami Bass is a popular style of music from the Miami area of South Florida and is embodied by the musical style of local rap stars such as Trick Daddy, DJ Uncle Al, Rick Ross, Trina, Poison Clan, Jacki-O, Pitbull, Cool & Dre, DJ Khaled, JT Money, Smitty, Pretty Ricky and many more.
Bounce Music started off in 1986 in New Orleans, LA with the arrival of the Showboys' vinyl record called "Drag Rap" which is also known as "Triggerman." This record was the precursor to the hip hop sub-genre of bounce music. Similar to Miami bass, bounce music uses a call and chant approach to its music. The music is played heavily in New Orleans block parties, dj's, and clubs. It is the preferred music for New Orleans girls to dance to.
Some of the earlier artists of the genre include: TT Tucker, DJ Jubilee, Juvenile, Tim Smooth, Mannie Fresh, The Showboys, and DJ Jimi while some of the new artists include: Gotty Boi Chris, 10th ward Buck, Hot Boy Ronald, DJ Blakk n Mild, and Choppa.
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The Dirty South
