Southern hip-hop

Southern hip-hop or Southern rap, also known colloquially as Dirty South music, is hip-hop music from the Southern United States. As hip-hop spread beyond its origins in New York City, several

Overall characteristics#

Although Southern hip-hop includes a number of localized scenes with distinct styles, there are nevertheless stylistic commonalities that have been observed throughout the region. Most Southern hip-hop music places less emphasis on lyrical complexity than other regions do, instead prioritizing vocal styles that encourage audience participation, such as call-and-response chants or catchy choruses that can be sung along with. At the same time, other branches of Southern hip-hop embraced gangsta rap and have been described as pioneers of hardcore hip-hop. Musically, Southern hip-hop displays inspiration from other Southern music styles, such as gospel and blues. Influential artists from throughout the South have also been described as incorporating elements of funk. Bass-heavy percussion, especially that produced by the Roland TR-808 drum machine, is viewed as a cornerstone of much Southern hip-hop. According to some performers, Southern hip-hop is also more likely than other regions to use live instrumentation rather than samples.

1979–1992: Beginnings#

The first notable Southern act to release hip-hop music was the Sequence, a South Carolina–based group who signed to Sugar Hill Records. While attending a Sugarhill Gang concert, the Sequence encountered Sylvia Robinson and impressed her with their music. Sugar Hill subsequently published the Sequence’s single “Funk You Up” in late 1979. However, rather than perform or record in South Carolina, the Sequence moved to New York City to participate in the more established hip-hop scene there. In the 1980s, hip-hop subcultures began to coalesce in several Southern cities, but early artists in these environments tended to affiliate themselves with city-level or neighborhood-level communities instead of claiming a pan-Southern identity. who tended to disparage noticeably Southern variants on hip-hop as unsophisticated or backward. Miami was one of the first Southern cities to achieve wider popularity with its local hip-hop style. The city already hosted a number of independent record labels that focused on traditionally black music genres such as disco, which positioned it well to begin publishing rap. The genre of Miami bass emerged in the 1980s, deriving from electro and from the city’s reggae-influenced DJing culture. MC A.D.E.’s 1985 single “Bass Rock Express”, followed by 2 Live Crew’s “Throw the D” in 1986, were foundational tracks in shaping Miami bass. The style also expanded beyond Miami itself, with early Atlanta hip-hop artists like Raheem the Dream displaying strong Miami bass influence in their music. Miami’s early hip-hop community was heavily connected to the city’s nightclub and strip club scenes, As a result of their victory in the obscenity case, followed by another victory in Campbell v. Acuff-Rose Music, Inc. two years later, 2 Live Crew and its leader Luther Campbell have been credited as “First Amendment champion s " who “made it safe for hip-hop as we know it to exist”. Houston is another city to have built a flourishing local hip-hop community in the late 1980s. One of the most pivotal moments in the growth of Houston’s hip-hop scene was the establishment of Rap-A-Lot Records, which was founded by James Prince and Cliff Blodget in approximately 1986. Prince assembled the Geto Boys as the label’s flagship group. The Geto Boys became increasingly successful over the late 1980s, leading Def American Records to sign them and release the 1990 remix album The Geto Boys to national audiences. artists isolated a drum loop from the song, dubbing the resulting loop the “Triggerman beat”. In Memphis, DJ Spanish Fly popularized “Triggerman” as a complement for a burgeoning local dance trend called the Gangsta Walk, in which participants would march in concentric circles around the dance floor. From there, the Triggerman beat spread to New Orleans, where it was combined with Cameron Paul’s “Brown Beats” to become a core building block of bounce music’s sound. “Where Dey At”, a 1991 live recording by DJ Irv Phillips and MC T. Tucker, became one of the first bounce tracks to achieve popularity; the following year, a studio version of the same song was recorded by DJ Jimi, further raising bounce’s profile.

1992–2000: Mainstream breakthrough of the “Dirty South”#

In the 1990s, Atlanta grew to become one of the primary centers of Southern hip-hop. Producer Jermaine Dupri was one of the first to achieve mainstream commercial success with Atlanta-based hip-hop, launching the careers of teenage rap duo Kris Kross and parlaying their success into a label called So So Def Recordings. While Kris Kross’ music deliberately limited its use of regional signifiers, they nevertheless served as a proof of concept that successful hip-hop could come from Atlanta. LaFace Records, which was established in Atlanta in 1989 and initially focused on publishing R&B music, thus turned its attention to hip-hop as well. but his prominence nevertheless drew the attention of the wider music industry to New Orleans. In 1996, No Limit Records signed a distribution deal with Priority Records in which No Limit retained the rights to all of their master recordings. Screw released a series of mixtapes—the “Screw tapes”—that included chopped and screwed versions of popular rap songs, as well as novel tracks featuring performances from local rappers. His regular collaborators—including Big Moe, Fat Pat, Lil’ Keke, E.S.G., and numerous others—came to be known as the Screwed Up Click, and being featured on a Screw tape became regarded as the best way for an upcoming Houston rapper to promote their music. Screw’s cavalier use of other artists’ copyrighted material prevented him from attracting much attention from major labels, but he sold his tapes in large quantities himself, first directly from his home and then from a store called Screwed Up Records and Tapes. On the same album, Jay-Z featured the Houston-based duo UGK on the single “Big Pimpin’. UGK had been rising in popularity and acclaim throughout the South over the course of the 1990s, and crossover hits like “Big Pimpin helped introduce a wider audience to Texan accents and slang. The collaboration also benefited Jay-Z, who could use it to demonstrate his awareness of burgeoning trends in the genre. Meanwhile, California’s Snoop Dogg signed to No Limit Records in 1998 and released his album Da Game Is to Be Sold, Not to Be Told through the label. Another sign of the South’s growing esteem came when Island Def Jam founded the imprint Def Jam South around the turn of the millennium; the label’s first notable signee was Ludacris, who went on to attain commercial success with his laid-back, comedic style.

2000–2007: The spread of subgenres and the mixtape era#

Despite its explosive success in the late 1990s, many of No Limit and Cash Money’s leading artists left the labels in the early 2000s, causing both—and New Orleans hip-hop more generally—to recede from the public eye. In its place, a new hip-hop subgenre called crunk was on the rise. Featuring call-and-response vocals shouted over instrumentals centered on bass and drum machines, Lil Jon, an Atlanta-based DJ and producer, has been identified as the foremost figure in popularizing crunk music. However, Trap Muzik proved to be explosively successful—achieving platinum certification and multiple popular singles—and so its sound, characterized by extensive hi-hat fills and heavy bass, came to be defined as “trap” as well. Jeezy achieved platinum status with his 2005 debut album Let’s Get It: Thug Motivation 101, putting him at the forefront of late-2000s Southern hip-hop, whereas Gucci Mane put out a flurry of underground albums before achieving his commercial breakthrough with 2009’s The State vs. Radric Davis. Memphis also produced some significant trap rappers, including Yo Gotti, Moneybagg Yo, and Young Dolph. While trap is thematically closely aligned with gangsta rap, music writers have argued that it takes a different philosophical approach to the subject matter, with trap artists taking more efforts to defend drug dealing as a necessary evil for those trying to survive in impoverished urban areas. Meanwhile, Houston hip-hop also attained its greatest mainstream breakthrough in the mid-2000s. The key figure behind its expansion was Michael “5000” Watts, a DJ who headed the record label Swishahouse. Watts also produced chopped and screwed music, which led him and DJ Screw to be rivals during the latter’s lifetime, but after Screw’s death Watts became the style’s leading ambassador. The Swishahouse movement was first catapulted into the mainstream with the release of Mike Jones’ 2004 single “Still Tippin’, distributed nationally thanks to a deal between Swishahouse and the Warner Bros. imprint Asylum Records. “Still Tippin popularized a number of characteristic elements of Houston rap, including screwed vocals, laid-back deliveries, and aesthetic signifiers such as lean usage and decorated cars. The song featured Slim Thug and Paul Wall, former Swishahouse signees who also became national stars during this period. Wall’s major-label debut, 2005’s The Peoples Champ, became an explosive commercial hit that further popularized screwed, car-themed music; his former collaborator Chamillionaire, meanwhile, released the hit single “Ridin’ that launched his own solo debut to platinum status. Another phenomenon to occur in Southern hip-hop in this decade was an evolution of the role of mixtapes. Mixtapes have been widely used by hip-hop artists, both within and beyond the South, since the genre’s early days; Southern cities that attracted particular attention for their early mixtape scenes include Houston and Memphis. Early hip-hop mixtapes were either compilations assembled by DJs or self-released projects by independent rappers who did not yet have record deals. However, in the 2000s, established rappers began using mixtapes to maintain a buzz between albums and to release material in a more casual, unrestrained fashion. This new category of mixtape was typically released for free and often featured artists rapping over the beats to other musicians’ existing hits. The practice first emerged in the Northeast, but was brought to the South when Philadelphia-raised DJ Drama enrolled in Clark Atlanta University. DJ Drama began releasing a series of mixtapes titled Gangsta Grillz, which were originally niche but exploded in popularity after Drama began collaborating with rising star T.I. and releasing mixtapes collaboratively. Other trap rappers like Jeezy and Gucci Mane also used mixtapes to similar effect. The Southern rapper who achieved the most acclaim for his 2000s mixtapes, however, was New Orleans’ Lil Wayne. While working on his album Tha Carter III, Wayne became frustrated by leaks and bootlegging of his material, and decided to outflank the bootleggers by releasing free mixtapes to the public himself. Several of these tapes became critical successes in their own right, including 2006’s Dedication 2 and 2007’s Da Drought 3, and the series of mixtapes is credited with forging Wayne’s reputation for lyrical skill. Though mixtapes in this era commonly flouted copyright law, the music industry often tolerated their existence as promotional tools. However, an RIAA-backed attempt to crack down on illegal mixtapes resulted in a police raid of DJ Drama’s studio in 2007, in which Drama and his collaborator Don Cannon were charged under the RICO Act. The continued penetration of Southern hip-hop into the mainstream could also be seen in the increasing number of honors being awarded to Southern hip-hop acts. OutKast’s 2003 album Speakerboxxx/The Love Below won several categories, including Album of the Year, at the 46th Annual Grammy Awards. Meanwhile, the 2005 film Hustle & Flow brought widespread attention to Memphis hip-hop acts—especially Three 6 Mafia, whose track “It’s Hard Out Here for a Pimp” won an Academy Award for Best Original Song.

2007–2019: Internet era and trap’s ascendancy#

As the twenty-first century progressed, the Internet became increasingly prominent, bringing new hip-hop distribution methods with it. For instance, after DJ Drama’s 2007 arrest, many artists eschewed physical mixtapes in favor of releasing mixtapes online on sites like DatPiff. At several points, Southern acts led the charge toward moving hip-hop onto the Internet. Atlanta rapper Soulja Boy was a pioneer of online self-promotion, building a large fanbase on MySpace and uploading his own music videos to YouTube. Raider Klan produced ominous music inspired by Memphis groups like Three 6 Mafia; their subgenre came to be known as phonk, a term coined by SpaceGhostPurrp in song titles like “Pheel tha Phonk 1990”. While Raider Klan declined in the mid-2010s, owing to the departure of prominent members like Denzel Curry and Lil Ugly Mane, the Miami region remained a hub of SoundCloud rap as a new generation of local rappers adopted the platform. As the 2000s gave way to the 2010s, Atlanta’s trap scene began to evolve into new styles and reach new heights of commercial prominence. The producer Lex Luger has been identified as one of the artists who catalyzed this shift; his production for Waka Flocka Flame’s hits around 2010 featured a “grandiose” sound that pushed the subgenre’s characteristic hi-hat fills to greater extremes than before. The success of these songs, particularly “Hard in da Paint”, made Luger a highly sought-after producer and caused trap-inspired production to spread throughout hip-hop and into EDM and pop. A new vocal delivery that would prove to become even more impactful, however, was the melodic, Auto-Tuned rapping popularized by Future. Tallahassee singer T-Pain had previously risen to prominence with a heavily Auto-Tuned sound in the 2000s, but Future took a novel approach to the tool, using it to adapt his vocals into impressionistic, melancholy psychedelia. Future’s rise to success also boosted the careers of the producers with whom he collaborated, such as Metro Boomin and Sonny Digital. Another important pioneer of mumble rap is Young Thug, whose rapping has been described as containing a kaleidoscopic range of vocalizations, spanning wails, moans, warbles, and more. Closely derived from trap, mumble rap is a style characterized by woozy, unclear rapping and singing over densely layered production. The term “mumble rap” itself emerged as a pejorative; it was first coined by Wiz Khalifa, who used the term in 2016 to criticize Future and Young Thug, and was popularized later that year when New York producer Pete Rock used it to disparage Lil Yachty. Despite this criticism from acclaimed Northern hip-hop figures, numerous mumble rap artists emerged in the South in the later 2010s. In particular, Atlanta—home to both Future and Young Thug, as well as other prominent mumble rappers like Rich Homie Quan, 21 Savage, and Gunna—has been described as “the mumble rap capital of the world” by theorist Heidi Lewis. Outside of Atlanta, Houston’s Travis Scott has attracted attention for the elaborate processing he employs on his vocals; artists associated with mumble rap have also emerged from states such as Florida (Kodak Black), Mississippi (Rae Sremmurd), and Louisiana (YoungBoy Never Broke Again). During the late 2000s and the 2010s, the South moved into an increasingly central place in the hip-hop world. By 2009, Jon Caramanica was characterizing Atlanta as “hip-hop’s center of gravity”; other writers have made similar claims since then, arguing for either the South in general or Atlanta specifically as being the most essential region to 21st-century hip-hop. However, this growing ubiquity also engendered increasing amounts of backlash from other wings of the hip-hop community. Soulja Boy’s music was publicly derided by older generations of rappers from both coasts, and in 2009, Jay-Z released the single “D.O.A. (Death of Auto-Tune)” to rail against the Auto-Tuned style that artists like T-Pain and Lil Wayne were employing. With the rise of mumble rap in the 2010s, this public criticism reached a fever pitch, with widespread mockery being aimed at both the creators and the fans of the subgenre.

2020–present: Blurring of regional boundaries#

As the Internet era progressed, hip-hop subgenres have become less tied to particular geographic locations. and his record label Opium has signed other Atlanta rage artists like Ken Carson and Destroy Lonely, but Oregon’s Yeat has been called rage’s biggest star and Ohio’s Trippie Redd is credited with coining the genre’s name. Other originally Southern subgenres have traveled outside of the United States entirely; for instance, around 2020, a wave of Russian producers adapted phonk into a more house-influenced style known as drift phonk.

Atlanta#

Atlanta has one of the South’s largest and most frequently evolving hip-hop scenes. Mojo’s “Let Mojo Handle It” is said to have been the first Atlanta rap song to be recorded and released; however, Atlanta’s first rapper to achieve any noteworthy level of success was the Bronx-to-Atlanta transplant MC Shy D. Another early step in Atlanta hip-hop was the slick, poppy style pioneered by Jermaine Dupri and Dallas Austin in the early 1990s. These producers launched rappers, such as teenage duo Kris Kross, who were commercially successful but deliberately downplayed their Southernness. Another development came in 1992, with the release of Arrested Development’s debut album, 3 Years, 5 Months and 2 Days in the Life Of…; this project aimed to craft an aesthetically Southern variant of the Afrocentric rap of New York’s Native Tongues movement. The album proved to be a critical and commercial success, Future’s style came to shape the controversial subgenre of mumble rap, which—while geographically widespread—was primarily centered on Atlanta artists. The term “mumble rap” is loosely defined, often being used to indicate little more than a perceived lack of vocal clarity. However, some common elements have been described in the subgenre. Thematically, mumble rap tends to focus on accounts of the performer’s mental and emotional condition, as well as on drug use and addiction. Mumble rap production is generally characterized by a richly textured soundscape of numerous instrumental layers.

Houston#

The earliest significant hip-hop to emerge from Houston was closely affiliated with gangsta rap and hardcore hip-hop. Some early Houston rappers, such as K-Rino, released New York–style hip-hop in the mid-1980s, but the first Houston hip-hop act to achieve attention beyond the local region was the Geto Boys. The Geto Boys took many cues from the extant coastal rap scenes; while they gradually began to sample more Southern material over the course of their career, their style has not been retrospectively viewed as strongly affiliated with Houston. which has led him to be described as the “primary architect” of Houston’s hip-hop style. His characteristic sound was defined by slowing down tracks to a psychedelic, bass-heavy crawl, over which snippets of vocals could be slowed down or looped in a process called “chopping”. Screw also invited a number of local rappers from Houston’s South Side to rap over his instrumentals, resulting in the formation of the Screwed Up Click. Screw became hugely successful for his distinctive mixtapes, leading many other local DJs to imitate his style; the most prominent of these was the North Side’s Michael “5000” Watts. The North and South Sides were longtime rivals within Houston’s hip-hop scene, and accordingly Watts and Screw were often at odds during the latter’s lifetime, but relations between the two DJs’ camps stabilized after Screw’s death in 2000. With the tension quashed, Watts’ record label, Swishahouse, became an important proving ground for the up-and-coming crop of 2000s Houston rappers. Acts like Slim Thug, Mike Jones, Paul Wall, and Chamillionaire came up through Swishahouse before attaining their national breakthroughs and popularizing screwed music with the wider public.

New Orleans#

New Orleans’ hip-hop scene is well known for its local subgenre, bounce. Early bounce was characterized by production that sampled the “Triggerman beat”, in conjunction with Cameron Paul’s “Brown Beats”. Bounce also typically sampled brass band music, inspired by New Orleans’ second line tradition; the track “Let’s Jump”, by MC J Ro J, has been credited as the first song to incorporate that element. New Orleans’ gangsta rap movement contracted significantly in the 2000s owing to a series of misfortunes. No Limit’s in-house production team, Beats by the Pound, left the label in 1999; several other artists followed throughout 1999 and 2000, while Soulja Slim—who had remained—was murdered in 2003. No Limit Records ultimately filed for bankruptcy in 2003. Cash Money saw most of its flagship stars depart the label during the same period. Hurricane Katrina then struck New Orleans in 2005, badly affecting the neighborhoods where the city’s hip-hop scene had been most active and driving many already established artists to relocate. Nevertheless, New Orleans’ Lil Wayne rose to become one of the biggest rap stars of the late 2000s; he also founded Young Money Entertainment, a Cash Money imprint that signed other successful acts like Drake and Nicki Minaj.

Miami#

Before hip-hop reached Miami, the city had a flourishing DJing scene in the 1970s, influenced by styles like reggae that were brought to the city by its Caribbean immigrant population. Meanwhile, a separate subgenre of Miami bass known as “techno bass” or “car audio bass” emerged. This genre was entirely instrumental, so as to place complete focus on the bass-centric beats, and it made heavy use of synthesizers. Another wave of Miami SoundCloud rappers, spearheaded by XXXTentacion, emerged later in the decade with a raw sound built upon heavily distorted bass. and several of its practitioners have been linked to emo rap.

Memphis#

Memphis has long nurtured a hip-hop scene that, while it has rarely penetrated the mainstream, has nevertheless been highly influential within the South. Although some Memphis artists recorded hip-hop as early as the 1980s, with Cool K’s 1986 single “I Need Money” thought to be the first such release, for this reason, the group has come to be seen as influential upon horrorcore and phonk. Three 6 Mafia has also been credited with establishing crunk, owing to their chanted incitements in songs like “Tear da Club Up”; songs in that vein increasingly predominated over the horror-influenced material as Three 6 Mafia’s career progressed.

Other areas#

While the cities described above have historically been the primary hubs of Southern hip-hop, other artists and communities have emerged elsewhere in the South. For example, around the turn of the millennium, Virginia Beach became renowned after its local producers Timbaland and the Neptunes became major successes across both hip-hop and pop. While these artists did not associate closely with Southern communities or styles, Several prominent rappers have also emerged from North Carolina, including crunk star Petey Pablo and East Coast–inspired lyricist J. Cole, as well as Little Brother, Rapsody, and DaBaby. Mississippi has yielded hip-hop artists such as David Banner, Rae Sremmurd, and Big K.R.I.T.

Dance#

Alongside its music, Southern hip-hop has popularized a number of forms of dance. Several of these dance styles were sexually suggestive in nature; for instance, a dance known as “throwing the dick” emerged at Luther Campbell’s DJ sets in early-1980s Miami. The dance involved participants forming a large circle and pantomiming sexual intercourse, Cheeky Blakk’s 1994 track “Twerk Something” is credited as the song that introduced the term “twerk” to wider audiences. As Atlanta rapper I-20 describes it: This symbiotic relationship between Southern hip-hop and strip clubs reached its height during the crunk era, when artists such as the Ying Yang Twins deliberately calibrated their music for maximum effect in the strip club environment. Crunk, and its successor snap, also regularly featured lyrics that discussed strip clubs. Miami is another Southern city whose local hip-hop has been strongly associated with the city’s strip club scene; Houston rappers like Mike Jones have also sought to promote themselves by building audiences at strip clubs.

Slang#

The usage and popularization of local slang has been identified as a noteworthy feature of Southern hip-hop. Some early acts, like Jermaine Dupri’s artists, aimed to minimize their usage of regional slang, but by the late 1990s, albums like 400 Degreez were attaining commercial success while freely employing terms unfamiliar to a general audience. Mr. Mixx of 2 Live Crew has argued that Miami originated a number of early hip-hop slang terms, such as “fuckboy” and “baby mama”. Meanwhile, Houston has been identified as a city that has had a particularly distinctive slang tradition. UGK has been credited as one of the most significant acts to have raised the profile of Houston slang, particularly on their 1996 breakthrough project, Ridin’ Dirty. The adjective “trill” is one of the most prominent terms UGK popularized; originating as a portmanteau of “true” and “real”, it denotes being “hard and worthy of respect” and communicates pride in a Texan identity. Another of the most significant slang terms to emerge from Southern hip-hop is “bling-bling”, a word initially referring to glittering jewelry before expanding to refer to a general sense of lavishness. The term was popularized by New Orleans rapper B.G.’s 1999 single “Bling Bling”, and by 2003, it had spread widely enough to be added to Webster’s Dictionary. Several significant Southern hip-hop subgenres also originated as local slang terms. Before it described a music genre, the word “crunk” originated as a past-tense form of “crank” used in Memphis; as applied to a person, it referred to being in a “cranked-up” state of excitement, comparable to a revved-up vehicle. After crunk music became popular, the unfamiliarity of the word led to a number of false etymologies emerging, such as the claim that it was originally a combination of “crazy” and “drunk”. “Trapping” could also exist as a verb, alluding to dealing drugs in such an environment.

Other cultural signifiers#

A number of other practices have become closely associated with Southern hip-hop. Car culture influences the themes of Southern hip-hop, particularly in Houston, where the city is highly car-dependent and car customization is a popular pastime. Southern hip-hop styles such as Miami’s car audio bass and Houston’s chopped and screwed music have been identified as styles that are specifically optimized for listening from within a vehicle. Car-themed songs and car-related terminology have been popularized by Houston rappers such as UGK and Paul Wall. Houston rappers have also historically promoted their music locally by driving around the city, playing it at high volumes and selling records from their trunks. Another practice to have been popularized by Southern hip-hop is the consumption of lean, a drug cocktail centered on codeine-based cough syrup. While the usage of lean predates Southern hip-hop by decades, the two became closely affiliated in the 1990s, as lean was a favorite drug of Houston trailblazer DJ Screw. Screw’s eponymous slowed-down production style, chopped and screwed, has been widely compared to the experience of being under the influence of lean, and Houston rappers frequently encouraged lean usage in their lyrics. By the twenty-first century, lean had transcended Houston and spread throughout the South; Memphis’ Three 6 Mafia were characterized as notable promoters of the drug, Pen & Pixel reportedly produced thousands of graphics in this vein throughout the 1990s, most famously for the numerous releases from New Orleans’ No Limit Records, before closing its doors in 2003.

Genre family: 1980s in American music, 1990s in American music, 2000s in American music, 2010s in American music, 2020s in American music, African-American music, Hip-hop genres
Region: Atlanta, Houston, Memphis, Tennessee, Miami, New Orleans