. In a point that sheds light on the Goodie Mob's "Dirty South" and the wider uprising to which this song contributed, Yaeger adds that dirt "also serves as a disrupter of systems. Sample from Three 6 Mafia, "Hit a Muthafucka," Relativity, 1997. During the decade of 19972007, rap music produced in cities such as Atlanta, New Orleans, Memphis, Miami, and Houston transformed the margins into the rap mainstream. Regardless, The Geto Boys was nothing if not controversial as one critic observed, it "was so verbally abusive that Geffen severed all ties with Def American, which never worked with Rap-A-Lot again."24Ibid. The isolation of this figure contrasts with the communal life of the Goodie Mob and, by extension, southern African Americans. "48Carlton Wade, "Three 6 Mafia: Mark of the Beats," The Source 168 (September 2003): 166. tippy('#footnote_plugin_tooltip_1518_1_48', { content: jQuery('#footnote_plugin_tooltip_text_1518_1_48').html(), placement: 'bottom', theme: 'sosp', arrow: false, allowHTML: true }); While Juicy J's comments call into question some of the glib assertions about the South made earlier in the issue, The Source's article on Three 6 Mafia reveals the persistance of another kind of place-based essentialism related to an organic paradigm of reflection with regard to the relationship of music and place. when rap was being created," Luther Campbell observed, "We DJ'ed differently down here." The power that these artists and their business associates possess to name, categorize, and periodize ideas within the rap form speak to Atlanta's privileged position. Production was handled by Smoke One Productions and DJ Slice T, with Tony Draper serving as executive producer. The world of adult entertainment in the city and the emergent rap scene were highly intertwined, as shown in the film Dirty South (1996). The musical aesthetics that underlie rap music production shifted towards a focus on loud and low bass tones and tempos matching the expectations of audiences dancing in clubs. . In April 2008, Suave House signed a joint venture deal with Koch (Crosley, 2008). Recording sessions took place at Unique Recording Studios and Battery Studios in New York and at Urban House Studios, Inc. in Houston. She dedicated herself to the creation of unique custom-made designs, opening an Atelier in Milan. Furthermore, an eclectic mix of ideas and made the most dynamic team in making innovative collections, praised and admired as Made in Italy products. Elements taken from or inspired by screw tapes have also formed part of the local identity of Houston artists who are working in more commercial formats. The essay concludes with a foray into the visual culture of the Dirty South, revealing how rap music imagery has affirmed, critiqued, and confounded received ideas of the South. We end our selection with the Milan fashion brand that dressed the worlds biggest superstar, Valentino. [1] Landmark independent releases from flagship act 8Ball & MJG made the company a heavyweight in the South and the Midwest. Javascript is required to view shouts on this page. Virginia Beach deserves note for its failure to conform. "81Ricardo Baca, "The Rap on the Third Coast," Denver Post, sec. Suave House Records, better known as The Legendary Suave House, is a record label located in Houston, Texas founded by Tony Draper. Production was handled by Erick Sermon, who also served as executive producer, Ty Fyffe, The Ummah and Rod 'KP' Kirkpatrick. A close reading of The Source's "Dirty South" reveals a puzzlingly conflicted mixture of connotations and perspectives. Parliament, "Give Up the Funk," 1976; Trammps, "Disco Inferno," 1976; see Sarig, Jon Caramanica, "Lil Jon and the East Side Boyz,", Celeste Fraser Delgado, "Crunk Candy: On Location with Lil Jon, Trick, Hootchies, and Director Mamas," Miami, Sonia Murray, "Lil Jon, Crew Crank Up Chant with A-List Assist,", Silvio Pietroluongo, Minal Patel and Wade Jessen, "Singles Minded; Country and Crunk among Year's Top Hitmakers,", Murray, "Lil Jon, Crew Crank Up Chant with A-List Assist. Suave House Records, better known as The Legendary Suave House, is a record label located in Houston, Texas founded by Tony Draper. The Geto Boys were the first group to break through to national audiences. But what made Houston into the South's early capital of rap was the 1986 founding of Rap-A-Lot Records by James Smith (later known as James Prince), "a young black salesman of used luxury cars," in partnership with Cliff Blodget, a white software engineer from Seattle.23Joe Nick Patoski, "Money in the Making," Texas Monthly (August 1998): 136. tippy('#footnote_plugin_tooltip_1518_1_23', { content: jQuery('#footnote_plugin_tooltip_text_1518_1_23').html(), placement: 'bottom', theme: 'sosp', arrow: false, allowHTML: true }); Smith worked on building a roster of local artists, eventually putting together a group called the Geto Boys. Journal of Popular Music Studies 16, no. Versace is the founder of the so-called top models. Continue with Recommended Cookies. Rocky Mountain News, sec. (New York: New York University Press, 2006), 183. This development occurred in a complementary fashion with the collective creation of the idea of a distinctive geographically based style and point of view. . "; "Twins Crank Up Crunk." It was released on November 11, 1997 through Epic Street. With platinum sales from 1997 onwards, Missy Elliot became "the biggest female artist in hip-hop history. Represented at various levels of abstraction, places exist in a nested hierarchy which spans between generalized metaregional affiliations (East or West Coast and now Dirty South) and extremely specific connections to particular black neighborhoods. Strategically deployed, "southernness" was no longer a handicap within rap. Recording sessions took place at Marley's House Of Hits, at Cove City Sound Studios and at Unique Recording Studios in New York, and at QDIII Soundlab in Los Angeles, at Bobcat's House in Palmdale, and at Encore Studio in Burbank. ", Hattie Collins, "Crunk in Charge," London, Soren Baker, "Interview with Lil Jon & The East Side Boyz Feature,", Kelefa Sanneh, "Critic's Notebook: 'Laffy Taffy:' So Light, So Sugary, So Downloadable,", Beth Reingold and Richard S. Wike, "Confederate Symbols, Southern Identity, and Racial Attitudes: The Case of the Georgia State Flag,", Ron Wynn, "Reclaiming Confederate Flag Angers Older Black Generation,", Mosi Reeves, "Luda Disturbing tha State,", Rodney Ho, "Rapper Has Big Plans to Lighten Up His Look,", Photograph of Atlantas Lil Jon & the East Side Boyz, Comparison of imagery from mid-2000s CD and book covers, The English southern rock cover band The Dirty South, Billboard, Memorial Drive and Midway Road. However, the representation of previously marginalized places does not occur in any sort of a uniform pattern only particular places, at particularly historical moments, are eligible for admission to the canon of authentic rap music places. "74John Lewis, "Lil Jon and The East Side Boyz Islington Academy Mon.," Time Out (January 26, 2005): 108; Ricardo Baca, "Bring In Da Crunk: More Take Notice of Hyper Sound with Southern Accent," Denver Post, sec. Sample from Diamond featuring D-Roc, "Bankhead Bounce," Elektra/Asylum, 1996. On Top of the World is the third studio album by American hip hop duo Eightball & MJG. "10Ibid., 170. tippy('#footnote_plugin_tooltip_1518_1_10', { content: jQuery('#footnote_plugin_tooltip_text_1518_1_10').html(), placement: 'bottom', theme: 'sosp', arrow: false, allowHTML: true }); As Adam Krims argues, this "poetics of locality and authenticity can work through sound, visual images, words, and media images together. The Dirty South served as a marketing hook and an alternate political imaginary, but as its proponents have achieved goals of genre inclusion, acceptance, and a piece of the commercial action, they have moved on to a different set of concerns. (with Suave House Records) Released: June 20, 2000; Label: Suave House; Formats: CD, digital download We Are the South: Greatest Hits: and narcotically repetitive, slasher-flick textures," features which were instrumental for the emergence of the crunk style.36Tony Green, "Twerk to Do," Village Voice (Oct. 23, 2001): 149. tippy('#footnote_plugin_tooltip_1518_1_36', { content: jQuery('#footnote_plugin_tooltip_text_1518_1_36').html(), placement: 'bottom', theme: 'sosp', arrow: false, allowHTML: true }); Their first releases came out on their own Prophet Records, but with independent success, Three 6 Mafia signed with Sony's Relativity, and in late 1997 released their first record under the new arrangements. Whatever the connection between screw and the environment from which it emerged, screw has defined Houston's identity within the national rap music culture, and has formed a central part of locally-felt local rap music identity: "Just about every new album or mixtape from Houston is still available in two versions: regular or slow."31Ibid. 01-Player Listic Nation 02-Alvin Groom 03-20s 04-Better Off Dead 05-Nephrotitie 06-U Better Ask Somebody 07-Ghetto Life 08-AP9 09-Little. The brand had its start in Milan around 1932 through a dream Valentino. Largely a satellite of the Miami Bass scene in the mid- to late-1980s, by the 1990s, Atlanta was one among several expanding southern urban rap centers. While similar minimalist approaches to rap continue to enjoy popularity among artists, producers, and audiences, the particularities that defined snap have largely vanished by the time of this writing (2008). In the late 1980s and early 1990s, artists like Bust Down and the rapper/DJ team Gregory D. and Mannie Fresh recorded and released records on local labels, but forged connections with independents in other cities (Dallas and Miami, respectively) in order to expand their careers. "3Sara Cohen, "Sounding out the City: Music and the Sensuous Production of Place" in The Place of Music, eds. Various awards for Fashion innovation have shown what a good job they did, carrying the Versace label for fame in and out of Italy, all starting from Gianni Versace, whose legacy was carried in the past 20+ years by his sister, Donatella Versace. Explore All; Trending Releases; List Explorer . The various uses of the rebel flag in rap culture illustrate ways in which multiple imagined "Souths" exist simultaneously, informing, antagonizing, and playing off on each other, all the while complicating the symbolic discourse. . The innovative designs from this Milan fashion brand are made through a mix of art, surrealism, and charm. D, March 26, 2004. tippy('#footnote_plugin_tooltip_1518_1_60', { content: jQuery('#footnote_plugin_tooltip_text_1518_1_60').html(), placement: 'bottom', theme: 'sosp', arrow: false, allowHTML: true }); While the exotic portrayal of "that glitzy and druggy world" of hustlers and rap music moguls in the housing projects of New Orleans entranced many reviewers, the appropriation of the Dirty South opened Atkins up to a particular line of criticism: "It's hard to hear the music in its pages."61P. A world music sound from Timbaland helped this song reach the top of the national charts and Missy to become one of the most successful women rappers in history. For other uses, see, "Suave House: The Album of the Year - Various Artists | Songs, Reviews, Credits | AllMusic", "Billboard 200 Chart: Week of August 23, 1997", "Heat of the Night" (performed by The Fedz), "Starships and Rockets" (performed by 8Ball & Randy), "Life Is Crying" (performed by Nola & Nina Creque), Tony Draper executive producer, coordinator. "69Wade, "Three 6 Mafia," 166. tippy('#footnote_plugin_tooltip_1518_1_69', { content: jQuery('#footnote_plugin_tooltip_text_1518_1_69').html(), placement: 'bottom', theme: 'sosp', arrow: false, allowHTML: true }); The crunk concept existed in southern rap circuits for several years before it emerged to fuel a putative subgenre, thanks to the efforts of rapper and producer Jon "Lil Jon" Smith (b. This Port Arthur-based duo delivers a funky 1994 ode to low-rider cars. The shaping of the crunk style largely occurred in strip clubs or nightclubs, and was part of a wider process of the grassroots evolution of southern dance music styles as artists refined their expressions to achieve maximum effect with audiences.103Collins, "Crunk"; Ricardo Baca, "Lil Jon Crunks it up for All-Stars," Denver Post, sec. Black Masculinity and the U.S. South: From Uncle Tom to Gangsta. A distinctive local interpretation emerged out of the everyday musical culture of the city's poor neighborhoods (including Liberty City, "Miami's most notorious sprawling ghetto, . It's like a ball of fire in your spirit. [There is] no other way to explain them, you can find some influence of some Tennessee, Texas, Louisiana and Georgia shit on the album, but the album is a hybrid of all that and their own shit, [it's] Alabama shit, [it's] all theirs." Niels Jansen, "Totally Unofficial Rap-Dictionary (Bi-weekly Posting, part 1/2)," Rec.Music.Hip-Hop Usenet Newsgroup, December 1, 1995; Prolifik, "This Is Driving Me Krunk." The pair founded the Star Trak label, distributed by Arista, and signed Virginia rappers Clipse as their debut artists. Atlanta's status as the Dirty South's capital rests upon two interrelated features: its status as a growing population center and symbolic "mecca" for African Americans, and its role as the economic and transportation hub of the Southeast. This metaregional division was used to categorize artists, companies, and audiences and was soon imbued by audiences, critics, and music industry personnel with an understanding of basic differences in style and viewpoint which characterized each contingent. In addition to Luther Campbell's various record labels, other independent record companies such as Pandisc, Joey Boy, and 4-Sight flourished as the popularity of Miami Bass grew in block parties and teen clubs, as well as "car races, car audio stores, clubs, skating rinks, and even strip clubs. It was released on July 4, 1995 through Suave House/Relativity Records. CAL, January 9, 2003. tippy('#footnote_plugin_tooltip_1518_1_99', { content: jQuery('#footnote_plugin_tooltip_text_1518_1_99').html(), placement: 'bottom', theme: 'sosp', arrow: false, allowHTML: true }); Crunk's detractors often expressed a mixture of musical and moral objections to the genre and its representative artists. The relocation of rap's creative center to the urban South resulted in changes in the conception of rap's narrative voice, becoming much less focused on the rendering of complex narratives of individual experience and moving towards an exhortative, collective expression. Sample from Mia X, "Da Payback," Lamina Records, 1993. It was released on September 16, 1997, by LaFace Records in North America. 's assertion that "it's the fun factor that seems to be the selling point for the New South. Interested in submitting your work to Southern Spaces. '"34J-Dogg [John Shaw], "Parallels in the Development of Memphis and New Orleans Rap, " Rec.Music.Hip-Hop Usenet Newsgroup, Dec. 9, 1997. Suave House Label | Releases | Discogs Artists from the South such as Three Six Mafia, Lil Jon, David Banner, the Ying Yang Twins, Pastor Troy, and others all carried this strain of the monstrous within rap forward. Finally, I move to a discussion of the visual culture of the Dirty South, ways in which the use of imagery has critiqued, promoted, and problematized the idea of the South and its rap music culture. http://downsouthhiphop.com/, Twankle & Glisten The divergent deployments of the rebel flag speak to a generational split among African Americans and a shifting terrain for symbolizing and portraying racial (and spatial) conflict and identity. Lil' Flip became one of Houston's newest stars in 2004. The album peaked at number 70 on the Billboard 200 and number 17 on the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums. Over the course of the next few years of multiple solo and collaborative albums and constant production work, the inventive and eclectic Timbaland became one of the top producers in rap, R&B and pop. Production was handled by Smoke One Productions, E-A-Ski & CMT, with Tony Draper serving as executive producer. Rapper Bun B and rapper and producer Pimp C had grown up in Port Arthur on the Texas-Louisiana border, but as UGK they gravitated to Houston's rap scene. Durham: Duke University Press, 2003. Backed by Interscope, he founded a label, Beat Club, and signed white Georgia rapper Bubba Sparxxx as its first artist in 2001. However, the strongly felt and expressed sense of place, combined with economic or artistic competitiveness, led these blocs to become increasingly hostile towards one another as Kelefa Sanneh writes, "the '90s saw the rise and fall of a bitter bicoastal war, which gave way to an explosion of regional styles. "13Kelefa Sanneh, "Memphis Bleak," Village Voice (June 20, 2000), 144. tippy('#footnote_plugin_tooltip_1518_1_13', { content: jQuery('#footnote_plugin_tooltip_text_1518_1_13').html(), placement: 'bottom', theme: 'sosp', arrow: false, allowHTML: true }); Many of the most prominent of these local styles were located in various urban areas of the US South. In this sense, the majors chose an overly cautious course that resulted in a diminished share of the potential profits. The lyrical and philosophical perspective of Memphis-based rappers is often described as "dark and menacing," qualities that could just as easily be linked to the haunting Delta Blues that once flourished in the area, as to the bleak economic circumstances faced by many Memphians in this majority African American city.33Sarig, Third Coast, 281. tippy('#footnote_plugin_tooltip_1518_1_33', { content: jQuery('#footnote_plugin_tooltip_text_1518_1_33').html(), placement: 'bottom', theme: 'sosp', arrow: false, allowHTML: true }); Memphis' history as a center for black popular music in the Southeast helped it achieve some degree of rap prominence, but the city was not positioned to compete with larger regional centers like Houston, Miami, New Orleans, or Atlanta.