Southern Rap Architects

While East and West Coast hip-hop are rooted in '70s disco and funk, the South took its cues from '80s bass music, a hybrid of electro-hop, freestyle dance pop and party raps. Bass music yielded local variations such as Atlanta's "booty bass" (later called crunk), "Miami bass" and New Orleans "bounce." This sexually charged and purposefully silly dance music drew condemnation, exemplified by Miami's 2 Live Crew and their landmark obscenity trials. By the early '90s, West Coast gangsta rap had influenced the rise of Houston's DJ Screw, the Geto Boys and Underground Kingz (UGK) as well as Memphis' Three 6 Mafia and 8Ball & MJG. Oakland rapper Master P moved his No Limit label to New Orleans, where he competed with Bryan "Baby the Birdman" Williams and Cash Money Records. In Atlanta, the Dungeon Family collective mixed blues, P-funk and dense Southern slang into hits like Goodie Mob's "Dirty South," which gave Southern hip-hop its unofficial name. When DF member Outkast were booed for winning Best New Artist at the 1995 Source Awards, the group responded to the anti-South rap elite with a statement that became the region's rallying cry: "The South's got somethin' to say."