Southern hip hop, also known as Southern rap, South coast hip hop or Dirty South, is a blanket term for a subgenre of American hip hop music that emerged in the Southern United States, especially in New Orleans, Houston, Atlanta, Memphis, and Miami.[1][2]
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 a third major
American hip hop genre, after East Coast hip hop and West Coast hip hop.[3] Many early Southern rap artists released their music independently or on mixtapes after encountering difficulty securing record-label contracts in the 1990s.[4] By the early 2000s, many Southern artists had attained national 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. In Houston, a different approach of slowing music down, rather than speeding it up, developed. It is unknown when DJ Screw definitively created "screwed and chopped" music: although people around Screw have indicated any time between 1984 to 1991, Screw said he started slowing music down in 1990 and also in Tulsa Oklahoma Dj Dinero And Dj Z-Nasty helped popularize Chopped And Screwed music in the Mid South.[15] There is no debate, however, that DJ Screw invented the music style."[16] He discovered that dramatically reducing the pitch of a record gave a mellow, heavy sound that emphasized lyrics to the point of almost storytelling. After messing around with the sound for a while Screw started making full length "Screw Tapes". Between 1991 and 1992, there was a large increase in use of purple drank in Houston.[17] Purple drank has been considered to be a major influence in the making of and listening to chopped and screwed music due to its perceived effect of slowing the brain down, giving slow, mellow music its appeal. DJ Screw, however, repeatedly denounced the claim that one has to use purple drank to enjoy screwed and chopped music. Screw, a known user of purple drank, said he came up with chopped and screwed music when high on marijuana.[15]
As the spread of Southern Rap continued the year 2000 became a breakthrough year for one founding group. Rap duo UGK made a high-profile guest appearance on Jay-Z's smash hit "Big Pimpin'" and also appeared on Three 6 Mafia's hit "Sippin' on Some Syrup". Both of these collaborations greatly increased their reputation, and helped fuel anticipation for their next project[citation needed]. A song that originally appeared on the compilation album The Day Hell Broke Loose 2, Mike Jones' "Still Tippin'", achieved mainstream success in 2004, leading to local Houston rap label Swishahouse signing a national distribution deal with Asylum Records. Jones released his major label debut, Who Is Mike Jones?, on Swishahouse/Warner Bros. in April 2005; the album was certified platinum that June.[18] Paul Wall's major label debut, The Peoples Champ, on Swishahouse/Atlantic, was released in September 2005, eventually topping the Billboard 200.[19] Before embarking on his rap career and while still at school, Wall had worked in the Swishahouse office.[20] Some notable Houston artists include:
