Southern hip hop, also known as Southern rap, South Coast hip hop, or dirty south, is a blanket term for a regional genre of American hip hop music that emerged in the Southern United States, especially in Atlanta, New Orleans, Houston, Memphis, and Miami—five cities which constitute the "Southern Network" in rap music.
The U.S. state of Texas has long been a center for musical innovation and is the birthplace of many notable musicians. Texans have pioneered developments in Tejano and Conjunto music, Rock 'n Roll, Western swing, jazz, punk rock, country, hip-hop, electronic music, gothic industrial music, religious music, mariachi, psychedelic rock, zydeco and the blues.
Paul Michael Slayton, better known by his stage name Paul Wall, is an American rapper and DJ. He has spent much of his career affiliated with Swishahouse Records, and has released several albums under the label and collaborated with numerous other rappers signed to the label. He began his career performing alongside fellow Houstonian Chamillionaire, with whom he released several albums, including 2002's independently released Get Ya Mind Correct. In 2005, he was signed to Atlantic Records and became successful with his major label debut The Peoples Champ, which was followed up by Get Money, Stay True followed in 2007. He has been nominated for one Grammy Award for Best Rap Performance as a Duo or Group for the song "Grillz", his collaboration with rapper Nelly.
Trinidad López III was an American singer, guitarist, and actor. His first album included a cover version of Pete Seeger's "If I Had a Hammer", which earned a Golden Disc for him. His other hits included "Lemon Tree", "I'm Comin' Home, Cindy" and "Sally Was a Good Old Girl". He designed two guitars for the Gibson Guitar Corporation, which are now collectors’ items. A documentary on his life and career, "My Name is Lopez" was released in April 2022.
Hakeem Temidayo Seriki, better known by his stage name Chamillionaire, is an American rapper. He was the founder and an original member of The Color Changin' Click from 2001 until the group split in 2005. He began his solo career with local releases in 2002, including the collaborative album Get Ya Mind Correct with fellow Houston rapper and childhood friend Paul Wall. He signed to Universal Records in 2005 and released The Sound of Revenge under Universal. It included hit singles "Turn It Up" featuring Lil' Flip and the number-one, Grammy-winning hit "Ridin'" featuring Krayzie Bone of Bone Thugs-n-Harmony. Ultimate Victory followed in 2007, which was notable for not containing any profanity. Chamillionaire is also known for his most anticipated Mixtape Messiah series, which ran from 2004 until 2009.
The Color Changin' Click, is a local hip hop group formed in 2001 by Chamillionaire and Paul Wall. The group disbanded in 2005. Chamillionaire and Paul were part of a group prior to Color Changing Click called The Sleepwalkers. It's unclear if there were 3 or 4 members of the group, but PKT was definitely part of the group. Not much more is known about the group other than they used to open up for Swishahouse members prior to being in Swishahouse themselves.
Pedro Herrera III, better known by his stage name Chingo Bling, is an American rapper, producer, and comedian of Mexican descent.
"Ridin' " is a song by American rapper Chamillionaire featuring fellow American rapper Krayzie Bone of Bone Thugs-n-Harmony, released on February 27, 2006, as the second single from his debut studio album The Sound of Revenge (2005). Produced by hip hop producer Play-N-Skillz, the song's lyrics discuss racial profiling and police brutality, in addition to the stereotyping of African-Americans driving a vehicle with drugs and other contraband on the inside.
Ricardo Emmanuel Brown, better known by his stage name Kurupt, is an American rapper and record producer who aided gangsta rap's rise via 1990s verses helping set lasting trends. He is one half of the rap duo tha Dogg Pound, along with Daz. His first solo album arrived in 1998. After feuding, the duo reunited in 2005. Kurupt has been in rap supergroups such as the DPGC.
Asian hip hop is a heterogeneous musical genre that covers all hip hop music as recorded and produced by artists of Asian origin.
Cedric Lee Juan Tuck, known mostly by his stage name Big Tuck, is an American rapper from Dallas, Texas He is a member of the Dallas rap group Dirty South Rydaz.
Tha Absolute Truth is an album by Dallas rapper Big Tuck, and his major-label debut.
Northwest hip hop is hip hop or rap music that originates from the Pacific Northwest of North America, encompassing major cities such as Portland (Oregon), Seattle (Washington), and other towns. Northwest hip hop music mixes elements from various genres of music to form a sound different from its southern neighbor, West Coast hip hop. For many years the scene existed mainly as an underground genre, but recently Northwest hip-hop has seen more and more mainstream acceptance, with artists such as Macklemore gaining nationwide attention.
The Process is the debut studio album by American record production duo Play-N-Skillz from Dallas, Texas. Its clean version was released in 2004 and its explicit version was released on October 18, 2005 via Universal Records. It features contributions from Adina Howard, Akon, Big Gemini, Big Tuck, Chamillionaire, Frankie J, Krayzie Bone, Layzie Bone, Lil' Flip, Rob G, Static Major and Three 6 Mafia.
Alan "AP" Powell is an entrepreneur, consultant and philanthropist.
Element 9 is a music company founded by Stu Pflaum in 2005. The company is based in Cleveland, Ohio and has three divisions with specializations in music publishing, digital marketing and a record label.
Samantha Davon James, better known by her stage name 3D Na'Tee, is an American rapper, songwriter, and video director. She was born in New Orleans, Louisiana and grew up in the 3rd Ward. 3D Na'Tee has been featured on several national media outlets such as MTV, The Source Magazine, XXL Magazine, The Fader Magazine, RapRadar and RapRehab. She has also received attention from Louisiana newspapers and music magazines.
Jeron C. Gibson, better known by his mononym Mr. Lucci or sometimes by Lu Diamond, is an American hip hop recording artist, actor and entrepreneur. In 2001, Mr. Lucci released his first album Diabolical, followed by My Life (2004), 100% Real (2007), 10th Anniversary (2010), V.V.S. (2011) and Certified 1ct (2012).
The influence and impact of hip hop was originally shaped from African American and Latino communities in the South Bronx. In the last several decades, the movement has become a worldwide phenomenon which transcends different cultural boundaries as it reaches several ethnic groups, including Asian Americans. Asian American hip-hop practitioners include: MC Jin, Lyrics Born, Dumbfoundead, Tokimonsta, and DJ Q-Bert.
