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.
Crunk is a subgenre of southern hip hop that emerged in the early 1990s and gained mainstream success during the early to mid 2000s. Crunk is often up-tempo and one of Southern hip hop's more nightclub-oriented subgenres. Distinguishing itself with other Southern hip hop subgenres, crunk is marked and characterized by its energetic accelerated musical tempo, club appeal, recurrent chants frequently executed in a call and response manner, multilayered synths, its pronounced reliance on resounding 808 basslines, and rudimentary musical arrangement. An archetypal crunk track frequently uses a dominant groove composed of a nuanced utilization of intricately multilayered keyboard synthesizers organized in a recurring pattern, seamlessly shifting from a lower to a higher pitch that encompasses the song's primary central rhythm, both in terms of its harmonic and melodic aspects. The main groove is then wrapped up with looped, stripped-down, and crisp 808 dance claps and manipulated snare rolls coupled and accompanied by a bassline of thumping 808 kick drums. The term "crunk" was also used throughout the 2000s as a blanket term to denote any style of Southern hip hop, a side effect of the genre's breakthrough to the mainstream. The word derives from its African-American Vernacular English past-participle form, "crunk", of the verb "to crank". It refers to being excited or high on drugs.
Reggaeton, also known as reggaetón, reguetón and reggüetón,, is a modern style of popular and electronic music that originated in Panamá during the late 1980s, and which rose to prominence in the late 1990s and early 2000s through a plethora of Puerto Rican musicians. It has been popularized and dominated by artists from Puerto Rico since the early 1990s.
Jonathan H. Smith, better known by his stage name Lil Jon, is an American DJ, record producer, and rapper. He was instrumental in the commercial breakthrough of the hip hop subgenre crunk in the early 2000s, and is often credited as a progenitor of the genre. He was the frontman of the crunk group Lil Jon & the East Side Boyz, with whom he has released five albums. In addition, Lil Jon served as a record producer for most recordings by artists of whom popularized the genre; these include Miami-based rapper Pitbull, Bay Area-based rappers Too Short and E-40, and fellow Atlanta-based artists Ludacris, Ciara, and Usher.
Country rap is a fusion genre of popular music, blending country music with hip hop–style singing or rapping.
D4L was an American hip hop group formed in 2003, composed of Atlanta-based rappers Fabo, Mook-B, Stoney, and Shawty Lo. They are best known for their 2005 hit single "Laffy Taffy", which peaked at number one on the Billboard Hot 100 in January 2006.
Snap music is a subgenre of hip hop music derived from crunk that originated in southern United States in the 2000s, in Bankhead, West Atlanta, United States. It achieved mainstream popularity throughout the mid-late 2000s, but declined shortly thereafter. Popular snap artists include D4L, Dem Franchize Boys and K-Rab.
"Lean wit It, Rock wit It" is a song by the hip hop group Dem Franchize Boyz from their album On Top of Our Game. The recording features Peanut and Charlay and was produced by Classic Buck$ aka Buck and Maurice "Parlae" Gleaton.
Austrian hip hop is not a genre of hip hop music, but covers all hip hop music from Austria. The majority of Austrian hip hop acts do Underground hip hop, as the big radio stations in Austria have no airtime for native hip hop. The only radio station that does so is FM4, which focuses on alternative music.
"Crank That (Soulja Boy)" is the debut single by American rapper Soulja Boy Tell 'Em. It served as the lead single from his debut studio album, souljaboytellem.com (2007) and accompanies the Soulja Boy dance. The song is recognized by its looping steelpan riff. It caused what has been called "the biggest dance fad since the Macarena", with an instructional YouTube video for the dance surpassing 27 million views by early 2008.
Hip-hop or hip hop, also known as rap, and formerly known as disco rap, is a genre of popular music that originated in the early 1970s by African Americans and Caribbean immigrants in the Bronx, a borough of New York City. Hip-hop music originated as an anti-drug and anti-violence genre consisting of stylized rhythmic music that often accompanies rapping, a rhythmic delivery of poetic speech. According to the professor Asante of African American studies at Temple University, "hip hop is something that blacks can unequivocally claim as their own". The music developed as part of the broader hip hop culture, a subculture defined by four key stylistic elements: MCing/rapping, DJing/scratching with turntables, breakdancing, and graffiti art. While often used to refer solely to rapping and rap music, "hip hop" more properly denotes the practice of the entire subculture. The term hip hop music is sometimes used synonymously with the term rap music, though rapping is not a required component of hip hop music; the genre may also incorporate other elements of the culture, including DJing, turntablism, scratching, beatboxing, and instrumental tracks.
Twerking is a type of dance that emerged from the bounce music scene of New Orleans in 1990, which has a broader origin among other types of dancing found among the African diaspora that derives from Bantu-speaking Africans of Central Africa. Individually performed chiefly but not exclusively by women, performers dance to popular music in a sexually provocative manner involving throwing or thrusting their hips back or shaking their buttocks, often in a low squatting stance. Twerking is part of a larger set of characteristic moves unique to the New Orleans style of hip-hop known as "bounce". Moves include "mixing", "exercising", the "bend over", the "shoulder hustle", "clapping", "booty clapping", "booty poppin", "the sleeper" and "the wild wood"—all recognized as booty shaking or bounce. Twerking is one among other types of choreographic gestures within bounce.
The HBK Gang is an American hip-hop collective based in San Francisco Bay Area. Founded by Iamsu!, Chief, Skipper, and P-Lo in 2008, members also include singer Kehlani and rapper-producers Sage the Gemini, IsThatCJ, Rossi, Dave Steezy, Jay Ant, and Kool John. After contributing to various mixtapes, including Iamsu's Kilt II, in August 2013, the group released their debut mixtape, Gang Forever. HBK Gang Records is the name of an associated independent record label.
"Drop That NaeNae" is a song by American hip hop group We Are Toonz. Released on November 29, 2013, the song gained popularity in early 2014 thanks to its accompanying dance, created by the PjTheKing.
We Are Toonz is an American hip hop group from Stone Mountain, Georgia, formed in 2013, known for the viral debut dance single "Drop That #NaeNae", inspired by Martin Lawrence's character Sheneneh Jenkins from his popular 1990's sitcom Martin.
"Watch Me" is the debut single by American rapper Silentó. In March 2015, he was signed to Capitol Records, which released the track as a single with an accompanying music video. The song peaked at number three on the Billboard Hot 100, where it spent six non-consecutive weeks. With a viral clip on YouTube, the song was popular for its dance despite negative reviews, a combination of two popular moves cited in the title: the "Whip" and the "Nae Nae" as well as other hip hop dances from various songs, such as "Crank That " and "Stanky Legg". As of 2023, it remains his most well known song.
The Nae Nae is a hip-hop dance that involves placing one arm in the air and swaying from side to side. The Atlanta hip hop group We Are Toonz is credited for inventing the phrase with their hit song "Drop That NaeNae" in 2013. The dance was based on a character from the 1990s sitcom Martin. In the series, Martin Lawrence cross-dressed to play Sheneneh Jenkins, an exaggerated, sassy “ghetto girl”. The group member Callamar stated in an interview with Billboard, “It’s really just based on a ratchet girl in the club dancing kind of funny and the best girl to describe it is Sheneneh from Martin.” In one interview, Martin Lawrence stated he was “flattered” by the dance.
Dabbing, or the dab, is a gesture in which a person leans forward into the bent crook of a slanted, upward angled arm, while raising the opposite arm out straight in a parallel direction. It appears to be similar to someone sneezing into an elbow. Since 2015, dabbing has been used as a gesture of triumph or playfulness, becoming a youthful fad and Internet meme.
Taylor Girlz are an American rap-dance-R&B musical trio consisting of sister rappers Daysha Taylor and Ti Taylor, and dancer-choreographer Tiny. Raised in Atlanta, the Taylor sisters were inspired by their father's rapping to develop their own rhymes. They began working with Tiny in 2013. Now a full-fledged girl group, they first gained popularity in 2015 with their "Woozie" dance video.
"She Make It Clap" is a single by American rapper Soulja Boy. The song was initially self-released on March 15, 2021, before seeing a wider global release under Virgin Music on April 5, 2021. Following its release, the song gained tens of millions of plays across streaming platforms, while also reaching number 23 on the US Billboard Mainstream R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay, as well as both the US and Global Billboard Top Triller charts.
