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—the five of which constitute the "Southern Network" in rap music.
Jonathan Smith, known professionally as Lil Jon, is an American rapper, record producer, and DJ based in Atlanta, Georgia. He was the lead frontman of the multi-platinum selling rap group, Lil Jon & The East Side Boyz and was instrumental in the emergence of the sub hip/hop genre Crunk. He is credited with bringing the genre into mainstream success, producing Top 10 Billboard Hot 100 singles Get Low, Goodies, Cyclone, Freek-a-Leek, and Yeah!.Yeah! won a Grammy Award for Best Rap/Sung Performance. Lil Jon is also a frequent collaborator with friend and fellow rapper Pitbull. In 2013, Lil Jon collaborated with DJ Snake and released the EDM multi-platinum hit, Turn Down For What, that won Billboard Music Award for Top Dance/Electronic Song. The music video for the single, released in 2014, was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Music Video, and has been viewed over 826 million times on YouTube as of January 2018. As of 2016, Lil Jon is listed as one of the Top Billboard Music Award Winners of All Time.
Stanley Benton, better known as Stat Quo, is an American rapper, producer, songwriter, and entrepreneur. Benton worked his way to college and attended University of Florida, where he majored in economics and international business in 2000. Benton was contemplating law school, until veteran Southern rapper Scarface encouraged him to rap professionally. In February 2003, Stat Quo released his first installment of the Underground Atlanta Mixtapes and caught the attention of Aftermath Entertainment associate Mel-Man. When Stat Quo was in L.A. performing at Encore, Mel-Man invited him to Record One Studios where he met Dr. Dre. That night at Record One, Stat Quo recorded the song The Future with Dr. Dre and released it on the second volume of his Underground Atlanta Mixtapes. Underground Atlanta Volume 2 made its way by a different route to Eminem and led to Stat Quo's record deal with Shady Records and Aftermath Entertainment. Stat Quo is currently managing Lil Xan and Young Aspect.
Def Jam South Recordings is the southern division of Def Jam Recordings. The label is best known for launching the career of Ludacris and his Disturbing tha Peace group and label. In 2003, the label shut down but was relaunched in 2005. They have also jump-started the career of Young Jeezy.
Christopher Alan "Tricky" Stewart is an American record producer, record executive, songwriter, entrepreneur, and music publisher. In a career spanning over 20 years, Stewart, at the helm of his company RedZone Entertainment, has won 5 Grammys and is responsible for over 10 million records sold. He is noted for producing many hip hop, R&B and pop chart topping singles, often with The-Dream. Some of Stewart's record breaking singles are: Beyonce's Single Ladies " (2008), Rihanna "Umbrella" (2007), Justin Bieber "Baby" (2010), Britney Spears "Me Against the Music" (2003), Mary J. Blige's "Just Fine" (2007), Mariah Carey's "Touch My Body" (2008) and "Obsessed" (2009), Ciara's "Ride" (2010), Mýa's "Case of the Ex" (2000), Karina Pasian's "16 @ War" (2008), Nicole Scherzinger's "Your Love" (2014).
Although the music scene of Atlanta is rich and varied, the city's production of hip-hop music has been especially noteworthy, acclaimed, and commercially successful. In 2009, The New York Times called Atlanta "hip-hop's center of gravity", and the city is home to many famous hip-hop, R&B and neo soul musicians.
Rap-A-Lot is a Hip Hop record label founded by James Prince in 1985. Sub-labels include Smoke-A-Lot. The label, with its most famous act The Geto Boys, put the South on the Hip Hop map. Since then, it has maintained its success and focus on Gangsta Rap and Southern Rap.
Jasiel Amon Robinson, better known by his stage name Yung Joc, is an American rapper. He is best known for his hit single "It's Goin' Down".
Aldrin Davis, professionally known as DJ Toomp, is an American record producer, songwriter, and DJ. DJ Toomp received his start in 1985, with Atlanta MC Raheem the Dream, producing Raheem’s self-titled record when he was only 16 years old. In the late 1980s, he was MC Shy-D's DJ and toured with him and the 2 Live Crew, as they performed at various venues across the country with other hip hop acts such as N.W.A. and Ice-T. After MC Shy-D left Luke Records, Toomp went on to DJ for JT Money and the Poison Clan. When the 2 Live Crew broke up he worked on an album with former group member Brotha Marquis, called Indecent Exposure, under the moniker 2 Nazty; the cover billed him as a member of the Poison Clan. In 2006, Toomp partnered with hip hop veteran Bernard Parks, Jr., to launch NZone Entertainment, their very own record label.
Terius Youngdell Nash, better known by his stage name The-Dream, is an American record producer, songwriter and singer. His co-writing credits include songs with "Me Against the Music" (2003) for Britney Spears, "Ride" (2010) for Ciara, "Umbrella" (2007) for Rihanna, "Single Ladies " (2008) and "Partition" (2013) for Beyoncé and "Baby" (2010) for Justin Bieber. As a solo recording artist, he released five studio albums between 2007 and 2013: Love Hate (2007), Love vs. Money (2009), Love King (2010), Terius Nash: 1977 (2012) and IV Play (2013).
Juaquin James Malphurs, better known as Waka Flocka Flame, is an American rapper. Signing to 1017 Brick Squad and Warner Bros. Records in 2009, he became a mainstream artist with the release of his singles "O Let's Do It", "Hard in da Paint", and "No Hands", with the latter peaking at number 13 on the US Billboard Hot 100. His debut studio album Flockaveli was released in 2010. His second studio album Triple F Life: Friends, Fans & Family was released in 2012 and was preceded by the lead single "Round of Applause".
The 2009 Soul Train Music Awards were held at the Georgia World Congress Center in Atlanta, Georgia on November 29, 2009. The show was hosted by Oscar nominated actor Terrence Howard and Oscar nominated actress Taraji P. Henson. Performers included Keri Hilson, Toni Braxton, Trey Songz, Mario, Raheem DeVaughn, Ludacris, Ryan Leslie, and Robin Thicke.
Love King is a song by American R&B artist The-Dream. It is the first single from his third studio album Love King. The song premiered on February 17, 2010 on Def Jam's website. It was released digitally on March 16, 2010.
Statlanta is the debut studio album by Atlanta rapper Stat Quo. First recorded and set to be released in 2003, under Shady Records, Aftermath Entertainment and Interscope Records with mentors Eminem and Dr. Dre as executive producers, it was reworked in 7 years not featuring any of the original material recordings, it was released on July 13, 2010 under Sha Money XL's Dream Big Ventures label after many push-backs.
Let It Shine is a 2012 musical television film that premiered on Disney Channel. It features an ensemble cast of Tyler James Williams, Coco Jones, Trevor Jackson and Brandon Mychal Smith. The film follows a shy, talented rapper and musician who pens romantic hip-hop verses only to stand idly by as they're delivered to the girl of his dreams by a proxy, his best friend, in a retelling of Cyrano de Bergerac (play). The film was directed by Paul Hoen and written by Eric Daniel and Don D. Scott. The Disney Channel Original Movie premiered on June 15, 2012 in the United States and Canada, and July 20, 2012 in the United Kingdom and Ireland.
Atlanta has a thriving music industry and is considered to be a capital of hip-hop including crunk, of R&B and its offshoot neo-soul, and of gospel music - in addition to a thriving indie-rock and live music scene. Classical, country and blues are also well represented. From the 1920s through 1950s the city was a major center for country music.
"Get Low" is a song by American hip hop recording artist Waka Flocka Flame, released on June 5, 2012 as the third single from his second studio album, Triple F Life: Fans, Friends & Family (2012). The song was produced by Boi-1da, DJ Speedy and Breyan Issac. It features verses from Trinidadian rapper Nicki Minaj and American rapper Tyga. The chorus is sung by Flo Rida.
Jerome Fortune (born October 13, 1988), better known by his stage name Rome Fortune, is an American hip hop recording artist who rose to prominence after the release of his Beautiful Pimp mixtape in 2013. Influenced by a diverse range of musical traditions, Fortune has released 6 EPs and has collaborated with a number of artists from the Atlanta hip hop scene, including OG Maco, Dun Deal, and ILoveMakonnen.
Raheem Devon Gibson, often referred to as “Rah Nyse” or “Nyse” is an American record producer, songwriter and Lyricist. Gibson was born on February 13, 1972 in the Throggs Neck neighborhood of The Bronx N.Y. Some of his most notable productions are “Dot Vs. TMR” for three time Grammy Nominee and NARAS award winner D-Dot/The Madd Rapper, “Let Me Find Out” for Grammy Award winning American Hip Hop trio Naughty By Nature, which appeared on the groups sixth studio album IIcons, and “I Want the World to See”, for Bad Boy recording artist G-Dep’s chart topping debut album Child of the Ghetto.
Ricardo Valdez Valentine, better known by his stage name 6lack, is an American singer, songwriter, and rapper from Atlanta, Georgia.
