Southern rap
Southern rap (or Dirty South) is a type of hip hop that emerged in the mid-1990s as a popular force, based out of New Orleans first, then extending to Atlanta, St. Louis and Miami, among other cities.
In the late 1980s, a distinctive bass-heavy scene Miami bass evolved out of electro hop and similar hip hop-influenced dance scenes, in Miami, including Luther Campbell and his group, 2 Live Crew. 2 Live Crew burst into notoriety after their album, Nasty As They Wanna Be was banned in a Florida town and the group was subsquently arrested on obscenity charges after performing; the charges were eventually dismissed.
The first Southern rap crew to achieve mainstream success based on their music and not controversy was Arrested Development, and their brand of uplifting, spiritual party singles -- the sound was a world apart from the sexually explicit, bass heavy party music of Miami, but sales were swift and reviews were raving, though Arrested Development was not able to keep their momentum going. Their success did set the stage for the mainstream breakthrough of southern rap, OutKast and Goodie Mob in the middle of the decade.
OutKast, more than any other group, put Atlanta on the hip hop map and quickly became one of the most popular groups in hip hop. Aquemini was a groundbreaking album that redefined southern rap especially, and all of hip hop to conform with the mainstream and yet still represent one's own. With the success of OutKast and other Organized Noize-affiliated rappers, a new, more commercially-oriented brand of southern rap became popular in New Orleans that had longer standing roots in Bounce rap culture. For the next few years, Atlanta-based rappers sold moderately and received rave reviews, while No Limit and Cash Money released a series of pop gangsta rap albums, most notably from Master P, The B.G., & Juvenile. The commercial center of southern rap grew less important as the millennium ended. Recently, the Southern crunk style has gained national popularity. In short, Southern rap encompasses many styles, and several cities and states have their own scenes. Besides New Orleans and Atlanta, Houston, Jackson, Charlotte, Virginia Beach, Kentucky, the Carolinas, and Memphis have developed their own styles and stars.
Sylistically, dirty south is noted for its southern accents and terminology, and its heavy use of custom created instrumental backings (using "cheesy" synthesizer presets) instead of sampling (contrary to the trends in other regions at the time). Labels such as Cash Money and No Limit also caused dirty south to be associated with "mass produced" albums released rapidly, especially containing "ominpotent" or "bling bling" covers produced with Adobe Photoshop.
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|align=center| Breakdancing - DJing - Graffiti art - Hip hop music - Rapping (List of rappers)
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|align=center| Fashion - Feuds - Slang - Timeline
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|style="background:darkblue" align="center" |Genres
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|align=center| East Coast - West Coast - South - Gangsta rap - G-funk - Horrorcore - Jazz rap - Alternative - Abstract - Nerdcore - Old school - Hardcore
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|align=center| Trip hop - Freestyle - Hip house - Hip life - Go go - Miami bass - Nu soul - Ghettotech - Electro - Rap metal - Reggaeton - Merenrap
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