COOL BREEZE-What yall really know about the Dirty South

“The South got something to say,” do you remember the originator of that phrase? His name is Andre Benjamin, also known as Andre 3000, and he’s a member of one of the greatest rap groups of all time, OutKast. He said it during the now infamous Source awards when Suge Knight made a vapid statement basically welcoming rappers to Death Row where they didn’t have to deal with having the producer in all of their videos. He must hate rap music now; producers are more popular than most of the artists who use their beats. While it’s hard, nearly impossible, to sell the same rap twice, the same beat can be used forever; just ask Lil John. Today, the South is the driving force of Hip Hop… I have even heard the argument that if Jay-Z were from Atlanta, New York Hip-Hop would be done with its contribution to the culture. It is amazing how, by me being from the South, I can see clearly how something is forever changed once we get our hands on it.

Shit, I could’ve hit the club as fresh as I could be
Really, all for another nigger to see
You know how a nigger get
when he see another nigger outfit
Don’t want nobody to have what he ain’t got
Somebody get drunk, get mad, and get shot
That why the property value ain’t no good
in a nigger neihborhood
A nigger could overstand
if he only understood
I’m sick of lyin’
I’m sick of glorifyin’
dyin’I’m sick of not trying,
shit I’m sick of being a nigger-
Cee-Lo, The Experience (Georgia)


As a Southerner, I’m sure our Southerner readers can remember when cousins from “up North” came to visit for the summer. They hated how slow we talked and how funny we sounded, but by the end of the summer they didn’t want to leave...why? It’s because as time passed, they began to love how our food tasted and enjoyed basking in the attractiveness of our locals. Our visitors began to see how everyone here has a swagger that can’t be duplicated. It’s interesting that when you meet someone from one of the northern states they seem to be the same, to some extent. Let me explain… for all intensive purposes, we all kind of grow up in the same manner, regardless of locale. We all watched the same cartoons and listened to the same songs. However, people in Dallas don’t sound like people in Houston, people in Louisiana don’t sound like people in Mississippi. The way a player walks in New Orleans ain’t the same swagger that a player may have in Atlanta. That being said, we all seemed to share the same experiences- we all grew up on red beans and rice, but in the South we just add a little extra seasoning.

"Cuz if you came to keep the party live - You hustlin'
If you struggling to work a nine to five - You hustlin'
If you grinding selling tapes for your crew - You hustlin'
If you doing what you gotta do - You hustlin'
Cuz if you're spending hours on the block - You hustlin'
Slangin' stacks trying to look out for them cops - You hustlin'
Babysitting, doing nails on the side - You hustlin'
Going to school while you bumming for a ride - Oh Yeah - You Hustlin'"
Kamikaze, Hustlin (Mississippi)

Every day as a child, I’d say to my mother, “let’s move to the city.” Now that I’m an adult, I see what it was that I didn’t understand at the time; being a child of the South is one of the greatest gifts that God could ever give. We learn what is really important; the simple pleasures are normally the greatest ones. We have learned to enjoy the feeling of sweat as it crawls across our skin, in the heat of the day, not just the summer months. We see that slow and smooth as well as strong and steady are much more fun than rushed and rough. It is not only being taught life lessons at home, it’s having those lessons reinforced by everyone around you. I understand that Lincoln High School in New York has a rep that is second to none when you talk basketball in New York. That’s all well and good, but if you haven’t caught a game between Lanier High School and Murrah High School in Jackson, MS, you really have never seen a basketball game. Being there gives you a sense of not only the talent level of these kids, but looking around the stands provides something even greater. In those stands you see older generations that can give you, play by play, what is what like when they were not allowed to drink from the same fountains of people with lighter complexions. You say Kenny Anderson and Stephon Marbury; I say Chris Jackson and Maurice Williams. It’s the same game but believe me, a much different flavor. So when we get our hands on something, any type of art, especially music, we have a way of making it all our own. Rock and roll wasn’t the same when we put our rhythm to it.

A legal pimp is a lawyer in the court making paper
I was sporting snakes while this fool was buying gators
The judge mad as hell, and the judge was a ho
Finna slap me with assault cause I threw my ex-wife to the floor
An inmate going to trial, standing next to the door
Behind the door was prisoners, where he might have to goIf
he was found guilty for murder in the first
Plus, witnesses testified which only made it worse
The state came strong, meaning he was found wrong
The last thing in the judge head was sending the mane home
Kingpin Skinny Pimp, Long Story (Tennessee)

Here in the South, there is always friendly competition, but we are always rooting for each other. When Three Six Mafia won an Oscar, everybody south of the Mason Dixon line erupted with screams of disbelief and pride. We have been there with them since the issues they had with Bone Thugs in Harmony. You have beefs in the South that are never started out of jealousy, but rather when someone feels disrespected. Furthermore, we don’t solve stuff with press conferences; we may make a song or two. Now after that typically there’s a meeting and it is squashed behind closed doors or somebody gets shot. Artists from other regions don’t always seem to have that mutual respect. I will again take note of the artist Andre 3000 and how he talked about the difference in the musical production between artists from the South and artists from New York. I’ll paraphrase, but basically he said that he saw that things were tight and living so close to each other (up North), it influenced a more quick and pounding drum pattern. However in the South, we have space and we have more smoothed out bass lines that last from bar to bar. Interesting isn’t it; we like our shit to hit, but we like it to ooze out of those 12 inch woofers. When we drive down the street, we like it to have a constant wave, not a rapid shake that is repeated over and over.

Rappers is talking to me as if we in the same boat
I tell them quick no, I move Coke!
And you and I don't share no common bond,
So forgive me if I don't receive you with open arms
It shames me to no end,
To feed poison to those who could very well be my kin
But where there's demand, someone will supply
So I feed them their needs at the same time cry
Yes it pains me to see them need this
All of them lost souls and I'm their Jesus
Deepest regret and sympathy to the street
I see them pay for they fix when they kids couldn't eat.
And with this in mind, I still didn't quit
And that's how I know, that I ain’t shit
My heart bleed but that's aside from the fact,
I live from my kids and theirs and them youngins after that
Malice I’m Not You, Clipse (Virginia)

Someone from the South will read this and understand exactly what I am trying to say, while a reader from another region will read it and think that I am talking down about anywhere other than the South. That simply is not the case… I have love for Chicago, D. C., New York, and every other area of this country. The point I’m emphasizing here is that, just like there are some that have memories of block parties and Spanish girls, I have exquisite memories of fish fries and brown skinned girls in biker shorts. I love Hip Hop and how the different regions add their own unique flavor to the pot and much like gumbo, the more ingredients, the better. However right now Hip Hop lives in the Dirty, and just like we do with everything, we have it and it is acting like it doesn’t want to go back home. Its okay baby… we’ve got room as long as you’re paying and you can stay as long as you like. The South has got something to say and the fact that we talk so slow only means that we are just starting to say it. So dear reader, put down that chocolate and pick up this purple until that screw sounds like its normal speed. Come down here and you will understand, but until then don’t worry… it’s a Southern thang.

Damn it feels good to be a gangsta
A real gangsta-ass nigga plays his cards right
A real gangsta-ass nigga never runs his fuckin mouth
Cuz real gangsta-ass niggas don't start fights
And niggas always gotta high cap
Showin' all his boys how he shot ‘em
But real gangsta-ass niggas don't flex nuts
Cuz real gangsta-ass niggas know they got ‘em
And everythings cool in the mind of a gangsta Cuz gangsta-ass niggas think deep
Up three-sixty-five a year 24/7 Cuz real gangsta ass niggas don't sleep
And all I gotta say to you Wannabe, gonna be, cock sucking' pussy eating' pranksters
Cuz when the fire dies down what the Fuck you gonna do
Damn it feels good to be a gangsta
Scarface aka DJ Akshun, Damn it Feel to be a Gangsta (Texas)