Southern-fried hip-hop: down-home lyrics and strong dance grooves are ingredients of a tasty menu

WHETHER it's grubbing at a local barbecue spot Memphis, bling-blinging while riding in a Caddy on Peachtree Street, or just kicking it at a joint on Bourbon Street, the Southern lifestyle has taken the hip-hop world by storm. Once the butt of jokes in the New York City/Los Angeles-dominated world of rap music, it's now cool to hail from below the Mason-Dixon line.

The hottest rappers in the music industry today are from the South, including David Banner, Ludacris, Cee-Lo, Petey Pablo and Lil' Jon, all serving up their own brand of Southern-fried hip-hop with platinum success. The "Dirty South" has joined the rap party, and rolling through the 'hood will never be the same. On the following pages, five of the hottest Southern rappers are highlighted.

Outkast one is a self-described player, and the other a poet. But put DRE (Andre Benjamin) and BIG BOI (Antoine Patton) on a stage together, and the duo have a knack for making big things happen. As members of OutKast, the two have developed an innovative, street-savvy rap style that has produced tremendous crossover success.

The two, who met at Atlanta's Tri-City High School, quickly described as "a tad bit different." They began rapping together, eventually starting a group called Shades Deep. The duo signed a contract with L.A. and Babyface's LaFace record label prior to graduation, and immediately struck gold with the platinum Southernplayalisticadillacmuzik, featuring

"Player's Ball," which topped the Billboard rap chart for over six weeks in 1994. Six years later, OutKast's album, Stankonia, fused funk and hip-hop with tales of life on the streets of their East Point and Decatur neighborhoods. The album featured the chart-topping song "Ms. Jackson," which helped establish the South as a force in the hip-hop world.

0utkast was the first rap group to have a hit with specific references to Atlanta in its songs. Dre and Big Boi's spectacular success as artists not only lies in their ability to pioneer new sounds with each recording, but in accepting their different personalities and building on their common interests--a shared love of Parliament/Funkadelic, James Brown and Jimi Hendrix. Perhaps 0utKast's best effort came on their disc Aquemini, a huge commercial and artistic success. In fact, in its wrap-up of the 90 greatest albums of the '90s, one music magazine ranked Aquemini at No. 35. With the group's latest production, Speakerboxxx/The Love OutKast continues to rewrite rap's rule book

Ludacris

Born in Illinois, Ludacris (aka Chris Bridges) moved to Atlanta with his family when he was 12. His big break came when he worked as a radio DJ and became known around Atlanta for his catchy rhymes on station promos. In fact, his raps received so much attention that he recorded an independent record. Soon afterward, Def Jam South signed him.

But Ludacris didn't become a household name until 2001, when he released Word of Mouf, which spawned the players' anthem "Area Codes." In 2002, he was embroiled in a heated controversy with conservative talk-show host Bill O'Reilly, who had criticized Pepsi for making a "thug rapper" like Ludacris the company's next spokesman. Pepsi and Ludacris eventually ended that relationship, but the attention only served to expand Ludacris' already huge fan base.

With the release of his third major-label album, Chicken & Beer, in October, and a voice-over part in an upcoming animated movie, Ludacris is "country enough to represent the South, but cool enough to represent Atlanta." He has created his own record label, Disturbing The Peace, as well as developed several of his own film projects.

Nappy Roots

Kentucky has historically brought to mind vivid images of fried chicken, bourbon, horse racing and bluegrass. That was until Nappy Roots came along and brought the state to the forefront of hip-hop culture.

In fact, Nappy Roots members Big V (Vito Tisdale), Ron Clutch (Ronald C. Wilson), Scales (Melvin Adams), R. Prophet (Kenneth Anthony), B. Stille (Brian B. Scott) and Skinny Deville (William Hughes) have made such an impact on the state that Kentucky Gov. Paul Patton awarded the rappers their own statewide holiday on Sept. 16 each year.

Former students from Western Kentucky University, they formed Nappy Roots in 1996 after they met at a local freestyle competition. They soon had a strong college following and opened their own record store near campus, using it as an in-house studio and a place to sell their albums.

The group hit the national scene in 2002 with the release of its CD, Watermelon, Chicken & Gritz. Now with the release of the new disc, Wooden Leather, the group is reaching for a larger fan base. Nappy Roots recently traveled to the Persian Gulf as part of Project Salute 2003, the first entertainment tour to the region since the war in Iraq began.

David Banner

His recent CD is titled Mississippi: The Album. But for rapper David Banner that title only begins to describe his affinity for the South. He mixes hardcore gangsta rap and message-driven soul music--with a heaping of country flavor cultivated during his childhood in Jackson, Miss.--to create a fresh-sounding rap music that has everyone from Busta Rhymes to Erykah Badu wanting to work with him.