Texas Rapps Flashback: Hood Soul

Merely a few years ago, North Austin's Hood Soul Records seemed properly primed for an outright explosion of Texas rap style. Featuring singer Fif Wheel in addition to a squad of rappers including Nawfstar and Nac, Hood Soul also had Salih and Tomar Williams of Carnival Beats on board for their dynamic 2007 mixtape titled Got That Hood Soul...

Big K.R.I.T. Meets DJ Michael "5000" Watts

Big K.R.I.T. is obviously from Mississippi rather than Texas, but upon the release of his new album Return of 4ever, it's a beautiful thing to see his Third Coast style being embraced so wholeheartedly across the Lone Star state. Hopefully, K.R.I.T.'s new album will receive the same chopped and screwed treatment that was applied to his former album K.R.I.T. Wuz Here courtesy of Houston's DJ Michael "5000" Watts....

Texas Rapps Flashback: Z-Ro's G Love freestyle

Z-Ro's first appearance on a DJ Screw mixtape came in 1998. The tape was made for Screw's brother Al-D and it was called G Love. Screw had Z-Ro rhyme over a reworked instrumental to Devin the Dude's "Sticky Green"...

Texas Rapps Flashback: Z-Ro's Blue 22 freestyle

In 1999, Z-Ro made his most famous appearance on a DJ Screw mixtape. The tape was called Blue 22 and Screw placed Ro's verse over the the reworked instrumental to Mean Green's "Major Players". In the video clips below, a very young looking Z-Ro delivers his verse as a normal-speed accapella and then the Screw version follows...

Cory Mo & Killa Kyleon - I Live It

Houston's Cory Mo and Killa Kyleon serve up a hearty dose of game by way of this slight deparrture from Cory Mo's usual laid-back, old school funk-oriented production style... 

Gerald G - Gone Away video

Austin's Gerald G promised a video a month during the course of 2011 and here is the latest installment, featuring singer Brent Carter...

Bavu Blakes - Eddie Long video

Life-long Texan Bavu Blakes now lives in Long Beach, California, but best believe it's a big event when he comes back to Austin to do a show. Utilizing a beat constructed by Reggie Coby of Dred Skott, Bavu finds his SXSW performance from just last week already spun into a quality video by Crew 54's Dookie Vizion Productions...

Chalie Boy - Deja Blu (Tosin Remix) video

Chalie Boy drops yet again, this time with Tosin of The Screwshop remixing his r-n-b steez...

Texas Rapps Flashback: Still Pimpin' Pens

The legacy of the Screwed Up Click was firmly cemented by the emergence of Lil Keke as Southside Houston's favorite rapper circa 1997. With the release of Keke's Don't Mess with Texas album, DJ Screw rounded out his already-vast repertoire by having one of his mixtape regulars excel by way of a full-fledged studio project. In celebration of it all, Screw himself went as far as lending a lyrical verse to his remix of "Still Pimpin' Pens...

Just chill, and smoke a sweet for a second

9-7 showing up, two-timing on records

Steady stacking them dollars

Gassing up my Impala

Lord knows a young g don’t want to get swallowed

So I’m trying to succeed on things a nigga need

The devil’s beneath me, through God ain’t no stopping me

It’s syrup not Hennessey, blowing up independently

I done screwed up the industry, now these majors be paging me

Niggas be hating me, because of my paper, g

It’s all about the real, pimp, it still ain’t no fake in me

Chopping boys up ‘cause you know that I’m able

L-I-L pimp the pen, I be pimping turntables 

Texas Rapps Flashback: Money Waters

In 2003, Money Waters of Dallas put out an album titled The Porch, on which he proved himself to be possibly the most soulful rapper this side of 8ball or Cee Lo Green...

Trashman - The One video

Austin's Trashman of the Guud teams with Dallas singer Deonte' for this slick excursion into the junkyard...  

Texas Rapps Flashback: Mr. Scarface Is Back

In 1991, Houston's Scarface of the Geto Boys tore down his own chunk of hip-hop history with the release of his solo album Mr. Scarface Is Back. Bridging the gap between Kool G Rap and Z-Ro, Scarface helped usher rap lyricism into a new age of psycho-analytical complexity. As seen and heard by the following verses, Scarface unleashes every bit of his darkest self in a form of self-therapy that still rings fascinating to this day...  

2nd verse of "Born Killer"...

My momma did her part
But it ain't her fault that I was born without a heart
In other words, I'm heartless, duke
I don't love me, how the fuck i'mma love you?
That’s right, you guessed it
I'm legally insane, marked manic depressive
I'm taking all types of medication

To keep me out the mood of premeditatin’
Yo, the longer I’m alone, it’s worse
I'm having thoughts of killing me, but I'm killing you first
My psychiatrist talks but I don't listen
A victim of society, fucked by the system
My whole life's been a see-saw
I'm up one day, down and out on tomorrow
Right now I'm even more upset
Some shit done happened to me that I don't think I'll ever forget
You think I'll let it die, but I ain't
It ain't because I want to, it's because I can't
I'mma getcha but I ain't going into it
Cause ain't nothing to it but to do it
See it ain't no sweat to me
Cause in the first place, you fucked up the minute that you stepped to me
I'm not your average dealer
I'mma born killer

2nd verse of "Body Snatchers"...

Many claim to be a gangsta ,but that gangsta ain’t a gangsta
That gangsta is a pranksta, yeah, a pranksta's how I rank ya
At the sight of blood, you hold your stomach then you're running
Hands over your eyes and like a hoe you start to vomit
See, I ain't never backed up, I just rack up as they sack up
And giggle at them niggas when they die while bodies stack up
Like I said before The DJ Akshen's my identity
A homicidal maniac with suicidal tendencies
The judge'll try to sentence me to 10, I'll never blink
He'll change it say I'm psycho and just send me to a shrink
20 months I'm in seclusion and my heads filled with confusion
Got a feeling that I'm losing so I've come to this conclusion
I gotta get the fuck out, I can't take it anymore
Caught a watchman at his post so I rushed him to the floor
I was thinking to myself what if his posse comes to get me
I know if I’mma die I gotta take some niggas with me

Put my hands around his neck began to choke him
Got his pistol out his holster then I smoked him
Waited a second, I heard motherfuckers coming
Grabbed an extra box of shells and started running
Now I'm the nigga cops are running after
It's time to snatch some bodies ‘cause I’m a body snatcher

1st verse of "Diary of a Madman"...

Dear Diary, I'm having a little problem
I cant make it by myself maybe you can help me solve ‘em
I'm confused and I don’t know what to do
I'm hoping you can help me ‘cause there's no one else to talk to
I want to die, but it ain't for me
I try to talk to my dad, but my old man ignores me
He says I'm delirious
And I drink too much, so he doesn’t take me serious
But little does he know I'm really losing it
I got a head, but ain’t no screws in it
I be thinking deep
That’s one of the reasons at night I cant sleep
I thought it would change when I was older
But even now I'm still peeping over my shoulder
There’s your life after death too
And what about the man with the cane and the black suit?
And what about cancer?
Too many motherfucking questions and not enough answers
Ain’t no use in trying
We might as all face it, we were all born dying
There’s a black book in Brad's hands
And it's the diary of a madman

Slim Thug with Devin the Dude & Dre Day - Cadillac Music video

Houston will forever stay on that laid-back, Cadillac steez, this time by way of Slim Thug, Devin the Dude, and Dre Day...

Texas Rapps at SXSW 2011

The SXSW Music Conference has gotten so big and bloated that on multiple occasions I had to avert my eyes from witnessing thousands of people corralled into lines for hours-on-end like subservient cattle. I wasn't about to wait in any of those lines, so I made do skimming the less American Idol-esque portions of the conference/circus.

Oakland's Casual of Hieroglyphics...  

Austin's Young Nick and Mirage of the Guud...

Ellay Khule aka Rifleman from Los Angeles...

Ngafsh and Wreccless of Chillin Villain Empire from Los Angeles...

Austin's Andrae Van Buren, D-Madness, and D.O.S....

Sauti Sol from Naroibi, Kenya...

Houston's Trae the Truth...

The Rap-A-Lot/Project Blowed Connection

Today is the big SXSW Project Blowed BBQ here in Austin and the kinship shared between Texas and California rap scenes is hardly a new thing. Houston's Rap-A-Lot Records already had Oakland's Seagram on their roster when Lil James and company made the move to sign Menace Clan out of Los Angeles. Their "What You Say" video shown below features Menace Clan rapping right across the street from Project Blowed in Leimert Park. As former regulars to the Good Life Cafe open mic nights up the street on Crenshaw, Menace Clan not only benefitted from Rap-A-Lot deciding to release their 1995 album titled Da Hood, but Scarface himself produced the track for "What You Say"...

Texas Rapps at SXSW: The ‘90’s Edition

As a longtime Austin resident, the SXSW Music Conference has provided a gang of fun for me over the years. Here are some of my favorite SXSW memories related to Texas rap…

Blac Monks at Austin Opera House, 1994

The first all-rap SXSW event I ever remember attending happened at the old Austin Opera House in 1994. Among others, I really wanted to see the Blac Monks, who with 3-2 of the Convicts in the fold were making some noise out of Houston with an album on Rap-A-Lot. Beyond enjoying Blac Monks’ set, the thing that wound up sticking with me the most from that night was Bushwick Bill of the Geto Boys showing up and repeatedly running like a miniature wildman across the stage, through the crowded hall, between cars in the parking lot, anywhere that was everywhere…kind of a surreal moment to say the least. Also, I was excited that Rza of the Wu Tang Clan was in the house along with Prince Paul supporting their group of headliners, the Gravediggaz.   

Epatomed at Catfish Station, 1995

1995 was possibly my favorite SXSW rap-wise as thanks to organizer Andre Walker, the rap showcases focused on unsigned acts exclusively, many of which were seasoned natives to the Austin scene. On consecutive nights at the legendary Catfish Station, underground Texas rap unveiled its counter-point to the by-then typical gangsta pose. While sets by Houston’s K-Otix and Dallas’s 2 Headz n Dreadz, featuring a then-unknown Erykah Badu, would serve as launching pads to respective industry successes, it was Arlington’s Epatomed who of the bunch most struck my ear musically. Epatomed emcees Kasar and Saahir (RIP) were simply in a zone of rarified air that evening, which on the way home from 6^th Street that night got backed by their 3-song demo tape being every bit what I evidently wanted to hear over and over and over again for months on end.

Here's some live footage of 2 Headz n Dreadz from that time period...

Sociopath Left at Four Seasons, 1996

This is where current SXSW magnate Matt Sonzala really started to take the reigns on rap at SXSW and it culminated with his former Austin roommates Sociopath Left bringing down the house at the Four Seasons. Sociopath Left’s Jack Fiend had lunatic rap on lock long before Eminem ever ran with it and to boot, the group brought down their buddy Don Scavone from New York to do his own mini-set. As Scavone gets into his second song, this upstart rapper from the crowd starts heckling, so Scavone invites the guy on stage to battle. Scavone waits as the guy delivers a thoroughly wack verse, then Scavone just starts ripping the guy verbally, like Andrew Dice Clay would if he rapped. The guy starts getting so mad that Scavone is serving him that he tries to lunge at Scavone as if he’s going to violently chest-bump him. And without skipping a beat on his rhyme, Scavone rips his jacket off, revealing a bulging bullet-proof vest that lunging-guy basically smushed his face on. Upon extreme embarrassment, the heckler promptly faded back into obscurity as the crowd re-focused on the continuation of Scavone’s set. The theatrics of it were nothing short of priceless.

Aqualeo - What's Really Goin' On video

Here's a bit of a left turn for Aqualeo, a Houston group formerly on the Swishahouse label, who went from standard "Cadillac" fare to full blown lyrical madness and face paint with "What's Really Goin' On"...

Texas Rapps Flashback: Big Moe

One of far too many major losses for Texas rap over the years, Big Moe embraced the drawn-out aesthetics of DJ Screw to the point that Moe's singing became synonymous with purple drank. Unfortunately, such an  unbending allegience became Big Moe's undoing. Yet no matter how tragic the reality, Big Moe did leave us with a ton of classic jams, including this one released in '08 posthumously...

Riders Against the Storm - Is It? video

Pulling out all the stops for SXSW, Riders Against the Storm return with a video spliced from a forthcoming documentary titled Happy People...

Texas Rapps at SXSW 2010

As usual, SXSW last year was a blast. If there aren't enough cool downtown people in Austin already, SXSW week brings in legions upon legions of others to be randomly bumped into at and between events. It actually gets kinda overwhelming in those moments when there are four showcases that you want to see happening at once, and you just ran into some old out-of-town friend that wants to catch up, and you've just had your thirteenth free beer of the day, and oh what the hell, just go with the flow as it's sure to lead you somewhere worthwhile.

First photo is of some extremely talented Austin homies...Trashman, Mirage, DJ Lil Ron, Blac Goliath, and Young Nick of The Guud...

I always make sure to check out international acts during SXSW, acts that don't make their way to the States all that often, at least not to Austin. So, I wasn't mad at all about getting to catch ChocQuib Town from Columbia...

It's nice that one of my favorite rappers anywhere, Gerald G, lives right here in Austin. This is him along with Ryno and others of Monsta Entertainment...

Columbia again brings the heat, this time in the form of Systema Solar. This was my favorite thing to see the whole week, so much fun...

This is Wiz Khalifa's dj warming up the crowd...

And then here's Wiz Khalifa himself...

Philadelphia Freeway...

And last but not least, there was a West Coast rap showcase held outside in the freezing cold. The batteries in my camera ran out before I could get any shots of Bone Thugs N Harmony joining DJ Quik on stage, but I did get this shot of Daz and Kurupt of the Dogg Pound... 

The Cipher

The Cipher is a non-profit organization here in Austin that helps high school kids cultivate their interests in becoming hip-hop performers. The program is centered around Reagan High School and is directed by artist alumni from the school, including poet Zell Miller and the rap group Public Offenders...

Texas Rapps Flashback: World Trade

This Texas Rapps Flashback doesn't go back very far in time (to about 2008), but it does reveal a true diamond in the rough. Comprised of Bavu Blakes and Element7d, World Trade put together one of the better underground rap albums, Channel One, that hardly anybody has ever heard. Along with singer Rochelle Terrell and guitarist Gary Clark Jr., the Austin duo really hit the nail on the head...

Queen Deelah - Soul Way video

Queen Deelah is originally a product of Oakland, California who has recently relocated to Austin. She'll be performing live today on BET's 106 & Park, so keep an eye and an ear out for her... 

Texas Rapps Flashback: S.L.A.B.

 S.L.A.B. aka Slow Loud and Bangin' routinely assembled some of Houston's finest gangsta-oriented lyricists on a series of well-received mixtapes. Trae served as the figurehead of the group and with "Ride on Our Enemies" each of Z-Ro, Archie Lee, Dougie D, Lil B, Lil C, and Lil Sha are also featured...  

Texas Rapps Flashback: Big Mike

Big Mike first came to be known in rap as a product of Houston's Rap-A-Lot Records, as both a member of the Convicts and then the Geto Boys. But Mike is originally from Gert Town, New Orelans and on his solo debut album, '94's Somethin' Serious, he not only incorporates The Meters as his favored sample source but directly addresses the hey-day of NOLA block parties on "Southern Thang". Being that today is Fat Tuesday, it's "hey pocky way, all muthafuckin' day"...

Fiyah Boy - Money & the Glory video

Here's the latest from Austin's Die Slo camp, this time in the form of Q.Will, 2 Tone, and Cham Holmes of Fiyah Boy Entertainment...

Texas Rapps Flashback: Pharoah

Last week, I posted about Big Mello and mentioned how influential he was for other Screwed Up Click rappers. Well in the same breath, I've got to also mention Pharoah of Street Military. For Z-Ro in particular, Pharoah set the standard for fast rap, albeit gravelly and highly erratic, within Southside Houston ranks. And while Pharoah did put out an indicative album, '97's 6 Foot Giant, before being incarcerated indefinitely for a kidnapping incident, it's his freestyles from Screw tapes and beyond that really illustrate his balls-to-the-wall uniqueness... 

Killa Kyleon & Z-Ro - Swang Real Wide chopped and screwed

This song is a year old by now, but it just played on repeat in my truck all weekend long. While Killa Kyleon certainly holds his own, Z-Ro owns "Swand Real Wide" with yet another one of his singing choruses apt to melt butter and faces alike... 

Texas Rapps Flashback: Big Mello

Texas rap took a devastating hit in 2002 when Houston's Big Mello crashed his automobile and died. Fortunately, he left behind two classic album, Bone Hard Zaggin' (1992) and Wegonefunkwichamind (1994), and of course a massive single in the form of '96's "Sucka Free". A DJ Screw cassette regular, Big Mello put it down for his Southside Hiram Clarke neighborhood and then some, basically formulating the blueprint for how Screwed Up Click rappers would sound from him on...

  

Texas Rapps Flashback: Candy Fresh

Candy Fresh was a product of Austin who got scooped up by Fresh Kid Ice of 2 Live Crew and became somewhat of a sensation throughout the South in 1989 by way of this song...

Killa Kyleon - Get Rich or Die Trying video

Houston's Killa Kyleon's name continues to get a little bigger and bigger by the day. Once a member of Slim Thug's Boss Hogg Outlawz, Killa Kyleon has in recent years stepped out on the solo tip and benefitted greatly from collaborations with the likes of Wiz Khalifa, Curren$y and Big K.R.I.T. "Get Rich or Die Trying" is taken from a new DJ Rapid Ric-spun mixtape titled Candy Paint & Texas Plates... 

Project Blowed at SXSW

Another year of the South by Southwest Music Conference brings a thousand or so rappers from across the globe to Austin. Last year, we enjoyed an overflowing smorgasbord that included such luminaries as DJ Quik, Bone Thugs N Harmony, the Dogg Pound, 8ball & MJG and so on. This year, I'm excited to see each of EPMD, the Wu Tang Clan, Labtekwon (wow!) and Freestyle Fellowship on the offical SXSW bill.

But as time goes on, it's becoming more and more typical for the non-offical events to be bringing the major heat. For instance, there's this Project Blowed gathering going down at Club 1808 on East 12th Street. Project Blowed, a long-standing open mic night in Los Angeles, holds a special place in my heart, as writing about its pre-cursor the Good Life Cafe for 4080 Magazine back in the day was one of my first major placings as an aspiring rap journalist. 

Over the years, I've made friends with a bunch of Project Blowed artists, helping them to land shows here in Austin and whatnot. And now, Riddlore? of Chillin Villain Empire actually lives down here in Austin and has without hesitation become an integral part of the Destiny by Design afterschool porgram at Kealing Middle School. Anyway, credit Riddlore? with putting this Project Blowed BBQ together.

And while we're at it, Riddlore?'s group CVE has just recently put out an album titled Not Like Those which I can't seem to take out of my cd player. Between Ridd, Ngafsh, Wreccless, and newest crew member Nevathad, innovative double-timed flows are the norm and they even send a shout-out to Texas rap in the form of the following song...

Texas Battle League

Austin rappers Dubb Sicks and Japanese Jesus host the Texas Battle League, a series of 8 Mile-styled, accapella showdowns that have been taking the internet by storm the past year or so...

Texas Rapps Flashback: Crazy C

Houston producer Crazy C played the field well during the early-to-mid '90's as a remixer of tracks by Wu Tang Clan, Outkast, Goodie Mobb, Above the Law, H-Town, Jodeci, etc. He also kept up an affiliation with Rap-A-Lot Records enough to supply beats for both Big Mello and the Blac Monks. Crazy C's own group from back then, Scientist, never really made it past demo status, but it wasn't for lack of strong production...