Southern hip hop facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Southern hip hop |
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|---|---|
| Stylistic origins | Hip hop, electro, g-funk, gangsta rap |
| Cultural origins | 1980 Southern United States |
| Typical instruments | Rapping |
| Derivative forms | Crunk, Snap, Trap |
Southern hip hop also known as Southern rap, South Coast hip hop, is a type of hip hop music that comes from the Southern United States, especially from Atlanta, New Orleans, Houston, Memphis, and Miami—five cities which constitute the "Southern Network" in rap music.
The music was a reaction to the 1980s flow of hip hop culture from New York City and the Los Angeles area and can be considered the third major American hip hop scene, alongside East Coast hip hop and West Coast hip hop. Many early Southern rap artists released their music independently or on mixtapes after encountering difficulty securing record-label contracts in the 1990s. By the early 2000s, many Southern artists had attained success, and as the decade went on, both mainstream and underground varieties of Southern hip hop became among the most popular and influential of the entire genre.
Southern hip hop peaked in popularity from 2002 through 2004. In 2002, Southern hip hop artists accounted for 50 to 60 percent of the singles on hip hop music charts. On the week of December 13, 2003, Southern urban artists, labels and producers accounted for six of the top 10 slots on the Billboard Hot 100: OutKast (with two singles), Ludacris, Kelis (produced by The Neptunes), Beyoncé and Chingy (on Ludacris' Disturbing Tha Peace label). Additionally, from October 2003 through December 2004, the number one position on the Billboard Hot 100 pop chart was held by a Southern urban artist for 58 out of 62 weeks. This was capped by the week of December 11, 2004 when seven out of the top ten songs on the chart were held by or featured Southern urban artists. In 2004, Vibe magazine reported that Southern artists accounted for 43.6% of the airplay on urban radio stations (compared to 29.7% for the Midwest, 24.1% for the East Coast and 2.5% for the West coast).
A well-known Southern hip hop musician is Lil' Wayne. Some other well known artists include: Ludacris, Gucci Mane, Birdman, 2 Chainz, Vanilla Ice, T.I., Young Buck, and Three Six Mafia.
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See also
In Spanish: Southern rap para niños
