5 of the Most Slept-on and Underrated Southern Rappers of All Time
· Vice
The South has ruled hip-hop with an iron fist over the last 20+ years. When considering the genre and how it’s risen in pop culture, places like Atlanta were instrumental in the process. Starting with Geto Boys and 2 Live Crew, then Outkast, UGK, and others, the region carved out a space of its own amidst the infamous East Coast vs. West Coast beef. In a way, there was a harmony among Southern rappers that almost acted as an example for how hip-hop could be without all the turmoil.
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Naturally, even with the South’s prominence, there’s still an abundance of underrated greats over the years. Consequently, in the spirit of celebrating the region’s contributions to hip-hop, we’ve selected five southern rappers who are criminally slept on.
5 Southern Rappers You Should Be Showing a Lot More Love
Young Dro
Young Dro should get a lot more credit for how innovative he was as a rapper. Few artists in any region were as imaginative with how he would describe colors or alter typical punchlines. Take “Rubberband Banks”, where he raps, “Mathematically with a pistol, I do trigonometry“.
Or on the same song, he’ll say his diamonds are the color of passionfruit, while his Chevy Suburban is the complexion of a Snapple. Instead of saying he has alligator-skinned shoes, he calls his feet “amphibian.” Young Dro is quietly one of hip-hop’s most skilled writers because of his knack for distinct details.
Trick Daddy
You can’t tell the story of hip-hop in Florida without Trick Daddy. Artists like Kodak Black take after his unabashedly country twang, distinct lingo, and trademark sense of humor.
“I’m A Thug” distills his entire essence, confronting bigots who judge him on the gold slugs shining out of his mouth or the baggy jeans that make him stand out. Then, in the second verse, he mischievously grins that his name alone could break up happy, healthy relationships. Although 2 Live Crew opened the doors for Florida to enter hip-hop, Trick Daddy was the image young rappers could look to emulate.
Phonte
Phonte is an all-time great everyman in hip-hop. He identifies with the common man and their social plight all while hilariously satirizing the state of art and culture in the same breath. This applies to his solo rapping and his Little Brother work as much as it does for his work in Foreign Exchange. There, he croons about relationships and sleeping on the couch after an argument with his woman.
Long before Drake became the all-encompassing superstar we know him as today, he was just trying to emulate Phonte first. Compare and contrast Drake’s first mixtapes next to Little Brother and Phonte’s singing, and you hear virtually the same artist.
Slim Thug
If you’ve heard a Houston rapper, you’ve heard almost all of them. They really capture the essence of hip-hop, staying true to the art of freestyling all while musing about riding slabs and sipping lean. But Slim Thug threw a slight curveball into the tried-and-true formula early in his career by taking his titanic voice and dominating a vast array of different beats.
For instance, Pharrell and Chad Hugo laced him with these booming beats that would devour any other rapper. But in Slim Thug’s hands, he would steamroll over them, flashing his diamond-encrusted grill in the process.
Curren$y
Few rappers are as effortlessly cool as Curren$y. But he’s not the kind of artist with preposterous boasts either. Instead, he lounges in his luxury, rolling up spliffs and making runs to the corner store in his vintage rides. Spitta Andretti has a million and one ways to describe driving his insane car collection.
For instance, on “Showroom”, he gives us a play-by-play breakdown of how the spoiler gets deployed from the trunk once he drives 70 MPH. The only reason we know this is that he bragged about studiously reading the handbook in his console. Hearing other people talk about it might sound a little sweaty and nerdy. But Curren$y’s chill demeanor makes it extremely addicting.
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