Hip-hop has a new coast. Forget about East and West, what about The South?
The South-Mississippi especially-introduced the world to the blues and a brand of rock that set audiences on their ears. Now the South is doing it again, only this time it’s the pounding beats of Southern hip-hop artists that are making listeners crank up the volume on the radio in their cars and in their homes.
As a region the South has a wealth of talent that is often overlooked, but lately many Southern artists have been hitting the top of the Billboard charts and selling millions of records. Southern hip-hop artists like David Banner, Outkast and Eastside Boys have been putting out albums for years but just recently they lit the fuse on the explosion of “crunk” music.
Mixing rhymes with a rock influence is what makes crunk music different from that of other hip-hop styles. According to an August press release from The Source magazine, crunk music and “the New South is where hypnotizing hooks collide with thunderous, bass-heavy beats.”
What else makes crunk different?
“Soul, the difference between our music and others is that you can feel it,” said southern hip-hop forerunner and Mississippian David Banner.
According to Banner, crunk music is a feeling.
“It is being free-spirited, being loud and being wild and controlled at the same time,” Banner said.
Banner said many Southern rappers are taking their history, background and upbringing and embracing them rather than discarding and ignoring them.
“After God, it (his history and background) means everything to me, because I’m nothing without my people,” Banner said.
“All the negative things that have happened in Mississippi have made me the man that I am,” he added.
Southern radio stations have always been supportive when it comes to local hip-hop artists, but with record sales up the rest of the country is getting a chance to listen to the beats being hammered out of the South.
Outkast may be one of the more recognizable names in Southern rap, but the duo is only a drop in the bucket. Outkast not only introduced the nation to a new, funky brand of rap but also opened the flood gates and gave other Southern hip-hoppers a higher platform from which to speak their rhymes and pound out rhythms.
“I think that it is a great opportunity for Southern artists, especially those in Mississippi, because we have lots of undiscovered talent and David Banner is paving the way for other Southern artists to be seen,” Mississippi State University senior and hip-hop fan Chandra Foard said.
“Most of our kids want to be like somebody that they aren’t,” Banner said. “On music videos, they don’t talk like us or act like us.”
But crunk music and Southern rappers are showing them that they can achieve as much as the people they emulate, Banner said.
“They can be good enough, they can be from Mississippi, they can talk like they talk and they can be successful,” he said.
Crunk music can be heard anywhere on MSU’s campus. Whether it comes from the halls of fraternity houses or from the speakers of a car, this style of hip-hop refuses to be silenced.
Banner is releasing a re-mixed version of Mississippi: The Album, due in stores Sept. 9. He said he is also anticipating the release of a new album in December.
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