Jackson Hip Hop

Word Up!

Celebrating Mississippi Poetry • Spoken Word • Hip Hop

By AmAndA Furdge

you can’t spell Hip Hop without heart you can’t spell heart without Mississippi you can holla if you hear we us

the soul of the south with more than cotton in our mouths more than sweet tea on our minds everybody knows that rhyme originated here if we’re being honest heard in blues around the world

Hip Hop is a southern girl that we nicknamed Juke she put on her tennis shoes and took the City of New Orleans from NYC by word of mouth made her way down south just like a pimp would have told her to she crossed her t’s and dotted her i’s knowing the Crooked Lettaz couldn’t be caught by surprise

she fell in love with the 601 662 769 and then some she came to meet her country cousin that our elders call rhythm and hues

a migration marked by greatness she did exactly what Blackness had raised her to do be art and mimic life

sneak into the club and grab the mic check

1, 2, 1, 2 Mississippi Hip Hop

The bastard child of the blues a Stewpot Stowaway on the campus of Thee we love JSU Jackson State Wu-Tang South Black, poor and oppressed with more genius in the mouth than capitalism could complain about but in the neighborhood

WJMI and The Advocate had too much clout to shut the spirit of young, Black and empowered out the essence of Finesse could not be denied hearing a hustler’s prayer on the radio put a tear in our eyes

Reese & Bigalow

elemental

the years 1988 through 1999

instrumental to understand the world you must first understand a place like Mississippi

a mecca for movement and music

art and poetry

from Caught Up In the Game David Banner and Firewater Kamikaze

to the Sonic Boom of Coke Bumaye and I Ain’t Stressin’ Today Dear Silas

Mississippi will forever be home to supreme lyrical stylists

50 years of milage

Word Up!

WRITTEN BY CHARLIE BRAXTON INTRODUCTION

In August of 1973, a 15-year-old South Bronx resident named Cindy Campbell wanted to buy some fly new school clothes to impress all of her teenage friends. Unfortunately, she had one major problem – she didn’t have enough money to afford some of the brand name clothes she wanted. She needed a way to raise money, so she decided to throw a back to school party and charge local kids .25 cents for girls and .50 cents for boys to attend. In addition, she would purchase hot dogs, sodas, chips, and malt liquor at a wholesale price and sell them at the party, which would earn her even more revenue. For the venue, she used the recreation room in her apartment building located at 1520 Sedgwick Avenue. Now the only thing else that was needed was a musical act, which could be quite expensive.

Luckily for her, her brother Clive was a budding DJ who went by the name Kool Herc. Herc had a huge speaker system in his room that would be perfect for a party. So Cynthia asked her brother to DJ her party and he agreed.

“I’m thinking, ‘how can I cut my costs?’ When you have your party, you got to have the music. So I said, ‘It’ll be free because I don’t have to pay for it,’” Campbell told DJ Davey D. “I was cutting cost.”

With Kool Herc on board to man the wheels of steel, the party was set for August 11. It was on that day that the two not only made money ($500 to be exact), they made history as well. It was on that day, DJ Kool Herc would introduce a turntable technique called the Merry Go Round to an astonished audience of dancers.

During the course of DJing, Herc observed how the crowd would go wild whenever a record would reach the breakdown in the song. The only problem is that a breakdown didn’t last longer than a minute, hardly enough time for a DJ to turn a party out. But Herc figured out a way to take that break and extend it for as long as he wanted it. He took two copies of the same record, dropped the needles on the breakdown of both records, and switched back and forth from break one and two. And when he debuted this newfound technique, he jump-started a movement that would take over the world.

It is difficult to do any kind of history of hip hop music without talking about the importance of the breakbeat in the production of early modern hip hop music. The breakbeat is the sonic foundation upon which modern hip hop, or rap music as it is commonly known, is built upon. The breakbeat is the blueprint for all forms of rap music, whether it uses an actual break from an actual vinyl record, a sample of a record, or live instruments that are used to interpolate a sample of a song. Without the breakbeat, it is highly possible that rap music, as we know it, would not exist.

This year marks the 50th Anniversary of the advent of hip hop culture, and all the world is celebrating. Major cities around the world are celebrating their contribution to the culture by host-

Braxton

Cindy Campbell’s Back to School Jam invitation

ing concerts, film festivals, conferences, and panels all year long. Cities like New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Atlanta, London, Paris, Houston, and others are rolling out the red carpet for their old school hip hop stars. Writers and historians are busy writing about the history of their area’s hip hop. All of this is good. It is the vital archival work that should be done. But where is the history of Mississippi hip hop, and how does it fit into the overall history of the culture?

While many people view hip hop as mainly a New York thing, the truth is almost every region in the Americas has played a role in the development of this culture in some small way. This includes the City of Jackson, Mississippi.

As stated earlier, the breakbeat is the sonic foundation of hip hop music. Back in the day, hip hop DJs prided themselves in having the dopest breakbeat records in their collection. These DJs would scour record stores, their parents’ old vinyl collection, garage sales, and anywhere else where vintage records were found, looking for the perfect beat to move the crowd. These records were so coveted that DJs would scratch off record labels to keep rare breakbeats secret from competitors.

Believe it or not, three of the most important breakbeat records in hip hop were actually recorded here in Jackson.

“Groove Me” by the Legendary King Floyd was the first one. Floyd, a New Orleans native, wrote the song about a college girl that he worked with at the L.A. Box Company who would always stare at him while they worked. “She’d just watch me and smile at me all day,” Floyd told Canadian ethnomusicologist Rob Bowman. “When I went to the water fountain, she would make it her purpose to come up to the water fountain. But, I was so shy. So, I decided one day that I was gonna write this poem and give it to her and I wrote ‘Groove Me.’ Believe it or not, after I finished it, she never came back to work. It blew me away. So, I never gave her the poem.”

While Floyd’s unrequited love may have eluded him, the poem did bring him luck in the long run when he met a music producer by the name of Wardell Quezergue. Dubbed the “Creole Beethoven” for his musical acumen, Quezergue had a production deal with Malaco and convinced King Floyd, then a New Orleans postal worker, to come to Jackson to record for him. On May 17, 1970, Floyd drove to Jackson and stepped into Malaco’s recording studio to record “Groove Me” in one take.

Quezergue’s funky bass-laden groove and percussive horns created the perfect aural canvas for Floyd’s poetic lyrics and bluesy grunts. Little did the two think that they had recorded a hit song, much less a classic soul masterpiece that would reverberate for years to come.

In fact, “Groove Me” wasn’t even selected as the single once the 45rpm was finally released in September of 1970. It was the B-side of the single “What Our Love Needs,” on Chimneyville, a subsidiary of Malaco Records. “What Our Love Needs” didn’t do well nationally, but when a New Orleans disc jockey named George Vinnett started playing the B-side, the record took off locally. This prompted Atlantic to quickly acquire the

Covers for Malaco Records Presents The Last Soul Company Jean Knight’s Mr. Big Stuff

national distribution rights to the record. The record went to #1 on the national R&B Charts and peaked at #6 on the Billboard Hot 100 Charts. Later, the record became a staple breakbeat for hip hop DJs around the world. It has been sampled by a plethora of rappers including Camron, Heavy D & the Boyz, Salt N Pepa, Public Enemy, Kool Moe Dee, LL Cool J, Fat Joe, MC Breed, and others. With the success of “Groove Me,” King Floyd quit his job at the post office and never looked back.

However, “Groove Me” wasn’t the only hit Quezergue produced in that same recording session that would go on to become a classic break for hip hop DJs.

Jean Knight, another New Orleans native, who worked as a baker at Loyola University, had a demo deal with Quezergue also. She came to the Capital City to record her demo along with King Floyd. Lucky for her, she stepped into that same studio and recorded the classic hit “Mr. Big Stuff” with the exact same musicians who recorded “Groove Me.” But, believe it or not, the record didn’t take off like its predecessor did initially. Many of Quezergue’s contacts in the music business thought that the record was “too country” to make it on a national level and passed on it in 1970.

When King Floyd’s “Groove Me” hit it big in 1970, Stax Records’s CEO, Al Bell, remembered the record and quickly picked it up for Stax. It was a savvy move on Bell’s part. In May of 1971, almost nine months after Floyd’s record, Stax released Knight’s “Mr. Big Stuff.” Instantly, the song became a massive hit, going #1 on the Billboard R&B Charts and #2 on the Billboard Hot 100. The song stayed on both the Pop and R&B

charts for 16 weeks. She also received a Grammy nomination for Best R&B Vocal Performance for “Mr. Big Stuff” in 1972. In addition to being one of the biggest songs of the 70s, “Mr. Big Stuff” became one of the biggest breakbeat records in hip hop. The record has been sampled by Eazy E, Dr. Dre, Schooly D, Beastie Boys, Grandmaster Flash & the Furious Five, Queen Latifah, Snoop Dogg, Dana Dane, Whodini, Heavy D & the Boys, and a whole host of others.

The third and final breakbeat was recorded by an eight piece, self-contained funk ensemble by the name of Freedom. Comprised of Caleb Armstrong, Ray Smith, Joe Leslie, Victor Mason, Larry Addison, Adolph Adams, and Robert Black, Freedom first formed at Jackson State University and started gigging around the state. After earning a solid reputation for putting on a stellar show and composing their own material, the band soon inked a deal with Malaco Records. In 1979, they released their debut LP Further Than Imagination. Their first single, entitled “Dance And Sing Along,” became a local hit but failed to make a big splash nationally. It was the group’s second single, “Get Up And Dance” that would reverberate with hip hop DJs and B-Boys around the world. No self-respecting hip hop DJ would be caught dead without at least two copies of “Get Up And Dance” during the 70s and 80s. In addition, the record has been sampled on over 60 hip hop and R&B records. These include Grandmaster Flash & the Furious Five, Crash Crew, Boogie Down Productions, De La Soul, Gang Starr, Black Eyed Peas, John Legend, SWV, Black Sheep, and Kool Moe Dee.

Freedom- Victor Mason, Caleb Armstrong, David Thigpen Sr., Ray Smith, Larry Addison, and Adolph Adams

JACKSON

Most people outside of Mississippi tend to see its capital city as the focal point of the state’s hip hop activity. This is largely due to the success of David Banner, whom many feel opened the door for Mississippi hip hop. But, as has been stated and proven before, Mississippi hip hop didn’t start with David Banner. There were other groups – like Hattiesburg’s Ice Cold Rappers, Double T and the Downtown Posse from Laurel, The Mississippi Dough Boys from the Gulf Coast, and Meridian’s 1 Cause, 1 Effect –making records before him. Likewise, hip hop was being recorded in Jackson as early as 1987. So it is more than safe to assume that Jackson’s hip hop history certainly didn’t start with Wildliffe Society, Crooked Lettaz, and David Banner. What follows here is a brief history of Jackson hip hop.

The earliest evidence of rap in Jackson came in 1979 when a local DJ by the name of Heavy Herb Anderson introduced a daily rap during his morning drive shift on WKXI, the first Blackowned radio station in the state. Dubbed the man with the million-dollar mouth, Herb initially did the rap as a parody of the hip hop hit, “Rapper’s Delight.” Possessing the poise of a seasoned old school MC, Anderson got on the microphone and spit rhymes that contained clever couplets like: “Heavy Herb, Heavy Herb your raps are just too cold. You might not be number one right now, but your daddy’s getting old.”

The station was flooded with phone calls requesting Heavy Herb’s rap. The rap became so popular that Anderson was compelled to play it every day during his morning drive time shift.

“After I saw the success of the Sugarhill Gang’s record, ‘Rapper’s Delight,’ I realized how easy it was to do it,” says Anderson. “Anybody could do this. All you needed at the time was a record with a strong bassline and rap to the beat. So I took the bassline from Vaughn Mason & Crew’s song, “Bounce, Rock, Skate, Roll,” and rapped my own rhymes to it. I was surprised when it took off.”

What was meant to be a one-time gimmick for his radio show soon became a popular feature of his morning show. Early club DJs like Eddie Cheeba and DJ Hollywood are seen as forerunners to the rap component of New York hip hop, and Heavy Herb is the unsung forerunner to Jackson hip hop. Today, Anderson is retired from secular radio. He is a minister and now works at WOAD, a gospel station here in Jackson.

Fast forwarding to the mid 1980s, hip hop was beginning to infiltrate Mississippi youth culture in earnest. This is around the time when young people were gathering in informal circles to test their verbal skills against one another. These circles or ciphers, as they are commonly called, took place in parks, playgrounds, lunchrooms, backyards, and even in school bathrooms. Wherever two or more rappers gathered together, sooner or later, a battle would break out. These battles could last as long as a recess, a lunch break, or all night long, with the victor one day dreaming of becoming a rap star.

Ironically, the earliest hip hop record to be recorded and released from Jackson was by a Baton Rogue native named Kyper.

Born Randall Kiper, he exchanged the ‘i’ in his last name for a ‘y’ and became known as Kyper. Familiar to everyone in his area as a DJ/rapper, Kyper’s music is reminiscent of an early

Heavy Herb, Al Green, and Bennie Thompson

form of hip hop known as electro-funk. His sounds consisted of uptempo music with a heavy use of the Roland 808 and funk, reminiscent of Afrika Bambaataa and the Soul Sonic Force’s “Planet Rock” or Man Parrish’s “Hip Hop Be Bop.”

Kyper released his first LP, Conceited, on Traction Records. Traction was a Jackson-based label that specialized in blues, soul, and gospel music. It was owned by the legendary James Bennett, the proprietor of BIP Record Shop. Bennett released Kyper’s first single, “Conceited,” in 1987. The record did so well regionally, it prompted Bennett to release two more singles – “Life Is Hard” and “Throwdown” in 1988. Although the LP failed to hit the Billboard Top 20 R&B Charts, it did well enough to garner a deal with Atlantic Records who dropped his platinum-selling second album, Tic-Tac-Toe.

In addition to Kyper’s single, Traction Records also released “You’re Doomed” by a rap duo known as K-Fresh the Cool Chiller (née Keith Jackson) and Turn Master T in 1988. Produced by K-Fresh and Randall Kiper, “You’re Doomed” was a typical 80s-style rap record complete with a pounding 808 drum-track, chaotic scratches, and a lyrical flow that screamed “I wanna be LL Cool J so bad it hurts.” In 1994, the group released an EP entitled Life Of A GN under the moniker The Cool Chiller and TMT back. That was the last anyone has heard from them since.

Bennett released other rap records such as the 1989 track “Sonic Boom”. The track was by Shane Atkinson and David Fisher, a white duo called Rock n Rap, on his Darthvader Records imprint. The record was released as a tribute to Jackson State University’s band, the Sonic Boom of the South. Featured on the same imprint were Prep EMC’s “I Like Girls” and J Bass Love’s “Do What You Want.” While these records did not earn much success, they are now highly sought after discs amongst record collectors and have earned coveted spots in Jackson’s hip hop history. Another 80s rap group of note was Trenchcoat (AKA Trenchcoat Mafia). They dropped an album, entitled Bad To The Bone, on Malaco Records back in 1987. The album was produced by Larry Addison.

Another little-known piece of hip hop history includes the classic New York-based hip hop label, B-Boy Records, moving to Jackson. B-Boy Records is one of those independent hip hop labels that released classic hip hop records such as “The South Bronx” and “The Bridge Is Over” as well as the classic LP Criminal Minded by Boogie Down Productions. Their roster included pioneering hip hop acts like JVC Force, Cold Crush Brothers, Sparky D, and Spider D. So, why would a New York hip hop label move its operations down to Jackson, Mississippi? Nobody knows. But, according to Tony B (née Anthony Bryant), a veteran of B-Boy Records had not only moved to Jackson, they had actually set up shop in an office on the corner of Bailey Avenue and Fortification Street.

“We met Musa Kammarra who was a 5-Percenter. His father owned B-Boy Records,” says Bryant. “They had moved over by Fortification. They were throwing a rap contest at the Masonic Temple on Valentine’s Day. Whoever came in first, second, and third would get a record deal. Raggabumpkins (Hugh Addison and Zaron Yarn) who were Quiet Storm at the time won, and Unforbidden Rappers won. They [later] became DSP. Also, my group – Total Control – won too. We went on to become Valley of the Dry Bones, and, after that, we were Black Rage. Oh, and a girl named Red Rock T won a contract too.”

According to Bryant, the winning groups spent almost a year

Randall “Kyper”

recording records and hanging out at B-Boy Records. In addition, Bryant and Musa became friends, with him showing the New Yorker how to “move around down here.” This went on for a year or more. Everything seemed promising, until one day they came by the office and it was closed. “The owner just up and left,” recalls Bryant. “He left his whole little crew down here, including his son.”

Why the owner left so abruptly is unknown. What is known is that the label did have some legal issues in New York. Boogie Down Productions left the label before they came to Jackson, citing financial discrepancies over royalties. There were also reports that the label was drowning in debt. Additionally, allegations that the company may have been a front for illicit activities, such as pornography, began to circulate. Whatever the cause was, the owner left and never came back.

Also, during the 80s, hip hop was making some headway on the airways thanks to young mix-show DJs and WMPR, a community-based radio station. According to Bryant – who, in addition to being a pioneering rapper from Jackson’s early hip hop scene, was a former DJ of the “2 Black 2 Strong” radio show – WMPR played a vital role in spreading rap music throughout Central Mississippi.

“90.1 was a big part of all of this. There was a DJ named the Wizard. He had a mixshow back in 85/86. After his run, there was another DJ Called Chilli G (Garrad Glass). Then after him, we came. We were DJs as well. Me and Darrin G pretty much ran the “2 Black, 2 Strong” mix show back in 88. I produced, wrote, and arranged the show. Darrin G (Darrin Green) and I did the mixes. Asiatikk Blakk (née John James) mixed one or two shows too.

We did that for about 2 years. That’s when Howie How (Howard Fanning) and Sleepy Nevilles (Arnold Nevilles) of Shake Em Up Sounds came on as our rivals.”

With the state’s first hip hop mix show on a 100,000 watt radio station, Mississippi soon started to attract major hip hop artists to the station. For example NWA, Public Enemy came through to do interviews. Also local rappers came through and did interviews and freestyles live on the air.

Early on, Jackson hip hop was divided into two main categories: street rap and backpacker rap. Due to the music’s subject, the rappers and their audience tended to fall along class lines. For example, the street rappers (i.e gangsta rap) usually came from poor and working-class areas such as Shady Oaks, Brown Bottom, and the Wood Street area. The backpackers tended to come from more affluent places in the city. Some of these groups clustered themselves into cliques or posses.

On the street side, there was the 601 Click, which consisted of Mississippi Mafia, The Renegades, DSP, Razzle K, Neva Scared Ced, Wildliffe Society, Raggabumpkins, 3 Man Threat, Pat Da Rat, Icey K, PGU, Valley of the Dry Bones, 3 Da Hardway, and Teria. Organized by Never Sked Ced and Tony B in 1989, the 601 Click was a collective of underground rappers that would do shows around the City of Jackson.

“Back then we did shows in the clubs where the hustlers, the bangers, and slangers went,” said Tony B. “I’m talking about clubs like JR’s, The Underground, and Club Inez. Back then you had to be entertaining or else they’d run you off the stage.”

The first significant group of note from the 601 Click never released a record commercially. Yet, they are widely respected by

Anthony “Tony B” Bryant

late-80s and early-90s hip hop fans in Jackson. Raggabumpkins was a two-man outfit consisting of Humdinga (Hugh Addison) and Fat Daddy (Zaron Yarn) who mixed a soulfully Southern form of hip hop along with dancehall reggae into a unique form of hip hop that was atypical of what hip hop critics would expect from a Mississippi rap group. In fact, their music was so good that it earned them a spot in the Source Magazine’s highly sought after “Unsigned Hype” column in November 1995. Back then, an appearance in “Unsigned Hype” virtually ensured you an opportunity to land a record deal with a major label. Legendary hip hop stars such as Artifacts, Biggie Smalls, Common, DMX, Mad Skillz, Capone-N-Noreaga, Eminem, and 50 Cent have all appeared in the column. And there was some label interest in the Mississippi duo. Sadly, this would not be the case for Raggabumpkins. The group broke up before they could get a deal. But their failure did not deter other Jackson rappers from trying to get their signature on a recording contract. If anything, it encouraged them.

The first group to release a record nationally out of the 601 Click was the group Wildliffe Society. Formed in 1990, Wildliffe Society initially consisted of Mello T (Chris Smith), Arnold “Sleepy” Nevilles, and DJ Howie How (aka Howard Fanning). They released their first underground tape, entitled Suicide, on Brutal, a local record label. The LP yielded the raunchy single “Baldheaded Ho’s Suck,” which made some noise in clubs throughout the Southern region. The following year, they added a young rapper by the name of Clifton Clincy (aka Rated X).

Soon after that, they caught the ear of the legendary Irv Gotti of Murder Inc. fame. At the time, Gotti was serving as A&R for the New York-based label Blunt/TVT. He flew down to check out the group to see if they lived up to the hype. According to Mello T, as soon as Gotti got off the plane and into a taxi, the cab driver was playing Wildliffe Society’s music. By the time he made it to his hotel, Gotti knew he wanted to sign them. After inking a deal with Blunt/TVT, Wildliffe Society released their national debut – Jacktown 601. The album’s first single, “Jacktown 601” was an homage to the Capital City as well as a nod to the 601 Click and the state of Mississippi.

Produced by DJ Howie How, Sleepy Nevilles, and Air Tight Productions, Jacktown 601 combined elements of West Coast G-Funk, Southern Soul, and hip hop with just a slight hint of down-home blues, all played by live instruments courtesy of Derrick “D’Marr” Martin and Darryl Pete of Air Tight Productions. Jacktown 601 was also one of the few, if not the first, gangsta rap albums that contained absolutely no cursing. The record received reviews from major hip hop publications such as The Source. The group also managed to get featured in the magazines Beatdown and 4080. All of these accolades set Wildliffe Society up well for their follow-up LP.

Unfortunately, the album never came. The group disbanded in 1995. According to Mello T, Sleepy and Howie How decided they wanted to be gospel rappers, which is what they do today. He and Rated X also parted ways due to artistic differences.

Mello T went on to record the Family Tree Compilation in 1997 with Air Tight Productions. The record’s debut single, “Here I Come,” became the first single by a local artist to make 99 Jamz’s Top 5 Countdown. That same year he organized some young rappers by the names of Dolla Bill, Judge Dread, Jefro, Chris Loc, Rat-tat-tat, the Locster, and Lucky Luciano into a

group called Children of the Cornbread. He quickly dropped their underground debut LP So Many Situations. In 1998, they followed up with the Cornbread’s best-selling sophomore LP, I’d Rather Be Hated Than Loved, which contained the hit singles “Wake Up, Wake Up,” “Here I Come Remix,” and the classic title tune.

Rated X also continued to release records as a solo artist. Changing his name to X-Tianio, he recorded “I Know You Ready” featuring the female group Underestimated in 1999. The song received airplay on WJMI. He followed that with the songs “Throw It Up” and “Act A Donkey.”

In 2002, he moved to California and ran into a girl named Robin Lewis. Lewis turned out to be Snoop Dogg’s godsister. She took an interest in his talent and started managing him. They put together a demo and landed him a development deal. The next year, they got him a full-fledged record deal with the upstart label Chime Entertainment. Four years later, he changed his name from X-Tianio to Rainman and released the album Bigger Than Life. The album had features from artists like Slick Pulla, David Banner, and Lil Flip, who appeared on the first single “Country Girl”. The song received significant radio play regionally but that failed to stimulate the kind of sales the label was looking for. As a result, the two parted ways with X returning back to Jackson to pursue music independently, which he is still doing today.

Another member of the 601 Click is the group Mississippi Mafia. The group was organized in the early 1990s by a local entrepreneur named Donald Ray Quinn (aka Donny Money).

Quinn, who also played a role in Wildliffe Society’s career, was trying to break into the music business and felt that Mississippi Mafia was the perfect vehicle for him to break in. He was right. Pimp S*** (Reginald Smith), Slick B (Bernard Jones), and DJ Handz (Albert Jones) had exceptional talent and charisma. Those attributes soon made them one of the most popular rap groups in the region. In 1995, they released “A Killer That’s True,” a maxi-single that contained the classic record “Mississippi Murder,” a chilling song about killing Klansmen. The song became so popular that the group released another version called “Mississippi Murder Part 2” on their debut full-length LP, entitled Part 2: Another Mississippi Murder, on Sir Captain Records. Produced by Kenneth Miller (aka Razzle K), Another Mississippi Murder was full of the kind of West Coast G-Funk that won them a cult following on the West Coast, especially in the Bay Area. In 1996, they dropped their sophomore LP, Southern Funk, which contained the title tune as a lead single. The record gained them even more fans outside the state. In addition, Mississippi Mafia toured as an opening act for Too $hort and other artists. Unfortunately, Southern Funk was the last full album from the group. Sadly, DJ Handz passed away last year due to COVID.

Another 601 Click alum was The Renegades. Consisting of Bigalow, Lon Trigger, Mobsta, and Reese, the Renegades dropped their first recording, Mind On A Rampage, back in 1992. According to Bigalow, the early Renegades music had very humble beginnings. “The first real songs I recorded was for the Renegades,” Bigalow told the Oldboy Slim TV. “I was a member of the Renegades. And the first real song I recorded by myself, I recorded on a pool table in Jason Gary’s house. We was on a four-track and we had cordless mics, everybody had to be quiet and be still. That was the first song I ever recorded.”

The records that were being recorded were for a six-song

EP, entitled Mind On A Rampage, that was released on HeLuv-Records, a local independent label, in 1992. Organized by Bigalow (Myreon Howard), the Renegades soon became one of Jackson’s legendary groups. Performing all over the city and surrounding area, the Renegades earned a reputation for their exciting, high energy shows. Unfortunately, the group would develop problems with their label. Those problems prompted them to exit the label and pursue a new recording situation.

It would be a good seven years later before the Renegades were able to secure a contract with the Texas based indie label Black Monopoly Entertainment. It would be a full seven years before they would release their second LP Hostile Takeover. This time, the group stepped up their game by improving their lyrics and music. The music had a distinct laid-back Texas feel to it with appearances by regional rap stars like C-Loc of Baton Rouge and Texas rappers like Lil Sin, PSK-13, Mr. C-Note, and 20-2Life, which help the Renegades expand their fan base beyond the boundaries of Mississippi. They were poised to grow their audience even bigger with the next disc. But a third Renegades record never happened.

After spending a little more than a year touring and promoting Hostile Takeover, it was time for the Renegades to record their third LP. With a growing regional fan-base and the pressure from their new label to expand their audience, the group was feeling obligated to surpass their last LP. It was this pressure that led to the group to have artistic differences on which way to go. This eventually led to the dissolution of the group. Enter Maurice Mosley and Myreon Howard, better known as Reese and

Bigalow.

“The first Reese and Bigalow project, [to be] totally honest, was a Renegades album,” said Bigalow. “That’s when the Renegades actually broke up. We couldn’t see eye to eye on content [and] on beats. The other guys just said f*** it. So, me and Reese was like, man, one monkey don’t stop no show and kept going.”

In 2000, Reese and Bigalow dropped their debut LP Pure Uncut Fire on the fledgling local label Lil Mann Records. The record featured some of the same guest artists on Hostile Takeover, including PSK-13 and 20-2-Life, along with new artists such as dancehall rapper Papa Reu, R&B singers Ronnie Spencer and Lemorris Williams, and Jackson rapper Boo Da Boss Player. Selling 20,000 copies independently, Pure Uncut Fire firmly established Reese and Bigalow as a new act to be reckoned with. Wasting no time furthering the momentum, the two dropped their sophomore LP Unfinished Business later that same year. Once again, 20-2-Life and PSK-13, along with the South Park Mexican, were featured on the LP to represent the Lone Star State. Lemorris Williams, Kamikaze of Crooked Lettaz, and newcomers Poetic Preachaz, Lil Dez, and Frank da Macka held it down for Mississippi. Adding representation from Memphis were Ska-Face Al Capone and Atlanta’s Bonecrusher, of which the latter would later prove to be controversial. Unfinished Business turned out to be a major boom for the Jackson duo. Not only did they sell more records than the last one, they also received writeups in underground hip hop publications such as Grooveline and Murderdog.

In 2002, Reese and Bigelow decided to make the most ambitious move of their careers. After severing ties with Lil Mann Records, the duo decided that it was time to take their destiny in their own hands and opened up their own label, Mo Bigga Entertainment. That same year, they released R&B Music, which is arguably their best selling LP to date. The LP contains two regional breakout singles that stayed in heavy rotation. They were the sensual R&B tinged “Soak ‘N Wet” and the rowdy clubbanger “Never Scared” featuring Bonecrusher and Killer Mike. In addition to this, Reese and Bigelow along with Boo, David Banner, and Kamikaze also graced the cover of Murderdog’s special Jackson, Mississippi, issue. Despite R&B Music’s success, it was certainly not without its controversy.

While “Soak ‘N Wet” did well on regional radio and exposed the duo to a broader female audience, the single wasn’t the breakout hit the two were hoping for. But the second single, “Never Scared,” started heating up in the clubs and on radio in the South. And when it hit the clubs in Atlanta, things started going astray. It seems that Bonecrusher took the song that he initially recorded with Reese and Bigelow and re-cut it with T.I. and Killer Mike. The problem with the Bonecrusher version was that it was missing Reese and Bigalow – the ones with whom he originally recorded the song. Both songs did well in the clubs and on the radio in their respective areas. When SoSo Def Records heard Bonecrusher’s version, they signed him immediately and re-released the record nationwide. Unfortunately for the Jacksonbased duo, the Atlanta-based label had a much bigger marketing budget and way more connections in the music business. The

disgustingly sad thing about this situation, according to Bigalow, was that David Banner was in the studio when Reese and Bigalow recorded the single, and he never spoke up on their behalf. Without paperwork or a credible witness, it became a matter of “big bank takes little bank.”

Bonecrusher’s version of “Never Scared” reached the top 10 on the Billboard Hot R&B and Rap Charts, propelling his debut LP AttenCHUNN to gold status. That turned out to be Bonecrusher’s only hit. While the world was under the impression that Bonecrusher’s version was the only one, people in Mississippi, Louisiana, Alabama, Tennessee, and Texas knew better. While the “Never Scared” debacle was a major blow to Reese and Bigalow, it would not be the end for them. In fact, the best was yet to come for the twosome.

In 2014, Reese and Bigelow released a new album called Legendary. It was a solid effort full of good songs, but it didn’t contain a big breakout hit that they were looking for. That would come from the oddest place for a rap group from Mississippi: the UK’s BBC.

Twenty years ago, Louis Theroux, host of the popular TV show Louis Theroux’s Weird Weekends, came to Jackson to tape an episode about Southern Hip Hop that featured Reese and Bigalow along with Mello T. Reese and Bigalow took Louis to their studio to show him their recording process. Theroux asked them to help him write a rap, and they did. He recited the rap for Wild Wayne’s radio show on Q93 in New Orleans. The show aired in the UK in 2000, and that was the end of that, or so it seems.

In February 2022, Theroux appeared on a British TV show, and the host asked him if he remembered his rap from his TV show and would he recite it. He obliged her. Little did he know that two producers in Manchester, England, known as Duke and Jones saw the show, decided to put a beat to Theroux’s vocals, and threw it up on the internet. In no time, “Jiggle Jiggle” had earned over 12 million views on Youtube. The song became a viral sensation on Tik-Tok, Instagram, and Snapchat, garnering millions upon millions of views globally. The song became so popular that Amazon used it as the music for their Christmas commercial in 2022. Today, Bigalow is a popular chef in Jackson, and Reece works in the medical field.

Outside the 601 Click other rappers were making their mark on the city’s rap scene. One of them was Jack D (Jack Nelson) whose 1996 LP America’s Pain Killers was released on his label Skid Row Records. Skid Row was nationally distributed by Select-O-Hits and is still highly sought after by hip hop audiophiles in Europe and Asia. The LP combined West Coast G-Funk with Midwest Gothic rap. Highly influenced by Gothic rappers like Esham, Natas, and Brotha Lynch Hung, Jack D used graphic images of urban violence to make subtle commentary on the poverty and racism that he felt were the ultimate cause of the vi-

olence that gripped Jackson in the 1990s. America’s Pain Killers laid the foundation for another Jackson-based Gothic rap group named Hellborn, whose 1999 self-titled LP was an underground classic. Jack D is still making records and doing shows around the South and Midwest.

The 601 Playaz released three full-length discs between the years of 1999 and 2006. Their first disc, Sittin’ Tight, was released in 1999 on Finesse Records, a label owned by popular radio personality DJ Finesse. Sittin’ Tight featured guest appearances by New Orleans rap legend, Cheeky Blak, Jackson’s own Hellborn, and R&B singer Eddie Seawood. In 2001, they dropped their second LP, On 20 Inch Dubbs, which featured the platinum-selling artist Juvenile of Cash Money fame. The record was released on their own Playa Records. Five years later, they would return with their last record, appropriately entitled The Return of the 601 Playaz. Once again, the album featured a song with Juvenile. It would be the last record the public would hear from the group.

Of course, it would be impossible to talk about impactful street rappers in Jackson without mentioning the infamous Wood Street Playaz. Albert “Batman” Donaldson and Willie “Frank Nitti” Hardge first formed the group in 1992. After committing themselves to rapping, they connected with the members of

Mississippi Mafia who helped them hone their craft. When it was clear to them that they were ready for the world, they formed Doforself Records and dropped their debut album, Jacktown Players, in 1996. The record featured a guest appearance by Point Blank of Texas. Two years later, they followed up with what many fans feel was their best LP, Turning-N-Burning, which featured Lon Trigga of the Renegades. 2000 would see the release of the duo’s last known record, entitled Rules Of The Game

The 90s also saw a local rapper go from the streets of Jackson to becoming an outright legend in Southern hip hop. As one of the original members of the Underground Kings (UGK) crew, Smoke D exploded on the national rap scene as a featured artist on his crew’s smash hit single “Front Back Side To Side.” The single was a part of the gold-selling Super Tight LP, which is revered as a classic by fans of Southern hip hop. And to think that all of this started with an introduction from a friend.

“I got in touch with UGK through Kevin Stokes, a promoter in Jackson,” says Smoke D. “He made the connection. This was in 1992. I was actually promoting a group called the Black Knights. I gave them some music and Pimp asked me to come to Port Arthur for two weeks. I was in school back then, so I asked my mama if I could go, and she said yeah. That two weeks turned

into two years.”

During those two years under Pimp C’s tutelage, Smoke learned to become a better rapper and producer, capable of writing and producing hit songs. Seeing something in Smoke, Pimp C surprised him one day by telling him to get on the third verse of “Front Back Side To Side.” According to Smoke, he was nervous when he first got on the mic, given the fact that the studio was populated with a few high-level record executives. Pimp kept making him redo the verse over and over again. It looked like he wasn’t going to make the song. But, thanks to some advice and encouragement from DJ Bird, Smoke went back in the booth and rapped a verse that made him immortal.

After Super Tight blew up, Smoke D was well on his way to becoming a superstar. Unfortunately, his trajectory was cut short when he caught a charge and was incarcerated on June 12, 1995. For a while, it looked like Smoke would be all but forgotten. However, God had other plans. And those plans included being featured on UGK’s biggest-selling album.

Somehow, Pimp C snuck a DAT recorder into Parchman Penitentiary. According to Smoke, the guards never knew what was happening because the DAT looked like a walkman.

“I was walking around like I was listening to my walkman,

Smoke D, X-It Only, Charlie Braxton, and his son Kwame Braxton

Boo Rossini

and I was recording,” says Smoke. “I sent Pimp a DAT tape to let them know I was OK and don’t worry about me. Pimp cut it up and put it on the album. I never intended for it to be on the album.”

What Smoke never intended to be on the Ridin’ Dirty LP turned out to be a blessing in disguise. Smoke’s “Live From The Pen” skits interspersed between songs turned out to be one of the highlights of Ridin’ Dirty. Millions of people heard Smoke’s voice and came to love him for his straight, no-chaser truth about life in lockup. But not everybody was thrilled over Smoke’s newfound popularity, especially the prison authorities. The guards searched him and his prison cell over and over, but never found the recording device.

Once Smoke was released in 2001, he was ready to rejoin his friends and comrades in UGK to make some more magic in the studio. Unfortunately, Pimp C caught a charge and went into the Texas penitentiary.

Transitioning from incarceration to civilian life can be a daunting task for a former inmate. It can be even harder if you’re a famous rapper and everybody is looking at you to pick up where you left off right away. And for a long time, it looked like he was doing just that.

Smoke formed Godfather Music in 2001 and recorded the single “Buss It Open,” which received airplay on WJMI. He did a number of guest appearances on various local rappers’ records, such as Tony B’s 2006 single “Brains,” which was featured on a number of mixtapes throughout the South. In addition, he also organized a crew of local rappers called the Hustle Squad. He also made guest appearances on David Banner’s gold record, Mississippi: The Album, and Pimp C’s solo projects, The Pimpulation and Still Pimping. In addition to these projects, The Hustle Squad released three volumes of self-titled mixtapes. Things seemed to be back on track until a routine traffic stop in Louisiana changed everything. In 2007, he was convicted of possession of marijuana and sentenced to 10 years in prison.

Although being locked up in a Louisiana prison may have slowed him down some, that didn’t stop him from continuing to pursue his music. In 2014, he recorded and released a mixtape project entitled The Lost Files. In 2015, he was released and hit the ground running again. This time, Smoke was a man on a mission that was much greater than music.

The first thing he did was hit the studio and record the Trill Life mixtape which was released in 2017. He also became heavily involved in the prison reform movement. He was appointed Chairman of the Mississippi NAACP Prison Reform Committee. He also started speaking around the country on incarcerated people’s rights and the need for prison reform.

Currently, he is developing land on the outskirts of Jackson that will offer housing for the formerly incarcerated who are transitioning to civilian life. He has a 501(c)(3) organization in development. Then there is the Hustle Squad, which is a group of young artists from around the country that he mentors. On the music side, he is working on an EP with Fiend aka International Jones, formerly of No Limit, and he has more music with Bun B coming as well. He also writes and produces music for other artists.

Boo Da Boss Player is another important rapper whose music has reached way beyond the borders of Mississippi. Unlike the above-mentioned rappers, Boo (AKA Boo Rossini) was born in Canton, Mississippi.

He grew up in an extremely close-knit Black community where everybody knew everybody. “We didn’t have much, but my momma made do with what we had,” recalls Boo. “I remember the very first spot we had was a trailer. My mom was going back and forth with my dad, so we ended up in this shotgun house for a little while. Then we started going back and forth to grandmama’s house and back and forth to the projects where my great grandmama lived. So we moved around a whole lot when I was coming up. Nothing was stable.”

According to Boo, his mother was very strict and did her absolute best to keep him on the straight and narrow. However, despite her best efforts, Boo eventually fell victim to the lure of the streets. At the age of thirteen, Boo started hustling in the streets. “I was seeing a lotta my partnas get into it, so I kinda slid into it. Back then, I felt like I had to do what I had to do.” Fortunately, Boo was able to realize that the life he was leading was taking him down a dark road to absolutely nowhere. So he gave up the street game and turned to another hustle, a legal one – music.

Boo created his own label (1 Life 1 Love Records) in 1996 and released his debut LP Birds Fly South. He started selling it out of the trunk of his car, as well as on consignment in local record stores, selling over 5,000 units in Jackson alone. The record created such a buzz in the streets of Mississippi, it ended up catching the ears of Louisiana based rapper C-Loc (“How Ya Do Dat”) who invited Boo to join him, Young Bleed, Maxmanelli, and others in forming a group called the Concentration Camp. The group recorded an album with Priority, along with two independent albums, before Boo released his second LP 601, which sold close to 15,000 units. With his third album Hustler’s Prayer, Boo not only doubled his sales, he was able to move units outside the state of Mississippi.

By 2001, Boo had grown from a local rapper to a full fledged regional star who managed to sign a joint-venture deal with Interscope Records. Unfortunately, things didn’t work out between Boo and Interscope, so the two amicably parted ways after a year and a half. Once again, Boo was on his own. In the spring of 2002, Boo dropped Block 2 Block, a double-disc album, and hit the road promoting it. This time he managed to sell close to 30,000 units and expand his fan base to include parts of Georgia and Florida. Impressed with Boo Rossini’s talent and hustle, Florida based label Royal Dollar Records approached Boo about joining their label in a joint-venture deal. He agreed and months later Boo and the CEO of Royal Dollar were sitting in Clive Davis’ office with Boo auditioning for the record industry legend. “I performed four songs from my new album,” says Boo. “And when it was over, Clive shook my hand, and was like, ’Congratulations.’ That sealed the deal.”

Once again, the major record deal Boo thought would take him to the next level turned out to be a major disappointment. But when one door closes, another opens. And for Boo, that door would come by way of an old friend by the name of Young Jeezy, a multi-platinum selling recording artist and owner of CTE Records.

“Jeezy is like my brother; I knew him before the music,” says Boo. “There are certain people you will always bump into when you in the streets, and he was one of them. We would connect anytime I was in ‘The A’ or in Houston, but there was one incident that happened when he was stopped with a large amount of cash coming through Mississippi on a traffic stop; me, being in a similar situation, I put him and Coach K in touch with my lawyer.

We were both in the streets and doing music, so we started doing music together; we recorded three records together in our first studio session and been locked in since. One of those records was ‘Miss Me with That Rap S***’.”

In 2006, Jeezy signed his friend Boo Rossini to CTE World. It was there that Boo began to refine his skills as a record executive, doing everything from co-writing songs to administrative duties. None of Boo’s hard work went unnoticed by his friend and boss, Young Jeezy. In 2016, Boo was named president of CTE Records. Of his decision to appoint Boo to such a lofty position, Jeezy told Allhiphop.com, “Boo has been my ace for years now. I’m proud of how he’s grown as an artist and businessman. He’s more than earned his appointment as President of CTE World.”

Indeed, he has grown. As an artist, Boo has released more than 18 albums and mixtapes and has worked with some of the biggest names in hip hop. Among them are DJ Khaled, Bun B, Scarface, 2 Chainz, Lil Wayne, Swizz Beats, DJ Drama, Rick Ross, Moneybagg Yo, and Lil Boosie. As a businessman, Boo has invested in several businesses and properties in the Jackson and Atlanta areas. He also continues to make music, with his next album, Chances Make Champions, slated to be released soon.

In addition to Boo’s independent releases, his 1 Life, 1 Love label had one major Jackson act that made an impact on Jackson rap. That group is called the Queen Boys. The group formed in 1998 and consisted of Fredrick “Benz” Terry and Broderick “Bra” (pronounced bruh) Herring who took their group name from their beloved North Jackson neighborhood. In late 1999, the duo released their single “Hata Blockaz” featuring Lemorris

Williams and Frank Da Macka. The song became an instant classic. It was in heavy rotation on Jackson radio and in area clubs. In 2000, they released their debut LP Pack Pushers. They dropped their second and final album, Get Ya Weight Up, in 2005. The LP yielded two singles, “Buck If You Wanna” and “Ride All Night.” After Get Ya Weight Up ran its course, the two parted ways amicably. Today, Herring still does music primarily as a hobby, while Terry owns a couple of bars and restaurants in Jackson.

Ironically, Terry’s daughter, Alysia “NuNu” Terry, accidentally fell into her father’s musical footsteps and became one of the city’s biggest child rappers. According to her father, NuNu first started rapping at age seven. “For her seventh birthday party, we thought it would be cool if, instead of sending paper invitations, NuNu could do a rap, inviting her friends to the party,” says her father. “When she turned nine, she did another one for her ninth birthday party and everybody loved it. People started saying, man, your daughter’s got something there. You ought to let her do a record.” So Benz took his friends’ advice to heart and put his daughter in the studio. In 2010, they dropped the single “Do The NuNu,” a catchy dance oriented track that exploded on the teen and pre-teen scene. Suddenly, NuNu was in demand to perform at schools, birthday parties, and block parties around the Jackson area. She continued to perform until she reached the 11th grade. “She got bored with rap and decided to play soccer in high school,” says Benz. Today, NuNu is all grown up and is pursuing a nursing degree.

NuNu wasn’t the only child rapper to emerge from the Jackson rap scene. There were certainly others.

One is Corey Jackson (aka Lil C-Note), a kid rapper from

Jackson who started out selling his mixtape for five dollars at local malls and stores throughout the Southeast region. According to reports, Lil C-Note had sold over 250,000 CDs by the time he was 12 years old. He also performed at elementary schools and parks across the region which greatly contributed to his popularity as well. In addition to selling CDs and performing around the Southern region, the youngster was known for his philanthropy as well. He once gave a local school $10,000. On March of 2017, Lil C-Note was featured on the Ellen DeGeneres Show. In October of the following year, Lil C-Note made national news when he was arrested by the Cobb County Police for trespassing and selling his CDs at an Atlanta mall. The arresting officer was taped manhandling the 12-year-old during the arrest. This nefarious action caused a firestorm among civil rights activists as well as hip hop stars such as T.I., who condemn the police actions as excessive.

Ironically, there was another child rapper from Jackson who had a similar name. His name was Lil C, the Problem Child. Born Courtney K. Chapman and raised on the westside of Jackson, Lil C’s music reflected the harsh reality of growing up in a neighborhood ravaged by poverty, drugs, and violence. Though the 16-year-old tackled heavy subject matter, Lil C rapped with the authority and finesse of a 30-year-old veteran. In March 2010, he released his debut mixtape, Problem Child, which contained the breakout hit single “Crazy.” The mixtape created a major regional buzz for Lil C with major rappers like Lil Boosie singing his praises. It seems like the Jackson native was destined for rap superstardom. However, fate had other plans. He was charged and convicted of several felonies. Eight years later, upon his re-

lease, he dropped Problem Child 2. In 2010, he dropped Stick Up Kid. While both records were good, the initial momentum that Lil C had from the Problem Child mixtape wasn’t as high as it was when he left. Though Lil C remains a “hood legend” in Jackson, he could not regain the huge regional buzz he once enjoyed. Nor could he let go of the streets long enough to rebuild his career back to that level, and that is tragic because Lil C had major label talent.

On August 15, 2018, Lil C was arrested for felony possession of a firearm on a routine traffic stop. He pleaded guilty to the charge and was sentenced to seven years in prison. Despite being locked up, Lil C has published a book entitled That’s What I Was Taught: An Autobiography. His musical legacy continues to live on as well. His mixtapes are still available on several streaming sites.

Another young Jackson rapper with a promising career, who met a tragic fate, was Lil Lonnie (Lonnie Taylor). Born in Jackson and reared in the gang-ridden, poverty-stricken Virden Addition, Lonnie managed to avoid the many pitfalls that neighborhood set for young Black males. Finding refuge through music, Lonnie began making beats for local artists trying to start their own rap careers. He graduated from Callaway High School in 2013 and pursued an associate’s degree in general studies at Hinds Community College. Not quite satisfied with what Hinds had to offer, Lonnie transferred to Jackson State University to study mass communications in August 2014. In the fall of that same year, he released his single, “I’m The Type.” While the song didn’t do huge numbers, it did serve as the perfect introduction to what was to come from the rapper/producer. Months later, Lonnie

Lil C-Note

dropped two more singles, “Colors” and “Special.” These two singles did extremely well for an indie rapper with no money. Both songs went viral, giving Lonnie his first taste of national attention via various music publications and websites. Billboard Magazine premiered his single, “Change Up” in March 2014. Things were looking good for Lonnie, but it was only the start of better things to come.

Lonnie dropped his debut mixtape, They Know What’s Going On, in November 2015. The project gained over 180,000 streams and 100,000 downloads, a remarkable feat for an indie artist from Jackson. In June, he dropped They Know What’s Going On 2, featuring major artists like Bryson Tiller, K-Camp, MoneyBagg Yo, and Slim Jimmy of Rae Sremmurd. He followed that up with a collaboration project called The Big Three, featuring production from three local DJs. It looked like things were going well for Lil Lonnie. Then, out of nowhere, tragedy struck.

On April 29, 2018, Lil Lonnie’s life was cut short when he was gunned down by two assailants while he was sitting in his SUV. His death sent shockwaves throughout the hip hop community, with heartfelt condolences coming from big name legendary rappers like LL Cool J. Though Lil Lonnie is no longer with us physically, his music ensures that he will live forever in the hearts of his fans nationwide.

Another artist hailing from the Queens neighborhood is Ralph Malone (AKA Malone), who released an LP entitled Hustler on the indie label, Off The Rocka Entertainment. Hustler was released in 2000 and contained features from national recording artists the Cash Money Millionaires, Too Short, and Twista, as well as local

artist like rappers Boo da Boss Player and Kamikaze, and R&B singer Karen Brown.

Kage (née Maceo Jackson) is yet another independent artist out of Jackson who remains unsung. Beginning his career in the early 90s, Kage released his first recording, which was a foursong EP called Just Another Day, Just Another Dollar. Three years later, he released Enemies Get Yo Money Right. Platinum Underground, his third LP was released in 2000. Two years later, he released the LP Big Big followed by Your Money, My Money in 2003. His last known album was Block Work released in 2005. Yet another group that started out as teenagers and went on to make an impact with their unique lyrical flow and gothic lyrics was the group Hellborn.

Admittedly, the name Hellborn sounds more like the name of some long-haired heavy metal band than a hardcore rap group from West Jackson. But make no mistake about it: Hellborn was one of Jackson’s best rap groups. Comprised of Dez Gilbert (Dez), his cousin Terrence Gilbert (Disciple aka T-Boi), and Terrell Berry (Black aka Chip) the trio grew up in the gritty West Jackson neighborhood known as The Bottom.

According to Hellborn’s leader, Dez, it all started when he started rapping around his little cousin T-Boi, who was always hanging out with him. One day, T-Boi asked Dez if he thought he could rap as well as his cousin. Dez said to him, try and see. That was all the incentive T-Boi needed. The next day, he came back with a verse that impressed Dez enough that he took him under his wing. Eventually, a third friend, who called himself Arch Angel, solidified the group. In 1993, the trio started rap-

Lil’ Lonnie

ping under the original name Hellborn Arch Angels, and began recording demo tapes at rapper/producer Illabob Cane’s studio. Like Jack D, Hellborn was heavily influenced by urban gothic rap. According to Dez, they were inspired by groups like Esham, Gangsta Nip, Natas, and an underground artist from New Orleans named Death. Later, they would add Memphis’s Triple 6 Mafia and Bone Thugs-N-Harmony from Cleveland to their rotation. Needless to say, with influences like these, Hellborn’s initial lyrics may have been a bit too macabre for the average rap fan in Jackson. It would take a lot of urging from their friends and a little maturing on their part before the group finally tempered their lyrics into a winning formula.

For the next year, the group would write, rap, record, and pass out demos to family, friends, classmates, and anyone else they thought could help further their rap career. These were the difficult days – the kind of days that not everyone is cut out to endure, especially knowing that there were many more difficult days ahead. But these are the times that separate the winners from the losers. In late 1994, Arch Angel decided that he was tired of rapping and left the group to do other things. That’s when Dez and T-Boi added Chip, dropped the Arch Angel from their name, and became Hellborn. Little did they know that, in just three short years, their luck would change for the better.

Fast-forward three years, Dez is in need of a fresh haircut, so he decides to go to a barbershop located in a business complex on 3063 West Capitol Street.

“I used to go to the barbershop across the street from Finesse Records’ studio,” recalls Dez. “The guy that cut my hair in there

knew I rapped. And he told me that 3-6 Mafia was just over there. I said for real. He said yeah. So when I finished getting my hair cut, I went over there and knocked on the door. And a dude answered the door named Joe Traxx. He said he was the in-house producer for the label. I told him that I rapped. He said, are you tight? I said, yeah. He said, come on in and let’s see what you got. I went in, and he put on a beat and I spit one of my verses I had written that I thought would fit the beat. After he told me he liked my rap, I told him that I was in a group with two other guys. He said are they as tight as you? I told him they were tighter than me. He told me to bring them to the studio at 11:00.”

At 11:00 that night, the members of Hellborn showed up at Finesse Studios and impressed Joe Traxx, who introduced them to DJ Finesse (née Chris Carr) who immediately put them in the studio recording what was to become their debut LP. In 1998, DJ Finesse formally signed Hellborn to a contract. They spent all of that year recording their self-titled debut album, which came out the following year.

Hellborn’s self-titled debut LP was an immediate success in the city. Their lead single, “Players Don’t Get Down Like That,” gained heavy rotation on WJMI. In addition, the group were featured in Murderdog Magazine along with another Jackson group called NCD. With all of this going for them, the trio’s careers looked like it was on an upswing. Sadly, Hellborn never reached the pinnacle they could’ve reached. The group departed from their label in early 2000. They disbanded a year later. Currently, Dez is still dropping music on his own Mind Boggling Music; the other two members create music occasionally.

Dez (Hellborn) and X-It Only

JACKSON STATE

While the 601 Click and others held down the streets, there was another faction of Jackson hip hop artists who were clustered in and around Jackson State University. They held down the more traditional East Coast hip hop sound in the 1990s.

The first hip hop group to come out of Jackson State was a group called The Fratz, whose music was a combination of hip hop beats and R&B, (otherwise known as New Jack Swing), with a little bit of rap. In 1991, The Fratz released an LP, entitled Frat Brothers Get Loose, on the Jackson-based label Ace Records. Half of the record was uptempo with raps provided primarily by Ox Lover, a JSU student from New Jersey. The rest of the LP was more laid-back R&B. As for what happened to the group, nobody knows. Since they never dropped another album, it is assumed that they all graduated and went their separate ways.

Two years later, a new class of students who loved hip hop emerged at JSU. In 1993, a group of student rappers, breakdancers, and DJs from Mississippi, the Midwest, and Africa came together to form a creative collective known as Stewpot Stowaways. “We called ourselves Stewpot Stowaways because we were like a gumbo,” says DJ Phingaprint. “You know gumbo is like a kinda stew. It’s got all kinds of different ingredients and flavors. And because we were all from different parts of the country doing an East Coast style of hip hop in Mississippi, we felt like we were all stowaways too.”

The Stewpot Stowaways members were: Lil Bit, Vice Versa, MC Blaze, Old School Ice Gre (Abstract Mindstate), EP the Hellcat (Abstract Mindstate), Naty Boi Esa, Lazy Lee, B Dazzle (Da Network), Humdinga (Raggabumpkins), CT Da Decapitator, Kamikaze (Da Network), Fat Daddy, Poetic Climax, DJ Phingaprint, L.A. Dave, MC Vell, V Flavor (Souls of Culture), Obi, and Satin. Each member had their own particular style. For example, CT Da Decapitator had an aggressive delivery, while B Dazzle had a real smooth, laid-back flow, and Nati Boi Esa did dancehall reggae chanting. To say the least, they were an eclectic group.

During the early to mid-90s, the Stowaways did shows at clubs and festivals throughout the city, creating a buzz among diehard hip hop fans in the city. In addition, the group received write-ups in national hip hop publications such as Rap Sheet. Eventually, the group’s efforts would pay off when local DJ and music entrepreneur Chris Carr (DJ Finesse) decided to release their single, “Stewpot Flava (Check It Out).” Produced by Freddie Young of the seminal 70s funk band Sho-Nuff, “Stewpot Flavor (Check It Out)” has a head-nodding beat, accented by a jazzy trumpet riff, and was the perfect soundtrack for the volley of lyrics that the Stowaways unleashed.

While the single failed to land the crew a major record deal, it did give them a solid platform to showcase their talent – talent that would take some of them to bigger and better things.

As mentioned earlier, Raggabumpkins was featured in the Source Magazine’s “Unsigned Hype.” Another Stowaway member to have the national spotlight shined on them was the group, Poetic Climax, originally composed of Copper Top (a tall, lanky white boy with red hair named Kevin McMahon), K Black, Prizm (Jake Garner), Twitch (Leo Brown), and DJ Phingaprint (Timothy Washington). On a whim, the group sent a demo tape to the talent coordinator at BET’s “Teen Summit.” They liked what they saw and invited the group to perform on “Teen Summit” in 1994, sans Copper Top and K Black.

Eventually, the Copper Top and K Black left the group, leaving Prizm, Twitch, and Phingaprint to soldier on. The BET performance opened tremendous doors for the group. They got offered a record deal with East/West Records and others. They also opened up for national acts such as Dave Chapelle, RUNDMC, and Eightball of Eightball and MJG. Once again, it looked like another Stewpot Stowaway member was on their way to the big times. All they had to do was stick together and keep grinding. But that was not to be. The group broke up in 1997 due to artistic differences. Prizm went on to release a solo EP, entitled Life’s A Gamble, independently. Phingaprint is the mixshow coordinator for B-Day 99.1, and Twitch is a successful fashion designer and businessman in Michigan.

Next to step out of the Mississippi shadows and into the national spotlight are Kamikaze and David Banner (formerly MC Vell). In June of 1996, the duo became the second Mississippi hip hop act to earn a feature in the Source’s “Unsigned Hype” column. Two years later, the duo changed their name to Crooked Lettaz and inked a deal with the New-York based Penalty Records. Later in 1998, they released a promo-only single called “Caught In The Game.” In April 1999, Crooked Lettaz dropped their critically acclaimed debut Grey Skies. The album contained the double A sided single “Firewater” backed by “Get Crunk,” produced by UGK’s Pimp C. The LP reached number 75 on the Billboard Hot R&B chart. The album was cited by the Source as one of the slept on records of the year. After the record ran its course, the duo disbanded to pursue solo careers.

In 2000, David Banner (née Lavell Crump) released his first solo record Fire Waterboyz Vol. 1. The record featured a number of hip hop stars such as Noreaga, Pimp C, Young Bleed, Bonecrusher, Devin the Dude, Boo Da Boss Player, Jazze Pha, Ras Kass, Fiend, Polow Da Don, and his former partner, Kamikaze. The LP was released on his indie label Bigface Entertainment. Banner worked the album for three years. In 2003, he released another independent project entitled David Banner Underground Vol. 1. Banner worked both albums, touring and doing interviews with various underground magazines throughout the South. The work eventually paid off for him.

In 2003, he landed a record deal with SRC/Universal and released his national debut Mississippi: The Album. The LP had two hit singles “Like A Pimp” featuring Lil Flip and “Cadillac on 22s.” Driven by these two singles and their accompanying videos, Mississippi: The Album peaked at number 1 on the Billboard Top R&B and Hip Hop Charts and number 9 on the Billboard 200. The LP went gold. He quickly followed that up with his third LP Mississippi: The Album Vol. 2. Unfortunately, the record lacked a breakout hit single like the previous one, so it didn’t do as well. The subsequent LP, Certified, fared better, with its lead single “Play” reaching the top of the Billboard Hot 100 Charts. The album made it to number 3 on the Billboard Top R&B and Hip Hop charts and number 6 on the Billboard 200 charts. In 2006, Banner dropped a mixtape with DJ Drama, entitled Hustler’s Guide To The Game, as part of Drama’s Gangster Grillz series. The following year, he released the Spare Clipse Mixtape on his own Bigface label.

In 2008, The Greatest Story Ever Told, his last studio LP for SRC/Universal peaked at number 3 on the Billboard Top R&B and Hip Hop charts and number 8 on the Billboard 200 charts. After the release of his greatest hits LP, Banner and SRC/ Universal parted ways. Two years later, he would team up with

producer 9th Wonder to release Death Of A Pop Star on E1 Records. 2012 saw him drop another project on his Bigface Label called Sex, Drugs & Video Games. His last known project was The God Box

In addition to doing music, the rapper/producer also acted in a number of major motion pictures, including Black Snake Moan, This Christmas, Stomp The Yard: Homecoming, and The Butler

In 2001, Kamikaze released his first solo LP entitled Firewater Boy #2, on a local label, OurGlass. The record contained the breakout single, “I Apologize.” Produced by David Banner, “I Apologize” was a heartfelt mea culpa to a woman wronged by a man’s philandering ways. Because the song stands as one of the few songs where a Mississippi rapper drops the male bravado and allows himself to show vulnerability, it stands today as one of Kamikaze’s best songs.

In 2004, Kamikaze dropped his sophomore LP 2 Broke 2 Ball, which contained the singles “U Ain’t Hard” and “Same Old Clothes.” The lead single “U Ain’t Hard” was a major shift from his last effort. Instead of relying on more of an East Coast aesthetic, Kamikaze turned to an uptempo, aggressive approach known as crunk. The move paid off for him. The record became a breakout regional hit, garnering heavy rotation from Mississippi to Georgia. In addition, he was able to go on tour with the platinum-selling group, Nappy Roots as an opening act. Unfortunately, he was unable to land a major record deal.

In 2005, Kamikaze, DJ Aziatikk Blakk, Tony B, and Donald Ray Quinn met in the back office of the Nation of Islam headquarters to form the Mississippi Artists and Producers Coalition. The MAP Coalition was a collective of about 100 Mississippi

rappers, DJs, producers, and indie labels with the goal of pushing each other’s music around the state. According to Kamikaze, the Coalition had chapters in Hattiesburg and one in the Mississippi Delta, headed by Babiboi and Big V, respectively.

“It was our main intention to work together to get our music out to the masses. But I also recognized that this could also be a way to calm the streets down,” says Tony B. “Because most cats out there in the streets who were rapping either didn’t have the money or the outlet to get their music heard beyond their block. Plus, many of them lacked real knowledge of how the music industry actually worked. With the MAP Coalition, we could pool our resources and knowledge together to push all of our music to the next level.”

To rectify this situation, the MAP Coalition collected dues from each member and used them to rent a studio to record a double-disc mixtape, entitled We Are The Streets. The tape featured some of the best artists in the state. Among them were Huggie B from Hattiesburg, Doughbelly Stray from Tupelo, 2 Crunk from Vicksburg, Dub G from Biloxi, Pillo Boys from McComb, and Smack-A-Batch from Camden.

In addition, they had music industry professionals like the Rap Coalition’s Wendy Day come down to conduct a seminar on the music business. Also, the MAP Coalition was featured in magazines like Ozone and the Source. It seems like the Coalition was unstoppable in the mid-2000s, but alas, all good things come to an end. By 2007, the Mississippi Artists and Producers Coalition had dissipated.

Today, Kamikaze is still active in the entertainment field here in Mississippi. He hosts a podcast with his wife Funmi, entitled

Kamikaze and David Banner

Kaz and Queen; he hosts a radio show on MPB and spearheads the annual Jackson Indie Music Week, among other things.

Another hip hop crew whose impact on the Jackson music scene remains unsung is the Mental State of Mind collective. Members of this crew were the groups, Us from Dirrt, The Klaan Mankind, and DKA, along with soloists Icey K, DNA, Cornbread the Menthol King, and X-It Only. While the Stewpot Stowaways saw themselves as the elite vanguard of the East Coast aesthetic, they really were a bunch of really talented, naive middle-class college kids who looked down on the street rappers in the 601 Click because they felt that the street rappers lacked real lyrical skills. But this certainly wasn’t the case with Mental State of Mind. All of the Mental State of Mind rappers were extremely lyrical. In fact, they were as lyrical as anybody in Stewpot Stowaways, and they were as street as anybody in the 601 Click.

“That’s what made us so different,” recalls X-It Only. “We were street cats that could rap. If we went to Stewpot, they would say you can rhyme but you’re too street. When we went to groups like Wildliffe Society, they would tell us that we were too wordy. That’s why we formed Mental State of Mind.”

Mental State of Mind performed several shows in Jackson, Crystal Springs, and Canton. These shows served as proving grounds for Mental State of Mind, and would benefit them as they embarked on their individual careers.

Of all of the members of Mental State of Mind, the most prominent was US from Dirrt. The group first came together in the mid-90s when they were students at Murrah High. Initially, the group had four members, Coup Data (Joseph Windam), Decade (Donnie Cross), Madness, and Pep Soda (Randall Gray). While still in school the group managed to record a crude demo that circulated throughout the city’s hip hop scene. With deep, moody songs like “Subliminal Broad,” the group earned a small but fiercely loyal cult following among hardcore hip hop heads.

1994 would turn out to be a pivotal year for US from Dirrt. For starters, they lost two members due to artistic differences. This left Coup Dada and Decade to carry on the charge. And carry on they did. Later that year, they entered Freddie Young’s studio and recorded their first real project. The end result was the release of a self-titled cassette, also known as the green tape to Jackson rap fans. Among these fans were some of Jackson’s current rappers like 5th Child, 7even Thirty, and Skipp Coon.

The green tape also caught the ears of the Crooked Lettaz, who passed their music on to their manager at the time. Apparently, the manager liked what he heard and signed them to a management deal. On April 20, 1995, US from Dirrt appeared on Crooked Lettaz’s song “It’s Ours,” from their Grey Skies LP. While the song didn’t become a single, it did make it to a few mixtapes. With a spot on a nationally released album and a new manager, it looked like US from Dirrt was about to blow up in a major way. But, unfortunately, everything isn’t always what it appears to be. It turned out that the management contract that they and Crooked Lettaz signed was, to say the least, a bad one. In fact, Wendy Day said that it was one of the worst contracts that she had ever seen. While Crooked Lettaz managed to get out of the contract, Coup Data and Decade didn’t. This forced the group to place their careers on hold for eight years in order to wait the contract out.

Tragically, the weight of the wait placed a heavy burden on the duo. After recording some songs, Coup left the group in 2006, leaving Decade, the group’s main producer, to pursue a solo ca-

reer under the name, Donnie Cross.

In 2005, he, along with his business partners, formed Ambassador’s Way Entertainment and released the provocative single, “I’m A Hater.” The song featured dark gothic, piano-driven melodies atop a thunderous 808 bass heavy beat. Within weeks, thanks to the efforts of DJs like DJ 2 Tall, DJ Rino, DJ Finesse, and Tommy Ill, “I’m a Hater” became an underground club banger, gaining mixshow placement across the state. He gained even more followers with the “I’m A Hater Remix” featuring the Goodie Mob’s Khujo Goodie and Chyna White. The remix received radio play and heavy placements on mixtapes from Texas to Georgia.

2006 saw the release of his follow-up single, “Who You Think You Playing With,” a rowdy club banger with an aggressive bassline, a belligerent drum track, and screeching, spaced out strings. Again, this song gained massive support from high-profile mixtape DJs like Rapid Rick, DJ Bull, OG Ron C, Kool Kid, and DJ Dutty Laundry. In addition to this, Cross was in high demand in 2007 and 2008 to host mixtapes, do freestyles for various DJs, and do features for underground rappers in the South. 2008 was also the year he started working with international DJs such as Germany’s DJ Polique, Spain’s DJ Haker 1, and DJ Ames from the UK. In addition, Cross was featured on one of the biggest songs in Texas, “Couphin’” by Kyle Lee.

Donnie Cross released his street album, Law Abiding Citizen, in 2010. The LP contained the smash hit single “Showout.” The record blew up in clubs and on mixtapes. It was in heavy rotation on radio all over the South. Cross did shows in Texas, Alabama, Tennessee, and Michigan. He was also nominated for the Southern Entertainment Awards Best Independent Artist. Record labels were courting him as well. Just as things were moving in Cross’s direction, he decided to take a dramatic u-turn and walk away from the music business.

One member of Mental State of Mind who is still heavily involved with the music business is X-It Only. Born James Dixon in Utica, a small town just outside of Jackson, X-It started rapping back in the golden age of hip hop. “ I’m a fan of the old school,” says X-It. “I have a passion for the old school. I think I learned more from hip hop than I learned from school. I grew up on Public Enemy, Poor Righteous Teachers, [and] KRS-One.”

Later, X-It moved to Jackson at the behest of a local rapper named Pat the Rat, who introduced him to music impresario Freddie Young. Young owned and operated a studio where many Jackson rappers recorded. While in Jackson, X-It struggled to find his place in the Jackson hip hop community. According to him, he was “too street to be hip hop” and “too lyrical” to be accepted by the street rappers in the 601 Click. This forced him and his compatriots, such as US from Dirrt and The Klaan Mankind, to form their own clique.

After paying dues doing shows and guest appearances on various local projects, X-It released his debut LP Lost Innocence With somber, introspective songs like “No Pain” and the title tune, Lost Innocence was a much needed breath of fresh air in a world full of stale, half-baked street bravado. Basically, it was a street album with a moral code that offered the kind of catharsis many street hustlers desperately needed.

“When I put Lost Innocence together, I wouldn’t necessarily say I changed the game, but, more or less, [I] let people be aware of the change in time[s]. It’s like I’m a lyricist so I have to stay true to what I do, but I also have some background history

with some street dealings,” X-it says. “At one point, when I first started this off, I was trying to get away from where I was at. And then I came to the conclusion and realized that all of this was me. So I circulated it, and put it all together and formulated myself as a whole. So it has a street feel, but it has lyrical content that is thought-provoking also.”

In addition to provoking thought, it also provoked the newly formed Ambassador’s Way Entertainment to sign him in 2002. According to AWE executive Alphonso Mayfield, the thing that prompted the label to sign him was his lyrical skills.

“X-It was an MC’s MC,” says Mayfield. “He is someone who is just down to rhyme. He was tethered to the streets in a very real way, but he was someone deep into the art of rhyme, the art of hip hop, and the broader music in building albums. For the times, especially in the early 2000s, everybody wasn’t doing that.”

Signing with AWE opened the door for him to be featured in various national and international media outlets, such as Vibe magazine and Murderdog magazine. He also had a cameo in the Lyricist Lounge: Dirty States of America documentary, which aired on MTV 2003. The following year, X-It released a solo mixtape entitled Crack Pavement. The tape contained freestyles that impressed a number of mixtape DJs from around the South, the Midwest, and the East Coast. Working with various mixtape DJs allowed X-It to create a small network of industry insiders who helped him remain visible long after his label went defunct.

After the demise of Ambassador’s Way Entertainment in 2010, X-It hit the ground running. He released a series of recordings while maintaining his mixtape assault. Working with a number of mixtape DJs such as DJ Dolla from San Antonio, TX; Pizal out of Orlando, Fla.; G-Spot and Joey Fingaz out of Cleveland, Ohio; DJ

5th Child

Chuck Massacre of Mount Vernon, New York; UGS4LIFE out of Illinois; and Jackson’s own DJ Phingaprint. He has recorded with several recording artists from California to New York to Tokyo. His records can be heard on radio mix shows around the world. He’s collaborated with international artists like Exclusive Selector from Jamaica and Dirty Ray from Japan.

He has several major upcoming recording projects in the works, including the much anticipated 4orhorsem3n project. Today, his music can be heard on all music platforms.

One more indie rapper of note who remains true to the underground hip hop aesthetic is 5th Child, a rapper who started out doing raps on a karaoke machine.

“It wasn’t even that advanced,” says 5th Child. “Walmart used to sell these tape recorders with two decks and a built-in microphone. Me and my brother would use that to record our raps on.”

His stage name comes from the fact that he is literally the fifth child born in his family; he has two older sisters and one older brother. Born Stephen Brown in Redondo Beach, California, his family relocated to Jackson, Mississippi, at age three. By age 11, he was penning lyrics; and at 17, he was producing tracks due to a lack of access to quality tracks. Heavily influenced by stalwart producers like Kanye West, Just Blaze, No I.D., DJ Premiere, and Organized Noize, 5th Child’s beats reflect a musical complexity that is rare for many local producers. The same can be said for his lyrics, which reflect the good, the bad, and the ugly aspects of life.

A prolific artist with an extensive catalog, 5th Child has released 10 full-length rap albums and five instrumental LPs. In addition to this, he has three projects with another local rapper by the name of Trump Card. He has produced tracks for a number of recording artists, including Dee 1, Elliot Love, Slim Pusha, and

Dear Silas

Kamikaze. He has produced tracks for numerous independent films, documentaries, and commercials. In 2012, his album, Love Letters and Suicide Notes, and his 2018 record, Which Way Is Up, earned him the Best Hip Hop Artist in the 2013 and 2019 Best of Jackson editions of the Jackson Free Press. 5th Child has crisscrossed the country, performing at colleges, festivals, and clubs. He has performed as an opening act for major stars like Drake, Big Freedia, Snoop Dogg, Black Eyed Peas, Slum Village, Devin the Dude, and Afroman. He was also featured in Rolling Stone in the September 2023 issue.

5th Child currently owns the Briarwood Arts Center where he runs his own studio and continues to produce, and record, as well as teach classes on songwriting and production to adults and teens. His current LP, God Got My Back, was released in June of this year.

Yet, another independent hip hop artist who has built quite a name for himself is a funky MC named 7even Thirty. 7even Thirty, whose given name is Marqus Jamal Phillips, was born and raised right here in West Jackson. He started his foray into rap at an early age, when he and his brother started exchanging verses with one another. Once he reached high school, 7even Thirty formed a group with some friends, which gave him the opportunity to further hone his lyrical skills. It also gave him a chance to perform in front of his peers at high schools in the city. This afforded him the opportunity to perform with some of the more established local artists, such as US from Dirrt.

When asked how he got the unusual name, 7even Thirty, he chuckles and says, “I was hanging out with a friend one day, and he called me 7:30, which is the police code for crazy. He got it from a line in a song that [the rapper] Big L did. The name just fit.” Given the fact that he is a Gemini, one can understand why a police term for insane would appeal to him.

Upon graduation, 7even Thirty enrolled in William Carey University on the Gulf Coast. Later, he transferred to Jackson State University where he majored in art. Once there, he got involved with the hip hop scene there and started recording music that would eventually become his debut LP. According to 7even Thirty, he recorded the project during his tenure at JSU while juggling the rigors of school, working, and performing at local clubs whenever he got the chance. In 2006, the Jackson rapper graduated with a bachelor’s degree in art. The following year, he released Star: The Seven Thirty Experience on his indie label Vintage Noize Records.

The year 2010 brought on a need for a reset, so he decided to move to Dallas, Texas, and pursue his career there. That same year he dropped an EP, entitled Rhyme Travelin’, which musically marked both the geographical and aesthetic transition in his life. Two years later, he teamed up with legendary producer Gensu Dean and released Heaven’s Computer, a funk inspired hip hop concept album – think Parliament/ Funkadelic’s Mothership Connection meets Outkast’s ATLiens Heaven’s Computer was a major leap forward for 7even Thirty in two ways. First, the LP was released on a major underground hip hop label capable of providing his music with national and international distribution. Secondly, the record received critical acclaim from the underground hip hop press. For example, Adam Maylone of PopMatters.com said that Heaven’s Computer offered the listener “a fairly interesting take on what is essentially gangster rap in disguise.” He further stated that “7even is a more than capable MC who effortlessly flexes his

talent, and the production he picks fits the vibration to a T. Considering this is only his debut album, I think it’s fairly safe to say he’s going to be one to keep an eye on, even if it means turning your head to the stars.”

Not one to sit back and rest on his laurels, 7even pressed on with the good music. Two years later, he followed up Heaven’s Computer with yet another stellar effort, entitled The Problem. In 2017, he released the Jentlemen Jack project. Today, 7even is working on his next record while learning to play various musical instruments to enhance his music production. Currently, his music can be found on all streaming platforms.

Dear Silas is one of the latest Jackson based hip hop artists to emerge into the national spotlight and represent the city. Born Silas Stapleton III, he is a singer, rapper, and trumpeter who attended Bailey High School, where he began rapping and created his first mixtape. Upon graduation, he attended the University of Louisiana in Monroe, where he studied music performance. Eager to go out into the world and showcase his skills, Silas left the university to pursue his music career in earnest.

In February 2016, his single “Gullah Gullah Island” went viral when former professional football player, Chad “Ocho Cinco” Johnson, promoted it on social media. The song was included on his debut LP, The Day I Died, which dropped in October 2016.

His sophomore effort, entitled The Last Cherry Blossom, was released on October 19, 2018. This album proved to be a charm for Silas. It contained yet another viral single, “Skrr Skrr,” a smooth, dreamy melodic song about getting with a girl that tapped into the zeitgeist of the times in hip hop. The song received over 2.6 million views in two weeks on Spotify, making it the number-one song on the platform. “Skrr Skrr” also got over 2.1 million views on YouTube and made it to the Top 40 on iTunes. The title-tune to the LP was a slow track with an ethereal melody and gospel undertones about the need to keep moving on in life by bettering one’s self.

All of the viral activity around the record created just the type of industry buzz Silas needed to attract a deal with a major record label. He inked a deal with RCA Records and re-released Cherry Blossom the following year. With the push from RCA, “Skrr Skrr” gained even more notoriety and was featured in a meme depicting the cartoon character, Dexter from Dexter’s Laboratory, screaming “Skrr Skrr” into a girl’s ear.

The year 2020 saw the release of the Plus Ultra EP. This time Dear Silas collaborated with a fellow Mississippi rapper from Meridian, Big KRIT, on the single, “I Got It.” The song was accompanied by a video featuring JSU’s Sonic Boom. In 2022, he released his third LP It’s Giving SELF LOVE, which featured the single “I Ain’t Stressin’ Today.” This song went viral on Tik-Tok thanks to Lupita Nyong’o’s usage of the song and corresponding dance to promote the Black Panther: Wakanda Forever movie. Subsequently, many other celebrities and social media users recorded themselves dancing along to the song. Recently, he announced a remix of “I Ain’t Stressin’” featuring Snoop Dogg. Dear Silas’ music can be heard on all streaming platforms.

While there are other artists in the city, such as Coke Bumaye, Hollywood Luck, Backdoor Sam, Day 1 Niko, and Rando who are making their way in the Jackson hip hop scene, their careers merit watching closely to see where they will go in the future. Unfortunately, there is not enough time or space to go in depth about their careers.