 | | Southern gangsta rappers Pimp C and Bun B formed UGK (aka Underground Kingz) in the late '80s and signed to Jive Records for their major-label debut album, 1992's Too Hard to Swallow. |
 | | An imposing figure with a voice to match, Slim Thug had been dropping in for guest verses -- on mixtapes and other artists' albums -- for several years before making his full-length debut through the Neptunes' Star Trak label. |
 | | Rapper Lil' Boosie's hard Southern style comes from growing up in one of Baton Rouge, LA's more notorious neighborhoods, one that was known for drugs and gunplay. |
 | | Atlanta rapper and T.I. protégé Young Dro decided to pursue a career in rap music in order to break the cycle of tribulations from hustling and inner-city life. |
 | | Atlanta-based Young Jeezy originally planned on having a background role in the music industry -- as a businessman, not as a rapper. |
 | | Baton Rouge native Webster "Webbie" Gradney, Jr.'s brash and street-smart style was influenced by the early No Limit and Cash Money releases that were creeping out of nearby New Orleans and the classic West Coast sound of Snoop Dogg and Eazy-E. |
 | | Having come up in the Hot Boys group alongside superstar Lil Wayne, New Orleans rapper Juvenile is a Southern hip-hop veteran, and a chart-topping one as well, having climbed the U. |
 | | To most, rapper Young Buck was a fresh face when he became a member of 50 Cent's crew G-Unit, but he spent a long time waiting on the bench before that. |
 | | Evolving slowly but steadily over the years, Three 6 Mafia began as an exploitative, horror-themed underground hardcore rap sensation ("666 Mafia," get it?) yet went on to enjoy relatively mainstream success years later, eventually winning an Oscar and scoring some major hits. |
 | | MC and DJ Paul Wall (born Paul Slayton) grew up as a hardcore disciple of fellow Houstonian DJ Screw and became so familiar with the pioneering DJ's woozy, slowed-down style of remixing that he had to adjust to hearing hip-hop at any other tempo. |
 | | One of the pioneers of Southern rap, Eightball & MJG, emerged from Memphis, Tennessee in the early '90s and, aligned with the Houston, Texas-based independent label Suave Records, quickly garnering a tremendous regional following while proving highly influential to a generation of aspiring, independent-minded rap artists and entrepreneurs. |
 | | Amid the flourishing underground rap scene of Houston, Lil' Flip rose to quick and prosperous fame after his independently released 2000 album The Leprechaun broke through to a national audience, prompting the young rapper's signing to Universal Records soon after. |
 | | Tattooed with pictures of AK-47s, Miami's six-foot, 300-pound rap figure known as Rick Ross embraced his city's reputation for drug trafficking on his debut single, "Hustlin'," in 2006. |
 | | One of the most thuggish rappers ever embraced by the mainstream, Trick Daddy broke out of the South in 2001 with "I'm a Thug" and established himself as an unlikely national superstar. |
 | | Chicago rapper Twista made his recording debut on "Po Pimp," a platinum single by his fellow Windy City rappers Do or Die. |
 | | The year 2005 was like yin and yang for Atlanta bling rapper Gucci Mane. He enjoyed success entering the charts with his first national hit, "Icy," became involved in a quarrel with that song's collaborator, Young Jeezy, and found himself facing murder charges in the Georgia courts. |
 | | Yo Gotti is among the many hardcore rappers who came out of hip-hop's Dirty South school in the late '90s. |
 | | With partner Bun B, rapper Pimp C (born Chad Butler) formed UGK and helped put hardcore Houston, TX hip-hop in the spotlight, but he's also known for being at the center of a street-level campaign that sold nearly as many T-shirts as the "Yayo's Home" and "Frankie Say Relax" phenomena. |
 | | The Big Tymers, comprised of Cash Money Records co-founder Brian "Baby" Williams and in-house production workhorse Mannie Fresh, were a staple of the label, appearing as featured guests on most of the label's album releases and releasing several albums of their own, including a couple -- I Got That Work (2000) and Hood Rich (2002) -- that were quite successful. |
 | | At Atlanta's Miller Grove Middle School, two young wannabe rappers met up with each other, left their individual rap crews, and joined forces to become YoungBloodZ. |
 | | Signed to Slip-N-Slide in 2004 after recording his first track, "Tell Dem Krackers Dat," the Ft. Myers, FL-based Plies built anticipation for his official debut album with a couple mixtape releases, along with an appearance on Trina's "So Fresh. |
 | | B.G. was among the first rappers on Cash Money Records, and though he eventually departed from the label and forged his own path through the rap industry, he remains associated with Cash Money, with which he enjoyed his greatest success, most notably the epochal 1999 hit "Bling Bling. |
 | | Crunk practitioner Lil Scrappy was born Darryl Richards in the ATL. Discovered by BME Recordings and Lil Jon, Scrap built his rep throughout the Southeast before breaking nationally in 2003 with the hit "Head Bussa. |
 | | One half of the rap duo Crooked Lettaz, David Banner helped put Mississippi on the map in 1999. In 2000, he released his first solo album in Them Firewater Boyz, Vol. |
 | | Once dubbed "the Jay-Z of the South" by Pharrell Williams, T.I. gradually came into his own and established himself as one of rap's most successful MCs during the early 2000s. |
 | | Outside his primary roles as André 3000's partner in OutKast and as one of the central members of the Dungeon Family, Big Boi (born Antwan André Patton) appeared on tracks by Missy Elliott ("All N My Grill"), Trick Daddy ("In da Wind"), Jay-Z ("Poppin' Tags"), Killer Mike ("A. |
 | | Gorilla Zoe is an Atlanta rapper in the mold of Young Jeezy, whom he replaced in the Bad Boy group Boyz n da Hood. |
 | | Rapper Yung Joc (born Jasiel Robinson) learned about running his own business from his father, who owned a hair-care products company. |
 | | Once one of the leading rappers on Master P's No Limit record label, Mystikal quickly evolved beyond the label's clichéd thug trappings and found himself one of the Dirty South's most recognized rappers, alongside the likes of Juvenile and Ludacris. |
 | | C-Murder is the younger brother of Master P, the founder and president of No Limit Records. That explains his membership in the No Limit family, the label where nepotism rules, but he's actually one of the stronger rappers on the label. |
 | | The Cash Money Millionaires included whatever rappers happened to rap for Cash Money Records at the given moment. |
 | | Prior to gaining mainstream exposure during late 2004 and early 2005 with his single "Still Tippin'," Houston-based MC and self-promoter extraordinaire Mike Jones had long been a stalwart of the Swishahouse label, with a handful of releases under his belt. |
 | | Scarface quickly became the South's most admired rapper and remained so throughout the '90s after breaking away from the Geto Boys to launch his solo career in 1991. |
 | | When he's doing business, Cash Money Records CEO Bryan Williams uses his real name, but when he grabs the mike to spit Dirty South raps, Williams goes by the names Birdman or Baby. |
 | | Formed in 1997, the Hot Boys consisted of four youthful rappers from the same neighborhood of New Orleans, LA. |
 | | Master P created a hip-hop empire without registering on any mainstream radar. For several years, he operated solely in the rap underground, eventually surfacing in the mid-'90s as a recording artist and producer who knew exactly what his audience wanted. |
 | | Based in Mobile, AL, rapper Rich Boy (born Maurice Richards) didn't enter the music industry until after he enrolled as a mechanical engineering major at Tuskegee University. |
 | | Dubbed "the Mixtape Messiah," Houston's Chamillionaire arrived late as a major-label artist during his city's 2005 takeover of mainstream rap -- the Top Ten Sound of Revenge, released during November that year, followed albums from Mike Jones, Slim Thug, and former Color Changin' Click partner Paul Wall -- but he had already built a loyal following outside the South and received significant print coverage. |
 | | Compton's own Game (aka the Game and Hurricane Game) issued his debut LP, The Documentary, in 2004 through Aftermath/G-Unit/Universal. |
 | | Atlanta-born and bred trap rapper Shawty Lo, aka Carlos Walker, did not reach national prominence with his street-hustling raps, but by ushering in the "snap dance" craze with the Billboard-topping "Laffy Taffy" as part of his four-man crew, D4L, in 2005. |
 | | After sending their homeboy Lil Scrappy up the charts, the Atlanta-based label/management team Crunk Incorporated turned to the six-member Crime Mob for their next big hit. |
 | | Along with fellow Harlem-based player Cam'ron, Jim Jones founded the Diplomat label, home to the Diplomats/Dipset and many of that crew's prolific solo activities. |
 | | Jadakiss (born Jason Phillips) became a member of the Ruff Ryders in 1999. Five years earlier, he joined the LOX (who started their saga as a group called the Warlocks) and has remained a member of both groups since. |
 | | The boisterous and brash Trillville began their bid for the title "Gods of Crunk" in 1997 while attending ninth grade in Atlanta's public school system. |
 | | 2Pac became the unlikely martyr of gangsta rap, and a tragic symbol of the toll its lifestyle exacted on urban black America. |
 | | Rapper Cam'ron was born and raised in Harlem, attending Manhattan Center High School, where one of his basketball teammates was Mason "Mase" Betha, who also became a successful rapper. |
 | | Fabolous scored a bit hit, "Can't Deny It," right out of the gate in 2001, instantly establishing himself as a rising East Coast rap star, the song's combination of street-savvy toughness and pop crossover appeal representative of the rapper himself. |
 | | 8Ball, half of the pioneering Southern rap duo 8Ball & MJG, branched out occasionally for solo albums, beginning with the double-disc Lost in 1998, and was an active collaborator, appearing as a featured guest on countless rap songs over the years. |
 | | Born Antoine McColister in Port St. Lucie, Florida, Ace Hood was raised by his mother in Deerfield Beach, twenty miles north of Miami. |
 | | Born LaRon James in Harlem, the energetic Juelz Santana cut his teeth as an MC with the duo Draft Pick. |
![That's Gangsta [feat. Sean Kingston] Album Cover](http://images.slacker.com/isv1/album/v1/1212026/aol/1/center/5,0/70.jpg "That's Gangsta [feat. Sean Kingston] Album Cover")
