 | | Of the many hardcore rappers to emerge from Memphis during the late '90s, Project Pat stood tall amid his peers. |
 | | As DJ Paul's brother, Lord Infamous is one of Three 6 Mafia's core members, working alongside his brother years before the group even came to be. |
 | | A Three 6 Mafia group member, Crunchy Black played a significant role in the group's albums as an MC. |
 | | Before Three 6 Mafia was Three 6 Mafia, they called themselves Triple Six Mafia, a slightly more blatant allusion to their dark themes. |
 | | Like Prophet Posse and Tear da Club up Thugs, Hypnotize Camp Posse is actually a broader version of Three 6 Mafia, including members of that group and many of their Southern peers such as Project Pat. |
 | | 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. |
 | | Together with production partner DJ Paul, Juicy J played an important role in the South's rise to prominence within the once East- and West Coast-dominated rap industry. |
 | | Comprised primarily of Three 6 Mafia members Lord Infamous, Juicy "J," and DJ Paul, Tear da Club Up Thugs debuted with Crazyndalazdayz in the late '98, just as Three 6 Mafia and the other Southern rappers appearing here began their rise to commercial success. |
 | | A Three 6 Mafia offshoot, Prophet Posse features members of that Memphis, TN, group -- Gangsta Boo, Indo G, Koopsta Knicca -- along with many of their Southern and Midwest peers. |
 | | An affiliate of Three 6 Mafia, Gangsta Boo debuted with Enquiring Minds in 1998. Both Worlds *69 followed in 2001. |
 | | A member of Three 6 Mafia, Koopsta Knicca is often seen as the spiritual member of the otherwise malevolent group. |
 | | 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. |
 | | 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. |
 | | Long recognized as one of Memphis' top MCs, Gangsta Blac remained strictly an underground phenomenon before breaking out of the South in the early 2000s. |
 | | Recognized for the lyrical self-consciousness, thoughtfulness, and sincerity he injects into his otherwise standard approach to Dirty South rap, Pastor Troy stood out among the masses of up-and-coming Southern MC trying to break out nationally in the early 2000s. |
 | | 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. |
 | | Thuggish and rough Dirty South rapper Frayser Boy was a late bloomer. The Memphis, TN, native came to the attention of Three 6 Mafia's Hypnotize Camp Posse through a friend who worked for the crew. |
 | | When the quick-rapping, crunk to the core Lil Wyte first came to the attention of the Three 6 Mafia it was with an all-white group of which Wyte was a member. |
 | | Where most female artists in the rap game often boast more impressive looks than MC skills, La' Chat represented a new style of female rapper -- the female thug rapper. |
 | | One of the original rappers to emerge from Memphis -- alongside Eightball & MJG, Three 6 Mafia, and Tela during the mid-'90s -- Kingpin Skinny Pimp never quite matched the success of his more well-known peers, yet he still forged himself a long-lasting and influential recording career that carried on into the next decade. |
 | | 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. |
 | | MJG, half of the pioneering Southern rap duo 8Ball & MJG, rarely branched out for solo albums (e.g., No More Glory, 1997), yet his work with 8Ball proved influential, earning him a reputation as a living legend. |
 | | A member of the mid-'90s cluster of Memphis, TN, rappers affiliated with the extended Three 6 Mafia collective -- Hypnotize Camp Posse, Prophet Posse, Tear da Club up Thugs -- Indo G quickly established himself as one of the city's most talented MCs, examplified with the Juicy "J"/DJ Paul-produced Angel Dust (1998). |
 | | After spending most of the 1990s as an infamous local phenomenon in Houston, TX, DJ Screw suddenly found himself gaining sudden notoriety before his unfortunate death in late 2000. |
 | | One of the first Memphis rappers to make the major-label jump, Gangsta Pat never attained the acclaim or success of fellow Memphis pioneers Three 6 Mafia and Eightball & MJG, yet he still remains noteworthy for his trailblazing. |
 | | 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. |
 | | 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. |
 | | Yo Gotti is among the many hardcore rappers who came out of hip-hop's Dirty South school in the late '90s. |
 | | Formed in 1997, the Hot Boys consisted of four youthful rappers from the same neighborhood of New Orleans, LA. |
 | | One of the first rappers from Tennessee to release CDs, Playa Fly debuted in 1996 with Fly Shit, his first of several albums released independently by Super Sigg Records. |
 | | 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. |
 | | Rapper Bun B (born Bernard Freeman) rose to fame in the duo UGK. Bun B and Pimp C formed UGK in the late '80s when their former crew, Four Black Ministers, fell apart. |
 | | Tru is a three-piece gangsta rap group that No Limit mastermind Master P formed with his younger brothers, Silkk and C-Murder. |
 | | 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. |
 | | 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 Skinny Pimp issued Based on a True Story on Lil One Records in 2003.......................... |
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 | | 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. |
 | | One of several Three 6 Mafia affiliates in the late '90s, the Kaze debuted with Kamakazie Timez Up in late 1998. |
 | | 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. |
 | | Atlanta-based Young Jeezy originally planned on having a background role in the music industry -- as a businessman, not as a rapper. |
 | | 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. |
 | | 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. |
 | | Born Wayne Hardnett, Atlanta rapper Bone Crusher made his mark with a likeable playground machismo and a street-smart pop sensibility. |
 | | 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. |
 | | 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. |
 | | 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. |
 | | Next to Master P (and maybe C-Murder), Silkk the Shocker (born Vyshonne Miller) was the preeminent rapper on No Limit Records, the underground hardcore rap label that became a sensation in the late '90s. |
 | | 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. |
 | | One of Master P's many No Limit soldiers during the label's peak, Fiend never experienced much solo success though he contributed heavily to the work of his colleagues, most notably P's crossover hit, "Make Em Say Ugh. |
