Hey everyone, Summer here.

And today we're diving into something close to my heart and definitelyclose to Duke's—Southern hip hop. The sound that came from the dirt roads, thehonky-tonks, the culture of the American South and completely changed what rapmusic could be.

For too long, hip hop was dominated by New York and Los Angeles. EastCoast versus West Coast. That was the narrative. And then the South said,"Hold up—we've got something to say too." And what they said changedeverything.

From OutKast to Lil Wayne, from UGK to Three 6 Mafia, from Ludacris toT.I., Southern artists didn't just join the conversation—they took it over.They brought different sounds, different perspectives, different energy. Theymade the bass hit harder, the beats knock slower, the lyrics draw from Southernculture in ways nobody had heard before.

So today, we're talking about Southern hip hop—where it came from, whatmakes it different, why it matters, and how it went from being dismissed by thecoasts to becoming the dominant sound in rap.

Let's get into it.

PART ONE: THE ORIGINS - WHERE SOUTHERN HIP HOP BEGAN

To understand Southern hip hop, you have to understand that for years,the South was ignored by the rap industry. In the late '80s and early '90s, ifyou weren't from New York or LA, you basically didn't exist in hip hop.

New York had the boom-bap sound, the lyrical complexity, the streetstorytelling. LA had gangsta rap, the G-funk sound, the West Coast attitude.And the music industry acted like those were the only two places making realhip hop.

But down South, something different was brewing.