Limit army. Something like Hip Hop’s version of David and Goliath, Troy’s “We Ready” can be credited for starting the eventual downfall of P’s kingdom.
Military Minded
Master P & the No Limit Soldiers Take Charge Master P started his career in 1991 repping Richmond, California with In A Minute records. But he will always be remembered for putting New Orleans on the map with No Limit. In hindsight, his marketing genius is clearly what moved most of his music (and movies, clothes, etc.), not necessarily the quality of it. However you can’t deny that from 1996 to 1999 (especially 1997-98) No Limit had Tuesdays at the record store on lock.
“The South Got Something to Say”
Outkast Gets Booed at the 1995 Source Awards The 1995 Source Awards goes down in history as the show where the infamous East (Bad Boy) vs. West (Death Row) beef started. It is also remembered as the day where Outkast unexpectedly won the award for Best New Group of the Year — and got booed. The then baby-faced duo of Andre pre-3000 and Big Boi accepted their award with dignity, but a clearly frustrated Dre closed his acceptance speech with those six legendary words that still live to this day.
Game Over JULIA BEVERLY
T.I. vs. Lil Flip Beef
Free Pimp C!
The Ultimate Shoutout
Refusing to let his partner in rhyme become lost and forgotten during his three years in the pen, Bun B made sure the world knew who Pimp C was. Using his numerous cameo appearances as a platform, Bun often shouted Pimp’s name instead of his own, until his proclamation grew from an utterance into a slogan slapped on t-shirts and fitted caps. Even though Pimp C was released from prison in late 2005, the “Free Pimp C” campaign wasn’t officially laid to rest until months later with the release of Bun’s “Get Throwed” video, where he passes on wearing a “Free Pimp C” t-shirt.
Before T.I. and Lil’ Flip, Southern artists never really had any major beefs among each other that couldn’t be settled without fanfare. As unfortunate as it panned out to be, the conflict between these two emerging stars signaled that the South was officially a big blink on the rap radar. Words were had and fists were thrown, however, a closed door meeting with Rap-A-Lot records CEO J. Prince put an end to their volatile misunderstanding.
Big Pimpin’
JULIA BEVERLY
UGK Steals The Show UGK outshined Jay-Z on his own song long before Emimem showed Jigga who the real “Renegade” was. Pimp and Bun came so hard on “Big Pimpin’” that Hova had to go back and add a verse for the video version. What makes it even sweeter is that the song dropped in the midst of the torturous down time between Ridin’ Dirty and Dirty Money, giving UGK fans some much needed new material outside of that Dirty Money bootleg and Trill Azz Mixes. Six years later UGK still managed to steal the show when they performed “Big Pimpin’” with Jay on 106th & Park, leaving the crowd shouting “U-G-K!”
Pimp Hard
Oscar Joins the Mafia Sure, Gangsta Boo, Koopsta Nicca, Crunchy Black and Lord Infamous were no longer in the group. But Oscar replaced all four of them in grand fashion when DJ Paul & Juicy J won the Academy Award for Best Song with “Hard Out Here For A Pimp” from the Hustle & Flow soundtrack. Even though some locals feel it didn’t do much to help the plight of Memphis’ Hip Hop scene in general, it’s still a good look, and helped Three 6 expand their audience and land gigs like their MTV reality show HollyHood.
Unfriendly Fire
Pastor Troy Takes Shots At the Tank In 1999, an unknown rapper from Georgia named Pastor Troy packed his Holy Bible, loaded his assault rifle and started a war with Master P’s towering No
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Do Yo’ Dance
The Bankhead Bounce Goes Nationwide Leaning and rocking was not the first dance to come out of Atlanta’s shifty Westside. Bankhead also gave us that bounce where all you had to do was move your shoulders up and down, and modify it with baseball swings or fishing reel motions if you pleased. The A-Town Players and Diamond & D-Roc (now of the Ying Yang Twinz) can both take credit in popularizing the dance, but it was Outkast’s “Benz or Beamer” video that took it nationwide. The dance officially died when people started fucking it up on Soul Train.