cords and while their debut From the Ground Under made a good bit of noise it came out a full year after Priority did its major promo push. In this business timing is everything, and Mad Flava became yet another story of a label fucking up and missing the boat on what could have been something big.
T
he 90’s in Dallas were similar to the 90’s in a lot of other places. Artists saw the success their neighbors in Louisiana Master P and Cash Money were having and they began stepping their game up. Two of the most influential artists to come out of Dallas and really work the independent hustle were – and still are – Pimpsta and Kottonmouth. Kottonmouth later went on to form the Rally Boyz with Jizno and Fort Worth’s Big Ben. The Rally Boyz became one of the city’s premier groups because of their hustle, immediate chemistry and connections to rappers from all over the spectrum. The Rally Boyz have always been grinders, and Kottonmouth is known as a leader in Dallas’s latest movement, a scene he helped to create.
“I’ve been hustling our music for a long time, and today, I take CD’s from other artists out on the road with me and even try to sell they shit,” Kottonmouth says, explaining the grind that got him to where he is today and what some other folks might need to do to get their weight up. “These artists a lot of the time, they hollering and bullshitting and running they mouth but they not into retail, they not into the mom and pops, they not into selling out they trunks, they not into going to the car show and setting up a booth and selling they CDs. They not into selling they CDs in their homeboy’s traps. They not into giving they CDs to they pimp pa’tnas and letting the hoes sell the CDs. Any way you can sell music is the way you sell music. I don’t give a damn. I’ll give your grandma some CDs to sell while she at work.” And maybe he has. His catalog is one of the most widely known to come out of the Dallas independent movement. Pimpsta has kept his name hot for the past ten years by consistently releasing albums and undergrounds, sometimes multiple copies in the same month. Before boys started dropping discs full of their flows over other peoples beats on a regular basis, Pimpsta was flooding the streets with his countrified street prose almost monthly since 1993. He was a pioneer artist and businessman. His first single “Rollin’ on Them Thangs” was an ode to riding on Daytons, a topic that is all but played out today, but sounded fresh as can be in 1993. “At the time that song and album kind of changed the game because no one was talking about cars like that,” Pimpsta explains. “Everyone was on West Coast stuff, but Greg Street loved that song and helped get it out there and
blew it up. There was nobody but Pimp C sounding country like that at the time. Everything I did kind of went against the grain.” Going against the grain isn’t really against the rules in Dallas like it is in other cities, namely Houston. In Houston, artists outside the realm of what DJ Screw created have a really hard time being heard. But in Dallas, there’s a whole gang of artists making noise by being truly different. Not everyone is on some straight, Texas street shit. There’s diversity in this city and many of the artists who step outside the box and experiment with new sounds are starting to get attention from the media and even the streets. Pikahsso and his PPT family recently won a contest held by the Dallas Mavericks to create their playoff theme song. Money Waters released an album of blues-tinged, reality hip-hop and is known to perform with a full band. Steve Austin brings a new energy and classic lyricism to the game. Hydroponic Soundsystem have crafted countless classic singles and two incredible compilation CD’s that sell like wildfire overseas. Head Krack has been known as a freestyle champ since he was a young buck and is now receiving major recognition as a radio and mixtape hustler. All five of these artists are poised to have a huge year in 2006. And it’s all started with working the streets in Dallas, a city where it’s okay to be different.
S
trangely enough, even the stuff that approaches mainstream in Dallas seems to go against the grain and generally sounds new. The biggest group to break out of Dallas in the past few years is DSR – the Dirty South Rydaz. After years of hustling their mixtapes and underground albums throughout Texas and the surrounding states, following the lead of their contemporaries the Swisha House and Boss Hogg Outlaws, they recently scored a $7 million deal with Universal for their T-Town Music Label – a company formed by a successful retailer/ distributor/hustler named George Lopez and his partners Trinidad Delgado and Alan Powell. Their first major label release is coming from Big Tuck, one of the most unique voices in Southern rap today. “I was taking CD’s to George Lopez at T-Town Music about six years ago.” Big Tuck pontificates. “George was already doing retail, pushing the Swishahouse, the Boss Hogg, the Mike Jones and stuff like that. And he was like, ‘Man I might as well go and start my own group.’ And here we are. I can honestly say that I’m one of the first rappers that Dallas has accepted as they own. It’s part of my attitude and my
(l to r): Picnic Time, Charles Reece, Ernest M., BoogieMan, Coach Cognac, Edward “Pookie” Hall, Uncle Pauly, Money Waters, Small Soulja, Worldfame Grifter, Cold Cris, Puerto Rican Mike, Charles, Chase Pat, Poe, Kio, Boleg, Peezy, guest, guest, City Life, Lil Phil, Mista Mista, Dawg Wonder, Classick