personality. I’m a cool cat, I don’t really get in trouble and I don’t really argue with nobody, I’m supportive of everybody so they support me.” And they support the rest of the camp too, who take the down South Texas style and put their own twist on it. One thing that sets them apart is while they are definitely hard, street artists, they have no problem with injecting some humor in the mix. Their wordplay is unmatched amongst their peers. DSR’s other members Tum Tum, Fat Bastard, Addiction, Lil Ronnie, TT, Tite and their young partners the TBGz are all names to be on the lookout for. Two of the most successful producers to emerge from Texas in recent years are from Dallas as well. Play-N-Skillz are currently riding high off the success of Chamillionaire’s “Ridin’ Dirty,” which garnered over 10,000 BDS spins in the U.S. and has been remixed lyrically by artists in France, New Zealand, Germany and the U.K. It gets radio and video play all over the world and Play-N-Skillz couldn’t be happier. But this isn’t their first success story. The duo has worked with all sorts of folks. “We recorded Lil Flip’s whole last album, even the stuff we didn’t produce,” Play explains. “Baby Bash, Young Buck, Outlawz, Bone Thugs and Harmony, Petey Pablo, Fabolous, everybody and anybody. Every time somebody comes to Dallas they calling Play-NSkillz. If they not calling for the bitches they calling for the beats.” Born two Latin kids in a rough section of the Dallas suburb of Irving, Play-N-Skillz work well within the Latin music scene. But unlike a lot of their peers, they are able to branch out and work with anyone. “Dallas is real multi-cultural.” Play continues. “Blacks, whites, Latinos, Asians, everybody gets down out here. If you saw our video for ‘Latino’s Stand Up’ you saw we had everybody. We had the black people throwing up their L’s. We have an Asian kid named Lumber from the group Phar East that we’re working with. He’s definitely about to blow.” If you’re not convinced that Dallas – and its neighbor Ft. Worth – has it going on, then you must have missed something. It’s rich with hip-hop history and new pages are written every day, making this North Texas Metroplex one of the most dynamic hip-hop cities today. It would take more pages than we can fit in this issue of OZONE to cover everyone currently making noise in this city. Just by looking at the photo, you’ll see that there’s no shortage of tight artists in North Texas. “I ain’t never seen no shit like this,” rapper Mr. Lucci was heard saying as the camera snapped away. While the artists in Dallas may not get together on a daily basis, since we came to town, everyone now knows that they really are not alone in this game. Other artists to watch include Fort Worth’s Twisted Black, a fire breath-
ing reality rapper in the vein of Scarface who’s not afraid to speak the truth and reach inside his soul for topics to cover other than what he’s got in his mouth or on his car. Boleg and his Stampede Records family and Bobo Luchiano represent one of Dallas’s oldest and most notorious neighborhoods, Oakcliffe, like it’s the South Bronx of the South. Blofly comes with some undeniable street shit, and Big Chief has one of the most unique and appealing voices in rap today. Two of the biggest selling independent artists from Dallas, Mr. Pookie & Mr. Lucci, both have releases in stores this year and Grifter Records is home to a whole gang of young heaters – and some old school legends like label head World Fame – all set to blow in the ‘06. Quint Black, Big Hood Boss, Big Wheel Records, Crystyle, D-Lou, NFL Boys, Rakoo Nation , SEJ, Six-2, Young Muhammed, Nino, Hotboy Starr, Olmann, Philly Station, Gator Main, C-Pone, Creepa, Lil Socc, Colby Savage, Young Pig, Coach Cognac and Diamond D are all names to look out for in the near future. “Without Dallas I wouldn’t be shit,” Kottonmouth closes with a bit of chastisement for what he sees currently in the Dallas rap game. “No matter where I go ain’t nobody gotta ask Kottonmouth where I’m from. The only thing we gotta do in Dallas right now is make sure everybody lining they business up to look like a structured business. We don’t wanna look like a bunch of niggas talking loud unless we talking about structured business.” With a company like T-Town Music opening up the doors to retail and once again attracting the attention of the majors, Kotton’s right. If these artists and labels can get their business right, they certainly have a chance. “I don’t think it’s automatic that Dallas is gonna blow just because Houston did,” Cold Cris of Mad Flava says in closing. “But a lot of eyes are on Dallas right now and the opportunity is there. I think it’d be a shame if an artist or a company didn’t step up and exploit that attention that’s going on right now. It’s up to everybody to man up on their own and do what they have to do. There’s nothing entitled or promised to nobody. You got to get out there and get it on your own.” Thanks to George Lopez and everyone at T-Town Music, Jeff Liles, Cold Cris, Jeff Wade, Bobo Luchiano, Joe Macc, Pookie from urbansouth. us, Mr. Blakes and the entire city of Dallas for their help in making this story a reality. You can hear all these artists and more on the hot mix CDs currently flooding the streets by DJ Princess Cut, a young, female turntable wizard who relocated a few years ago to Dallas from Japan, the Untouchable DJs and on the Dirty South Block Party every Saturday night from 10 PM – midnight central on www.knon.org.
(l to r): Big Truck, Pikahsso, Rod, Corey Clout, Tequila, guest, Crystle, Big Chief, guest, Twisted Black, D-Lyte, Money Maine, JJ Chianes, HeadKrack, Rakoo, Blofly, Steve Austin, Big Ben, Sarge, Big Wheel Records
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