NEW BOOK: THIRD COAST: OUTKAST, TIMBALAND, & HOW HIP HOP BECAME A SOUTHERN THING
Apr 24, 2007 2:06 PM
Third Coast (Perseus Books Group, 2007) explores the history of rap as it emerged out of the South through many crosscurrents. Author Roni Sarig goes way back to the oral tradition of slaves in the South, field hollers, the blues and gospel, and connects the dots to early 20th century African American radio announcers who rhymed, testified and signified. Hosts like Jocko Henderson, Daddy-O and Poppa Stoppa actually spoke in rhyme, and their broadcasts reached way down into the Caribbean, "influencing Jamaica's earliest toasters such as U-Roy and Sir Lord Comic to perform their rhythmic rhymes over reggae dubs. It would be these toasters, then, who would influence and inspire the young Jamaican on his way to New York: Kool DJ Herc, aka the father of hip-hop. Sarig also notes the influence of musicians, poets, comedians and celebrities with roots in the South who continued with the toasting, boasting, signifying and rhyming: Rudy Ray Moore, Clarence "Blowfly" Reid, Muhammad Ali, the Last Poets, the Watts Prophets, Gil Scott-Heron and H. Rap Brown.
Sarig follows rap's history from Miami bass to Houston's gangsta goths, hitting on Memphis' gangsta walk and New Orleans' bounce music, and exploring Atlanta as the new Motown and Virginia as a no-man's land, where studio wizards such as Timbaland and the Neptunes spun pop magic. On his journey through dirty South hip-hop, Sarig explores how far recent hip-hop has come both sonically and culturally, focusing on the big players like Outkast, Missy Elliott, Ying Yang Twins, T.I., UGK, Eightball & MJG, Three 6 Mafia, Juvenile, Ludacris, and Lil Jon, exploring its roots, style, slang and influence and considering its more recent genre-busting iterations like crunk.
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