(Bun B claims he and Pimp C sent the recorder, but in Sweet Jones: Pimp C’s Trill Life Story, Smoke told Julia Beverly he smuggled it in.) Guards probably believed he was singing along to the tape in the machine, but Smoke was recording an audio documentary, rumbling in his resonant Southern drawl about everything he witnessed and soliciting commentary from an animated fellow inmate.
During recreation hours, Smoke strolled the prison yard holding a portable DAT recorder roughly the size of a Walkman. Smoke D, who guested on “Front, Back, & Side to Side,” began serving time for manslaughter and drug trafficking sometime after the release of UGK’s sophomore album, 1994’s Super Tight. The first minute of Pimp C and Bun B’s third album as UGK-which reimagined the sound of the South and should’ve immediately garnered the Port Arthur, Texas, duo the renown and reverence they know today-was recorded inside a Mississippi penitentiary. Not in the fictional, part-of-a-lyrical-narrative or dramatic-skit sense. Today, we’re exploring the UGK’s certified classic, Ridin’ Dirty.
The 1996 Rap Yearbook, a recurring series from The Ringer, will explore the landmark releases and moments from a quarter-century ago that redefined how we think of the genre. However, I will give Bone this edge because at the end of the day, Juicy takes a backseat on “Dark Horse” while Carey embodies the West Coast sleaze so beautifully.No year in hip-hop history sticks out quite like 1996: It marked the height of the East Coast–West Coast feud, the debut of several artists who would rule the next few decades, and the last moment before battle lines between “mainstream” and “underground” were fully drawn.
This is once again a battle of the vibes. Now, I do love Mariah and “Breakdown,” and it’s one of the sexiest songs of the ‘90s. However, I bet Perry was at home with a sly smile on her face, waiting until her child is old enough so she can explain that she made a song with Juicy J and Kanye West on the same album. Neither brought out their respective songstresses, possibly because Carey is still defrosting in time for Christmas and Katy Perry is enjoying motherhood. Zack Fox said it best in his now-deleted tweet from last night: “Absolutely not.” I will say, the fact that Juicy J can boast that he has a song with Katy Perry is incredible, and Bone Thugs matched the energy with a collaboration with another goddess Mariah Carey. Bone Thugs-N-Harmony – “No Surrender”īone Thugs rejoiced when they got to go last, but Three 6 came out swinging with their 2000 club hit “Who Run It.” DJ Paul’s infectious chorus feels more like a warning than anything: “These bitches ain’t runnin’ shit but y’all mouth/ Cause the first hater step, the first hater get tossed out.” Round 1: Three 6 Mafia – “Who Run It” VS. With all that out of the way, let’s get into it. Their songs have been sampled by everyone from Cardi B to Justice, and both Juicy J and DJ Paul have become some of the most in demand producers of the past two decades. Meanwhile, Three 6 Mafia, aside from making history as the first rap group to win an Academy Award, steadily grew from one of Memphis’ most beloved underground groups into one of the most influential rap groups in history.
Based on their influence, Three 6 could’ve definitely held their own against Wu-Tang Clan.īone Thugs-N-Harmony, famously discovered by NWA’s Eazy E, was a cheat code for a perfect rap song in the ‘90s and early ‘00s, collaborating with everyone from Tupac and Biggie, to Mariah Carey and A$AP Ferg. If I had to choose a better opponent, Bone Thugs would have done much better against Tha Dogg Pound or Crucial Conflict (both of whom they had beef with). The two groups were compared a lot in their prime for their dark take on hip-hop, but the odds have always been in Three 6 Mafia’s favor because of their amount of mainstream hits, one of which won an Academy Award. I also have a huge issue with the Verzuz. The headline may fool you, but I am pretty biased as a huge fan of Southern rap, but I try to approach this as unbiased as possible. Now, over a year later, the hip-hop gods threw me a bone (heh) and it was formally announced.īefore we get into the round-by-round of the battle, let’s get some things out of the way. This was announced at the beginning of the pandemic when Verzuz quickly went from an Instagram Live innovation into a full-blown cultural phenomenon, but it was never heard from again.
to tune into the Verzuz battle between Three 6 Mafia and Bone Thugs-N-Harmony. Last night, I awoke from my old woman slumber at 10 p.m.