Southern Hip-Hop and the Contributions that Conscious Artists like Ludacris Have Made to It

When you think of Southern Hip-Hop, what comes to mind; conscious rappers with a bit of an artistic abstract influence, such as Andre 3000, or Cee-Lo, or that crunk sound, such as that associated with Lil' John, one of the most prolific producers in this sub-genre of rap? Is Ludacris one of the best, yet underrated artists out there; as he continues to interpolate silly, meaningless lyrics inbetween thoughtful and profound subjects that few artists since Tupac Shakur have done until this day, or is just another of many Southern artists who serve to display how much true hip-hop is appreciated in Georgia?

To truly answer this question, you would have to go all the way back to that time when Ludacris had first redefined himself as a conscious rapper to begin with. For example, take his first three records, the last of which culminated in his attacks on Bill O' Reilly, a cable talk show host where he posits in a verse from "Blow It Out" that he can start his own beverage if he wants to and doesn't need the controversy Bill started through drawing attention to his lyrics (of which had inevitably served to end his with Pepsi) to sell records. From this point on, Ludacris has been an artist that is both conscientious as well as entertaining, and has no problem moving back and forth between both extremes to get his point across and show just how thorough of an artist he is. The irony of this is that the conscious roots from his old birthplace in Illinois were just starting to come through the empty exterior that he projected in order to succeed in the Southern Hip-Hop scene. You can now stand Ludacris next to other artists such as Kanye, Common, and Lupe and suggest that he has found an acceptable, yet overly entertaining, means by which to posit positive lyrics, yet you may not want to, because Atlanta has always had other artists who were able to do so, and rise above the mediocrity that many complain about in Hip-Hop today.

These days Ludacris is as well known for such singles as "Slap" which appears to be his usual hedonistic hyperbole until he takes a shot at President Bush for the war and asks if perhaps the real source of the protagonists anger is the fact that the said individual is not where he needs to be at in life. Sarcastic, self-deprecating lyrics such as "Rich people are way too fly, And I'm where I wanna be in my life, But why am I so behind, Is it cause I'm wasting my time away" suggest that the song pulls double duty by both exorcising and liberating whomever may be listening to it at the time. Yet most know his well known single, "Runaway Love", where both him and Mary J. do what they both do best, Mary J. reaches down into the depths of your soul through her own pain, and Ludacris empathizes with victims of abuse who have ran away from home.

There are other Southern rap artists that have been successful in their experimentation with conscious themes, both in the way in which they have marketed themselves and in the lyrics contained in their songs that can serve as examples that the Southern "country", or "dirty-south" sound is multifaceted, and isn't as simple as many claim that it is. The group Outkast wasn't always known for taking on topics that many other artists weren't willing to touch, yet by their sophomore album, ATLiens they took on a visceral, unique aesthetic that was both disturbing and fascinating at the same time, that forced listeners to reconsider their conventions about what hip-hop was supposed to sound like. "Elevators (Me & You)" was a track unlike any I had ever heard before, and one that I simply could not stop listening to, yet it wasn't until "Speakerboxxx/The Love Below", a few albums later, that most of us could fully appreciate the true depth of what this duo had to offer. Many individuals posit that 3000's eccentricities simply make for a lop-sided group, and suggest that Andre 3000 should just leave Big Boi alone altogether. Yet few realize that the only real consideration is that the fact that Big Boi, as normal as he appears on the surface, continues to perform with Andre, and collaborate with him, actually shows that Big Boi is merely supportive of the creativity in hip-hop that we had originally demanded from rap music to begin with. Andre isn't really that much different from the rest of us, though distinctively, comfortable with expressing his differences in ways that few of us would ever think to in our daily lives.

Other groups like the newly formed Gnarls Barkley continue to push hip-hop in newer directions. Gnarls Barkley's acceptance by mainstream hip-hop fans is a very beautiful thing indeed, because this is one of the first times that hip-hop fans have accepted what used to be known as underground hip-hop on a large scale. If you listen to "Crazy", it's not even certain if Cee-Lo is rapping or singing, yet you can't even begin to suggest that this is anything but real hip-hop. This also shows you that despite the media's emphasis on the idea that true hip-hop is dead, there are occasionally great songs on the radio that prove otherwise, and that someone other than Kool Keith can represent that idea of artistic purity and create great songs. At the end of the day, there is a lot to love about rap, Southern or otherwise; you can't blame the South for diluting rap, meaningless songs continue to come from all over the globe, most noticeably New York, without taking into consideration the artistic merit of those few songs that are released from Southern artists that have taken hip-hop to places where most of us were unwilling to go, when those ideas were first pushed in our direction.