Saints Mania and the re-birth of Dirty South Rap

As a long-time listener of hip hop, I noticed that while New Orleans used to be the epicenter of the dirty south rap music from late 90s to 2003/2004ish, the current trend of southern rap had been moving away from Louisiana, towards Georgia (Atlanta), Tennessee, and the Montgomery-Mobile Alabama corridor. This made me frowns-town. Well...frown no more, because one of the unintended consequences of Saints Mania is the re-birth of Dirty South rap.

Something interesting happens when your local football team is undefeated --- people start making tribute songs. Only in New Orleans would a winning football act as the catalyst for an outpouring of creativity. It's like the enlightenment up in here. As much as I love my northern readers -- you didn't see people writing songs/raps/music when the Boston Red Sox finally won. I'm pretty sure they just set couches, cars, and curtains on fire.

Having listened to most of the tribute music. I have picked out my favorites for your listening pleasure.

Bring Em to the Dome (Saints Anthem)

I love the rap/rock/jazz combination in this song. Rumors on the street say that Lil Wayne's "Rebirth" album is going to have a rock-like feel to it, and I wonder if this is the sort of sound his music will have? If so, I commend Dee-1 and Shamarr Allen for beating Weezie to the punch.



There are a couple of reasons I really love this one. First - even though he is using the ying-yang twins "Get crunk" music, I somehow think his version is 100 times better. Second, I love the video footage of the totally objective and unbiased journalist sitting in the press area in the very beginning of the video. Third - I actually emailed this rapper (K-Gates) and asked him if he would sit to an interview. And get this -- he actually agreed (!!) even though I never specified who I wrote for, or what "blog" I was from. I have yet to decide whether I should conduct this interview, but I am seriously considering it.

SAINTS OFFICAL SONG

This guy is, hands down, my favorite. To me, Ya Boy P-A-T embodies the spirit of the Dirty South Rap movement. No musical equipment? No problem! Just play the soundtrack to the Madden NFL game on repeat. I love his opening monologue, I love the way he sings "so much fire." I love it all.