Country Fried Soul: Adventures in Dirty South Hip Hop

by Tamara Palmer

Hip-hop is the biggest youth movement in the world today, and leading the way is the new sound of the South, exemplified by platinum and multi-platinum artists like OutKast, Lil Jon & The East Side Boyz, Ludacris, Ying Yang Twins and 8Ball and MJG. This fascinating book reveals where Dirty South hip-hop came from and where it's heading. It explores the hopes, struggles, and frustrations of performers and producers, and guides you to the best in Southern hip-hop on CD and DVD, in magazines, and on the web. If you want to know where the South is taking music, you need this book. Includes foreword by Mississippi rapper David Banner.

Genres: Music

192 pages, Paperback

First published March 10, 2005

Reviews

[Tamara · Rating 5 out of 5]

From writing this book, I learned that I want to spend the rest of my life writing books.

[Amar Pai · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some writers are so good that they can make you interested in something you're not normally interested in. e.g. David Foster Wallace writing about tennis, or long New Yorker articles about coal transport on railroads / "Bratz" dolls / the price of tea in China.

Tamara Palmer is not one of those writers. So I can only recommend this book to fans of hip hop. That being said, it's a pretty entertaining read.

Country Fried Soul is a hodgepodge of relentlessly upbeat profiles/interviews with luminaries of Southern hip hop. Most of the big names get some coverage-- Ludacris, Master P, Outkast, etc. etc. The profiles border on hagiography, and it would have been nice to have more critical thought when faced with absurdities like the Ying-Yang twins claiming that strippers are the ultimate example of female empowerment. It's clear that Palmer is writing as a fan first, journalist second.

One interesting section of the book discusses how strip clubs in Atlanta are the place where producers/musicians go to judge if a song's going to be a hit. Basically if the strippers like it you know you've got something! "The strip club is huge... [H]ow it works in Atlanta is somebody records a record, then it goes to the strip club and it becomes the stripper's anthem first. And then, when it becomes her anthem, every nigga in the club want the DJ to play it 'cos if you gon' spend your $10 you want the girl to be into it... [a]nd then it becomes the strip club anthem... to the ponit that it goes to the regular club, and when you go to the regular club, stripper gets off work and she also goes to the regular club. She wanna hear that record too... [s]o the DJ then, he becomes amped and wanna play it becasue everbody's requesting it to the point that-- bam! the radio say, 'Oh shit, we better jump on it.' -I-20

The second part of the book is a bunch of lists, e.g. "Essential Albums," "Teemoney's Dirty South Awards." (Incidentally, the author repeatedly refers to herself as 'Teemoney' throughout the course of the book. I wish she wouldn't.)

You will enjoy the many pictures scattered throughout the book. One thing about these cats from the South-- they got style. Miles & miles, so much style that it's wasted.

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notes to self:
visit ATL strip clubs if the chance presents itself (it probably won't)
David Banner is smart
put "Drumline" on netflix
Bonecrusher is hilariously obese
Too $hort is smart

[Wes Freeman · Rating 3 out of 5]

Can't say I finished this book, but read what I'm gonna for now. A noble enterprise to map out the world of Southern Hip-Hop when the biggest thing to come out of it was "Get Low." Southern hip-hop must have looked like it was gonna be a big thing in 2004, but it actually conquered the world until 2005, so one of the problems here is that the most action-packed chapter in the Dirdy's relationship with hip-hop didn't happen until after the book came out, so Palmer was actually so prescient that the boat missed her. Pimp C wasn't free yet. Pimp C wasn't dead yet.

The part of the book I read had the author in the A, and it will no doubt server as a useful look at Atlanta as it developed into the capitol of mainstream hip-hop in the mid to late 2000s. For myself, I would rather have heard from Memphis, Houston, Virginia Beach. Maybe I would have had I finished the book. She should write a volume two or something.

[Missy b · Rating 5 out of 5]

I like to say that, "Palmer defines 'crunk' with the multivalence an Eskimo might reserve
for describing snow".

They aren't my words, but I like to say them. And she does.

This book barely hit the shelves and disappeared, which is a shame, since it was the first book ever published on Deep South Hip-Hop with a ton of exclusive interviews and cool photos.

Like a good Southern book should, it does a long slow, visual tour through the stories of Southern Hip-Hop artists, their histories, influences, and their culture.. Southern Style has permanently changed the face of Hip-Hop and these artists know why.

[Kianna]

I really wanna read this book because i love hip-hop and anything that has to deal with it catches my eye.

[Kojo Baffoe · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some great insights into southern hip hop but I did struggle with the writing style a bit. Had moments where it felt choppy and disjointed.