The album, mostly produced by Ball & G, established them as innovative players on the rap scene, with a fresh, distinctive sound bred from their Memphis upbringing. Ball & MJG were the indie label's flagship group, and thus, became one of the early artists to help pioneer the independent rap game. Memphis' visibility would change with Ball & G's seminal 1993 debut album, Coming Out Hard, on Tony Draper's Houston-based Suave House Records. The album not only helped put Memphis on the rap map but ultimately influenced Houston's rap scene as well. "It was me and my n-gga from Suave House Records, Tony Draper/E-40 and the Click, Eightball & MJG, getting that independent paper." -E-40, "Record Haters" So, these guys were satisfied with the money they were making without being above ground Other artists could come to the city and hear the music, but because it wasn't on radio, they could take it back to larger markets." "You have artists like Play Fly that without radio could put out an album and sell 110,000 or 115,000 copies, Skinny sells 150,000 regionally, without radio. "It's frustrating that Memphis hasn't gotten its credit, but at the same time it's understandable," Memphis music veteran DJ Howard Q explained in a 2006 interview with now-defunct Ozone Magazine. In the early '90s, the duo was featured on Memphis rap vet, DJ Squeeky's mixtapes, establishing Ball & G as popular local acts in the city's busy rap scene, which has always been an enormous influence on Atlanta hip-hop, with its quick, snappy high-hats and booming 808s. While 1993's Coming Out Hard was the duo's mainstream introduction, Ball & G weren't newbies to the rap scene. is laying claim to then you can go back to the early 90s with artists like UGK, The Geto Boys and 8Ball & MJG laying the foundation on which T.I.'s early career stands," DJ Wally Sparks, who's served as a tour DJ for Big KRIT, told The Boombox last year.
"If we're talking about the style of trap music that T.I. They talked of breaking out beyond your circumstances, and the importance of being aware of what's going on around you. Their scope and perspective can be heard in current artists like Big K.R.I.T., when he's analyzing himself and the world, or in T.I., when he's admitting he's vulnerable to temptations and "still ain't forgave" himself for it.
Sure, there were traces of the streets in their records, but mostly, Ball & G had lessons about life and living on your own terms. We weren’t the D-boys or the football players."Īnd that "misfit" mentality has come to define their sound. Every high school has cliques, and we ran with the weed-smoking, class cutting… damn near misfits. "We took classes together, and we were two of the same. "It was seventh grade at Ridgeway High ," he told HipHopDXin 2010. MJG remembered the first time he met Ball, back in the junior high. Add that to the poverty that veiled the city, which mostly consists of warehouse jobs, and you have a perfect environment to create soulful, raw music, which Ball & G did via their mainstream introduction to the rap world, 1993's classic, Coming Out Hard. The blues-drenched rap style of Ball & G isn't surprising given the city's rich musical history.
The legendary Stax Records whose roster was only rivaled by Motown in the late '60s and early '70s, also calls Memphis home. Al Green, Isaac Hayes, the Bar-Kays as well as Sam and Dave all called the city home. The talent that comes from Memphis reads like a Who's Who List for black music.