Houston Rap Tapes: An Oral History of Bayou City Hip-Hop

Lance Scott Walker

Published by University of Texas Press 2018

Houston Rap Tapes

An Oral History of Bayou City Hip-Hop

Lance Scott Walker
Preface by: Willie D

https://doi.org/10.7560/317174

Overview
Contents

About this book

The neighborhoods of Fifth Ward, Fourth Ward, Third Ward, and the Southside of Houston, Texas, gave birth to Houston rap, a vibrant music scene that has produced globally recognized artists such as Geto Boys, DJ Screw, Pimp C and Bun B of UGK, Fat Pat, Big Moe, Z-Ro, Lil’ Troy, and Paul Wall. Lance Scott Walker and photographer Peter Beste spent a decade documenting Houston’s scene, interviewing and photographing the people—rappers, DJs, producers, promoters, record label owners—and places that give rap music from the Bayou City its distinctive character. Their collaboration produced the books Houston Rap and Houston Rap Tapes.

This second edition of Houston Rap Tapes amplifies the city’s hip-hop history through new interviews with Scarface, Slim Thug, Lez Moné, B L A C K I E, Lil’ Keke, and Sire Jukebox of the original Ghetto Boys. Walker groups the interviews into sections that track the different eras and movements in Houston rap, with new photographs and album art that reveal the evolution of the scene from the 1970s to today’s hip-hop generation. The interviews range from the specifics of making music to the passions, regrets, memories, and hopes that give it life. While offering a view from some of Houston’s most marginalized areas, these intimate conversations lay out universal struggles and feelings. As Willie D of Geto Boys writes in the foreword, “Houston Rap Tapes flows more like a bunch of fellows who haven’t seen each other for ages, hanging out on the block reminiscing, rather than a calculated literary guide to Houston’s history.”

Author / Editor information

Lance Scott Walker has written for the Houston Chronicle, Houston Press, Red Bull Music Academy, Vice, Wondering Sound, Local Houston, and Free Press Houston. He is the host of Houston Rap Tapes Radio and the founder of the live writers series Evil Hour Evening Reading.

Reviews

Houston Rap Tapes is a book that any self-respecting hip-hop head should read. Through copious amounts of research, care, and empathy, Walker allows the city of Houston to tell its story the way it deems fit.

— Los Angeles Review of Books

One of the best specific explorations of hip-hop you'll ever find.

— San Antonio Current

Houston...is changing. Books like Houston Rap Tapes help put on record the history and creativity that have long bubbled in the city's core neighborhoods.

— D Magazine

Lance Scott Walker…is a historian with a capital H. What I enjoyed most about this book is that great lengths were taken to include participants at all levels of exposure, from mainstream to underground.

— Day and a Dream

The oral histories, drawing on interviews conducted from 2005 to 2017, highlight the connections between the artists and the community they built.

— Publishers Weekly

I want this Houston hip-hop oral history book…because it details an essential rap locale via interviews with H-Town titans including Scarface and Slim Thug.

— Pitchfork Holiday Wish List

[Walker's] documentation may be more crucial now than ever.

— Houston Chronicle

For Houston, this book is iconic because local voices break down the models that they embedded in early 'Hustletown' culture that are still alive to this day as underground Texas rappers attempt to adapt to the streaming era.

— Passion of the Weiss

An authoritative history of one of America's most innovative and radical music scenes…[Lance Scott Walker] offers a dream realized for fans of Houston's explosive rap scene.

— Texas Books in Review

[Houston Rap Tapes] is a guide on how to appropriately archive and document regional rap over a generational timeline. It’s gold.

— Taylor Crumpton, Music Journalism Insider

Houston Rap Tapes tells a story. Houston, Texas, is a bona fide hip-hop city. It has a history, it has its b-boys, it has its graf artists, its DJs and its rappers that the people have supported since the beginning, and I love them. This book reflects that.

— Kurtis Blow

Topics

Frontmatter Publicly Available Download PDF	I
Contents Publicly Available Download PDF	V
Foreword Willie D Publicly Available Download PDF	VII
Preface Lance Scott Walker Publicly Available Download PDF	IX
FOUNDATION
MC Wickett Crickett (1959–2015) Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	2
DJ Steve Fournier Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	13
Darryl Scott Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	24
Captain Jack Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	28
Pam Collins Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	31
Jazzie Redd Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	34
RHINESTONE
DJ Ready Red Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	40
Willie D Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	49
Ricky Royal Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	57
Romeo Poet Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	63
Elite Al-B Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	69
Raheem Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	72
Lil’ Troy Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	80
Scarface Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	83
Def Jam Blaster Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	85
Sire Jukebox Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	91
SOUTHSIDE Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	100
K-Rino Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	102
DJ Domo Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	115
Rob Quest Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	118
N.O. Joe Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	127
DJ Styles Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	129
Matt Sonzala Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	133
Big Mike Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	137
Lez Moné Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	140
The ARE Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	144
K-Otix Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	148
Craig (BBC) Long Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	151
Murder One Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	154
Point Blank Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	157
Dope E Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	162
Top Dog Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	164
Snapp of The Niyat Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	170
B-1 Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	173
Cl’Che Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	177
Justice Allah Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	182
Z-Ro Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	189
380 Dat Lady Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	195
KB Da Kidnappa Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	201
Icey Hott Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	204
DJ Gold Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	207
Klondike Kat Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	212
Russell Washington Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	218
DJ Chill Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	223
DJ Chill Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	225
Lil’ Keke Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	235
Big DeMo Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	238
Wood Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	243
LOS Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	249
Southside Playaz Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	253
DJ DMD Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	260
Bun B Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	264
NORTHSIDE
G-Dash Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	270
Mike Moe Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	277
Salih Williams Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	283
Paul Wall Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	288
Slim Thug Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	301
Meshah Hawkins Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	305
Kay of The Foundation Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	314
FUTURE
Big Gerb (1983–2016) Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	322
Cal Wayne Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	325
Dr. Robert S. Muhammad Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	329
OMB Bloodbath Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	336
BLACKIE Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	340
Acknowledgments Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	345
Index Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	347

Language: English
Publisher: University of Texas Press
Audience: General/trade;
Pages
- Main content: 368

eBook

Published: January 29, 2019
ISBN: 9781477317921