Whadown, y’all? Welcome to the first post in Thought Y’all Knew, a new series that I’m running here on UWHipHop.com.
Here’s a lil’ trivia question to warm y’all up:
Q. Who coined the term “Dirty South?”
A. Now, this is a trick question. While it was, in fact, the title of a song on Goodie Mob’s seminal debut album Soul Food, the man credited for coining it is Cool Breeze, a little known Dungeon Family emcee who people haven’t really heard much from recently. He’s had guest spots on various Dungeon Family projects over the years (his appearance on Soul Food is his most memorable, but he was also featured on Outkast’s “Decatur Psalm” and “Slump,” which were included on their classic records ATLiens and Aquemini, respectively).
His first and last major label album, 1999’s East Points Greatest Hit, is one of the most underrated releases from the expansive DF catalogue. Standout tracks include “Cre-A-Tine” and the Goodie Mob/Outkast posse cut “Watch For the Hook,” both of which received video treatment; “Ghetto Camelot,” which, in my humble opinion, was the song that laid the foundation for Organized Noize’s work on OutKast’s Stankonia; and “Doin’ It In The South,” which, ironically, showcases Breeze flexing over some West Coast funk, complete with a vocoder-laced chorus.
Sometimes, I wonder what happened to Breeze. He recently popped up in a Vibe magazine article about the rise and fall of the Dungeon Family’s popularity, and his MySpace page (http://www.myspace.com/cooolpeeeple) has some new records of his in the music player, but for the most part, he’s dropped off the map. Hopefully, with news of the Dungeon Family’s recent resurgence via Goodie Mob’s reunion and rumors of new records from Outkast and Cee-Lo Green, we can once again hear some new music from Cool Cool Cutta.
