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Prior to becoming a rapper, Washington had a fair amount of success playing football at Miami University from 1995 to 1997. He played wide receiver for the team before transferring to the University of Central Florida, eventually dropping out to focus on his music.
Washington’s stepbrother Ronnell Lawrence Lavatte, also known as Big Gates, established the independent record label Big Gates Records at the tail end of the 1990s. Initially reluctant to rap, Washington lay down a verse on the track “Tell Dem Krackers Dat” and the two traveled to Miami to promote the single, which led to Plies signing with Slip-n-Slide Records in 2004.
In 2007 came the rapper’s debut album “The Real Testament” which was led by the debut single “Shawty” featuring T-Pain and peaked at No. 9 on the Billboard Hot 100. The album later spawned the Akon featured single “Hypnotized” and was certified Gold selling over 500,000 copies. Due to the album's success Washington secured guest slots on singles and albums by artists including DJ Khaled and Fat Joe.
A year later in 2008 Washington released his second offering “Definition of Real” led by the single “Bust It Baby Pt. 2” featuring Ne-Yo and “Please Excuse My Hands” featuring Jamie Foxx and The-Dream. The same year brought his third album “Da REAList” and guest spots on Ludacris’s single “Nasty Girl” and Khaled’s “Out Here Grindin’”.
Washington has subsequently release the albums “Goon Affiliated” in 2010 and “Purple Heart” in 2014, as well as the 2014 mixtape “Da Last Real Nigga Left”.
Comprised of two Ridgeway Middle School attendees, Premmro Smith and Marion Jermaine Goodwin, a.k.a. 8Ball and MJG, the pair first met in 1984. The duo’s debut release together was the underground record “Listen to the Lyrics” in 1991, after which 8Ball and MJG signed with the independent label Suave Records. An official debut arrived in 1993 going by the name “Comin’ Out Hard”, a record that proved both a critical and commercial success and served to signficantly increase the pair’s national exposure.
The following year the duo issued their sophomore album “On the Outside Looking In”, followed in 1995 by “On Top of the World”. Both records earned rave reviews from the critical press, cementing 8Ball and MJG’s position as seminal pioneers of Southern Rap, with the latter album peaking at No. 8 on the Billboard 200. In 1996 the duo contributed the track “Listen to Me Now” to the Red Hot Organisation’s “America Is Dying Slowly” compilation alongside acts like Wu-Tang Clan, Common, Biz Markie and Chubb Rock. Rising to No. 10 on the Billboard 200, 8Ball and MJG’s subsequent album “In Our Lifetime, Vol. 1” (1999) once again found favour among critics and proved to be their last release on Suave Records.
Following the move to Diddy’s Bad Boy Records, complete with widespread promotion and distribution, the group enjoyed their greatest success to date with the album “Living Legends” in 2004. The No. 3 charting album, featuring the likes of Twista and Diddy, spawned the singles “You Don’t Want Drama” and “Straight Cadillac Pimpin’”. In collaboration with fellow Tennessee-based hip-hop group Three 6 Mafia, 8Ball & MJG appeared on the group’s hit single “Stay Fly” in 2005, which later peaked at No. 13 on the Billboard Hot 100.
Three years later the duo issued their seventh studio album, “Ridin High”, with guest contributions from The Notorious B.I.G., Big Pun, Project Pat, and Three 6 Mafia. Aided by the single “Relax and Take Notes”, the record proved another popular release charting at No. 8 on the Billboard 200. The duo subsequently signed with T.I.’s Grand Hustle label who issued the group’s eighth full-length album “Ten Toes Down” in May 2010. As well as releasing music together however, 8Ball and MJG have also released strings of albums as solo artists. From 1998 to 2012 8Ball released eight full-length albums, including a pair of split albums with Devius and E.D.I, in which time MJG released five solo albums.
Fellow rapper Pimp C founded the rap duo Underground Kings in the late 1980s with friend Mitchell Queen. The lineup didn’t last long however and Bun B ultimately joined, alter securing a record deal with independent Houston label Bigtyme Records. The pair’s debut output was the well-received EP “The Southern Way”, which raised the duo's exposure and led to them signing with Jive Records. Unable to release much of their hardcore, explicitly content on their debut full-length, the EP “Banned” was issued in 1993 to satisfy fans. The studio album “Too Hard to Swallow” arrived in 1993 on Jive Records, succeeded by “Super Tight” in 1994, “Ridin’ Dirty” in 1996, and “Dirty Money” in 2001.
Following the arrest of his UGK partner Pimp C, Bun B began making appearances on songs by Paul Wall, Webbie, and Yung Joc, before releasing the mixtape “Legends” in 2005. The same year Bun B issued his debut solo album “Trill”, peaking at No. 6 on the Billboard 200 aided by the singles “Draped Up”, “Git It”, and “Get Throwed”. In 2007 UGK partner Pimp C was found dead in a hotel room, and Bun B’s sophomore album “Il Trill” was in large part a tribute to his former colleague. Debuting at No. 2 on the Billboard 200, the album proved his most successful to date, spawning the singles “That’s Gangsta”, “You’re Everything”, and “Damn I’m Cold”.
Two years later Bun B’s third studio album “Trill OG” hit the shelves featuring 2Pac, T-Pain, Trey Songz, Drake, and Slim Thug. Led by the single “Countin’ Money”, the record earned favourable reviews and charted at No. 4 upon release. “Trill OG: The Epilogue” followed in 2013 once again featuring a host of high-profile contributions from the likes of Big K.R.I.T, Rick Ross, 2 Chainz, and Redman. Debuting at No. 30 on the Billboard 200, the record received positive reviews and cemented Bun B’s position as one of the most celebrated rappers in hip-hop.
Aggression, lust, retrospection... just a few words that can briefly outline what to expect from the live music of Florida-born rapper Plies. With a set list combining smooth, R&B style songs featuring vocals from singer/producer Rico Love with hard-hitting, boundary free tunes such as 'People Dem' and 'Big Thangs', Algernod Washington appeals directly to fans of real rap and performs his songs with the belligerence to reflect his often controversial material.
Performing in venues with a relatively small capacity compared to most mainstream American rappers, there is an overwhelming sense of energy when Plies is on stage as almost every fan in the room shouts out lyrics without the instrumental needed. The words to such tunes as 'F**king or What', 'Me And My Goons' among others echo round the room as the audience connects effortlessly with the man on stage. Throughout the show, Plies involves a lot of audience participation to keep the room buzzing as arms wave up and down in time with the rhythm and hardcore fans dance the whole way through the set.
With Plies being only a few centimetres away from the audience in such close proximity, there is always a good atmosphere at concerts. Just make sure that you have 'Plenty Money' if you want to buy a ticket.
Narrowly missing the golden age of hip hop, Tennessee duo 8ball & MJG caught the tail end in the 90s where there was a huge invested interest on both sides of the Atlantic. The duo established themselves as one of the most important artists in the southern hip hop movement with the release of their debut album 'Comin' Out Hard' in 1993. Since then they have gone on to record a large number of albums and have taken to the road numerous times to reach their fanbase.
There is a huge element of show involved as they step out onto stage whilst their DJ brings in an intro track and their vast entourage follows them on. The crowd instantly raises their arms as the two rappers take a side of stage and begin an impromptu rap battle that has the room going wild with excitement. It has been quite some time since the pair released new material so they intersperse the set with some new tracks and the fans are grateful for this private screening. The finale is reserved for their most popular track all these years later 'You Don't Want Drama' which brings the house down as it has many times before.
Bernard Freeman is hardly the most street of names to go by, so there’s certainly no blaming the man for instead choosing to go by Bun B when he’s rapping; in truth, though, he doesn’t really require a change of name in retrospect, with his towering reputation in the genre more than secure thanks to his role as one half of the pioneering southern hip hop act UGK (UnderGround Kingz). As part of the duo, B - along with his late bandmate Pimp C - proved a huge inspiration to a new generation of rappers, including the likes of Lil Wayne. Since C’s passing, B has spent more time focusing on a solo career, and that of course includes some heavy touring schedules; backed by a hype man and a turntablist, B delivers his intelligent, socially conscious lyrics in incendiary style - his powerful flow is genuinely unique - as he runs through classic cuts both from his own catalogue and the UGK canon. He’s a commanding presence onstage, and remains one of hip hop’s most important underground acts.
Trick Daddy is an interesting proposition, in hip hop terms; he’s never managed any real acclaim with the critics, who have often savaged his work, and he’s enjoyed only moderate commercial success, too, but he’s remained in the spotlight within the genre itself, and continues to turn out records to this day. His debut album dropped in 1997, but was poorly received; whilst there’s no question that Daddy - real name Maurice Young - had had his fair share of run-ins with the law already by that point, it was also true that everything about the album seemed to be a cynical attempt to cash in on the kind of ‘dangerous’ image that the likes of Wu-Tang Clan were making fashionable around that time, with even the album art looking as if it had been lifted directly from Ol’ Dirty Bastard’s Return to the 36 Chambers. Since then, he’s released a slew of records that all have a titular preoccupation with the idea of being a thug, including www.thug.com and his most recent effort, Finally Famous: Born a Thug, Still a Thug. He tours sporadically in his native U.S., where he retains a modest cult fanbase; it’s difficult to envisage, though, any kind of mainstream breakthrough at this point.