Talk about a stacked feature list.
The legendary Atlanta producers, Organized Noize (Rico Wade, Ray Murray and Sleepy Brown), are one of the most influential architects of southern hip-hop, spawning the infamous Dungeon Family collective, a group of Atlanta acts including OutKast, Goodie Mob (where CeeLo Green got his start) Killer Mike, and believe it or not, Future. Southern rap in the late 90’s can largely pin their sound back to this group, and Future, who gave birth to the “mumble rap” genre 40-year olds rage about over Twitter, has cited influence on his sound from the production crew. So yeah, these guys are pretty big.
The past two-three years has seen a noticeable rise in political/protest music. As culture has become increasingly politically charged, so too has the music we’ve been listening to lately, and who better to take the helm than Organized Noize, with some assistance of course.
Organized Noize has seen a surge in recognition outside of Atlanta the past few years. In 2016, the documentary The Art of Organized Noize was released. The documentary shed light on the crew and how they became not only the foundation for the Dungeon Family, but for Southern rap as a subgenre. The group made a full comeback though this past May with the release of their self-titled EP, a collection of funky and earthy sounds that show old-timers still have that midas touch, and reminds fans of the sheer scope of their influence.
Today, the group dropped off visuals for their politically-charged “We the Ones,” with some familiar faces. Along with the usuals, Big Boi, CeeLo Green and Big Rube join to pay their respects. CeeLo takes over hook duties claiming “We the ones who fight.” The political gut-check calls on everyone to stand up and fight when they see injustice and hate. Images of political protest, of marches, of riot police scroll across the screen as the group grooves in the shadows. And it goes without saying, but Big Boi (who has been killing everything lately) comes through and absolutely kills his verse. Big Rube delivers a dramatic and inspiring spoken word outro, as he rides out the beat. After listening to this, it’s pretty clear the south still has something to say.
Check out the video below.
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