Thriving Urban Music Scene in South Mississippi

We wanted to take a deep dive into the work of urban music in a place that people usually don't consider a destination for urban music. The Mississippi Gulf Coast and Mississippi pine Belt areas are thriving with talented young hip hop, rap, and r&b artists. We wanted to take a look at just a few of the people and companies that are paving the way for the urban scene in the area.

Being born into a music family, I have always been fond of the personalities that come with the music scene. If you want to meet some severely unique people, spend some time around musicians. Doesn't matter what genre or what city, musicians, by nature, are just different types of people.

I spent some time the last few months getting out and learning about the underground hip hop scene along the Mississippi Gulf Coast. I was pleasantly surprised to find that there are younf people, older people and everyone in between participating in what should be a more highlighted movement.

From showcases, to trail rides, to concerts, I found just about every type of Hip Hop event you could find along the Mississippi Gulf Coast. From Moss Point, to Bay St. Louis, I found a kaleidoscope of events and functions to attend & enjoy.

The thing that stuck out the most to me was the absolute diversity of all the events and gatherings. People of all shades, sizes and colors were present further cementing the fact that Hip Hop brings people together from all walks of life.

I got to meet countless young artists who are out not only having fun, but some are earnestly trying to make a name for themselves in the world of music. Making the rounds, attending the events, and networking with anyone who may be able to assist them get 1 step further in this industry. Now the thing that stuck out the most to this writer is the fact that the sounds I was hearing were so diverse. typically I would expect to hear 80-90% southern trap music at these events. However, what I discovered is that there are so many different sounds coming out of Mississippi right now. Classic Hip Hop, Jig Music, Trap, Some Midwest influence and a lot more. We were impressed by what we saw and heard from south Mississippi artists. The talent is definitely here.

Now, we get to the other side of the coin, administration and management of these artists. While there is an over abundance of talent in the area, there also seems to be a void when it come to leadership and management for these artist to rely on to help them rise up the ranks. In fairness, many of these artists would reject management all together for a plethora of reasons, as we found while while speaking to some of them at events. But, one only needs to look at the history of Hip-Hop to prove that the artist with the bets representation usually get the best results. Being a native of Mississippi, I'm all to aware of the wariness of the Mississippian to be managed or to have oversight. I get it, however, in a place where Hip Hop has very few roots, artists should think twice about the go it alone approach, especially if you don't have the industry acumen and experience to cover all your I's and dot all your T's. Now with that being said, we don't necessarily feel like most of the artist we met wanted to be superstars. Most were happy just being recognized by their friends and to have a local following. However we did meet some who had bigger aspirations for themselves, but only a handful had taken the step to seek out a management firm for representation.

A couple of those artists that we can remember talking to were, RRighteous (Fish Beatz Digital) & TTE Bz. (Trakk Team Ent/Dreko Music) Both of these guys had already signed, management deals. Both were excited about the upcoming release of the “Southern Kingz Mixtape” expected to be released June of 2024. Both artists have placements on the mixtape and we spoke to both at length about their work.

We're gonna keep our eye and ears to the streets and keep you all posted on the things that are happening with the scene here in southern Mississippi. in the meantime check out the two artists above. We'll keep you posted on more artists and events as they come up.

Article by: Patrick Evans, 3^rd Coast Radio

"The Pulse of the Gulf Coast"Photo by3rd Coast Radio