Triller: The Intro

This is not to say that Austin is Compton in ’87, Gerald G is Eazy-E, and OH SHIT it’s about to go down(!). It’s just to say that Gerald G is pretty damn good and there are a lot of folks worth their spit shouting out 512 in their verses.

Like most any Texas rap scene you’ll hear, Austin’s is ever permeated by the normative candy-paint and sipping syrup dripping down from Houston. But within the confines of “I grew up listening to grey tapes by DJ Screw,” Austin rappers have carved out a wide berth. The creative spirit is pioneering and colonial – a sort of lingering “we’re doing it from scratch so let’s do it as we please” vibe. In most rap scenes, you’ll find divisions between the dope boys and the positives and the true-schoolers, etc. Not only are these barriers less upheld in ATX rap, but there’s much less of a stigma about working within multiple sub-sub-genres at once.

Aided by DJ Rapid Ric’s expertise and creative stamina, the Whut It Dew family is Austin’s best chance for interstate success and a great example of “Austin Rap”, as it were. Their work is constantly more conscious than average, but it also never takes the spiral-bound rigidity of the droning, freakishly academic rap of Northern undergrounders like Aesop Rock. It’s admittedly street music, while striving to keep it moving within those boundaries.

On Gerald G’s Mr. 512 mixtape from earlier this year, you’ll find lots of guns, sex, drugs, then “Don’t Need a Thing,” a tenderly shouted dedication to the daughter he’s raising and the ones who raised him, rapped over the rock-hard beat from Rick Ross’ “Blow.” A few tracks later, he redrafts Lupe Fiasco’s “Kick, Push” from a passive teen-rebel-er into a strong-armed elegy to his struggles: “I kicked, pushed through all my life’s obstacles.” This is complicated stuff. Like David Banner or a wiry, youthful Outkast, Gerald G is admittedly not a man of singular goals or un-conflicting values. He’s a juggler, and as he tosses the pins he rhymes, which makes him a rapper.

Every few months you might find an article about Gerald or Ric or another Austin rap figure in the Chron or on a Houston rap blog. That’s about it. So we’re augmenting our music coverage with some weekly words on rap in and around Austin, because interesting people are doing interesting things and if you’re still reading this, you’re probably interested in these things that they're doing. If you're just getting your feet wet, check out the link below to a free download of that Mr. 512 mixtape. It's a quick primer on some of the big names that will inevitably pop up when you're talking about rap in both Austin and Texas at large. It's also free and easy to acquire, which won't be the case for everything I'll talk about, but hopefully by then you'll have enough reason to do the legwork.

Gerald G's Mr. 512 available here.