In Dirty South, author Ben Westhoff investigates the southern rap phenomenon, watching rappers “make it rain” in a Houston strip club and partying with the 2 Live Crew’s Luke Campbell. Westhoff visits the gritty neighborhoods where T.I. and Lil Wayne grew up, kicks it with Big Boi in Atlanta, and speaks with artists like DJ Smurf and Ms. Peachez, dance-craze originators accused of setting back the black race fifty years. Acting both as investigative journalist and irreverent critic, Westhoff probes the celebrated-but-dark history of Houston label Rap-A-Lot Records, details the lethal rivalry between Atlanta MCs Gucci Mane and Young Jeezy, and gets venerable rapper Scarface to open up about his time in a mental institution. Dirty South features exclusive interviews with the genre’s most colorful players.

"An A Cappella book."

Luke Campbell : bass and booty -- Geto Boys : paranoia, insanity, and Rap-A-Lot Records -- Trae and DJ Screw : rap gets screwed -- UGK : from country to trill -- Eightball & MJG and Three 6 Mafia : Memphis goes Hollywood -- Outkast, Goodie Mob, and Organized Noize : the dirty South blooms -- Cash Money, No Limit, and Juvenile : bling and murder in New Orleans -- Nelly : forty acres and a pool -- Timbaland and the Neptunes : architects of sound in nowhere, Virginia -- Lil Jon : mosh pit hip-hop -- DJ Drama and T.I. : mixtapes and turf wars in Atlanta -- Paul Wall and the new H-Town movement : shining diamonds -- T-Pain and his Florida hitmakers : rap robots -- Soulja Boy and DJ Smurf : dance, dance revolution -- Lil Wayne : gangster weirdo -- Gucci Mane : true crime rap.