On this day in Hip Hop history one of Atlanta’s oldest collectives, Goodie Mob, stepped on the scene with their hit debut Soul Food. As the second release by Georgia’s own Dungeon Family collective, Soul Food confirmed that the south truly had something to say.
In the early 90’s, southern Hip Hop’s appeal was purely commercial. Club anthems and summertime jams monopolized the southern air waves, not allowing any room for the conscious to make much headway between the NoLa bounce, Miami bass, and Houston’s Chopped and Screwed sub-genres. What made Goodie Mob stand out was their ability to build on the style created by close co-conspirators, OutKast. That innovation coupled with the collaboration with LaFace‘s own production powerhouse Organized Noize, Goodie Mob was able to create one of Atlanta’s first hit albums.
Soul Food was the world’s introduction to the ‘dirty south’, with the household term being first coined on this album. Musically, Goodie Mob was a synthesis of southern gospel, jazz, blues, with a touch of Atlanta’s signature marching band sound. As lyricists, the crew had a righteous gangster appeal with very by-any-means-necessary undertones. Their poetic and harmonic style allowed them to play as a voice of the south sonically and through their subject matter.
Commercially, the album was a success from the otherwise unknown group. Within the first few months of its release, the album had both been certified as gold by the RIAC and sold over 500,000 copies in the United States. The album’s singles, “Cell Therapy”, “Soul Food”, and “Dirty South” all became southern classic making The Top 10 Rap Singles chart. The album itself peaked at #43 on the Billboard 200 chart and #8 on the Top R&B/Hip Hop Albums chart.
The Dungeon Family is still celebrating the life of the late Rico Wade, who was the heart and soul of the Atlanta collective that not only helped produce some of their (and other artists’) biggest hits, but played a key role in bringing everyone together. André 3000 and Big Boi reunited as Outkast alongside Killer Mike, Goodie Mob, Sleepy Brown, Wade’s mother, and many more Dungeon dwellers at a cookout over the weekend to honor the producer’s impact and memory. They all posed for pictures in front of Rico’s Atlanta family home, the basement of which became the titular “Dungeon”-like recording studio where the Family connected. “The Dungeon had a picnic today. Everybody came home: OutKast, Dre and Big, Goodie, [Mr.] DJ,” Big Gipp remarked in an Instagram video at the event.
Furthermore, this continues the tributes to Rico Wade following his tragic passing at the age of 52 earlier this year due to heart complications. “This is a different type of hurt ….” Big Boi wrote on IG upon hearing the news, attaching his message to a clip of him talking about Wade’s role in Outkast’s rise. “Slick Ricky Wade .. I know you’re with us STILL … in a bigger role now… Big Angel Energy… the Highest of Vibrations … Praise Yah.”
“I don’t have the words to express my deep and profound sense of loss,” Killer Mike penned to Rico Wade via the social media platform back in April. “I am Praying for your wife and Children, I am praying for the Wade family, I am praying for us all, I deeply appreciate your acceptance into The Dungeon Family, mentorship, Friendship and Brotherhood. Idk where I would be without ya’ll. This is a part of the journey. You told me ‘It ain’t been hard throughout the journey, it’s been a Journey.’ The journey ain’t gonna be the Same Journey without U. Like U say tho Umma ‘Stay Down on it’……we all are.”
Meanwhile, this is what Rico Wade himself had to say about the Dungeon Family weeks before his passing. “They all love and respect me,” he remarked of their supportive role during his health scare. “They all look at me as a person that did it for them, especially after what I just went through. I’ve spoken to every last one of them, and it’s been like, ‘I want to hug you and I want to let you know how important you are to us. I’m glad you’re still here.’ I hate for it to take a life-altering situation, but even Future, that’s my cousin, he’s been so busy. But if I text him now, he texts me right back.”
The music world is still processing the death of Rico Wade. The producer was considered by many to be the cornerstone of the Dungeon Family, and the music that allowed the collective to transform hip-hop in the 1990s and 2000s. Wade died from heart failure at the age of 52, but his native Atlanta is making sure that he won’t be forgotten. The city has launched a training program in Wade’s name, with the intention of mentoring the next generation of executives.
The program was announced the same day as Wade’s funeral, April 27. Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens made a statement on the program following the service at Ebenezer Baptist Church. It bears the official title of the Rico Wade Music Executive Training Program. It will be an initiative ran by Atlanta’s Office of Film, Entertainment and Nightlife. “Rico left an indelible mark on music and culture around the world and for that, the South will always have something to say,” Dickens added.
Rico Wade’s Program Will Mentor Aspiring Music Execs
The program will help musicians learn the business and establish connections within the music industry. Dickens pointed to those in attendance as proof that Wade was successful at an extraordinary level. He aims to give up-and-comers access to the “music executives like the 500 hundred or so gathered” at the producer’s funeral. These executives include L.A. Reid, Chris Hicks, and Sylvia Rhone, the chair and CEO of Epic Records.
Rico Wade’s business acumen has been a consistent point of praise. He not only helped Outkast and En Vogue break through in the 1990s, but he did the same for Future in the 2010s. The “Like That” rapper talked about Wade’s impact during a 2014 interview with Rolling Stone. “Rico supported me 1,000 more times than anybody ever could,” he admitted. “Nobody could ever do what Rico Wade did for me … Everything I know about music, I know because of Rico.”
CeeLo Green, another Dungeon Family member, likened Wade to the comic book character Professor X. “He was Dr. Xavier of the world-renowned Dungeon Family,” he wrote on Instagram. “Yet so humble and understated with all his power. even the name Rico Wade rings bells, and sounds so prestigious & regal.”
A launch date for the Rico Wade Music Executive Training Program not yet been announced.
Many members of the Dungeon Family reunited in Atlanta on Friday (April 26) for a private memorial due to the loss of one of its pillars: Rico Wade. Moreover, his mother’s basement was the “dungeon” that Outkast, Killer Mike, Future, and many more called their home, whether literally or figuratively. While the Organized Noize producer was not the most famous person in the world, his final public remarks, particularly ones from an AllHipHop interview about his Dungeon Family partners, have taken on a more meaningful, saddening, but still beautiful luster after his passing. They went through a lot of bumps as folks in the industry, and even through his health struggles and alcoholism, they always came back together to let their love, support, and gratitude be crystal clear.
“I just had heart surgery, where they had to put a stent in my chest,” Rico Wade told the publication in an interview from the day after he went to an André 3000 concert. “This happened January 19 and I just felt like, ‘Man, I would have missed it [the concert].’ God didn’t want my life. He wanted my attention and he got it. It’s been blessings on blessings on blessings since then. Since that moment, I’ve been blessed in every way. It’s hard to not cry every time I think about it.
Big Boi, Killer Mike and Rico Wade attend Grammy Celebration on February 25, 2024 in Atlanta, Georgia. (Prince Williams/WireImage/Getty Images)
“They all love and respect me,” Rico Wade remarked about the support he got from the Dungeon Family amid his health scare. “They all look at me as a person that did it for them, especially after what I just went through. I’ve spoken to every last one of them, and it’s been like, ‘I want to hug you and I want to let you know how important you are to us. I’m glad you’re still here.’ I hate for it to take a life-altering situation, but even Future, that’s my cousin, he’s been so busy. But if I text him now, he texts me right back. I seen André last night at the show, and I was in the studio the other day seeing [Big] Boi. Everybody can see that I’m clear and clean. They can see that I ain’t drinking and they can see my energy…
“What’s crazy about that is that Killer Mike is one of the most articulate, intelligent people I know,” he said of Mike’s Grammy wins and his brief arrest at the ceremony. “So sometimes -– not purposely ’cause I wouldn’t say it was a conspiracy. But they were waiting for him or whatever, like, because of something that happened at the Staples Center or whatever. Since then, the city has been so supportive. Other news outlets have been so supportive of giving him that platform to let him speak because not only did he sweep the Grammys, his album is really good. The song with André and Future won Song of the Year. So it’s like, I’m happy that I’m here.” For more news and updates on the Dungeon Family and its fallen legend, check back in with HNHH. Rest In Peace Rico Wade.
On this day in Hip Hop history three decades ago, OutKast, the duo that helped pioneer putting southern Hip Hop on the map, released their debut classic LP, Southernplayalisticadillacmuzik.
This Dungeon Family masterpiece recorded by Andre 3000 and Big Boi paved the way for Atlanta and the rest of the Dirty South to have their unique voice in Hip Hop. Before this album, there weren’t many hit records coming from anywhere south of the Mason-Dixon line. Peaking at #20 on the Billboard 200 and being certified platinum less than a year after its release, this album’s achievements speak for themselves.
Produced entirely by OutKast and Organized Noize, this project was like none before. Its sound is perfectly described as southern rap. Everything about this album screams Atlanta, from the dialect to the instruments used to the references. The smooth blues and marching band-influenced beats blend with Big Boi and Andre 3000’s flows, creating something new that rippled the tide of an industry saturated with G-Funk or New York Hip Hop.
Both commercially and critically, this album was immensely successful. It peaked at #20 on the Billboard 200 and #3 on the Top R&B/Hip Hop charts. This album was also the reason OutKast received the Best Newcomer Award at the 1995 Source Awards, which, as we all know, was met with controversy. Regardless of the haters, this album came at the beginning of the career of two rappers who changed the game forever.
Earlier this month, Atlanta producer and hip-hop legend Rico Wade passed away at the age of 52. A spokesperson for Wade’s family revealed heart failure as the cause of death. As a member of the production group Organized Noize, Rico Wade helped shape the sound of Atlanta hip-hop during the 1990s, transforming the genre into what it is today, specifically in the South. Their impact is well-documented, especially in their 2016 documentary, The Art Of Organized Noize. Wade and his group members, Ray Murray and Sleepy Brown, led the Dungeon Family collective, which included the likes of Outkast and Goodie Mob.
The trio produced the majority of both groups’ first few albums and biggest hit singles. The Dungeon Family also helped foster the careers of Killer Mike, Janelle Monáe, and Future, who is Rico Wade’s first cousin. Its “Dungeon” name originates from the name of the studio at which they used to record, located in the basement of Rico Wade’s childhood home.
As a pivotal member of Organized Noize and The Dungeon Family, Wade’s contributions to southern hip hop and the genre at large remain outstanding. Many of his closest collaborators have taken to social media to mourn his loss, including Killer Mike, Big Boi, and CeeLo Green. In light of his passing, we are celebrating his most iconic beats of all time, which primarily consist of Dungeon Family productions. Take a look at the list below.
5. Outkast – “Player’s Ball”
Outkast’s 1993 debut single is where it all began for The Dungeon Family. Rico Wade and his Organized Noize counterparts not only produced “Player’s Ball,” but handled the entirety of Big Boi and André 3000’s Southernplayalisticadillacmuzik. The song’s funky groove put a southern spin on West Coast G-Funk. This blend of regional styles acted as a catalyst for Outkast and Organized Noize’s later works. “Player’s Ball” marked the beginning of the South’s hip-hop takeover and remains one of Rico Wade’s most iconic works.
“Two Dope Boyz (In a Cadillac)” is easily the most iconic beat from Rico Wade and Organized Noize on Outkast’s ATLiens. The instrumental revolves around a sample of Five Stairstep’s “Danger! She’s A Stranger.” The hypnotic loop is flipped into a hip-hop track with its simple drum break. The beat leaves plenty of room for Big Boi and André 3000 to trade slick rhymes with one another. One of Outkast’s earlier iconic tracks, the beat prompted many artists to also sample “Danger! She’s A Stranger,” including Meyhem Lauren and Roc Marciano’s “Street Religion.”
3. Goodie Mob – “Cell Therapy”
Rico Wade and Organized Noize handled the production of Goodie Mob’s classic debut single, 1995’s “Cell Therapy.” Its main melody consists of just a few simple piano notes, which creates a haunting atmosphere. Goodie Mob contributes to this unsettling feeling of the chorus. They sing, “Who’s that peeking in my window? POW nobody now.” As Goodie Mob’s most iconic song, its beat is instantly recognizable and has been sampled on numerous occasions. Travis Scott, Rapsody, Lil Keke, and others have notably incorporated the legendary melody into their works. It is one of Organized Noize’s signature productions.
Outkast’s 2000 album, Stankonia featured less Organized Noize production compared to their previous albums. However, Rico Wade, Ray Murray, and Sleepy Brown produced one of the album’s biggest and most iconic hit singles. The samples of Joe Simon’s “Before the Night Is Over” and Funkadelic’s “I’ll Stay” provide a shimmering quality to the song’s feel-good instrumental. In addition to its samples, the track’s stuttering drum pattern is the production’s most outstanding quality. It provides a laid-back yet danceable rhythm, making “So Fresh, So Clean” a joyous occasion of its own. It is easily Outkast and Organized Noize’s biggest hit and arguably their most iconic collaboration.
1. TLC – “Waterfalls”
Rico Wade and Organized Noize may be known for their contributions to hip hop, but one of their most undeniable productions is an R&B classic. The group produced TLC’s signature hit, “Waterfalls” in 1995. The song’s groove is reminiscent of “Southernplayalisticadillacmuzik,” but TLC made the track their own with an infectious performance. The brass, organ, and drums work with one another in the beat, creating a soulful backing for the singers. “Waterfalls” is a timeless record assisted by classic production from Organized Noize. The song’s longevity is a testament to Rico Wade and Organized Noize’s everlasting musical legacy.
On this day in Hip Hop history, Dungeon Family member Killer Mike was born in Atlanta, Georgia. From Grammy’s to politics, Killer Mike may be one of the most slept on figures of this culture we call Hip Hop.
Killer Mike’s Hip Hop career began with a feature on OutKast‘s 2000 album Stankonia, on the track “Snappin & Trappin.” His follow-up feature with OutKast on “The Whole World” won him a Grammy at the 2003 Grammy Awards for Best Rap Performance by a Duo or Group. That same year Killer Mike released his debut studio album, Monster, which peaked at #10 on the Billboard 200 chart and #4 on the Top R&B/Hip Hop Albums chart.
Over the next few years, Killer Mike released I Pledge Allegiance to the Grind 1 & 2 before announcing in 2008 that he was signing to T.I.‘s record label Grand Hustle Records. Not much was heard from Killer Mike musically until he teamed up with El-P in 2011 to become Run the Jewels.
Cartoon Network executive Jason DeMarco introduced killer Mike and El-P. Later that year, El-P produced Killer Mike’s album R.A.P. Music. In the same year, Killer Mike was featured on El-P’s album Cancer 4 Cure. Due to the fact the albums were released within weeks of each other, the two decided to go on tour together. The tour’s success led the two to team up under the moniker Run the Jewels. The duo has since released two self-titled albums and plans to release a third this year. Run the Jewels 2 peaked at #50 on the Billboard 200 chart.
Aside from music, Killer Mike is one politically active and conscious brother. Over his career, he has been passionate about police brutality against people of color and systematic racism and has fought for social equality. He has been heavily campaigning for Bernie Sanders, introducing him at speaking engagements, sitting with him at interviews, and even going to his fundraisers as an honored guest. It is evident in his music and when he speaks in interviews that Killer Mike is passionate about humanity and wants to get us all on track and acting like civil, equal human beings.
Killer Mike has also appeared on T.V. and movies and is currently active as a rapper. His next solo project, Elegant Elephant, has been in the works since 2013, but there’s no word on when it will be released. Killer Mike is an icon, and his image in Hip Hop is one of the more positive ones the genre has to offer. Take some time today to enjoy some of the fruits of his labor if you don’t already listen daily. From everyone here at The Source, happy born day, Killer Mike. May you see many more years of success.
“I just think timing is everything,” Rico Wade opens up the first song on Killer Mike’s Grammy Award-winning 2023 album, MICHAEL. “Like, n***a, this it. This, this one right here… That ain’t easy. Stay motivated, stay inspired. I owe it to myself, stay down on it. And it ain’t been hard throughout the journey: it’s been a journey.” On April 12, 2024, Wade passed away at the age of 52, and Mike offered a touching tribute. “I am Praying for your wife and Children, I am praying for the Wade family, I am praying for us all. I deeply appreciate your acceptance into The Dungeon Family, mentorship, Friendship and Brotherhood. Idk where I would be without ya’ll.”
Much like the Run The Jewels MC, countless hip-hop artists, legends, and fans have much to thank Rico Wade for. From Outkast to Future, from Goodie Mob to Janelle Monáe, and even acts outside of their Dungeon Family collective like TLC, Ludacris, and more, it’s clear that the East Point native is among the key reasons why the South (and Atlanta, in particular) has such an omnipresence right now. Not just hip-hop, but music and pop culture at large. He lives on in many ways: as a host, a talent judge, a gifted producer alongside Sleepy Brown and Ray Murray as Organized Noize, a curator, a liaison, an organizer… But perhaps most importantly, Rico is a bridge. He is the crux through which 50 years of hip-hop history can be examined, as one of his greatest achievements was honoring the old and shaping the new.
While Houston already created a blueprint for Southern rap through acts like the Geto Boys, the talent that Rico Wade introduced to the “Dungeon” (the studio in his mom’s house’s basement) proved instrumental in furthering the identity of the Southern MC as opposed to their East Coast and West Coast counterparts. They were not simply backpack rappers, cold-blooded lyrical killers, or hot-headed gangsters. They could be a little of everything with unique self-awareness, diverse melodic sensibilities, and palpable passions for soul and cultivating the mind. “It was street without the crime,” Rap Pages editor Allen S. Gordon said of their content. “How do we live, how do we survive? How do we encourage each other, how do we kick it, how do we have fun? None of it is degrading.”
For examples of this, look no further than André 3000, who as early as Outkast’s first single “Player’s Ball” (on which Rico Wade provides the intro), previewed his eventual space in GOAT conversations alongside legendary lyricists like Nas, Ice Cube, and Scarface. On the flip side, look at one of the Dungeon Family’s late-era bloomers: Meathead, or as he’s better known today, Future. While he may not have the same weight behind his pen, he’s easily one of the most influential artists in music period working today thanks to his auto-tuned crooning and other aesthetic innovations, his earworm flows, and that same woozy, soulful, bass-heavy, and ATL-drenched idiosyncrasy that he attributes to his time with his big cousin Rico in the Dungeon. “Nobody could ever do what Rico Wade did for me,” Pluto said in 2014. “Everything I know about music, I know because of Rico.”
Rico Wade & Organized Noize’s Production: Defining The Dirty South… And Beyond
Ever since the very early 1990s, Rico Wade’s mentorship, instincts, talent curation, and sensibilities put innovative and impressive rappers at the forefront no matter the style. But of course, that’s also because of the production that Organized Noize perfected. In the face of sample-based and therefore expensive production styles dominating the Coasts (and thus, all of mainstream rap), the Dungeon Family cut down and got live: bass, multiple different drum sounds for each new song, horns, guitars… you name it. Just listen to the lushness of “Crumblin’ Erb” by Outkast, “The Day After” by Goodie Mob, or “Sumthin’ Wicked This Way Comes” by TLC and Andre 3000. However, the percussion was still rooted in grimy and familiar rap rhythms, and in terms of songwriting, Organized Noize knew exactly how to capture the culture.
Rico Wade provided plenty of hits and commercial smashes to etch Organized Noize into many popular styles of music of the time in addition to the musty underground. The most notable of these is likely TLC’s “Waterfalls,” whose combinations of vocal harmonies, guitar plucks, and horns are Dungeon all the way. While Wade definitely built off of established g-funk and other scenes, it was this overtly colorful production that most tangibly laid the groundwork for the Pharrells, the Kanye Wests, the Tyler, The Creators, and the JIDs of rap history.
Rico Wade’s place in hip-hop history will never fall victim to old-head biases or new-school ignorance. One of the most interesting ways in which he links the roots and the contemporary fruits of rap is how he welcomed the first and final waves of the Dungeon Family for two completely different reasons. Outkast had to audition and ended up delivering 30-minute-plus verses, which impressed Wade and earned his trust and support. Meanwhile, when he found out that Future was his cousin, they started to speak about Rico’s father’s side of the family that Fewtch was connected to, which he knew very little of because many of them were incarcerated. The trap icon stuck around in the Dungeon and soaked up so much game, all simply because he was family.
At the end of the day, neither approach is more valid or heartening than the other, and they resulted in amazing art for the culture regardless. On MICHAEL, the album that the late legend opened up just last year, “SCIENTISTS & ENGINEERS” reunites representatives from three distinct waves of the Dungeon Family: André 3000, Killer Mike, and Future. 30 years after “Player’s Ball,” and 50 years since hip-hop was born, he continued to evolve the game, to fuse it with other beloved and important music, to represent his city to the fullest, to embrace the next talents, to preserve the culture’s foundations, and to always create something greater and more compelling than the sum of the old and the new. It was extremely hard for Rico Wade to forever be the bridge in hip-hop history. But to him, it wasn’t hard throughout the journey: it was just a journey.
Earlier today, it was revealed that beloved Atlanta hip-hop pioneer Rico Wade has passed away at the age of 52. Countless social media users and peers have been sharing their condolences for the artist’s family online since, and celebrating the remarkable impact he had on hip-hop culture. Questlove, 2 Chainz, Big Gipp, and more have posted tributes. Future, a cousin of the late Dungeon Family co-founder, also shared some heartfelt words following news of his passing. Rico Wade’s cause of death has not yet been revealed.
As the community continues to mourn the loss of Wade, the Dungeon Family has issued a statement about his passing on the official Organized Noize Instagram account. “We are devastated by the news of the passing of our dear brother Rico Wade,” the collective’s statement begins. “The world has lost one of the most innovative architects in music, and we have lost an invaluable friend.”
“Rico was the cornerstone of Organized Noize and the Dungeon Family, and we will forever treasure his memory and the moments we shared, creating music as a united team,” they also write. “Our hearts weigh heavy with sorrow, and we kindly request privacy and empathy during this challenging period. Rico’s presence will always have a special spot in our hearts, and in the music we presented to the world.”
Prior to his passing, Wade collaborated with Killer Mike on his Grammy-winning album Michael. Amid the news, he shared a heartfelt message about the late artist’s legacy. “I deeply appreciate your acceptance into The Dungeon Family, mentorship, Friendship and Brotherhood. Idk where I would be without ya’ll,” he said. “This is a part of the journey. You told me ‘It ain’t been hard throughout the journey, it’s been a Journey’ . The journey ain’t gonna be the Same Journey without U. Like U say tho Umma ‘Stay Down on it’……we all are. Love and Respect, Michael.” What do you think of the Dungeon Family’s statement on the passing of Rico Wade? Share your thoughts in the comments section down below, and keep an eye on HNHH for more updates.
Atlanta, Georgia, has been the dominating hub of rap music for well over a decade now, but the region’s run began long before that. Rico Wade laid the groundwork for the South as part of the pioneering production team Organized Noize and Dungeon Family collective.
Sadly, the mastermind behind the sounds of OutKast, Goodie Mob, and Killer Mike, to name a few, has died at the age of 52. Today (April 13), a representative of the late musician reached out to AllHipHop to confirm the tragic news.
Several media titans and entertainers have taken to their official social media pages to share a touching message in Wade’s honor. One of the most moving came from Killer Mike.
“I don’t have the words to express my deep and profound sense of loss,” he wrote on Instagram. I am praying for your wife, children, the Wade family, and us all. I deeply appreciate your acceptance into the Dungeon family, mentorship, friendship, and brotherhood. I don’t know where I would be without y’all.”
Others who have shared their condolences online include Phonte, Juicy J, Ebro Darden, Arrested Development’s Speech, and Alchemist. View their statements below.
