The 25 Greatest Organized Noize Songs Of All Time

In anticipation of the 2010 VH1 Hip Hop Honors: The Dirty South, which airs on June 7, Complex and Miss Info have teamed with the network to celebrate this year's honorees with exclusive coverage.



Atlanta hip-hop has seen many changes over the past 25 years—from bass and crunk to snap and the trap—but it was the vision and very different aesthetic of Organized Noize that really put the city's sound on the map. Rico Wade, Ray Murray and Patrick "Sleepy" Brown formed Organized Noize Productions in Rico's mother's basement ("The Dungeon") in the early

Released: 1992

Though not dramatically different than the Dallas Austin-laced album version, Organized's extended "What About Your Friends" remix marked the beginning of a long working relationship with TLC and introduced the world to a little group called OutKast.

Released: 2005

Bubba had ONP on board from the jump of his career, even predating his Interscope/Beat Club deal. This bare-bones joint that originally appeared on Big Boi's Purple Ribbon Records compilation Got Purp? Vol. II (and later on Bubba's third album The Charm) stands as perhaps their strongest collab—and quite possibly the eeriest strip club anthem ever recorded.

Released: 1997

Maybe the weirdest rapper to ever sign with to Jimmy Iovine machine, Witchdoctor brought Dr. John-style swamp mysticism to hip-hop with this debut single. The Doctor's brand of voodoo rap never caught on commercially, but the album remains a favorite amongst Dungeon Fam obsessives.

Released: 2009

They were noticeably absent from Speakerboxxx, but Big was wise to bring his Organized mentors back into the fold on this, one of the many singles from his much-delayed proper solo debut, Sir Luscious Left Foot. "Fo Your Sorrows" sees the production team still moving forward with a glitchy take on Atlanta bass.

Released: 1993

Parental Advisory were the first, and oft forgotten, group from out the Dungeon Fam. Their entirely Organized-produced debut found the team still getting their feet wet; it invited more comparisons to their up-north boom-bap counterparts than their later work would, but produced some legitimate bangers nonetheless. This single caught its biggest audience as the background of a Southernplayalistik sketch. (PA OG Kawan "KP" Prather is now hunting industry heads from behind the scenes, having launched the careers of TI, Youngbloodz, and most recently Yelawolf through his Ghet-O-Vision imprint.)

Released: 2003

Kurupt is one of a few extra-Atlanta rappers to be granted regular entry into the Organized/production vaults, but it was this overlooked cut from his little brother that best drew the line from ONP's brand of warm Southern soul to classical West Coast top-down rider music.

Released: 2001

Though his wheeze can be heard on numerous Goodie and OutKast classics, Backbone's solo career never garnered anything close to the attention granted to his first gen DF peers. But that didn't prevent Organized's simple but infectious string loop from guiding this dice rolling number into underground classic territory.

Released: 1997

Recorded while the artist was paralyzed (he sang while lying on his back with a mic hanging above), Curtis Mayfield's final album mostly sounded like a crummy

Released: 1999

This Dirty Money era b-side is the most memorable product of the long standing relationship between the Dungeon and UGK camps. Just raw pimp raps and big horns cribbed from Curtis, again. Though Curtis was probably slightly less interested in "lean[ing] in your girl like Dirk Diggler."

Released: 1998

It's the ability to convey, and then overcome, pain that remains Organized's greatest strength and separates them from so many of their peers. Here they strip their sound to its barest and most emotive elements, making room for a spine-chilling Cee-Lo verse where he bounces from minimum wage to hustling to the penitentiary in just a few bars.

Released: 1998

At least one part of Organized's sound might be attributed to genetics. Sleepy's father, Jimmy Brown, was the frontman for

Released: 2001

In his early career, Ludacris was a cartoon character, lyrically tossing Acme anvils off cliffs. Organized were among the few beatmakers to really reflect this in their production, lacing him with this bouncy, helium-fueled ode to good weed and weekends.

Released: 1996

The last En Vogue single to feature all four original members was also the first to feature the boys from the Dungeon behind the boards. "Don't Let Go" found Organized in dramatic, grown-folks soul mode and offering an appropriately grandiose backdrop for weathering a romantic or creative break-up.

Released: 1994

Over Organized's dubbed-out horns, Outkast enlist Goodie's Gipp and Cee-Lo to offer a cure for the malaise of the late teenage years. No disrespect to Jeezy, but "Git Up, Git Out" is quite simply the greatest motivational rap record ever put to tape.

Released: 1995

Organized drops an appropriately hearty placemat for Goodie's homage to good food and family. You can almost taste the "heaping helpings of fried chicken, macaroni and collard greens" in their plodding and optimistic beat.

Released: 1996

Released: 1996

Before breaking out as a solo artist, Bobby Valentino got his start as a member of the Organized-helmed quartet Mista. "Blackberry Molasses" was yet another R&B coup for the producers, who provided the somber guitar lead and a subtle touch of Sly Stone-style drum machine clumps.

Released: 1998

Organized primed this now classic A-Town/Shaolin collaboration by lacing the trio with this undeniably rugged track, built around an interpolation of Henry Mancini's theme to the

Released: 1998

Thanks in part to the rise of the No Limit tank, the Dirty South rap landscape had shifted greatly in the two years between Goodie Mob's debut and Still Standing. "They Don't Dance," the lead single from that followup, felt like Organized making a conscious attempt to keep up with the more riotous sounds of their Gulf Coast peers, but without sacrificing the warmth that made the first Goodie album so revered.

Released: 1998

"Watch For The Hook" united Dungeon Family's nine core rappers (Outkast, Goodie Mob, Cool Breeze, Big Rube & Witchdoctor) on one track for the first time, but the rapid fire posse cut serves as just as much of a showcase for its producers. It's one of the few entirely sample-based beats in the Organized catalog, dicing (appropriately enough) Merry Clayton's "Southern Man" into a spastic canvas for the DF rap showboats.

Released: 2000

While Outkast was clearly heading into the outer recesses of space funk and post-rap with Stankonia, Organized provided a much needed anchor to their past. "So Fresh So Clean" was the counter balance to the album's "B.O.B." experimentation, a reminder that the two dope boyz' Cadillac was still occasionally Earthbound.

Released: 1995

Rakim once boasted of flipping a phrase that's rarely heard into a daily word—and that's exactly what guest emcee Cool Breeze did when he coined this song's now-ubiquitous title. The phrase "Dirty South" gave form to the burgeoning regional rap movement, though it might not have had quite the same impact if it wasn't for Organized's sonic D-Boy menace.

Released: 1995

The unquestionable, planet-smashing megahit in the Organized catalog. "Waterfalls" is a record that will be remembered a hundred years from now and hopefully feeding the Wade, Brown, and Murray families for generations to come.

Released: 1995

Even in the backpack-laden

Released: 1993

Birthed as a humble holiday pimpin' record (the "on Christmas day" and "deck the halls" references were edited out on later mixes, but the sleigh bells remain), Outkast's iconic single set a high bar for every Organized Noize production that would follow.