Hate of the Union: When New York Disses The South

Previously, we've tried to highlight times when New York rappers showed love to the South. But there's no denying that New Yorkers tend to hate on the South, especially in the past few years when New York rap has been relatively dormant and the South has been nothing short of dominant.



For example, last week when Mississippi rapper Big K.R.I.T. (along with CyHi da Prince) made a surprise appearance at the Highline Ballroom in NYC to perform songs from his excellent mixtape KRIT Wuz Here, he was greeted with scores of boos. When K.R.I.T. was later asked about getting booed, we were glad to see he took it in stride, with a smile on his face, and brought up the fact that New York has also booed legendary acts like Outkast in the past. K.R.I.T. might have been taking the high road, but he could have easily brought up numerous other occasions of New York hating on the South. That's why we've put together a few notable instances of New Yorkers disrespecting Southern hip-hop...

Complex says: When Scarface recently went off on VH1's Hip Hop Honors for their mistreatment of the South, he also brought up how New York audiences booed him and the Geto Boys back in the day. Although his grievances may be legit, there is a much more memorable instance of New York booing a group from below the Mason-Dixon Line. The now infamous 1995 Source Awards at Madison Square Garden took place in NYC during the peak of the East/West Coast rivalry. The crowd at MSG was hating on anyone who wasn't from NYC, so when Outkast won "Best New Rap Group" (beating hometown favorites Smif-N-Wessun) the crowd started booing. 'Kast certainly didn't deserve such shabby treatment, so an indignant Andre 3000 stomped on stage and gave a one-line acceptance speech that rings as true today as it did then: "The South got something to say."

Complex says: Although Nas claimed otherwise, many felt that when he titled his eighth album Hip Hop Is Dead he was blaming the South for killing it since they were the most popular region at the time. So despite being more of a perceived shot than anything else, many Southern rappers felt slighted by Nas. Young Jeezy famously flipped out over Nas' remarks at a radio station, while Big Boi complained to MTV, and Ludacris even went so far as to wear a t-shirt that read, "HIP HOP AINT DEAD...IT LIVES IN THE SOUTH." Seriously, if we were those guys, we would have just brought up the fact that Killer Mike said it first.

Complex says: While promoting his solo album Kush, the non-sickle-celled half of Mobb Deep stopped by Whoo Kid's radio show and for no real reason said, "Fuck T.I." He claimed that he loved him to death as an artist, but that Tip couldn't fuck with Mobb Deep. Hav went on to say that he loved what the South was doing, but that the region shouldn't "get on your own dick" (no Ron Jeremy) and that "nobody down there can't fuck with M-O-B-B." See what happens when Prodigy isn't around to fill the dead air with his crazy rants? Free P!

Complex says: During a radio interview right around the time we were beginning to realize that Saigon's The Greatest Story Never Told was never going to be told, Saigon (along with DJ Kay Slay and others) discussed the state of hip-hop. Although Saigon made some interesting points about how fickle rap fans can be, things turned left when he started making fun of Lil Wayne (saying he looked like Rapunzel) and wondered aloud how anyone could say New Yorkers were biting the South, saying, "Ain't they biting by just rapping, period?" At least they're rapping!

Complex says: Only a few years removed from giving props to the South by spitting, "I'm a New Yorker but I sound southern," 50 shitted on the region during a visit to BET's 106 & Park. When he was asked about why the South is so united compared to the East Coast, 50 spoke on (what else?) the aggressive competition of New Yorkers. All good, right? Sure, until he went and said, "If you add them all up they'd be like one me. All of them." Knowing 50, he probably means he's sold more records than they have—which may be true, but that was also back when he "sounded Southern."

Complex says: During an interview on Shade 45, Sonic The Hamilton clamored about Soulja Boy's popularity, saying, "It's because of Soulja Boy that the way I live, the 'Sonic the Hedgehog' shit that's dead real to me, is considered a joke." Actually, Chuck, the reason you're considered a joke is because your entire life is a fizzail. And it's just lame to blame another man's success for your shortcomings. Add that to the fact that Soulja Boy ethered Charles Hamilton in this video, followed by Hamilton ethering himself with an Auto-Tuned response record, and it's easy to see why hating on people isn't the way to get ahead. Neither is wearing a Pink Panther plushie on your bicep, but hey, what do we know?

Complex says: On "Pork Chops and Applesauce," off his mixtape Kimbo Price, Dru Ha's favorite rapper pokes fun at the South by rapping in a mockingly Southern way over Shawty Lo's "Dey Know," in the persona of "a country Bama." He even spits bars like, "You see my dirty shoes/And my dirty house/And my dirty spouse/I'm from the Dirty South," and "That ain't cool and cool ain't that/And bitch I'm wack." Look, we all know Price likes to crack jokes, and if you don't like it he'll probably just crack your skull and eat some turkey bacon. So take your lumps and keep it moving.

Complex says: As if we didn't have enough reasons to hate super-douchebag Solar. During an interview alongside Guru (RIP), Solar claimed that "Dirty South music is not hip-hop, it's pseudo-hop. It's some kind of derivative. But it's not hip-hop." You know what, Solar? We don't think you're a good person. That is all.

Complex says: With the glory days of the Wu-Tang empire well behind them, most of the main Wu members have spent the past few years taking shots at the South. In '06 Ghostface got on stage and dissed D4L, in late '07 GZA said "Fuck Soulja Boy," recently Jay Electronica recently brought up how RZA once questioned the intelligence of Southern MCs, and during a recent radio interview, Method Man claimed Waka Flocka's career would end soon since he didn't care about lyrics. Although their comments made them seem old and out of touch, the worst part was the fact that RZA, GZA, and Method Man all squeamishly backed away from their comments once pressed.

Complex says: If you thought rappers were salty, wait