THE HISTORY

Country Rap Tunes

How one phrase from Port Arthur became the name for a whole region's sound — the forefathers who built it, and the man documenting it.

  • Geto Boys
  • UGK
  • DJ Screw
  • Three 6 Mafia
  • 8Ball & MJG
  • OutKast
  • Goodie Mob
  • Devin the Dude
  • Scarface
  • Screwed Up Click
  • Pimp C
  • Bun B

THE STORY

They said it wasn't real hip-hop. Pimp C gave it a name.

When Northern critics dismissed Southern rap, Pimp C answered on wax: what UGK made wasn't trying to be their hip-hop. It was country rap tunes — soul, blues and zydeco, slowed down and straight from Port Arthur. He said it again on BET's Rap City in 2007. Months later he was gone.

His protégé and UGK's in-house producer, Cory Mo, started countryraptunes.com to keep the name alive — first a blog, then a 24/7 radio station, then a podcast, and now a docuseries — the record of a whole region's sound, from the Geto Boys and DJ Screw to Three 6 Mafia, 8Ball & MJG, OutKast, Goodie Mob and Devin the Dude.

1988 Geto Boys put Houston on wax
Port Arthur Pimp C names it on a UGK outro
Early '90s DJ Screw slows the city down
1995 "The South got something to say"
1997 Cory Mo hits the road with Big Mike
1999 Cory Mo becomes UGK's in-house producer
2007 Pimp C defines it on BET's Rap City
After 2007 Cory Mo starts countryraptunes.com
Now Radio, podcast, docuseries

THE ARCHIVE · DOCUMENTED BY CORY MO

The forefathers

Before anybody called it Southern hip-hop, these artists made country rap tunes. Cory Mo came up inside this lineage — hype man for the Geto Boys' Big Mike in 1997, UGK's in-house producer from 1999 — and has spent the years since documenting it.

  1. File 01 Houston · Fifth Ward

    Geto Boys

    Rap-A-Lot's flagship. Dark, honest, unmistakably Houston — the group that made the whole country listen to Houston.

    First record
    Making Trouble (1988)
    Essential
    "Mind Playing Tricks on Me" (1991)
    Willie D on the podcast
  2. File 02 Port Arthur, TX

    UGK

    Pimp C and Bun B. Live bass, soul samples, slang and twang — and the phrase that named the whole movement: country rap tunes.

    First record
    Too Hard to Swallow (1992)
    Essential
    Ridin' Dirty (1996)
    Bun B on the podcast
  3. File 03 Houston · South Side

    DJ Screw

    Slowed it down and chopped it up. The gray tapes and the Screwed Up Click turned Houston into a sound the world still borrows.

    First record
    Screw tapes, early '90s
    Essential
    "June 27th" (1996)
    Z-Ro on the podcast
  4. File 04 Memphis

    Three 6 Mafia

    DJ Paul and Juicy J built the Memphis underground — dark, bass-heavy, hypnotic — then produced UGK's biggest single.

    First record
    Mystic Stylez (1995)
    Essential
    "Int'l Players Anthem" (prod., 2007)
    Juicy J & Project Pat on Way Mo Trill
  5. File 05 Memphis → Houston

    8Ball & MJG

    Player storytelling over smooth, live-sounding funk. Orange Mound natives who made their name on Houston's Suave House.

    First record
    Comin' Out Hard (1993)
    Essential
    On Top of the World (1995)
    "There He Go" on Way Mo Trill
  6. File 06 Atlanta · East Point

    OutKast

    André 3000 and Big Boi told the 1995 Source Awards "the South got something to say" — then spent a decade proving it.

    First record
    Southernplayalisticadillacmuzik (1994)
    Essential
    Aquemini (1998)
  7. File 07 Atlanta

    Goodie Mob

    Dungeon Family soul with a conscience — Khujo, T-Mo, Big Gipp and CeeLo, who later sang on Cory Mo's Grammy-winning "Down By Law."

    First record
    Soul Food (1995)
    Essential
    "Cell Therapy" (1995)
  8. File 08 Houston

    Devin the Dude

    Laid-back, funny, painfully honest — the Rap-A-Lot original. Cory Mo produced on his 2004 album To tha X-Treme.

    First record
    The Dude (1998)
    Essential
    Just Tryin' ta Live (2002)

Documented by Cory Mo — on CRT Radio, the podcast, and the Country Rap Tunes docuseries.

WEAR THE HISTORY

The Legends Collab Series

Official merch made with the artists who built country rap tunes. Limited runs, one legend at a time.

01Coming soon
Legend collab 01
A forefather of country rap tunes. Limited run.
02Coming soon
Legend collab 02
Announced to the email list first.
03In the works
Who's next?
Every legend in the archive is on the list.

FROM THE ARCHIVE

Hear it from them

YouTubeApple Podcasts
Bun B
Bun BUGK · Port Arthur's own
Willie D
Willie DGeto Boys · Fifth Ward
Big Mike
Big MikeGeto Boys · where Cory Mo started
Z-Ro
Z-RoScrewed Up Click · Houston
Slim Thug & Propain
Slim Thug & PropainH-Town legends in the booth
Boosie
BoosieBaton Rouge
All episodes
COMING SOON · A CRT ORIGINAL

Country Rap Tunes The Docuseries

Get notified

HOODIE SEASON

Rep the culture

All hoodies
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View all products — click here

THE KEEPER

Cory Mo was in the room. Now you can be.

UGK's in-house producer and Grammy winner. Studio ATL is open 24 hours — book and pay online. Or get your song reviewed live on Let's Go Viral, Sundays at 7pm. The best ones air on CRT Radio.

Book a sessionSubmit your song