ROOTING FOR THE HOME TEAM: SOME MIAMI SHIT

Miami Bass died long before I had enough D to throw.  Uncle Al and "Dickey Ride" still inspire reverential ass spasms, but it's not really a vibrant genre outside of hipster quotation and dancefloor STD perpetuation.  I don't know the exact turning point, but I'd wager it had something to do with the emergence of Slip-n-Slide Records, later MMG, on a national scale.  Trick Daddy and Trina were the catalysts, Rick Ross was the nail in the coffin.  Rap loves a winner, so that's whose DNA gets reproduced.

I'm ambivalent about Ross and the DJ Khaled Timeshare serving as Miami's rap avatars (I don't count Pitbull because he is a living marketing gimmick for the tourism board; Flo Rida is a mysterious life-form who exists solely in the pop cosmos). While I like some of their music, it's not the sound I associate with the city.  There isn't really a definite name for it as far as I know, tho jook music is a term that gets thrown around.  I always just called it Miami Shit.  On the evolutionary ladder it's a couple steps from Miami Bass via cribbed elements from wu-tanging/stick n roll subculture, but its MCs (in the literal sense) often adopt a brash post-Trick sneer.  Some artists obviously subscribe to Trick's Thug.com e-blast, while others are just interested in rocking the party and having fun.  Another salient feature: big dramatic beats with horns aplenty.

Alls I know is this.  Coming up as a lil jit in Miami, a lot of us fell victim to a Scarface mentality.  It's kinda similar to why mafioso rap happened in NYC, but less nerdy and more superficial: i.e., no Rain Man-y obsession with names and organizational structure.  You're growing up in this absurd place that's visibly built on drug money and you develop an undue sense of machismo and bravado cause you see yourself as an heir to the city's Cocaine Cowboys lineage, and directly or indirectly you probably are.  This is the sound of that city in all its mirth and megalomania.  Thugs, throw ya choppaz in the air.  The rest of us may throw or pop the genitals we possess.

P.A. Teezy - Bennie Biggle Wiggle
K-Kutta ft. S.O. Certified - Pull Out Ya Stick
Desloc Piccalo - Stick And Roll
Hustle Holicz - I'm So Throwed Off
Choo Choo - Where I Live*

*Choo Choo lives in Pompano, so it's really a South Florida thing.  Much love to my Broward and Palm Beach bredren.