13/51 Hip-hop.
In 2009, an article in the New York Times referred to Atlanta as “hip-hop’s center of gravity.” Although Atlanta’s music scene is diverse, it is perhaps the city’s hip-hop scene that has garnered the most national attention and commercial success.
Local multi-platinum-selling artists include Ludacris, Ciara, TLC, B.o.B., Young Jeezy, T.I., and OutKast, who won the Album of the Year Grammy Award in 2004 for Speakerboxxx / The Love Below.
The scene has been advanced by the development of local record labels, including LaFace Records founded by L.A. Reid and Babyface in 1989; So So Def Records founded by Jermaine Dupri in the mid-1990s; and Quality Control Music founded by Kevin “Coach” Lee and Pierre “Pee” Thomas in 2013.
As the number of local artists continues to multiply, Atlanta remains a center for hip-hop innovation. In 2014, Billboard magazine called the Atlanta scene “a powder keg of talent waiting to blow.” The growth of the hip-hop music scene in Atlanta also led to the development of the VH-1 reality television show, Love & Hip Hop: Atlanta.
[OutKast] were pivotal in the recognition and growth of the Atlanta area.
Speakerboxxx / The Love Below, Outkast, 2003.
Object:
Kenan Research Center at Atlanta History Center, purchase acquisition with funds from Coca-Cola Company.
Image:
Courtesy Zach Wolfe, photographer
Next: 14 Lester Maddox.
Future Georgia Governor Lester Maddox opened the Pickrick Restaurant in 1947 on the edge of the Georgia Tech campus.