From its opening seconds – a gaggle of voices nearly just like the opening of Marvin Gaye’s “What’s Going On,” supplemented by a thick drum kick and a free riff on Prince’s “Little Red Corvette” – Lil’ Troy’s “Wanna Be A Baller” is an instantly iconic track. The basic Houston rap reduce’s recognizable synth line isn’t a direct rip of “Little Red Corvette,” after all. Extra like a hazy reminiscence of it, leaking out trunk audio system far off within the distance. Large T’s syrupy earworm of a hook locations you proper within the passenger seat of the Chevy Impala, however there’s a tinge of mournfulness too: “Makin’ money the fly way / But there’s got to be a better way.”
Lil Troy’s debut album Sittin’ Fats Down South was first launched independently in 1998, following within the tried-and-true self-reliant custom of Houston rap – a metropolis the place rappers labored independently for years, constructing a reliable native viewers. Common signed Troy based mostly on the effervescent success of “Wanna Be a Baller” and re-issued the album in 1999, as nationwide consciousness of DJ Screw’s distinct sonic brew started to develop exterior Texas, due to hardcore followers who copied his tapes and unfold the phrase.
Hearken to Lil Troy’s Sittin’ Fats Down South now.
It was nonetheless a couple of years earlier than Houston rap’s dominance of the nationwide airwaves, nevertheless, and Troy’s slick and screwed-up sound was nonetheless one thing of an anomaly. “Wanna Be A Baller” was anomalous for an additional purpose: Lil’ Troy receives credit score as a author and producer, however his personal voice doesn’t truly seem on the largest hit that bears his title. As an alternative, it options the distinctive sing-song Houston flows of Fats Pat, H.A.W.Ok., Yungstar, Large T, and Lil Will, 5 of the stand-out members of Screwed-Up Click on, the continuously evolving group of inventive comrades that sprung up round DJ Screw.
However in its personal means, the observe’s posse cut-like nature is smart: “Wanna Be A Baller” embodied the collective spirit that’s usually outlined Houston rap, distilling hours of Screwtapes and hazy freestyle cyphers right into a single joint. DJ Screw was a infamous workaholic with a perpetually open door, and the artists in his orbit honed their craft, in some ways, by merely hanging out with him: going over to his place not simply to observe a wizard at work, however to vibe, shoot the breeze, and move over no matter sound he was chopping up and laying down.
Troy himself was considered one of a number of different notable Texan artists, like Devin the Dude and UGK, who have been Screwed Up “Affiliated” and commonly collaborated with Screw’s crew however not fairly full-fledged members of the collective. However, his defining hit stands as probably the most important paperwork of the Screwed-Up scene and its distinctive sound, a residing snapshot of probably the most creatively fertile moments in Southern rap historical past. That collaborative power continues all through Sittin’ Fats Down South. Geto Boys members Willie D and Scarface pull up for “Where’s the Love” and “Another Head Put to Rest,” whereas S.U.C. legends Botany Boyz creep and crawl over a menacing piano line on “Chop, Chop, Chop.” Even when Sittin’ Fats Down South caught on nationally extra so than contemporaneous Houston data, it’s nonetheless unmistakably Texan: “Still A B***h” is a straight-up country-soul banger with a little bit twang to its inflection.
Most of the voices in “Wanna Be a Baller” handed away within the years instantly after its launch. It’s heartbreaking. Not simply DJ Screw’s tragic dying, however the losses of so many from Houston’s scene, on as much as George Floyd, who appeared on a number of S.U.C. freestyles within the mid-90s below the title Large Floyd. On reflection, it may well usually really feel like Screw was not simply slowing down music, however slowing down time itself. Possibly he hoped to present extra to those that knew that – as Black males in a violently racist society – they might not have a lot time left.
Hearken to Lil Troy’s Sittin’ Fats Down South now.
