week 14

For our final discussion (YES, OUR FINAL DISCUSSION!), I want for us to reflect on the sound of the Dirty South, Houston’s hip-hop and rap music. Living in our city, it is hard to avoid Houston’s hip-hop and rap because it flows from the radio stations, passing cars, billboards, businesses, and people on the streets. It is a part of Houston’s culture. For those of us around since Houston’s hip-hop inceptions, (I was young, but around), we heard it evolve and become a nationwide phenomenon.
First for this discussion, take a moment to speak to the articles assigned for this week. In what ways did Tanya Djavadzadeh’s history on Houston’s rap help you understand the development of our City’s unique sound? What are your thoughts on Jimmy Patiño’s take of Black and Brown Hip Hop Subjectivities at an H-town Record Store? (Do any of you remember Soundwaves on Crosstimbers? I do.)
For the second part of this discussion, please share at least two songs from native Houston rappers that represent the sound of H-town for you. You can share the songs in hyperlinks within your post, I also enabled file attachments. Please explain why these songs represent Houston for you.
Please comment on two other’s classmates’ post, speaking particularly to the music they shared.
If you are unfamiliar with Houston rap, take a moment to look up an artist or two from the article and share their music. Offer a brief explanation on why you shared the song.  
These songs can include exploitive/illicit lyrics. We are in an academic space, so let’s be objective in hearing each other’s music.  
***
To start, I want to share a few songs that represent major moments in my youth and adult life. When I was a girl, my eldest brother Gordy introduced me to the Ghetto Boy’s My Mind is Playing Tricks on Me. We lived at the Burnham Woods Apartments on Mangum and 34th Street. Gordy was killed by gang violence in July 1991.This song reminds me of my family’s life before this tradegy.  
In the early 2000s, I was a young adult attending school at Houston Community College and driving around the streets of Houston’s North and Northwest side. Every Sunday, I listened to the two-hour radio special called Screwston. Many cool songs were mixed, but DJ Screw’s Too Much Lean in My Cup embodies the culture and atmosphere of young Houstonians at the time.
Lastly, Scarface’s On My Block invokes in my soul the pride of being born and raised in Houston. I grew up in the apartments of Houston’s Northwest side off of 34th Street and T.C. Jester. This area was formative in my life and the life of every one of my siblings. On our block, we all figured out our hustle (mine was education) and how to overcome the disparities of growing-up poor in a working-class single parent household.