Description
Rico Wade Tribute (Dungeon Family 4 Life)
Dedicated to the legendary Rico Wade, co-founder of the Dungeon Family collective and 1/3 of legendary Atlanta production team Organized Noize. Rico wasn’t just a producer — he was the architect of Atlanta hip hop, the gatekeeper of culture, and the mind that helped turn a regional scene global.
A pivotal architect in Atlanta’s music scene, Wade was instrumental in cultivating the signature sound of the “Dirty South,” seamlessly mixing the contemporary style of hip-hop with classic elements of soul, funk, and R&B. A founding member of songwriting/production team Organized Noize along with Ray Murray and Sleepy Brown, Wade helped pave the way for Atlanta to become the capital city of Southern hip-hop. Out of his home studio, The Dungeon, located in the basement of his mother’s home in East Point, Georgia, Wade delivered a string of multi-platinum albums by artists like TLC, OutKast, Goodie Mob, EnVogue and many more. The musical collective spawned from Wade’s studio, The Dungeon Family, included influential members like André 3000, Big Boi, Killer Mike, Goodie Mob, CeeLoo Green, Big Gipp, Janelle Monáe, his cousin Future and many others.
The breadth of Rico Wade’s extensive, award-winning work and the core of all the music he was responsible for he felt was best exemplified in a quote André 3000 famously expressed at the Source Awards on August 3, 1995, in New York City, when the rapper stepped up to the mic and said, “The South got something to say
Speak On It!