For the first two decades of rap history, the focal points were New York and Los Angeles. When Atlanta’s OutKast won best new artist at the 1995 Source Awards, they were audibly booed.
Atlanta’s hip-hop culture would eventually gain respect from coast to coast and by the 2000s, artists such as Lil Jon, Young Jeezy, T.I. and Ludacris would become synonymous with the Dirty South.
The momentum didn’t stop in the 2010s with the arrivals of 2 Chainz, Lil Yachty, Young Thug and Future. That’s the era New York Times culture reporter Joe Coscarelli primarily covers in his new book “Rap Capital: An Atlanta Story” (Simon & Schuster).
