These days no one bats an eye at a rapper with “soul influences” or a rapper with a guitar solo in their track but it’s because of the Dungeon Family that fusion became a part of rap. They set themselves apart from their contemporaries, not only for being one of the few epicentres for hip hop in the South, but also for taking adventurous steps in fusing rap with various other genres like funk, soul, jazz, and rock. We came to know these artists as the Dungeon Family, a collective of young artists from Atlanta, Georgia, determined to put their city on the map in the hip hop scene. And for those young musicians, stank also meant making great music. It meant to be real–to be real with oneself and to act and conduct yourself for a greater truer meaning. To these people, being stank meant being authentic. Generally no one tries to be stank, in fact, there are billion dollar industries trying to sell the exact opposite of that.īut for a couple of young musicians in 90s Atlanta, Georgia, stank was the goal. Stinkiness, stench, or “stank” are generally used in negative connotations for things that are dirty: dirty people, dirty things, dumpsters, and children.
Git Up, Git Out: Introįor most people, something being “stank” is not a good thing. WSOE Senior Editor Ben Nguyen O’Connor offers a (late) conclusion to the blog’s Black History Month event with a long-winded analysis of one of the most relevant musical groups of all time, OutKast, and two of their most critically-acclaimed works– Aquemini and Stankonia.