USA Today recently featured an article on Houston rappers.

Here’s a tidbit:

Houston’s long-thriving hip-hop community has generally skirted the mainstream spotlight while other regions, particularly in the South, have taken turns challenging New York and Los Angeles for supremacy.

But in the city where the rappers extol a laid-back lifestyle with candy-paint cars, exotic rims and diamond-encrusted teeth, determination and self-reliance are starting to pay off. Set far away from the music industry’s coastal power centers, Houston grew its own record labels and distribution networks, and is now fertile with breakout stars.

“Texas is one of the biggest states, and if you can just sell units here, you don’t have to worry about going outside of Texas to eat real good,” says Mike “5000” Watts, owner of Swisha House Records, whose motto is “Major Without a Major Deal.”

Now the city’s fiercely independent scene is getting a big push in the music industry’s mainstream. Three long-established Houston mixtape stars have landed in the top 5 of the Billboard album chart this year with their major-label debuts.

The article also says:

“We are looking for strong brands that have a local following we think we can take national,” Asylum president Todd Moscowitz says. “Houston has one of the most vibrant music scenes, and it’s been around for 20 years. A lot of people are looking at Houston like it is to rap what Seattle was to rock.”

Read the entire article here.

I have listened to a much of the popular music coming out of Houston right now, but one of my favorites is the relatively unknown group Kalleid. I don’t even think they have a website, but you can find their mix CDs if you try hard enough. Mas is a fast rapper and I like that, for what that’s worth.

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