The details of how Big and Dre met Rico, Ray, and Sleepy—in an East Point strip-mall parking lot on the corner of Headland and Delowe—have been rapped, retold, and mythologized a thousand times over. But it all boils down to spirit.
Not a clique. Not a squad. Not a posse. A family. The business came next. Since Organized Noize already had L. They were artist developers, mentors, big brothers, and player-partners to everyone under the Dungeon Family umbrella. Rico, the charismatic mouthpiece of ONP, is also something of a mystery—especially when it comes to quantifying his musical contribution.
Ray is responsible for bringing the noise as an intuitive beat programmer with a mastery deserving of his nickname, Yoda. T o illustrate the kind of singular creative vision Rico Wade possesses, it helps to go back in time.
Summer, a dangerous year to be a black boy in Atlanta. Somebody was snatching them up at night and leaving dead bodies behind as evidence. The whole affair seemed out of character for the city too busy to hate.
Things were supposed to be different. The only blemish on his time in office was the seemingly unsolvable mystery of more than two dozen missing and murdered children.
The serial killings had plagued the city for nearly three years. Meanwhile, the fight to make hometown icon Dr. Closer to home, on Martin Luther King Jr. Drive, nine-year-old Rico was about to stumble upon a dream of his own. The way he remembers it now, it looked to a kid like the circus was coming to town.
People clapping and waving. A cowboy on horseback. There was a party happening in the parking lot of his Garden Valley Apartments and young Rico was at the center of it. The way he interpreted it at the time, this was a divine sign that Atlanta was destined for the young. El Dawgs. His pants are at half-sag and his hair is plaited back in cornrows. This is Rico in his prime, at twenty-one, with swagger on full blast.
It goes to show how Rico took a couple of young aspiring artists, with an early penchant for rapping about girls and video games, and elevated their game by influencing them to represent their hometown. In other words, they excavated the hell out of the Dirty South. Reid without leaving behind a benevolent offering. With the Interscope deal secured, Rico saw fit to release both OutKast and Goodie Mob from their production contracts so they could negotiate better deals directly with LaFace Records.
And in a sense, they did. N ow picture a thirty-seven-year-old Rico Wade, desperately salvaging records, reels, and anything else of musical value he can get his hands on before Fulton County sheriffs lock him out of his home for good. When the Dungeon Family film is made, this will be a pivotal scene. Some family and close friends are on hand to help, but the Family brethren who can afford to write a check and make the sheriffs disappear are nowhere to be found.
You look after everybody. Where they at now, Rico? Where they at now? This was back when the Dungeon doubled as a basement-hang suite, a place of refuge for unscheduled sleepovers or a spot to smoke out and soak up the vibe. But this time he had no slick comeback. He blames his financial straits on his living above his means. For a decade, he paid the mortgages on two big houses until they both appreciated to double their original value.
But when the IRS put liens on them, he was unable to refinance and pay down the debt. When it was discovered that he was putting money into an escrow account, his attempt at filing bankruptcy was canceled, too. Kept getting on my fucking nerves. I was just frustrated. Like, if God wants to take it away, He should just take it all away. By album three, Aquemini , OutKast had become more of a self-contained unit in terms of production.
ONP was busier, too, with plenty of outside production work. That bothered him for a time until he finally said something about it on a phone call one night with Big Boi. But yeah, they hurt me with that shit back then.
Part of their distance was also due to the stress Rico felt from the Interscope venture struck with Iovine in Things were shaky almost from the start. Rico stepped outside of the family to sign a proven artist, but longtime Atlanta booty-shake rapper and regional star Kilo Ali turned out to be more trouble than he was worth. Meanwhile, Sleepy Brown had grown disenchanted. That only increased the friction. Rico also suffered over the disconnect with his former boss and guiding force in the industry, L.
Letting out his frustrations on that phone call with Big helped him get over it. I fought into business. Once I had money, I had no more fight. Losing the deal and the money and the houses stripped him back down to basics. Today he views it as a necessary setback. After nearly a decade of dead air from the duo, the onstage reunion had been epic.
But his lack of enthusiasm was hard to hide. Rico needed to remind Dre what was on the line. Not as his former mentor, but as his brother. When Dre told Rico that his fuck-it attitude reflected his feelings for some of the old catalog, Rico put their legacy in perspective. It must have been the inspiration Dre needed in addition to phone calls he got from the likes of Prince. See all related lists ». Do you have a demo reel? Add it to your IMDb page.
Find out more at IMDbPro ». How Much Have You Seen? How much of Rico Wade's work have you seen? Photos 1 video ». Known For. Snakes on a Plane Soundtrack. Hitch Soundtrack. Show all Hide all Show by Hide Show Composer 2 credits. Hide Show Writer 1 credit. Hide Show Music department 1 credit. Hide Show Soundtrack 38 credits. Hide Show Self 3 credits.
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