Houston hip-hop, one neighborhood at a time

Houston never had one rap scene. It had several, each with its own sound and its own loyalty. Rap-A-Lot Records came out of Fifth Ward and put the Geto Boys on the map. On the South Side, DJ Screw and the Screwed Up Click turned slowed tapes into the city’s signature. On the North Side, Swishahouse and Michael “5000” Watts built their own chopped-and-screwed lane. South Park, Third Ward, Sunnyside and the rest all show up in the lyrics, the shout-outs and the car clubs.

This section covers that whole map. We write about the labels and crews, the radio, the slabs, the record shops and the artists who carried Houston rap into the national conversation, plus the independent artists building on it today.

Car culture lives here too, because in Houston you can’t separate the music from the cars it was made to play in. Start with our first story below, then follow the headlines for what’s moving now.