Could Big Chief Be The Superstar The D-Town Boogie Needs?

Over on the dfwhiphop.com forums today, there's some doom-and-gloom talk about the state of Dallas hip-hop. Take it with a grain of salt, though: It's largely coming from hip-hop artists, producers and DJs who sit (proudly, mind you), outside of the thriving D-Town Boogie scene. And, yes, I wrote "thriving"...

By Pete Freedman

December 30, 2008

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Over on the dfwhiphop.com forums today, there's some doom-and-gloom talk about the state of Dallas hip-hop. Take it with a grain of salt, though: It's largely coming from hip-hop artists, producers and DJs who sit (proudly, mind you), outside of the thriving D-Town Boogie scene.

And, yes, I wrote "thriving". Because, well, the Boogie scene continues to do just that. The latest sign: Dallas' Big Chief is starting to get his due, too. You may remember "Chiefa" from a couple places: 1) He was featured quite prominently in The Fader's article on the Dallas scene and 2) I wrote a few weeks back in a Good Friday post that Chief was a guy a whole bunch of current Boogie stars see as the potential superstar this scene needs (turns out he didn't show at the Barley House show, though; instead, it was a set from a jam band of the same name).

Anyway, now Chief seems to be bursting out from the underground. Three months after The Fader offered up his track "My Swagg (feat. Jim Jones)" as a free download (and the download link is still active, by the way), the song has finally started earning airplay. A few weeks back it peaked at No. 5 on Billboard's Bubbling Under R&B/Hip-Hop Singles chart and, this week, it's found itself on the real-deal chart, popping up at No. 91 on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart in its first week on it.

Big Chief's definitely an artist to keep an eye on, folks. --Pete Freedman

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