As Hip-Hop Turns 50, Rakim Al-Jabbaar Wants Dallas Recognized For Its Contributions

With hip-hop approaching its 50th anniversary on Aug. 11, there are plenty of scheduled parties and concerts in significant rap hubs like Los Angeles and New York to celebrate the genre’s birthday this summer.

When rapper Rakim Al-Jabbaar realized Dallas hadn’t yet advertised a celebration, he sprang into action. He thought of the idea in June, quickly making a call to a music promoter to see if he could secure a venue before reaching out to any artists. He told Josh Smith of Banjos to Beats, a veteran in curating live concert experiences, about his idea and it started to come to fruition.

The free show, hosted by Al-Jabbaar and Smith, will take place from 9 p.m. to 2 a.m. on Aug. 12, at Armoury D.E. Al-Jabbaar is putting together a lineup that represents Dallas’ contributions to hip-hop from the past and present. He wants it to feel like the first recorded rec room party by Cindy Campbell and her brother DJ Kool Herc at 1520 Sedgwick Ave. in The Bronx, gathering people together under one roof, calling upon graffiti artists, b-boys, DJs and MCs to honor the culture and party as they did in the 1970s.

“I just want to take it back to the essence of hip-hop and make it more about the party, the art, and the culture as opposed to somebody looking at it like maybe it is a money grab,” Al-Jabbaar says of the free price tag. “I genuinely want people to come out and have fun and celebrate the pioneers as well as the newer artists that are out here doing their thing today.”

Al-Jabbaar has been writing rhymes for 22 years, debuting in 2017 and earning accolades such as Best Songwriter at the 31st Dallas Observer Music Awards for his Southern-conscious raps. For this show, he is listed as the host under his company The Farmacy Family, after deciding to take a step back from performing to give flowers to those who paved the way. He is the son of the late Big Al, who was a member of Nemesis, a North Texas group that made history for having big label connections in the late ‘80s/early ‘90s, debuting on Profile Records with To Hell and Back.

After his father’s death, Al-Jabbaar made it his mission to be the “heartbeat of Dallas hip-hop,” which comes with the responsibility of having an encyclopedic knowledge of the city’s artists and how they impacted the genre.

The lineup will include Dallas legends Nemesis, Mr. Pookie, Fat Pimp, Bobo Luciano, Kottonmouth Jesse and Pikahsso. Al-Jabbaar says that Nemesis, Mr. Pookie and Fat Pimp “showed no matter how trivial being from Dallas as a hip-hop artist may be, success is more than attainable.” Speaking of the importance of Fat Pimp, who is regarded as the “Dallas Nelly,” he says, “His music is a time capsule for the Boogie movement. What was really going on in the city, in the clubs, and in the streets, it is in his music.”

Bobo Luciano has ties to duo UGK from Port Arthur, Texas, Al-Jabbaar says, adding that Bobo was an extension of Nemesis and helped write songs for Big Al.

“Bobo ended up being UGK’s hype man,” he says. “If you listen to Ridin’ Dirty and the song ‘One Day’ when Pimp C says ‘My man Bobo just lost his baby in a house fire,’ that’s who he is talking about. Bobo and Chad were like brothers.”

The lineup is expected to change as Al-Jabbaar is rounding up as many artists as possible, hoping to incorporate some who influenced the D-Town Boogie era. He has Lil Shine on the roster, who "had a hit in the boogie era called ‘Check Out My Lean,’” Al-Jabbaar says. “Lil Wil is supposed to be coming with Spain. They supposed to be doing ‘My Dougie.’ But I’m still reaching out to people."

One of the people on his dream list is Dorrough.

“It is an open invitation to anybody who contributed to the growth of Dallas hip-hop culture,” Al-Jabbaar says.

As for the regional impact Dallas has had on hip-hop, Al-Jabbaar believes the city’s influence is understated.

“Nemesis can take credit for implementing the bass in hip-hop, but Miami gets credit for that," he says. "You have D.O.C. writing and assisting most artists on the West Coast that had success from the ‘80s to the ‘90s, he’s from Dallas too,” he says. “Then you have Erykah Badu and her crew being credited for generating a whole new sound called neo-soul and Erykah Badu being an international star. It’s almost so crazy that people don’t think about Dallas when they see Erykah for some reason. To me, she’s the perfect example of being a mix of street, hip-hop culture, pan-Africanism and spirituality, and that’s the essence of Dallas hip-hop culture.”

When speaking about present-day Dallas hip-hop, he salutes rising stars such as BigXThaPlug.

“I feel like we’re in a great place," Al-Jabbaar says. "We got an artist like BigXThaPlug. We are seeing him have huge success, being on huge platforms, and being accepted on a mass level. I feel like we are another one of those points where the light is shining on Dallas. Once again, it is up to us to take advantage of the opportunity.”

Dallas is often mentioned after Houston when considering Texas hip-hop. But North Texas artists have dominated the genre over the years, Al-Jabbaar says. He brings up several factors that have affected the Dallas hip-hop scene, from a lack of infrastructure to the lack of a central Black entrepreneur to operate a homegrown record label.

“Dallas doesn’t have a J. Prince, Dallas doesn’t have a Tony Draper,” he says of the two figures who launched Rap-A-Lot Records and Suave House Records, respectively. “Even back in the day when CDs were being pressed, one of the biggest distribution companies in the nation was Southwest Wholesale, where the headquarters was in Houston. When you got companies like Rap-A-Lot and Swishahouse, they have some place they can drive to get their CDs pressed and sold out of. They had people focused on the business to where the artist can focus on the music.

“Houston has had people build labels and they have had a lot of success. Dallas, this is super ironic, we like a sauce factory. We create a lot of sauce and swag for the game. Other people take it and they monetize it.”

Al-Jabbaar is doing his part to increase attention for these Dallas artists so that rap fans can show their appreciation. A recent ranking of the best rap cities right now by Complex cited Atlanta as No. 1, with Houston ranked at No. 7. There was no mention of Dallas, likely because it's still perceived as a bubbling scene with no real identity. The question of how to bring more national recognition and excitement for Dallas hip-hop is one that Al-Jabbaar feels he keeps asking himself.

“I think people need more pride,” he says. “I think they need to understand that community is a very important aspect of hip-hop culture. We can look and we can learn from Atlanta. We don’t know what problems they have for the most part because they keep them behind closed doors. Everybody is doing business together and lifting each other up. We need to understand that when BigX is in position when he lifts somebody up, they can lift somebody up and so forth and so on. It makes the city stronger.”