Organized Noize is an American production duo from

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Georgia (U.S. state), most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. It is the county seat, seat of Fulton County, Georg ...

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the South Caucasus * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the southeastern United States Georgia may also refer to: People and fictional characters * Georgia (name), a list of pe ...

, currently composed of Ray Murray, Rick Wade and

Sleepy Brown Patrick Leroy "Sleepy" Brown (born January 24, 1970) is an American singer-songwriter and record producer. He is one-third of the Atlanta-based production team of Organized Noize, which has created hits for acts such as Outkast, Goodie Mob an ...

History

Among the hit records they have worked on include

TLC TLC may refer to: Arts and entertainment Television * ''TLC'' (TV series), a 2002 British situational comedy television series that aired on BBC2 * TLC (TV network), formerly the Learning Channel, an American cable TV network ** TLC (Asia), an A ...

's "

Waterfalls A waterfall is any point in a river or stream where water flows over a vertical drop or a series of steep drops. Waterfalls also occur where meltwater drops over the edge of a tabular iceberg or ice shelf. Waterfalls can be formed in several ...

En Vogue En Vogue is an American vocal girl group whose original lineup consisted of singers Terry Ellis, Dawn Robinson, Cindy Herron, and Maxine Jones. Formed in Oakland, California, in 1989, En Vogue reached No. 2 on the US Hot 100 with the singl ...

's " Don't Let Go (Love)", and

Ludacris Christopher Brian Bridges (born September 11, 1977), known professionally as Ludacris (, spoken as "ludicrous" in American English), is an American rapper and songwriter. Born in Champaign, Illinois, Ludacris moved to Atlanta, Georgia, at age ...

' " Saturday (Oooh! Ooooh!)". They are most notable for producing a large amount of material for

Outkast Outkast (sometimes written as OutKast) was an American hip-hop duo formed in Atlanta, Georgia, in 1992, consisting of Big Boi (Antwan Patton) and André 3000 (André Benjamin, formerly known as Dré). Widely regarded as one of the greatest an ...

(including all of ''

Southernplayalisticadillacmuzik ''Southernplayalisticadillacmuzik'' is the debut studio album by the American Hip hop music, hip hop duo Outkast, released on April 26, 1994, by Arista Records and LaFace Records. Having befriended each other two years prior, rappers André 300 ...

'' and "So Fresh, So Clean" from ''

Stankonia ''Stankonia'' is the fourth studio album by the American hip hop duo Outkast, released on October 31, 2000, by LaFace Records and Arista Records. The album was recorded in the duo's recently purchased Atlanta recording facility Stankonia Studios, ...

'') and

Goodie Mob Goodie Mob was an American hip hop group based in Atlanta, Georgia, consisting of CeeLo Green, Khujo, T-Mo, and Big Gipp. History The group was formed in 1991 by Cameron "Big Gipp" Gipp, Willie " Khujo" Knighton Jr., CeeLo Green (born Th ...

(including all of ''

Soul Food Soul food is the ethnic cuisine of African Americans. Originating in the Southern United States, American South from the cuisines of Slavery in the United States, enslaved Africans transported from Africa through the Atlantic slave trade, sou ...

'' and "They Don't Dance No Mo" from '' Still Standing''). Both groups are part of Organized Noize's

Dungeon Family The Dungeon Family were a musical collective based in Atlanta that specialized in Southern hip hop with heavy funk and soul music, soul influences. Members of this collective recorded music, and had their career emerge, from Rico Wade's basement ...

collective, which also includes Slimm Cutta Calhoun and Joi, among others. The "Dungeon" would be the name given to recording studio which was located in the basement of Organized Noize member Rico Wade's mother's house. The "Dungeon" studio, which attracted numerous aspiring musicians and artists, even made Wade a key architect of

Atlanta hip hop Although the Music of Atlanta, music scene of Atlanta is rich and varied, the city's production of hip-hop music has been especially noteworthy, acclaimed, and commercially successful. In 2009, ''The New York Times'' called Atlanta "hip-hop's ce ...

. In an interview with ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...

'',

Big Boi Antwan André Patton (born February 1, 1975), known professionally as Big Boi, is an American rapper and record producer. Born in Savannah, Georgia, and raised in Atlanta, he was one half of the Southern hip-hop duo Outkast along with rapper ...

of Outkast explained that Organized Noize helped them early on in the music business, saying, "They were our big brothers, and they did a production deal with

LaFace Records LaFace Records was an American record label based in Atlanta, Georgia, that operated as a unit of Sony Music Entertainment from 2008 to 2011 and was historically a part of Bertelsmann Music Group from 1989 to 2004. It was most active and achiev ...

. They were the ones that gave us our first shot and we been doing music with them since the beginning." They also contributed on the soundtrack of the 1996 critically acclaimed heist film '' Set It Off''. In 2006, they contributed additional music to the film ''

Miami Vice ''Miami Vice'' is an American crime drama television series created by Anthony Yerkovich and produced by Michael Mann for NBC. The series stars Don Johnson as James "Sonny" Crockett and Philip Michael Thomas as Ricardo Tubbs, Ricardo "Rico" Tub ...

''. In 2010 they produced several songs on the critically acclaimed

Island An island or isle is a piece of land, distinct from a continent, completely surrounded by water. There are continental islands, which were formed by being split from a continent by plate tectonics, and oceanic islands, which have never been ...

Def Jam Def Jam Recordings (also simply known as Def Jam) is an American multinational record label owned by Universal Music Group. It is based in Manhattan, New York City, specializing predominantly in hip hop, contemporary R&B, soul and pop. The ...

solo debut from

titled '' Sir Lucious Left Foot: The Son of Chico Dusty''. In 2011, they produced the album ''Nappy Dot Org'' for Nappy Roots. The documentary feature ''The Art of Organized Noize'' premiered on

Netflix Netflix is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service. The service primarily distributes original and acquired films and television shows from various genres, and it is available internationally in multiple lang ...

on March 22, 2016. The documentary, directed by

Quincy Jones III Quincy Delight Jones III (born 23 December 1968), better known as QDIII, QD3 and Snoopy, is a Swedish-American music producer, composer and documentary film producer. Family Jones was born in Wimbledon, London, the only son of American musicia ...

, details the formation of the group, who met through

Tionne Watkins Tionne Tenese Watkins (born April 26, 1970), also known by her stage name T-Boz, is an American singer. Watkins rose to fame in the early 1990s as a member of the girl-group TLC. She has won four Grammy Awards for her work with TLC. Early life ...

of TLC, and the early days of their Dungeon Family collective. On May 5, 2017, Organized Noize released an eponymous, seven-song EP, which had been in production for over 20 years. Ahead of the official EP release, the track "Kush" was released on April 20, 2017. The project was generally well-received, with

Cult MTL ''Cult MTL'' is an English language arts, culture and news website and monthly print publication, based in Montreal, Quebec Quebec is Canada's List of Canadian provinces and territories by area, largest province by area. Located in Cent ...

writer Mr. Wavvy calling it "an enjoyable listen for any fans of the original Dungeon Family/Dirty South movement." Rico Wade was the older cousin of Grammy winning rapper

Future The future is the time after the past and present. Its arrival is considered inevitable due to the existence of time and the laws of physics. Due to the apparent nature of reality and the unavoidability of the future, everything that currently ex ...

. He died on April 13, 2024, at the age of 52 of heart failure. Wade was considered to be the "

cornerstone A cornerstone (or foundation stone or setting stone) is the first stone set in the construction of a masonry Foundation (engineering), foundation. All other stones will be set in reference to this stone, thus determining the position of the entir ...

" of not only Organized Noize, but also its collaborative group Dungeon Family.

Impact

Organized Noize are credited with jumpstarting the rise of

Southern hip-hop Southern hip-hop, also known as Southern rap, South Coast hip-hop, or dirty south, is a blanket term for a regional genre of American hip-hop music that emerged in the Southern United States, especially in Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia, Texas, ...

in the early-to-mid 1990s. The group has been described as being, "the...production team behind some of the greatest songs ever," and "one of the most respected production teams in rap history," by ''

NPR National Public Radio (NPR) is an American public broadcasting organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with its NPR West headquarters in Culver City, California. It serves as a national Radio syndication, syndicator to a network of more ...

'' and ''

Spin Spin or spinning most often refers to: * Spin (physics) or particle spin, a fundamental property of elementary particles * Spin quantum number, a number which defines the value of a particle's spin * Spinning (textiles), the creation of yarn or thr ...

'' respectively. ''Billboard'' has stated that Organized Noize "pioneered the Dirty South sound."

Production discography

Studio albums

References

External links

Official website
* * * {{Authority control Southern hip-hop groups American hip-hop record producers Dungeon Family members Record production teams 1992 establishments in Georgia (U.S. state)