Goodie Mob were fighting for hurtin' and uncertain spirits and minds to break the cycle of killin' tool click with cell therapy from the dirty south. The group was formed in Atlanta, Georgia by Big Gipp (Cameron Gipp), Khujo Goodie (Willie Edward Knighton, Jr.), T-Mo (Robert Barnett), and CeeLo Green (Thomas DeCarlo Callaway) as part of the local Dungeon Family musical collective. Their name stands for "good die mostly over bullshit". They first appeared on two tracks (“Call of Da Wild” and “Git Up, Git Out”) on the Outkast debut album Southernplayalisticaddilacmusik released for LaFace Records in 1994. Goodie Mob recorded their debut album 'Soul Food' for LaFace with hip hop production team Organized Noize (Rico Wade, Ray Murray, and Sleepy Brown).
Gipp: "We recorded that album at the great Curtis Mayfield’s house. I think that made us have to work harder. We had to do something great. Because at anytime he could come home and be like, 'Why yall recording this bullsh@$ in my house?' So we always made sure we were doing some great music so just in case he came home and heard it. He would be like I respect that.”
Khujo: "On Soul Food we were humble... We come from Georgia, and there’s a lot of great style here, from James Brown and Ray Charles to Curtis Mayfield. The first seven songs we did for Soul Food were recorded in Curtis Mayfield’s studio, so it was like we was getting that vibe and the guys were playing over [classic soul] samples and making a new sound. Once cats from up North and the West Coast heard that we were original and weren’t trying to be like nobody, they gave us a chance. I remember at the Source Awards in New York when Outkast got their five mics, everybody booed them. But if we hadn’t gotten that boo I don’t think we would’ve been as great as we were. It’s original music and original lyrics, and everybody in the Dungeon Family has their own personality, kinda like the Southern Wu-Tang...The Dirty South slogan really meant to me that it was hard in the South to break that ceiling and get a major situation in the music industry. Now people are just playing dirty, ya know what I’m saying? It’s a dirty game, and people think they can just come to the south [to make it]. These country boys just don’t know that we play dirty down here, and that goes for the Confederate flag and the black flag."
T-Mo: “Awareness was higher [back then] than it is right now. We were nothing but a spinoff of Public Enemy and NWA mixed all in one; we followed them. There’s groups that followed us, too. We raised these groups that are out right now.”
Cee-Lo: "Right from the start, Goodie Mob wasn’t trying to get a hit record. Fools and geniuses that we were, we dreamed of changing the world. We wanted to be like Public Enemy for the Dirty South. We wanted respect as much as we wanted hits, and as with Public Enemy, we felt as if it would take a nation of millions to hold us back. And even against a nation of millions, we liked our odds. There had been Southern rap before us, but a lot if wasn’t very good or very deep. We wanted to bring Southern rap newfound respect with albums that were intelligent and progressive...I hated the assumption [that the Dirty South was inferior]. I hated the stereotype. I’ve said this on many occasions that I felt like we were more activists than artists because I still felt like at that time we were fighting for the civil rights of southern hip-hop to be counted."
'Soul Food' charted at number sixty-seven in Canada, forty-five on the US pop album chart, and numbe eight on the US R&B album chart. It sold over half a million copies and helped to legitimize Southern hip hop.
http://goodiemobmusic.com/
"Soul Food"
"Cell Therapy"
"Dirty South"
'Soul Food'
full album:
All tracks were produced by Organized Noize except "Fighting", which was produced by Mixzo and Organized Noize. Mr. DJ co-produced "Goodie Bag", although he was uncredited.
1. "Free" Thomas Burton, Organized Noize 1:23
2. "Thought Process" (featuring André 3000 of OutKast) Robert Barnett, André Benjamin, Thomas Burton, Cameron Gipp, Willie Knightion, Organized Noize 5:09
3. "Red Dog (Skit)" 0:23
4. "Dirty South" (featuring Big Boi of OutKast & Cool Breeze) King George, Antwan Patton, Organized Noize 3:34
5. "Cell Therapy" Robert Barnett, Thomas Burton, Cameron Gipp, Willie Knighton, Organized Noize 4:37
6. "Sesame Street" Robert Barnett, Thomas Burton, Cameron Gipp, Willie Knighton, Organized Noize 4:36
7. "Guess Who" Robert Barnett, Thomas Burton, Cameron Gipp, Willie Knighton, Organized Noize 4:49
8. "Serenity Prayer (Skit)" 0:09
9. "Fighting" (featuring Joi) Robert Barnett, Thomas Burton, Cameron Gipp, Michael Johnson, Willie Knighton 5:45
10. "Blood (Skit)" 0:53
11. "Live at the O.M.N.I." Robert Barnett, Thomas Burton, Cameron Gipp, Willie Knighton, Organized Noize 4:58
12. "Goodie Bag" Robert Barnett, Thomas Burton, Cameron Gipp, Willie Knighton, Organized Noize 4:25
13. "Soul Food" (featuring Sleepy Brown) Robert Barnett, Brandon Bennett, Marc Benno, Bill Boatman, Thomas Burton, Cameron Gipp, Willie Knighton, Pigmeat Markham, Leon Russell, Organized Noize 3:56
14. "Funeral (Skit)" 0:54
15. "I Didn't Ask to Come" Robert Barnett, Thomas Burton, Cameron Gipp, Willie Knighton, Organized Noize 4:08
16. "Rico (Skit)" 0:07
17. "The Coming" (featuring Witchdoctor) Robert Barnett, Thomas Burton, Cameron Gipp, Eric Johnson, Willie Knighton, Organized Noize 5:47
18. "Cee-Lo (Skit)" 0:28
19. "The Day After" (featuring Roni) Robert Barnett, Thomas Burton, Cameron Gipp, Willie Knighton, Organized Noize 5:00
