UGK - Too Hard To Swallow

Back in 1992, Southern hip-hop was still proving to the world that it could sustain a fanbase that was chiefly raised on rap from New York and LA. The Geto Boys and 2 Live Crew had made strong cases by the earliest 90s, and Pimp C and Bun B were ready to make their own.

Most of the trunk-rattling bass comes from drum programs and basic sampling on these tunes – in later years they would build their sound into something even fuller and deeper. Self-produced with additional work from Houston locals Bernie Bismark and Shetoro Henderson, the tracks here are minimal, slow and menacing, which matched their lyrical approach quite nicely.

You can hear the beginnings of the group’s true greatness in these early lyrical workouts – several taken from the regional cassette-only EP The Southern Way that got them signed to Jive – with tales of street hustles, relationships and self-reliance in a world stacked against them. They may have been done early on, but that doesn’t mean they aren’t crucial to UGKs legacy – cases in point being the three singles: Something Good; a charismatic update to Bill Withers Use Me Up; and Pocket Full Of Stones (the latter featured on the Menace II Society soundtrack). Beyond the singles, deeper cuts like I’m So Bad, Feels Like I’m The One Whos Doin Dope and Cramping My Style made it clear to the world that this crew had the attitude and charisma to make even bigger waves in the years to come.