Twenty years is a milestone by just about every standard. But 20 years for a club is like a lunar eclipse or Haley’s Comet striking. Still, that’s exactly how long The Masquerade has been around. And what better way to celebrate than to join forces with another Atlanta institution.
If you're not from Atlanta, then you may have missed the news about the Goodie Mob reunion concert. Just let this serve as your notice. In fact, Sept. 19 just might be accompanied by a city proclamation. That’s how much of an Atlanta treasure the Goodie Mob is.
Depending on your age, Cee-Lo might be the only name you recognize but, before there was a Gnarls Barkley making the world “Crazy”, there was Goodie Mob. Along with Big Gipp, T-Mo and Khujo, Cee-Lo, the youngest of the crew, rounded out Goodie Mob. Their 1995 debut album helped change Atlanta. OutKast opened the platinum doors but Goodie Mob came along and proved it was no fluke—instead, it was indeed a movement. "Soul Food" was about more than culinary delights for just the body. It also was another breakthrough for the Dungeon Family.
Wikipedia describes the Dungeon Family as “a hip-hop/R&B/soul musical collective” but “family” is no misnomer. Naming all of the members is just impossible. It’s like the family reunion that never ends. But it all got started at the Dungeon, which was actually the basement studio at producer Rico Wade’s house. During the process of making music, Wade, his producing partners Ray Murray and Patrick “Sleepy” Brown, opened up their doors and, along the way, OutKast and Goodie Mob fell through and lit the torch that spread Atlanta’s hip-hop fire throughout the world.
While the Goodie Mob guys may have had their disagreements, demonstrated by the fact that all four of them haven’t recorded an album together since "World Party" dropped in 1999, they are brothers from another mother and it was only a matter of time that they found their way back home in an official capacity. Although official word of a breakup, which they don’t really use now to describe their time apart, came in 2002, the group reunited for an appearance at a Gnarls Barkley Atlanta concert in 2006. Last year, at the free Nelly show at The Tabernacle, fans got an unexpected surprise when Goodie Mob hit the stage. On Sept. 19, there’s more than a taste in store. It’s a full-out Goodie Mob concert.
So, in keeping with the “Remember Atlanta” theme, we dug up five Goodie Mob associations.
Benjamin E. Mays High School
Named for the former president of Morehouse College who mentored Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. (someone you just might have heard of), Mays High School stirred unpredicted greatness when it brought then students Gipp, T-Mo, Khujo and Cee-Lo together.
Bankhead Seafood, The Beautiful and JJ’s Rib Shack
In “Soul Food”, the Top 10 Billboard rap hit from the gold-selling debut album of the same name, Gipp names these three spots in his verse.
Bosstown Studios
It’s the site of Stankonia now, but when Goodie Mob recorded parts of "Soul Food" here, most notably “Cell Therapy” with the unforgettable hook “who’s that peeking in my window?/pow nobody now,” Bobby Brown owned it.
Dirty South
Goodie Mob is credited with coining the term “dirty south” with their song “Dirty South” off their debut album, "Soul Food." Big Boi from OutKast was also featured on the cut.
Esthero
Before Nelly Furtado, Black Eyed Peas, Blue Man Group or Sugar Ray collaborated with Canadian treasure Esthero, Goodie Mob was first. On the "Slam" soundtrack for the 1998 film that put spoken word on the map before Def Poetry, Goodie Mob linked up with Esthero for “Country Livin.” "Slam" also had another notable Atlanta connection: its star Saul Williams attended Morehouse.
