Music of South Florida - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Music of South Florida is music from the South Florida metropolitan area, which comprises cities such as Miami, West Palm Beach, Pompano Beach and Fort Lauderdale.

The South Florida area has been a hub for diverse musical genres. For example, South Florida has been a hub for Southern Rap

Southern rap

Southern hip hop, also called Southern rap, is a genre of American music influenced by hip hop that emerged from a late-1980s club-oriented vibe in southern U.S...

. Miami, in particular, is a "hub" for Latin Music in the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

. Miami bass

Miami bass

Miami bass , is a type of hip hop music, that became popular in the 1980s and 1990s. Its roots are directly linked to the Electro-funk sound of the early 1980s, pioneered by Afrika Bambataa & The Soulsonic Force and later on by UK-based musician Paul Hardcastle...

(also known as booty music), a prominent hip-hop genre in the late 1980s and early 1990s, got its start in Miami; Luther 'Luke Skyywalker' Campbell

Luther Campbell

Luther R. Campbell , also known as Luke Skyywalker, Uncle Luke or Luke, is a record label owner, rap performer , and actor...

and his 2 Live Crew

2 Live Crew

2 Live Crew was a hip hop group from Miami, Florida. They caused considerable controversy with the sexual themes in their work, particularly on their 1989 album As Nasty As They Wanna Be.- Early career :...

were among the more prominent Miami Bass acts, largely because of an obscenity

Obscenity

An obscenity is any statement or act which strongly offends the prevalent morality of the time, is a profanity, or is otherwise taboo, indecent, abhorrent, or disgusting, or is especially inauspicious...

scandal fomented by Broward County, Florida

Broward County, Florida

-2000 Census:As of the census of 2000, there were 1,623,018 people, 654,445 households, and 411,645 families residing in the county. The population density was 1,346 people per square mile . There were 741,043 housing units at an average density of 615 per square mile...

Sheriff Nick Navarro

Nick Navarro

Nicholas G. "Nick" Navarro was a Cuban-American businessman. He served as sheriff of Broward County, Florida, from 1985-92.Navarro was born in Jaruco, Cuba, in 1929. He won election for sheriff in 1984...

.http://www.cd.sc.ehu.es/FileRoom/documents/Cases/386livecrew.html Moreover, although not a South Florida native, Jimmy Buffett

Jimmy Buffett

James William "Jimmy" Buffett is a singer-songwriter, author, entrepreneur, and film producer. He is best known for his music, which often portrays an "island escapism" lifestyle. Together with his Coral Reefer Band, Buffett's musical hits include "Margaritaville" , and "Come Monday"...

rose to prominence after moving to Key West, Florida

Key West, Florida

Key West is a city in Monroe County, Florida, United States. The city encompasses the island of Key West, the part of Stock Island north of U.S. 1 , Sigsbee Park , Fleming Key , and Sunset Key...

and has long been associated with the "South Florida lifestyle". Other notable South Florida-based musical performers include Gloria Estefan

Gloria Estefan

Gloria María Milagrosa Fajardo García de Estefan; known professionally as Gloria Estefan is a Cuban-born American singer, songwriter, and actress. Known as the "Queen Of Latin Pop", she is in the top 100 best selling music artists with over 100 million albums sold worldwide, 31.5 million of those...

, Marilyn Manson

Marilyn Manson

Marilyn Manson may refer to:* Marilyn Manson , an American rock musician* Marilyn Manson , the American rock band led by the singer of the same name...

, Vanilla Ice

Vanilla Ice

Robert Matthew Van Winkle , best known by his stage name Vanilla Ice, is an American rapper, extreme athlete and home improvement television personality...

, Pitbull

Pitbull (rapper)

Armando Christian Pérez , better known by his stage name Pitbull, is an American rapper, singer-songwriter and record producer. His first recorded performance was from the Lil Jon album Kings of Crunk in 2002, after which he released his debut album in 2004 titled M.I.A.M.I. under TVT Records...

and Ft. Lauderdale rapper, Mike West.

Recording industry

The South Florida recording industry started in Miami in the 1950s with Criteria Studios

Criteria Studios

Criteria Studios is a music-recording studio in Miami, Florida, started in 1958 by Mack Emerman.In 1999, The Hit Factory purchased Criteria Studios, revamping and reopening the studios under the new name The Hit Factory Criteria Miami.-Notable artists:...

,http://criteriastudios.com/ recording top selling albums such as Rumours by Fleetwood Mac

Fleetwood Mac

Fleetwood Mac are a British–American rock band formed in 1967 in London.The only original member present in the band is its eponymous drummer, Mick Fleetwood...

and Hotel California
Hotel California
Hotel California is the fifth studio album released by the American rock band the Eagles, in late 1976. It is the first Eagles album without founding member Bernie Leadon and the first album with Joe Walsh. It is also the last album featuring original bass player and singer Randy Meisner...

by The Eagles. Local music entrepreneur Henry Stone

Henry Stone

Henry Stone is an American record company executive and producer whose career spans the era from R&B in the early 1950s through the disco boom of the 1970s to the present day. He is best known as co-owner and president of TK Records....

and his label, TK Records

TK Records

TK Records was an American record label started by record distributor, Henry Stone in Miami, Florida, one of several labels that he founded in the 1960s and 1970s...

, created the local indie scene in the 1970s. T. K. Records produced the R&B group KC and the Sunshine Band

KC and the Sunshine Band

KC and the Sunshine Band is an American musical group. Founded in 1973 in Miami, Florida, their style has included funk, R&B, and disco. Their most well known songs include the disco hits "That's the Way ", " Shake Your Booty", "I'm Your Boogie Man", "Keep It Comin' Love", "Get Down Tonight", "Give...

along with soul singers Betty Wright

Betty Wright

Bessie Regina Norris, better known by her stage name, Betty Wright , is a Grammy winning Miami-based soul and R&B singer-songwriter, who won fame in the 1970s with hits such as "Clean Up Woman" and "Tonight Is the Night"...

, George McCrae

George McCrae

George McCrae is an American soul and disco singer, most famous for his 1974 hit "Rock Your Baby".-Early life and career:...

and Jimmy "Bo" Horne as well as a number of minor soul and disco hits, many influenced by Caribbean music

Caribbean music

The music of the Caribbean is a diverse grouping of musical genres. They are each syntheses of African, European, Indian and native influences, largely created by descendants of African slaves...

1970s

In the heyday of Disco

Disco

Disco is a genre of dance music. Disco acts charted high during the mid-1970s, and the genre's popularity peaked during the late 1970s. It had its roots in clubs that catered to African American, gay, psychedelic, and other communities in New York City and Philadelphia during the late 1960s and...

, South Florida produced such groups as KC and the Sunshine Band

KC and the Sunshine Band

. http://www.discomuseum.com/KCAndTheSunshineBand.html, they were on the very same South Florida label that released the first disco song to become a #1 hit on the pop music

Pop music

Pop music is usually understood to be commercially recorded music, often oriented toward a youth market, usually consisting of relatively short, simple songs utilizing technological innovations to produce new variations on existing themes.- Definitions :David Hatch and Stephen Millward define pop...

charts, "Rock Your Baby" by George McCrae

George McCrae

George McCrae is an American soul and disco singer, most famous for his 1974 hit "Rock Your Baby".-Early life and career:...

in 1974. Other artists from that local label include Foxy

Foxy (band)

Foxy is a Latin Dance/disco group formed in 1976 in Miami, Florida.The group consisted of vocalist-guitarist Ish "Angel" Ledesma , percussionist Richard "Richie" Puente, keyboardist Charlie Murciano, bass guitarist Arnold Paseiro and drummer Joe Galdo...

, Peter Brown

Peter Brown (singer)

Peter Brown is an artist, songwriter and record producer. He grew up in Palos Heights, another Chicago suburb. His mother, Virginia, was artistic and musically talented and gave Peter music lessons at a very young age. Peter’s father, Maurice, was an electronic engineer and unwittingly helped him...

, Jimmy "Bo" Horne, Gwen McCrae

Gwen McCrae

Gwen McCrae is an American R&B singer, best known for her March, 1975 hit "Rockin' Chair".-Career:...

, T-Connection

T-Connection

T-Connection was a funk and disco group from Nassau, the Bahamas, who scored two hits on the Billboard Hot 100 between 1977 and 1979. They did better on the US Hot Dance Music/Club Play chart, where they had five Top 10 hits, including "Do What You Wanna Do", which reached #1, and "Everything Is...

and Anita Ward

Anita Ward

Anita Ward is an American singer and musician. She is best known for her 1979 million selling chart-topper, "Ring My Bell".-Career:Before signing a recording contract, Ward obtained a degree in psychology from Rust College in Holly Springs, Mississippi, and had become a schoolteacher...

Cuban and Latino influences

The influence of Cuban culture and music history on the music of South Florida is undeniable. The 1997 hit album Buena Vista Social Club
Buena Vista Social Club (album)
- Music :"Chan Chan", the first song on the album, is a Cuban song composition by Compay Segundo, revolving around two central characters, Juanita and Chan Chan. The song was one of Segundo's last compositions and was written in 1987, already having been recorded by Segundo himself various...

was performed by a group featuring former stars of the Havana nightclub scene, it won a Grammy, became a hit, and was listed in 2003 by Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone is a US-based magazine devoted to music, liberal politics, and popular culture that is published every two weeks. Rolling Stone was founded in San Francisco in 1967 by Jann Wenner and music critic Ralph J...

magazine as #260 in The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time

The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time

"The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time" is the title of a 2003 special issue of American magazine Rolling Stone, and a related book published in 2005.Related news articles:...

. http://www.sastom.demon.nl/cubaninvasion.htm

MTV Latin America

MTV Latin America

MTV Latin America is a cable television specialty service aimed at residents in Hispanic American countries. It was launched on October 1, 1993 as MTV en Español. The channel is a Hispanic American version from MTV...

is based in Miami, serving residents in Mexico

Mexico

The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...

, Argentina

Argentina

Argentina , officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires...

, Venezuela

Venezuela

Venezuela , officially called the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela , is a tropical country on the northern coast of South America. It borders Colombia to the west, Guyana to the east, and Brazil to the south...

, and other Latin American countries since 1993.

Miami bass

Miami Bass is a popular style of music from the Miami area of South Florida and is embodied by the musical style of local rap stars such as Trick Daddy

Trick Daddy

Maurice Young , better known by his stage name Trick Daddy, is a certified platinum American rapper and producer from Miami, Florida.-Music career:...

. Miami Bass is a part of the robust music scene in the South Florida metropolitan area, which comprises cities such as Miami, West Palm Beach, and Fort Lauderdale. These cities have many locally famous rappers; and dj's who are on their way up in the rap

Hip hop music

Hip hop music, also called hip-hop, rap music or hip-hop music, is a musical genre consisting of a stylized rhythmic music that commonly accompanies rapping, a rhythmic and rhyming speech that is chanted...

game.

Miami bass is a booming, bass-heavy style of hip hop

Hip hop music

that developed in the mid-1980s in Miami. The distinctive sound evolved from electro hop

Electro (music)

Electro is a genre of electronic dance music directly influenced by the use of TR-808 drum machines, Moog keytar synthesizers and funk sampling...

, including sounds from Luther Campbell

Luther Campbell

Luther R. Campbell , also known as Luke Skyywalker, Uncle Luke or Luke, is a record label owner, rap performer , and actor...

and his group, 2 Live Crew

2 Live Crew

. The Miami Bass scene that 2 Live Crew typified is simply one form of southern rap and Miami Bass' club-oriented sound garnered little respect from hip hop fans. But the 2 Live crew is not the only music artist in Miami. This city also holds Trick Daddy

Trick Daddy

Maurice Young , better known by his stage name Trick Daddy, is a certified platinum American rapper and producer from Miami, Florida.-Music career:...

, DJ Uncle Al

DJ Uncle Al

"DJ Uncle Al" , born Albert Moss in Miami, Florida, was an American DJ.Moss was known for his trend setting and innovative abilities in music producing and broadcasting as well as his philosophy of "peace in the hood" and non-violence in the community...

, Rick Ross

Rick Ross (rapper)

William Leonard Roberts II , better known by his stage name Rick Ross, is an American rapper. He derived his stage name from the drug trafficker "Freeway" Ricky Ross, to whom he has no connection...

, Trina

Trina

Katrina Laverne Taylor , better known by her stage name Trina, is an American rapper, songwriter and model from Miami, Florida. Trina first gained notoriety in 1998 with her appearance on Trick Daddy's second studio album www.thug.com to the single "Nann Nigga"...

, Jacki-O

Jacki-O

Angela Kohn , better known as Jacki-O, is a Haitian American rapper from Miami, Florida, who is currently signed to her own label Jack Movement Entertainment. She got her first break in 2003 with the bawdy sex rap "Nookie" which garnered the MC comparisons to fellow Southern rappers Mia X and Trina...

, Pitbull

Pitbull (rapper)

, Cool & Dre

Cool & Dre

Cool & Dre are a team of hip hop producers from Miami, Florida, consisting of Marcello "Cool" Valenzano and Andre "Dre" Christopher Lyon.-Epidemic Records:...

, DJ Khaled

DJ Khaled

Khaled bin Abdul Khaled , better known by his stage name DJ Khaled, is an American record producer, radio personality, DJ, and record label executive. He is a radio host for the Miami-based urban music radio station WEDR and the DJ for the hip hop group Terror Squad. In 2006, Khaled released his...

, Smitty

Smitty

Varick D. Bennet, better known as Smitty, is a American rapper and hip-hop ghostwriter from Little Haiti, a neighborhood in Miami, Florida.-Biography:...

, Pretty Ricky

Pretty Ricky

Pretty Ricky is an American R&B/hip hop group originally made up of Diamond "Baby Blue" Smith, Spectacular Smith, Corey "Slick 'em" Mathis, and Marcus "Pleasure P" Cooper. In 2007, Pleasure P left the group to pursue a solo career...

, BlackMask

BlackMask

Anthony Lamar Coleman , better know by his stage name BlackMask, is an American rapper, entrepreneur, and producer. Founder and CEO of Platinum City Entertainment, an imprint distributed by Allegro Media / Sony IODA.-Early life:...

and many more. Miami rapper Trick Daddy also grew up in the Liberty Square of the Liberty City section of Miami, one of the city's and America's roughest areas. The city of Miami is also home to the label Slip "N" Slide Records.

Miami bass innovators include Maggotron

Maggotron

Maggotron is one of the pioneers of Bass music. He uses samples from many sources, and is influenced by Parliament, Funkadelic and Earth Wind and Fire among others. In 2000, he worked together with his former engineer Bass Mekanik on the album Bass Alien - Tales from the Lo-Zone...

and Luther Campbell

Luther Campbell

Luther R. Campbell , also known as Luke Skyywalker, Uncle Luke or Luke, is a record label owner, rap performer , and actor...

's 2 Live Crew

2 Live Crew

. The lyrics to Miami bass are sexually explicit, so when 2 Live Crew achieved national attention, these explicit lyrics caused a controversy. Several music stores were prosecuted under obscenity

Obscenity

laws for selling the disc, and the members of 2 Live Crew were arrested for performing songs from the album Nasty As They Wanna Be The charges were subsequently dropped.

Southern rap

Southern rap is a category of hip hop music

Hip hop music

that arose from the influences of hip hop culture in New York City

New York City

New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...

and California

California

California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...

in the late 1990s in cities such as Miami, New Orleans

New Orleans, Louisiana

New Orleans is a major United States port and the largest city and metropolitan area in the state of Louisiana. The New Orleans metropolitan area has a population of 1,235,650 as of 2009, the 46th largest in the USA. The New Orleans – Metairie – Bogalusa combined statistical area has a population...

, Atlanta

Atlanta, Georgia

Atlanta is the capital and most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia. According to the 2010 census, Atlanta's population is 420,003. Atlanta is the cultural and economic center of the Atlanta metropolitan area, which is home to 5,268,860 people and is the ninth largest metropolitan area in...

, Memphis

Memphis, Tennessee

Memphis is a city in the southwestern corner of the U.S. state of Tennessee, and the county seat of Shelby County. The city is located on the 4th Chickasaw Bluff, south of the confluence of the Wolf and Mississippi rivers....

, Houston

Houston, Texas

Houston is the fourth-largest city in the United States, and the largest city in the state of Texas. According to the 2010 U.S. Census, the city had a population of 2.1 million people within an area of . Houston is the seat of Harris County and the economic center of , which is the ...

, and Dallas

Dallas, Texas

Dallas is the third-largest city in Texas and the ninth-largest in the United States. The Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex is the largest metropolitan area in the South and fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States...

. Miami and Southern Florida are a major hub and driving force for Southern rap. Floridian artists such as Plies, Epitaph, Trick Daddy, Urban Horror Clique, DEMONIC, Pitbull, Flo Rida, Randum Shotz, JT Money, Rick Ross, Trina, Jacki-O, Gold Rush, etc.....

Miami Rock & Singer Songwriters

The Miami Rock scene had a particularly successful period in the late 1980s-mid-1990s, sparked by the many rock and acoustic venues within South Beach and Fort Lauderdale, including Washington Square, Roses, the Stephen Talkhouse, Cactus Cantina, South Beach Pub, Blue Steel, the Chili Pepper(Now Revolution), The Culture Room, Squeeze, Edge, Nocturnal Cafe, and Tavern 213. Popular local artists included The Mavericks

The Mavericks

The Mavericks is a country music band founded in 1989 in Miami, Florida, United States. Between 1991 and 2003 they recorded six studio albums, in addition to charting 14 singles on the Billboard country charts...

, Nuclear Valdez

Nuclear Valdez

Nuclear Valdez is an American rock band from Miami. The band members all are of Latin descent and were born outside of the United States.-Background information:*Band did MTV promo spot with video director Paula Grief....

, I Don't Know, Marilyn Manson

Marilyn Manson

Marilyn Manson may refer to:* Marilyn Manson , an American rock musician* Marilyn Manson , the American rock band led by the singer of the same name...

, The Goods, The Holy Terrors, Forget the Name, Natural Causes, Peter Betan, Nil Lara

Nil lara

Nil Lara is a Cuban-American musician from Miami, Florida who is a singer, guitarist and songwriter, playing the tres, the six-stringed Cuban guitar, and the cuatro, a Venezuelan guitar.- Biography :...

, Diane Ward, Broken Toys, Ed Hale

Ed Hale

Ed Hale is a writer, singer-songwriter, musician, populist blogger, activist, and controversial YouTube star. He was formerly known as Eddie Darling, and is currently the lead singer of the popular American Britpop and modern rock musical group Transcendence. He also performs, records and releases...

, Matthew Sabatella, Zac, Paul Roub, Dennis Britt, Harry Pussy

Harry Pussy

Harry Pussy was a noise rock band from Miami, active from 1992 to 1997. The main members were Bill Orcutt on guitar and vocals and Adris Hoyos on drums and vocals. Other members included briefly Ian Steinberg on accordion, and later either Mark Feehan or Dan Hosker on second guitar...

, Magda Hiller, Quit, Sixo, Brian Franklin, Curious Hair, Robbie Gennett, Rudy, the Baboons, Tommy Anthony & Goza, Four O'Clock Balloon, Machete, and Amanda Green.

A local producer and noise-artist from the Miami Rock Scene, Rat Bastard, has recently been celebrated in a rock opera, entitled "Hearing Damage (aka the Rat Opera)"

Recording industry

1970s

Cuban and Latino influences

Miami bass

Southern rap

Miami Rock & Singer Songwriters

See also