Lil' Flip

Rarely has a rap artist entered the global game with more superstar potential than the hip-hop pride of Houston, Texas, Lil' Flip (aka "the Leprechaun," aka "the Dirty South's Undisputed Freestyle King"). Spearheaded by the hot lead single "The Way We Ball," Undaground Legend, Flip's genre-elevating debut album is a milestone achievement. Produced by Tron, "The Way We Ball" has Lil' Flip flowing with flossin' freestyle flavor, lyrically slicing into the infectious chorus and bomb beats like a skilled surgeon wielding a freshly sharpened scalpel. Indeed, cutting edge rhymes, street inspired themes and powerhouse production rule throughout this impressively diverse set.

More prime Undaground Legend examples include: "I Shoulda Listened," a provocative, positive radio ready message track; "What I Been Through," a righteously rhymed autobiographical journey into Flip's family's trials, tribulations and triumphs; "We Ain't Scared" (featuring Bizzy Bone), a slick, syncopated hip-hop/funk track, propelled by Flip and Bizzy lyrically bouncing off of each other; "R.I.P. Screw" (featuring Bizzy Bone), a fitting tribute to Houston's late legendary producer D.J. Screw; and "I Can Do Dat" (remix, featuring Juvenile), a rejuvenated return to the career-making hit that made Lil' Flip an underground legend.

"What makes this album so real, so raw, so reflective of me, my music, life and lifestyle," says the confident 21-year-old Lil' Flip, "is that everything I rap about on it is based on truth. So when I rhyme 'Dirty South' style about the cars, the parties, the platinum, the women, life's lessons, whatever, it's not bragging, it's just fact."

The fact is, if anyone has the right to brag about his self-made success, it's Lil Flip, who, with his manager and Suckafree cofounder Duane "Humpty Hump" Hobbs, went from a virtual unknown to one of the hottest rising rap stars in the business. Together they produced, promoted, distributed and sold 150,000 copies of Lil' Flip, the rapper's first (and Suckafree's second) album, which featured the hit single "I Can Do Dat."

In 2002, Columbia Records offered Flip an artist contract and Suckafree a distribution deal. "We felt that they not only respected what we'd already accomplished on our own, but they also saw the big picture of what me as an artist, and Hump and I as Suckafree's CEOs were all about," shares Lil' Flip, who subscribes to a "go for it all" work ethic; instilled upon him by the beloved grandmother who raised him. "My album is dedicated to her; in fact the song, 'I Should Have Listened,' was inspired by her," says Flip, whose grandmother was an avid churchgoer and choir director. "She made me go to church all the time, and sing in the choir. And although I got into a little trouble growing up, like most kids do, it's because of her support and encouragement that I stayed focused on my music career."

Lil' Flip, who got his name because his freestyle based rap has an eclectic, able to instantly "flip the script" quality, began rhyming at a very young age, even getting an "A" for rapping on a 6th grade English oral exam. "After that I was hooked," chuckles Flip, who acted in last year's Ace Town Mob, a straight-to-video movie which also starred popular Houston rapper Lil' Troy.

As Flip matured, his mic skills got sharper, and his reputation as one of Houston's true young talents blossomed. In his mid teens he hooked up with Houston's late legendary producer, D.J. Screw, who opened up the south's lucrative mix tape scene to him.

From a 16-year-old rap phenomenon in training to the 21 year-old Suckafree co-CEO and celebrated "Undaground Legend" he is today, Flip has truly come a long way in a relatively short amount of time. Nonetheless, Lil' Flip reflects upon his many accomplishments as just the beginning. "Not long from now, me, Hump and the entire Suckafree family are going to be major players in the music business," Lil' Flip confidently predicts. "If we could do all the things we did on our own, now that we have Columbia as a partner, there's no limit to how far we can go."

"The Way We Ball" and subsequent hits from his stellar new album will surely add to the notoriety and success that Lil' Flip has earned to date. He's truly an Undaground Legend overwhelmingly destined to keep rising to the top.

Amid the flourishing underground rap scene of Houston, Lil' Flip rose to quick and prosperous fame after his independently released 2000 album The Leprechaun broke through to a national audience, prompting the young rapper's signing to Universal Records soon after. Nicknamed the Freestyle King, Flip as a teen initially won the attention of the immortalized DJ Screw, who ushered the rapper into his loose-knit Screwed Up Click. The affiliation brought instant respect for Flip throughout Texas as well as the greater South, and his Leprechaun album capitalized on that, moving an impressive number of units for an independently released album. The album's slowly mounting yet ultimately broad reach and Flip's youthful appeal attracted Universal Records, who signed the barely 20 year old to a major-label contract in 2002 and released Undaground Legend later in the year. Driven by the lead single, "The Way We Ball," as well as a remix of "I Can Do Dat," a hit previously released on The Leprechaun, the album extended Flip's audience nationally and heralded him as one of the South's most promising young rappers of the early 2000s.

In 2002, Flip returned with Undaground Legend, a slick sophomore effort. It would go practically unnoticed. Two years later, Flip returned to the scene with the more expansive double-disc set U Gotta Feel Me. The set spawned a couple sizable hits, namely "Game Over (Flip)" and "Sunshine," and brought Flip the national fame he'd long been courting. With that fame came competition, and it wasn't long before Flip was beefing with T.I. for the right to don the crown of King of the South. Flip kept his profile public not only with such drama but also with a string of mixtapes, most notably the Freestyle Kings series, which reached its sixth volume in 2005. Flip's next album was planned to follow that year, but at the last minute Sony refused to release it and the rapper was without a label for the next three years. I Need Mine finally appeared in 2007 as a double CD and on the Asylum label. A year later his collaboration with Outlawz member Young Noble, All Eyez On Us, was released. ~ Jason Birchmeier, All Music Guide