Archie Eversole

A product of rap's Dirty South school, Atlanta, GA, resident Archie Eversole is a hardcore rapper who thrives on thug-life imagery and specializes in lyrics that are violent and/or sexually explicit. Eversole's style of rapping is distinctly Southern, but not all of his influences are from the Deep South; Eversole's rhymes also owe a creative debt (either direct or indirect) to the late Tupac Shakur and West Coast gangsta rappers like Dr. Dre, N.W.A., and Above the Law.

Anyone who still thinks of rap as the new kid on the block should consider the following: although Eversole was almost an adult when he recorded his debut album, Ride Wit Me Dirty South Style, in the early 2000s, he is young enough to be LL Cool J's son. The members (or ex-members) of the Fat Boys, Run-D.M.C., U.T.F.O., and Whodini are old enough to be the father of Eversole, who was born on a military base in Germany on July 26, 1984. But Eversole's parents weren't professional rappers. Both of them were in the United States military — his father was in the navy, while his mother was in the army — and both of them were stationed in Germany (which explains why Eversole was born in that country even though he isn't of German descent). But, when Eversole's parents returned to the U.S., he ended up being raised in the College Park section of Atlanta. Sadly, Eversole has been quoted as saying that he has never gotten along with his parents. But he did seem to get along with his brothers, and they were the ones who encouraged him to rap.

As a teenager, Eversole decided to enter an Atlanta studio and record a demo. Producer Mason "Phat Boy" Hall, aka Big Mace, happened to be in the studio that day; Mace (the CEO of Phat Boy Records and a fellow Atlanta resident) came across Eversole by accident and decided that he was interested in working with the aspiring rapper. Before long, Mace arranged for Eversole to be featured on "Tig Ole Bitties With the Ass to Match," a tune from Phat Boy artist MGD's debut album, Everlasting Yay. But Eversole's own album was delayed when he ended up being incarcerated for eight months on a charge of simple assault. While he was locked up, Eversole did a lot of writing; and as soon as he got out, the rapper (who was 17 at the time) started recording his first album. Produced by Break Bread Productions (which is Phat Boy's in-house production team), the album was released by MCA in May 2002.