Blood makes us kin and loyalty makes us family,” says J. Prince, the godfather of Southern hip hop. Hailing from Houston’s Fifth Ward, Prince built his empire one brick at a time, rising to become one of the most influential figures in the culture. As DJs and MCs moved from park jams into recording studios in the 1980s, New York-based labels like Def Jam, Tommy Boy, and Sleeping Bag dominated the national scene.
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“New Yorkers’ hustle game was so strong back in the beginning,” Prince says. “They spread it out throughout the South and monopolised our radio stations and our clubs. I had to change that narrative.” In 1987, he founded Rap-A-Lot Records, introducing a new style and sound with iconic artists including Geto Boys, Pimp C, Bun B, Do or Die, and Devin the Dude, which planted the seeds for a massive independent movement across the South that continues to this day. “I inspired the homies Master P, Cash Money, Tony Draper, everybody near Texas, to follow the blueprint,” Prince says.
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A visionary whose legacy begins – but does not end – with hip hop, Prince has become a mogul whose interests also include a 1200-acre Angus cattle ranch, the aptly-named Loyalty Wines, and the Prince Boxing Complex, a multi-million dollar recreation centre located in the heart of the Fifth Ward, a historically Black neighborhood settled in Houston by freemen after the American Civil War.
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