Crooked Lettaz

In 1999, a little known rap group by the name of Crooked Lettaz dropped their major debut, "Grey Skies", on Penalty Recordings. The group consisted of Kamikaze and David Banner (who was unknown at the time and produced the whole album) and were definitely influenced by fellow South duo, Outkast. Their version of Crunk was based on hard ass beats and smart, thought provoking lyrics. It would be easy to say that they wanted to let folks know that real Hip-Hop could be made in the South without trying to sound like Wu-Tang. If they had received the proper promotion, there's no doubt that this album might have been regarded as a Hip-Hop classic, but when you listen to it now, you can tell they were ahead of their time. It seems the industry could only stomach one innovative Southern rap group (Outkast) at a time.