Carter,' 'Pac-Man' ('my ghosts is blue'), 'The Fireman,' 'Heatman,' 'Weezy F. He was self-mythologizing, giving himself an abundance of nicknames over 22 tracks: 'Young Tune, the big kahuna' 'a gorilla, but lighter,' 'Mr. Ten years, four months, and three days after the 1995 Source Awards, Lil Wayne released an album that contained a track with that title, and to borrow a phrase from one of his future protegés, nothing was the same for the South in the decade that followed. What it took was one brash veteran younger than most rookies proclaiming himself 'best rapper alive,' no asterisks, no regional qualifiers, nothing. The Dungeon Family, UGK, and Scarface all became household names to small sects of devotees, but for the most part, the recognition they all deserved from the rest of the country came after their respective heydays. The South, as André 3000 famously announced, did 'have something to say,' but without one nationally-recognized lyrical genius, it struggled to achieve widespread respect. OutKast's 'Best New Rap Group' acceptance speech at the 1995 Source Awards has been cited again and again as the turning point for Southern Rap, the moment when it became viewed as more than a novelty and began its gradual game of catch-up to the East and West Coasts.
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