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On Assignment For Noisey, Mel From The Outfit, TX Argues That Dallas Hip-Hop Merits More Shine.

Whoa, whoa, whoa: On top of having one of the best flows around, The Outfit, TX's Mel Kyle's good with the long-form written word, too?

Yes, turns out he is, as we all found out this morning via this Noisey piece that the ever-charismatic rapper penned on the Dallas hip-hop scene, its many virtues and its weird underappreciation outside of the city.

The piece, called “Dallas Has The Best Rap Scene In The Country That You're Not Paying Attention To” comes on the heels of earlier, similar out-of-market mentions from Noisey and Complex but does so with a much finer comb, shedding light on the Dallas hip-hop history that took Dallas to the point that it's currently at (namely the '90s artists that opened the door, then artists such as DSR who then took that mantle in the early '00s, and, later, the D-Town Boogie movement that California appropriated from the city), while sharing Mel's picks for some two-dozen Dallas rappers worthy of greater audiences beyond city limits today.

Is any of this necessarily new for those who've been paying attention locally? Actually, yeah, some of it probably is, as Mel does a fine, very in-depth job of touching on all aspects of the local hip-hop scene, from the more hood-oriented stuff (Trapboy Freddy, Lil Ronny Mothaf) to the hipster stuff (A.Dd+, Sam Lao), plus a good amount of the trippier (-topic, Kissed Killed) and youth movement-oriented (Crit Life, The IRAs) stuff in between.

Long story short: It's a great overview, even for those who think they know the scene well. You should probably read it.