Cory Graves
Play-N-Skillz' Dallas Freaks.
In 2007, Irving siblings Juan and Oscar Salinas won their first Grammy.
Better known as the hip-hop production duo Play-N-Sillz, the duo helped win the award that year for “Best Rap Performance by a Duo or Group” thanks to their production on the single “Ridin'” by Chamillionaire and Krayzie Bone. They won their second Grammy in 2008 thanks to the single “Got Money,” from Lil Wayne's Tha Carter III album.
In 2011, though, the duo paired with local rapper Dorrough and the Oakland-born Too Short to create the single “Dallas Freaks,” which name-checks several Dallas neighborhoods and locations.
But, first, there is the case of the term “Dallas freak” itself. While ciphering through the lyrics, most of the women rhymed about in the song seemed to have earned their freak status after performing oral sex on the emcee — in most cases in public, and, more specifically, while riding in a car.
Although we're sure the practice of giving and/or receiving roadhead must occur elsewhere, we did find at least one recent incident locally that managed to get some brief national attention: In January of this year, a retired US Navy officer and his five-year-old granddaughter were riding a DART train when they witnessed a man receiving oral sex in the seat across the aisle from them.
So they videotaped it. The really wild part of the story, though, is that the whole incident occurred in broad daylight. While a lot of crazy things happen on the train quite frequently, oral sex probably crosses some sort of line. But, as the video shows, a DART employee allegedly walks past the couple and does nothing to stop it. From his nonchalant manner, one might presume that he's seen this type of behavior before.
Fortunately, there's more to “Dallas Freaks” than the DART Rail. Other Dallas-centric locations mentioned are Club Onyx, a strip club at 10577 Wire Way where Play-N-Skillz like to get “freaky,” and Uptown, where they admit enjoying “sipping on margaritas.”
Another “freak” they meet in the song is from Pleasant Grove, which the rappers simply abbreviate to PG. Later, in Lancaster native Dorrough's verse, he too mentions a “freak” from Pleasant Grove, although he opts to refer to it as the ever-affectionate “greedy Grove.” Here's an interesting side note about that nickname: In 2010, DEA agents busted a large drug distribution ring based in the Pleasant Grove and Highland Hills areas. The operation's code name, remarkably enough, was called “Operation Greedy Grove.”
At another point, Dorrough talks about a female who pretends to be from Red Oak but is actually from “the hood,” which, according to Dorrough, is located near the intersection of Kiest and Polk. The intersection, popularized in Nino's “Oak Cliff That's My Hood,” has become a sort of slang term for Oak Cliff in general. Besides being the turf to a noted Blood gang, the intersection is also home to a 7-Eleven. Coincedintally, the original 7-Eleven location was opened in Oak Cliff in 1927, although it didn't change its name to 7-Eleven (from the original Tote'm) until 1946.
Meanwhile, the phrase 808 is repeated throughout the song. But rather than reference to the local area code, it seems to be a reference to one of the early drum machines, the popular Roland TR-808, which was inescapable in the '80s. The 808 area code is actually in Hawaii. Interestingly it's the one non-Dallas native on the track, Too Short, who eventually drops a line about Dallas' 214 area code.
What we're guessing he didn't know was the history of that code. 214 was actually one of the original 86 NANPA area codes established by Bell System (now AT&T) in October 1947. Back then, though, it covered the entire northeastern quadrant of Texas, including Fort Worth, and extending as far as the Arkansas and Louisiana borders. This lasted until the 817 code was created in 1954. Then, in 1996, the Dallas suburbs were split from Dallas proper and given the new 972 code. When the 469 code was introduced in 1999, however, it became possible to have any of the three codes anywhere in the region.
The line Too Short drops his 214 reference in, however, mentions the Super Bowl, which is a bit of a puzzler.
When Cowboys Stadium hosted the big game in 2011, it did so in a stadium firmly implanted within the 817 code. Even their old digs at the Irving-based Texas Stadium had a 972 phone number.
But I guess one can't be too picky when bringing in an Atlanta-based emcee to rap about Dallas.
