“I used to go to my cousin’s house, my favorite cousin, and he used to be a big music head…And he was just like, ‘Man, you gotta listen to these folk. Man, how you from East Point and you don’t know about these folk?’
“It changed my life. I was like, Bro, what is this? This ain’t even—is this rap? It’s like some Tribe Called Quest/R&B/90’s vibe type of stuff or whatever. And then listening to Big Rube, do like this poetry, but I’m talking, but I’m rapping kind of thing going on at the same time.
“Being in East Point, it’s like, Is it East Point? Is it Atlanta? Is it this or whatever like that? Dungeon Family kinda gave some weight to saying you’re from East Point, you know what I mean?”
Many Tri-City alumni, such as ‘God’s favorite creative’ Cedric Smith, who matriculated through the same school as Dungeon Family members like André 3000, Big Boi, and Big Gipp (research the rest), feel not only a sense of pride but also a motivation to create their own pathways.
“Yeah, I got a picture with CeeLo. Listen, man, it was like, full circle moment. It was just in the midst of the whole COVID situation or whatever. We had the mask, so the picture ain’t really worth a damn, ‘cause we both got our masks on.
“I know it’s CeeLo. Everybody probably know it’s CeeLo. ‘Cause it was like, we walked down the same hallway. I found out they used to work at the airport too. I work at the airport.
“And it’s a household name. It’s an East Point dude who’s a household name.
“No matter what you tell yourself, no matter what life is lifeing, we cut from the same cloth, we built with the same material.”
