This week, Billboard is publishing a sequence of lists and articles celebrating the music of 20 years in the past. Our 2004 Week wraps right here with rap trio Trillville, whose signature 2004 hit “Some Lower” has proved some of the memorable hip-hop hits of 20 years in the past, an extremely enduring reference level throughout genres within the years since.
In an period when buzzy singles can spend only one week within the high 10 of the Billboard Sizzling 100 earlier than fully falling off the chart, the lifespan of a single feels particularly arbitrary. Songs can keep perched at No. 1 for weeks or be the discuss of the city and a distant reminiscence inside a three-day interval.
Songs like Trillville’s “Some Lower,” nonetheless, have confirmed to boast a gloriously countless shelf life. Twenty years faraway from its preliminary single run, “Some Lower” stays the muse of not simply among the largest hits and dance developments of the primary half of the 2020s, but additionally everlasting inspiration for the squeaking manufacturing motif that has enamored numerous types and genres, from R&B and reggaeton to Okay-pop and Jersey membership.
“That is the sound,” stresses Jamal “Soiled Mouth” Glaze. “It’s an genuine sound. You possibly can’t deny that sound as a result of that’s the golden period of [Southern hip-hop and crunk], from the ‘90s to the early 2000s.”
In 2004, “Some Lower” climbed to a peak of No. 14 on the Sizzling 100, incomes the crunk trio the most important chart hit of their profession and one of many largest membership hits of the early ’00s. In line with Luminate, “Some Lower” has earned over 157.3 million official on-demand U.S. streams up to now and bought practically 500,000 pure copies. Blessed by Lil Jon’s Midas contact, the unabashedly carnal observe meticulously balances a delicate piano riff, sultry bass and guitar — and, in fact, that iconic squeak loop. With the late Cutty Cartel kicking off the affair by rapping and singing maybe the best sequence of questions in modern music — “What it’s ho, what’s up? / Can a n—a get in them guts?” — “Some Lower” is nasty and proud. It’s the effortlessly suave supply of every Trillville member, alongside Cutty, that enables the observe to playfully toe the road between raunch and forbidden fantasy.
The crown jewel of Trillville and Lil Jon’s collaborations, the genesis of “Some Lower” lies within the scrappy can-do angle of the group’s Donnell “Don P” Prince. As he tells it, Trillville was toiling away within the membership circuit for just a few years earlier than “Some Lower,” packing out reveals in Atlanta — thanks, partly, to group member Lawrence “LA” Edwards, who was a membership promoter on the time. Ultimately, considered one of Don P’s mates gave him the quantity to the CEO of BME Information, Lil Jon’s document label, and he seized the chance.
“I used to be like, ‘Hey, man, we bought one thing right here! Individuals preserve telling me that our music dope, that they prefer it!’” recollects Don P. “It was one thing about the way in which I stated it, as a result of he was like, ‘Often, folks preserve telling me that they’re the dopest and the perfect.’ So, he known as me to the workplace, we developed a relationship from there, and I began going to the workplace each single day.”
Don P’s persistence paid off tenfold as soon as Lil Jon ultimately attended an enormous warehouse present the group had been laborious at work getting ready for. Lil Scrappy, one other Lil Jon protege-turned-club hitmaker, was additionally in attendance that night time on the “loopy present,” which jumpstarted the skilled relationships between all artists concerned.
In 2004, Jon launched BME Recordings with The King of Crunk & BME Recordings Current: Trillville & Lil Scrappy because the fledgling label’s first providing. A cut up album with both sides internet hosting the respective debut albums of Trillville and Lil Scrappy, the LP debuted and peaked at No. 12 on the Billboard 200, spawning a number of singles, together with the seminal “Some Lower,” and finally shifting over 1.25 million album-equivalent models.
Rooted within the uncooked, raucous vitality of crunk music, the recording classes for Trillville & Scrappy mirrored the vibe of the music. “It was only a social gathering environment, drinks in every single place,” Soiled Mouth reminisces. “You had the porn taking part in on the TV, that’s how we bought impressed. We was younger, wild and we had enjoyable.”
“With us, it was by no means only a [regular] studio session,” Don P provides. “The music that you simply hear is the vibe that was occurring.”
In fact, that studio session yielded Lil Jon’s magical “squeak” second, which resulted within the priceless ingredient that made “Some Lower” such an irresistibly catchy and oft-imitated document. Because the story goes, the Trillville crew have been within the studio engaged on songs for his or her debut LP when the playback of “Some Lower” was queued up within the system. “We saved listening to one thing,” Don P says. “And I used to be like ‘What the hell are they speaking about?’ Properly, each time [Lil Jon] was taking part in the music again, he was [makes rocking motion] and the chair was squeaking. All on the similar time, all people was like, ‘It’s the chair! It’s the chair!’”
In a second of ingenuity that may solely occur when a studio session is directed by the vibe of its artists, they mic’d the chair up, recorded the squeaks and positioned them all through the document — most prominently within the intro. Although these squeaks got here from a chair, they recall the sound of a mattress throughout intercourse, therefore its prominence as a go-to pattern throughout genres within the a long time since.
“We was at all times an progressive and inventive and we labored collectively as a result of Lil Jon is at all times progressive and inventive as properly,” displays Don P. “You could possibly take another group and I promise you they wouldn’t do this.”
That probably is the case, however even with its infectious composition, “Some Lower” wasn’t even initially deliberate to be a single from Trillville & Scrappy. “Neva Eva,” which peaked at No. 77 on the Sizzling 100, arrived on Nov. 4, 2003, as the primary single for Trillville, whereas “Head Bussa” (with Lil Jon) was the primary single for Scrappy. With “No Drawback” heating up the streets because the second Scrappy single, the unique plan was for the Pastor Troy-assisted “Get Some Crunk in Yo System” to function the second single from Trillville.
“[The remix version with Snoop Dogg and Pitbull] of ‘Some Lower’ was alleged to be the primary single from our new album, Trillville: Reloaded,” notes Don P. “What occurred was, the DJs began taking part in [the original] ‘Some Lower’ on they personal, so I known as Naim [Ali], who our A&R on the time, after I noticed how folks have been going up for the document within the golf equipment, and stated, ‘Ay, bro, we have to push this document.”
Identical to how they self-advocated to initially join with Lil Jon, having their ear to the streets resulted within the smartest advertising pivot of Trillville’s profession. Trillville, BME and Warner Information didn’t simply give “Some Lower” a half-hearted push for a late-album cycle single, they cranked out “a clear [version], tremendous clear [version and], a brilliant duper clear radio model,” jokes Don P. “There was so many variations of that music we did, I nonetheless don’t know which one to rap after I carry out, to this present day!”
Provided that the crunk music blueprint includes the songs percolating within the streets and golf equipment earlier than breaking by means of on radio, Trillville had already heard “Some Lower” exterior – however listening to it on the radio confirmed to them that the music had attain a unique degree of recognition.
“I used to be driving and I heard [“Some Cut”] on both 107 or V103, I needed to pull over!” laughs Soiled Mouth, “That thang was jamming too! I used to be like, ‘Rattling, it’s on now!’”
And on, it was. In only one week, “Some Lower” had eclipsed “Neva Eva” as Trillville’s highest-charting entry on Billboard’s marquee singles chart, and it wouldn’t even hit its peak till 14 weeks later. For Trillville, the most important signifier that the music was resonating on the next degree than their earlier songs was the elevated diversification of their crowds.
“I simply seen the gang went from a bunch of Black folks to a bunch of Black and white folks to a bunch of Black, white, and Mexican folks,” says Don P, with Soiled Mouth chiming in, “It was extra girls, although! Extra girls than dudes and the dudes got here when the ladies got here.”
Crafting information particularly catered to girls is a hip-hop follow that’s as storied as it’s convoluted within the better context of the misogyny that’s intrinsically tied to the style. With their earlier singles erring extra on the gangster aspect than the smooth-talking Lotharios they posture as on “Some Lower,” Trillville knew they wanted one thing for the ladies.
“We wanted a feminine document,” explains Soiled Mouth. “We got here up within the period of pushing and shoving and throwing bows and sweating — now it’s time to get on with the women. Give the women one thing that they’ll gravitate to. So, that’s what we did.”
So, how precisely does a music this crass – made in a studio with porn taking part in within the background, no much less – discover a residence amongst the women? Properly, one reply lies within the late Cutty Cartel’s hook. Caked in a seductive Southern drawl and delivered with a swaggering wink that enhances the twinkling keys within the manufacturing, Cutty’s hook is arguably essentially the most recognizable a part of “Some Lower,” at the least so far as vocals go. The smoothness of his efficiency concurrently masquerades the raunch of his lyrics, and offers a wise juxtaposition to the gruff supply of every Trillville member.
“Relaxation in peace, Cutty,” Don P says of the inimitable artist, who handed on Aug. 30, 2019. “He so {smooth} with it. He’s a rapper and an R&B singer, so he may include that melodic sound.” Soiled mouth provides: “He’s the Nate Dogg of the South, I at all times say!”
Along with Cutty’s suave hook, the “Some Lower” music video additionally helped the observe carve out an everlasting place within the hearts of girls throughout the nation. In actual fact, the Fats Cats-helmed clip – which discovered the Trillville crew renting a mansion for a single day to host a home social gathering – featured appearances from a number of girls who would go on to be main fixtures in leisure, together with actuality tv star Porsha Williams and prolific video vixen Summer season Walker (to not be confused with the long run R&B star of the identical identify).
And, within the spirit of a really timeless document, “Some Lower” remains to be a supply of inspiration for a few of as we speak’s largest artists throughout R&B and hip-hop, specifically TDE rap star Doechii, three-time Grammy-winner Victoria Monét and, in fact, Beyoncé, who paid tribute to Cutty’s refrain backing vocals within the third verse of her remix of Megan Thee Stallion’s “Savage.” Earlier than Monét’s “On My Mama,” which samples one other beloved ’00s Southern hip-hop smash (Chalie Boy’s “I Look Good”), she had a significant viral second in 2021 with a dance break set to the “Some Lower” intro. Choreographed by Ysabelle Capitulé, who was nonetheless a baby when “Some Lower” first hit the streets, the dance break spawned tons of of hundreds of recreations throughout social media.
Final 12 months, only one 12 months shy of the 20th anniversary of “Some Lower,” Doechii interpolated the observe on her personal Kodak Black-assisted “What It Is (Block Boy).” Opting to flip Cutty’s hook to a girl’s perspective as an alternative of taking a stab on the notorious “squeak” sound, Doechii rode “What It Is” to the most important hit of her profession, peaking at No. 29 on the Sizzling 100 and incomes her her first RIAA Platinum plaque. On the 2023 BET Awards, Trillville joined Doechii onstage to carry out a mashup of each tracks.
“My potna, J. White Did It produced [‘What It Is’],” says Don P. “He hit me up and informed me he was doing one thing, however I simply didn’t know what it was. Then Warner Brothers hit us up, [played us the record], and I used to be like, ‘Oh, my God!’ I cherished that music from the very first time I heard it. So, in fact, all of us cleared it. I had no thought it was going to be that massive, however I kinda did as a result of I cherished it a lot.”
Though “Some Lower” has remained one of many go-to early ’00s hip-hop cuts for modern performers, crunk, the defining sound of Trillvile’s catalog, is notably absent from the present mainstream. With a film primarily based on the Trillville story due early subsequent 12 months (music video director Todd Uno is at present hooked up to direct) alongside an accompanying soundtrack, Don P, Soiled Mouth and LA hope to reignite the coals of crunk exterior of all of the callbacks to “Lower.”
“I wrote the script three years in the past, and we simply began manufacturing this 12 months,” reveals Don P. “It’s been enjoyable to solid different actors that appear like us going by means of the experiences that we went by means of again then. This film goes to indicate the younger folks what it was and provides older those who nostalgic really feel.”
And as for the soundtrack? “It’s actually going to sound like an up to date model of 2004 crunk,” teases Don P. “We’re trendsetters, it’s been such a pleasure to know that folks actually appreciated what we dropped at the desk, and the film and soundtrack replicate that.”