When most people talk about Texas rap, the conversation immediately turns to the slowed down, slabbed out country rap culture that began percolating some two-plus decades ago in the sweaty swamps of The Bayou City (aka Houston, TX). Outsiders whom are aware of the wealth of talent and musical diversity hailing from the lesser known reaches of The Lonestar State (just beneath the shimmering surface of the ‘Everything’s Big In Texas’ rap scene) are few and far between.

There is one emcee who is not satisfied with the status quo; cannot make peace with the idea that a rapper must sacrifice the heart and soul of their art form or conform to the trends dominating the national Hip Hop landscape in order to succeed. That person is Austin, Texas emcee: The Culprit.

“I can’t really justify dedicating a whole lot of my time worrying about what others are doing. If you want to wear size 1 pants and rainbow flavored slap bracelets, that’s cool… five years from now, you’re gonna feel like an asshole.” states The Culprit outside a San Antonio recording studio. “And you probably suck at rapping.”

The Culprit has released two full length albums in the past several months. Straight Jacket Radio Volume One (2 CD) on December 31st, and The Great & Terrible Mind of Lucifix on January 31st which each enjoyed moderate success. Both albums were released via his label Phylum Entertainment, on which he plans to follow up with Grand Theft Audio Volume One (a collaborative effort with longtime friend and rap affiliate Mossberg, which pits the partners-in-rhyme against obscure instrumentals from the likes of Portishead and others), and his first official full length album, Glimpse of Life later this year. For those who can’t wait for their fix, an all original underground album titled Substance Abuse will be released via iTunes, Amazon, www.the-culprit.com, www.thescrewshop.com, and select online and physical retailers as a collaborative effort with Tosin & TheScrewShop.com some time in March or April.

When asked about the motivation behind his collaborative effort with The Culprit, Tosin (aka The Dot Com Don) had this to say, “The Culprit isn’t your run of the mill rapper. The Culprit is hood and ghetto in a different type of fashion. He tells a gritty story that the other side of the tracks can identify with.”

“It’s gonna be something new for the people that normally buy Tosin’s mixtapes. This is gonna open some eyes to another side of what’s happening in Texas right now,” adds The Culprit.

With promotional performances tentatively planned for cities like Dallas, Austin, San Antonio, Houston, and Corpus Christi, Texas and potential dates in non-Texas cities such as St. Louis, MO and Denver, CO, it’s obvious that he’s getting serious about taking what he refers to as his “non-brand” of Hip Hop to a larger audience.

“I was the youngest of six, so I have pretty much had the finger of blame pointed at me all of my life.” says The Culprit when asked why he chose the name. “Somehow that seemed to carry over into school and the neighborhoods where I grew up. It was really disappointing to see how low everyone’s expectations were of me. It was enlightening also. I became gradually more detached from the idea of school and trying to integrate with society.  Eventually, I started writing down my own rhymes and just got addicted. When I would spit my written verses, a lot of times guys would just tap out right on the spot. Everyone I crossed paths with respected what I was doing from the very beginning, so there was a lot of outside motivation and reinforcement all along. I think being an Army brat played a huge role in the style I developed and the attention I was getting. I grew up all over the world. I never stayed in any one place long enough to become completely immersed in their little local and regional rap styles or habits. We finally settled in Central Texas.”

“I felt boxed in where I was at, so in ’99 I decided to migrate fifty miles South to Austin. After recording a primitive demo, I got my first record deal with Mentally Twisted Records alongside (now) Austin rap vets VIP. The deal wasn't the right situation for me, but it led me to hundreds of shows, from the historic Juneteenth celebrations, SXSW, the old school Jump On It! Shows Nook did back in the day, car shows, and opening for most of the national and regional acts that came through Austin. I’ve opened for everybody from De La Soul and Digital Underground to Lil’ Jon and Scarface. I’ve been to other states, like Missouri, Colorado, Arkansas, every major and medium size market in Texas multiple times. I’ve slept in the truck. I’ve sat out in the sun selling CD’s and Merch and got the worst sunburn you can imagine at the Texas Heat Wave! I keep it pretty low key, but I’ll just let it be known, I definitely don’t get credit in a lot of circles for doing the amount (and caliber) of shows and performances that I have.”

The Culprit does not plan on being overlooked much longer. “I have paid a lot of dues over the years and I never got ahead of myself. We are going to touch 40,000 more people by the end of this year with either CD’s, flyers, posters, merch, shows, and the net. Fuck the economic recession, there’s a creative recession right now and we are the creative stimulus.”