Slab Culture: A Legacy of Custom Cars in Hip-Hop

The slab culture originated from the lowriders of the 1970s and evolved into a lifestyle that has been shaped by hip-hop music. Slabs, which are typically Cadillacs, were born out of the pimp rides of the era and have become synonymous with flashy cars and street style.

One of the defining characteristics of slabs is their candy paint jobs, which are often paired with neon signs attached to the trunks and elbows. The ridiculously oversized rims on these vehicles are designed to be as eccentric as possible and are named for their resemblance to an elbow hanging out of a window. Houston artists such as UGK have even spit bars about cars like the 1980 Cadillac Seville, known as the "slant back," and the 1982-85 Eldorado.

Other notable slabs include Slim Thug's murdered-out '59 Cadillac custom and Chamillionaire's ownership of a 1967 Plymouth Fury. These vehicles set the tone for a new generation of custom cars that have become synonymous with hip-hop culture.

Meanwhile, the dunk culture has emerged as a distinct movement within hip-hop, particularly in the Southern United States. This trend is associated with the Impala logo, affectionately known as the "donkey." Rappers from cities like Memphis, Atlanta, Miami, and New Orleans often feature donks in their music videos. Alabama rapper Yelawolf has an entire series of songs dedicated to box Chevys, while Rick Ross and Young Buck are also fans of these vehicles.

Donks typically have candy paint jobs, chrome accents, raised suspension, and gigantic wheels – the bigger, the better. The early 2000s saw the introduction of spinner rims to the mainstream, and donks just kept getting more extravagant. Nats stopped when it came to paint jobs, as people liked to get creative, often covering their vehicles in brand names like Gucci or Louie Vuitton.

However, this trend has evolved over time, with rappers now featuring super-high-end supercars, such as Lamborghinis and Porsches, in their music videos. Maybach has become a popular brand among hip-hop artists, thanks in part to Rick Ross's own label being called Maybach Music. In fact, according to research, Mercedes-Benz is the most mentioned car in all of hip-hop history.

Cash Money rappers The Big Tymers have the highest percentage of songs that mention cars in their lyrics – almost 85% of their entire catalogue features vehicles. Gucci Mane takes the spot for sheer number of songs mentioning cars, with 51% of his entire catalog featuring some kind of vehicle.

While hip-hop's taste may be spread out among super-high-end supercars and more exotic models, it's essential not to forget where this culture originated – from humble beginnings in lowriders and pimp rides.

WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: encruising down the street and my six cars and hip-hop go hand-in-hand we all know lamborghini mercy got a glock in my rari woke up in a new Bugatti but it didn't start there how did we get to here from here this is the almost complete history of cars in rap there are a million different car references and rap throughout the years and I'm probably gonna miss something so if I do hit me up in the comments let's get it that's how he says it at all I don't know I'm not cool enough for this early East Coast rap focused on the struggles of city life car theft and brakes yes cars do have brakes believe it or not jeep was one of the first to get a shout-out in rap songs everyone from LL Cool J to kool Moe Dee and masta ace it wasn't until east coast rappers like nas mob deep and biggie started gaining steam in the early 90s that other models were being called out during this era of hip hop three cars in particular the lexus SC coupes Acura Legend and the Infiniti q45 were far and above the most mentioned these make up the unofficial trifecta of 90s East Coast whips it was so we push your legs bubble in the wit performance bubble legs foolish or miss gustl again the bubble Lexar talking about that would be the Lexus SC 300 and SC 400 coupes and Nas can be seen driving one in the music video for the world as yours the notorious b.i.g wrapped about the GS 300 snip dog named dropped it in the song the shiznit been in the coupe the lexus lexus boom-boom beast it takes the rise in popularity that lexus found through the hip hop world was unprecedented for the first time a car manufacturer was seeing a tangible rise in popularity thanks to hip hop it wasn't the only company that was going to name-drop though the acura legend was a hot commodity for rappers in the 90s as well although he's not an East Coast rapper Ludacris has a 93 legend that he still drives the car which has more than 280,000 miles on it made the cover of his 2015 album Universal the Infiniti q45 rounds out the last of the Holy Trinity of early 90s East Coast rap cars this was the car that could fit your entire entourage and get away from the paparazzi or anyone else from the jockey one car that kept popping up and we're like this has to be a mistake was the Mazda MPV then we realized that everyone from notorious b.i.g to Fat Joe to prodigy to wu-tang clan rapped about these little mini vans no it was actually biz markie that started the trend then DJ Premier bought one and installed some really nice speakers in it so rappers wanting to check their mix could play the tracks in the npv which would give them an idea if their track width bump or not so really the npv an ugly van became wildly popular in the rap world because of its sound system that wasn't even stock Japanese luxury sedans may have been the vehicle of choice on the East Coast during the early 90s but rappers on the west coast had an entirely different aesthetic he already know I'm talking about the lowrider scene had existed for decades in the Mexican American community in Los Angeles but it was hip-hop that helped thrust lowriders into the national spotlight rappers like Ice Cube Snoop Dogg be real and eazy-e but huge American cars from the 60s and 70s and tricked him out they added chrome hydraulics eccentric paint jobs and 144 spoke wheels aka Dayton's rappers talked about cruisin down Crenshaw and cars like the Oldsmobile Cutlass Chevy Caprice and easily the most important car in hip-hop history the 1964 Chevy Impala cruising down the street and my six the first mention of the Impala in hip hop was easy ease 1987 hit boys in the hood this was significant because no one before had donned the radio with such incredible potty language but also because it was the first time a lowrider had made it into the mainstream culture Tupac was also known for having a massive car collection if you listen you can pick out a car in almost every one of his songs which goes I got that 500 bends he's talking about is his prized drop-top SL 500 and a 95 Jaguar XJS from his personal collection appeared in this video to live and die in LA Kendrick Lamar has taken a different approach to car collecting he's one of the only rappers right now that prefers cars that are sentimental to him over luxury cars or exotics like the first car he ever bought I'm 92 Cadillac Seville outfitted with suicide doors we keep Cadillac Seville here at its end around a weakest piece he often mentions an 87 Buick Regal in his lyrics and he likens his rap style of the car because it's hard has edge but at the same time it's a great look and kind of smooth if you ride it the right way but they can deepen it and who can forget the 96 Chrysler Town and Country from the cover of his 2012 album good kid maad city the album was a story basically centered around this man the West Coast has lowrider culture and Houston has slab culture made out of the same gigantic Chevy's as low riders were slabs were named because they were lowered or dropped to the slab these cars usually Cadillacs were born out of the pimp rides of the 1970s and evolved into a whole lifestyle some characteristics of slabs are candy paint insanely loud speakers neon signs attached to the trunks and elbows this ridiculous rim type is made to look as eccentric as possible and is named for the shape of an elbow hanging out of a window Houston artists little kick UGK spit about cars like the 1980 Cadillac Seville aka the slant back and the 1982 85 Eldorado aka some honorable mentions you've got slim thugs murdered-out 59 Cadillac custom and Chamillionaire owns a 1967 Plymouth Fury he just went up a few notches in my book slabs set the tone for a new generation of custom cars Dawn's the dunk culture is associated with the Dirty South movement in hip-hop that started gaining popularity in the late 90s and the name comes from the Impala logo lovingly referred to as a donkey rappers from cities like Memphis Atlanta Miami and New Orleans started featuring more and more donks in their videos Alabama rapper Yelawolf is obsessed with box Chevys he's got an entire series of songs on them but he's not the only one Rick Ross loves box Chevy's as well as Young Buck and Dora donks often have candy paint chrome accents raised suspension and gigantic wheels the bigger the wheels the better the early 2000s saw the introduction of spinner rims to the mainstream Nats just stop when it comes to paint jobs people like to get creative oftentimes you'll see a donk completely covered in brand names it's not always Gucci or Louie Vuitton like you would think no sometimes it's brands like Newport cigarettes McDonald's yoo-hoo skittles Coke Zero Campbell's SpaghettiOs and Facebook as rap became more mainstream and profitable in the latter part of the 90s cars who saw music videos started getting more expensive and luxurious New Orleans rappers from labels Cash Money and No Limit started to outdo each other with every new video the big-timers did donuts in a four-wheel-drive Lamborghini Diablo then masterpiece showed up with a stretch Hummer an entire car hauler full of Bentleys and Rolls Royces then Birdman retaliated with the parade of cars and also Steve Harvey then no-limit came back with a gold tank if you look at the data it's clear how much has changed over the years according to some research on behalf of medium Tom Lexus and Mercedes started off really strong in the early 90s but at some point Lexus kind of fell off Mercedes kept going though in fact mercedes-benz is the number one mentioned car in all of hip-hop history the next two are Cadillac and Chevy I'd like to think it's because those are the easiest rhyme with which is why you don't hear a lot of songs with the Giotto capito in it over the last decade or so mentions of higher-end cars like Lamborghinis Porsches Bugattis and Maybach saw a steep increase Maybach has Rick Ross to thank for that his entire label is called Maybach music as far as rappers with the most mentions of cards go Cash Money rappers the Big Tymers have the highest percentage of songs that mention cars in the lyrics at almost 85 percent of their entire catalogue that's only 62 songs for going off of sheer number of songs in which a single artist has mentioned the car in the lyrics that spot goes to gucci mane with 51 percent of his entire catalog or 302 songs that mentioned cars somewhere in the lyrics even though hip hop's taste today are spread out among super high-end supercars and my back's and all that stuff it's important not to forget where it came from the npv thanks for watching wheel house if you like this video please hit that like button it really helps us out and maybe consider subscribing to let me know in the comments what your favorite hip hop music video car is I really want to know follow me on instagram at nolan j sykes follow donut at donut media be nice see you next timecruising down the street and my six cars and hip-hop go hand-in-hand we all know lamborghini mercy got a glock in my rari woke up in a new Bugatti but it didn't start there how did we get to here from here this is the almost complete history of cars in rap there are a million different car references and rap throughout the years and I'm probably gonna miss something so if I do hit me up in the comments let's get it that's how he says it at all I don't know I'm not cool enough for this early East Coast rap focused on the struggles of city life car theft and brakes yes cars do have brakes believe it or not jeep was one of the first to get a shout-out in rap songs everyone from LL Cool J to kool Moe Dee and masta ace it wasn't until east coast rappers like nas mob deep and biggie started gaining steam in the early 90s that other models were being called out during this era of hip hop three cars in particular the lexus SC coupes Acura Legend and the Infiniti q45 were far and above the most mentioned these make up the unofficial trifecta of 90s East Coast whips it was so we push your legs bubble in the wit performance bubble legs foolish or miss gustl again the bubble Lexar talking about that would be the Lexus SC 300 and SC 400 coupes and Nas can be seen driving one in the music video for the world as yours the notorious b.i.g wrapped about the GS 300 snip dog named dropped it in the song the shiznit been in the coupe the lexus lexus boom-boom beast it takes the rise in popularity that lexus found through the hip hop world was unprecedented for the first time a car manufacturer was seeing a tangible rise in popularity thanks to hip hop it wasn't the only company that was going to name-drop though the acura legend was a hot commodity for rappers in the 90s as well although he's not an East Coast rapper Ludacris has a 93 legend that he still drives the car which has more than 280,000 miles on it made the cover of his 2015 album Universal the Infiniti q45 rounds out the last of the Holy Trinity of early 90s East Coast rap cars this was the car that could fit your entire entourage and get away from the paparazzi or anyone else from the jockey one car that kept popping up and we're like this has to be a mistake was the Mazda MPV then we realized that everyone from notorious b.i.g to Fat Joe to prodigy to wu-tang clan rapped about these little mini vans no it was actually biz markie that started the trend then DJ Premier bought one and installed some really nice speakers in it so rappers wanting to check their mix could play the tracks in the npv which would give them an idea if their track width bump or not so really the npv an ugly van became wildly popular in the rap world because of its sound system that wasn't even stock Japanese luxury sedans may have been the vehicle of choice on the East Coast during the early 90s but rappers on the west coast had an entirely different aesthetic he already know I'm talking about the lowrider scene had existed for decades in the Mexican American community in Los Angeles but it was hip-hop that helped thrust lowriders into the national spotlight rappers like Ice Cube Snoop Dogg be real and eazy-e but huge American cars from the 60s and 70s and tricked him out they added chrome hydraulics eccentric paint jobs and 144 spoke wheels aka Dayton's rappers talked about cruisin down Crenshaw and cars like the Oldsmobile Cutlass Chevy Caprice and easily the most important car in hip-hop history the 1964 Chevy Impala cruising down the street and my six the first mention of the Impala in hip hop was easy ease 1987 hit boys in the hood this was significant because no one before had donned the radio with such incredible potty language but also because it was the first time a lowrider had made it into the mainstream culture Tupac was also known for having a massive car collection if you listen you can pick out a car in almost every one of his songs which goes I got that 500 bends he's talking about is his prized drop-top SL 500 and a 95 Jaguar XJS from his personal collection appeared in this video to live and die in LA Kendrick Lamar has taken a different approach to car collecting he's one of the only rappers right now that prefers cars that are sentimental to him over luxury cars or exotics like the first car he ever bought I'm 92 Cadillac Seville outfitted with suicide doors we keep Cadillac Seville here at its end around a weakest piece he often mentions an 87 Buick Regal in his lyrics and he likens his rap style of the car because it's hard has edge but at the same time it's a great look and kind of smooth if you ride it the right way but they can deepen it and who can forget the 96 Chrysler Town and Country from the cover of his 2012 album good kid maad city the album was a story basically centered around this man the West Coast has lowrider culture and Houston has slab culture made out of the same gigantic Chevy's as low riders were slabs were named because they were lowered or dropped to the slab these cars usually Cadillacs were born out of the pimp rides of the 1970s and evolved into a whole lifestyle some characteristics of slabs are candy paint insanely loud speakers neon signs attached to the trunks and elbows this ridiculous rim type is made to look as eccentric as possible and is named for the shape of an elbow hanging out of a window Houston artists little kick UGK spit about cars like the 1980 Cadillac Seville aka the slant back and the 1982 85 Eldorado aka some honorable mentions you've got slim thugs murdered-out 59 Cadillac custom and Chamillionaire owns a 1967 Plymouth Fury he just went up a few notches in my book slabs set the tone for a new generation of custom cars Dawn's the dunk culture is associated with the Dirty South movement in hip-hop that started gaining popularity in the late 90s and the name comes from the Impala logo lovingly referred to as a donkey rappers from cities like Memphis Atlanta Miami and New Orleans started featuring more and more donks in their videos Alabama rapper Yelawolf is obsessed with box Chevys he's got an entire series of songs on them but he's not the only one Rick Ross loves box Chevy's as well as Young Buck and Dora donks often have candy paint chrome accents raised suspension and gigantic wheels the bigger the wheels the better the early 2000s saw the introduction of spinner rims to the mainstream Nats just stop when it comes to paint jobs people like to get creative oftentimes you'll see a donk completely covered in brand names it's not always Gucci or Louie Vuitton like you would think no sometimes it's brands like Newport cigarettes McDonald's yoo-hoo skittles Coke Zero Campbell's SpaghettiOs and Facebook as rap became more mainstream and profitable in the latter part of the 90s cars who saw music videos started getting more expensive and luxurious New Orleans rappers from labels Cash Money and No Limit started to outdo each other with every new video the big-timers did donuts in a four-wheel-drive Lamborghini Diablo then masterpiece showed up with a stretch Hummer an entire car hauler full of Bentleys and Rolls Royces then Birdman retaliated with the parade of cars and also Steve Harvey then no-limit came back with a gold tank if you look at the data it's clear how much has changed over the years according to some research on behalf of medium Tom Lexus and Mercedes started off really strong in the early 90s but at some point Lexus kind of fell off Mercedes kept going though in fact mercedes-benz is the number one mentioned car in all of hip-hop history the next two are Cadillac and Chevy I'd like to think it's because those are the easiest rhyme with which is why you don't hear a lot of songs with the Giotto capito in it over the last decade or so mentions of higher-end cars like Lamborghinis Porsches Bugattis and Maybach saw a steep increase Maybach has Rick Ross to thank for that his entire label is called Maybach music as far as rappers with the most mentions of cards go Cash Money rappers the Big Tymers have the highest percentage of songs that mention cars in the lyrics at almost 85 percent of their entire catalogue that's only 62 songs for going off of sheer number of songs in which a single artist has mentioned the car in the lyrics that spot goes to gucci mane with 51 percent of his entire catalog or 302 songs that mentioned cars somewhere in the lyrics even though hip hop's taste today are spread out among super high-end supercars and my back's and all that stuff it's important not to forget where it came from the npv thanks for watching wheel house if you like this video please hit that like button it really helps us out and maybe consider subscribing to let me know in the comments what your favorite hip hop music video car is I really want to know follow me on instagram at nolan j sykes follow donut at donut media be nice see you next time