The Influence of Mac D.L.E. on the Memphis underground

When people commonly think of the Memphis underground rappers, you normally hear Three 6 Mafia, 8Ball and MJG, Kingpin Skinny Pimp, and Tommy Wright III. A name that should be in the upper echelon of the list is Mac D.L.E. Mac D.L.E. was a producer and rapper from Orange Mound, Memphis and has produced for Tommy Wright III, Shawty Pimp, and Maniac. Starting off his career he started dropping his infamous Mac D.L.E. Levels mixtapes with 1-5 being DJ mixes of other songs and 6-7 being some of the best underground Memphis rap songs ever made. Mac D.L.E. for his album “The Saga Continues” which has classics such as “Smoke a Sac”, which was very ahead of its time 808’s and the signature Memphis triplet flow at such an early day and age. Future Ride has an eerie dark synth with a fast-paced drum pattern. In “Future Ride '' you hear intense lyrics such as, “Tell me what you see in my motherfuckin future, Is it big money, nice clothes, and fancy cars? Or am I sober on the corner turnin up a bottle?.” Mac produced Tommy Wright III’s, “Shoot 2 Kill” and “Pushing Powder” by Shawty Pimp and MC Spade. Pushing Powder became a hit and was released under Street Smart Records founded by Tommy Wright III. Mac wanted Shawty Pimp to leave him and work for him and when Tommy heard this, he made a very popular diss track called “Me Against the World”. The streets say Tommy won, but many fans believe Mac’s response diss song was just as good and the “Level 7” mixtape was a respected mixtape that was competing with Street Smarts music in those days. Mac was not one of the Memphis rappers and producers to blow up not ever signing a huge record deal mostly releasing music independently and has music released with DJ Zirk owned publishing company, Sun City Publishing as well as music being released under the record breakers music company. Mac D.L.E.’s influence would expand many years close to his prime but way after. Artists from Doddy Gatz, $uicideboy$, MC Holocaust, and Devilish Trio would eventually sample his music in some of the best underground horrorcore tracks to date. These artists are prominent in the modern Phonk community, and his influence can be seen to this day by the current underground with smoke a sack being a prominent Drift Phonk sample. I would recommend checking out this artist’s music and his music was very ahead of its time for 1993 and his production definitely influenced the Memphis rappers who would become more famous than him. Stay tuned for more essays about older Memphis rappers and comment any requests for artists to analyze and cover.