B'ham Love Pt 1/28: R.O.A. - G 4 Life

The year is 1995 and I subsist on a steady diet of UGK, Gangsta Nip, 8Ball & MJG, The Dayton Family, Spice 1, and MC Eiht amongst others (yeah, me). I was leaving my job at Food World, lol, and turned on 95.7 and they were having a battle (I think Stone It or Bone It) between Bone Thugs-n-Harmony's Thuggish Ruggish Bone and a group from Bessemer, Alabama named R.O.A. Thuggish Ruggish Bone was THE hottest song in the city at that time and I gave a nonchalant shrug because I knew the Bessemer emcees would reach a swift and more than likely much deserved denouncement by the radio station's listeners.

They played Bone first and I got crunk like I always did and still do when the song came on because the song was associated with a popular dance at the time, Regulatin'. Then they played Giggidy Bang by R.O.A. The song was so Birmingham; I'm sure most regions have songs that pinpoint a sound in time and this was ours. Obviously the feeling was unanimous and R.O.A. beat the invincible Bone Thugs-n-Harmony that night.

It was at this point that I became aware of Birmingham's music scene and I began to delve into Birmingham's past and discover how much my city had influenced the musical climate of the country and world. I picked up their album G 4 Life and it included other songs I fell in love with: Sing Nina and Lord With Me. I went online recently and I saw that countries overseas were bangin' (pun intended) this album and regard it as one of many great gangsta rap albums. I still play Giggidy Bang at parties every now and again and it's always great to hear/see the reaction when the first sounds of this song plays.

R.O.A. - Giggidy Bang