For this special edition of our Crate Digging series, we’re celebrating the 50th anniversary of hip-hop by discussing 10 essential Texas hip-hop albums with Big Jade. Check it out below, and be sure to see our exclusive merch featuring our Hip-Hop 50 design at the Consequence Shop.
Big Jade is from Beaumont, Texas — and she wants you to know it.
The rising rapper is a whirlwind, all charisma and quick thinking, as she cycles through the records from fellow Texans that have stayed on repeat in her circle over the years. She has a special affection for artists out of the Houston area, and a camaraderie with those who specifically hail from Beaumont, as she does. Her love for the place she was raised is the thread that ties Megan Thee Stallion’s enormously successful Tina Snow to a nostalgic record from Big Moe that was released in the year 2000. And, when she shouts out Travis Scott’s Utopia, she’s quick to clarify: “Only because he’s got Teezo [Touchdown] on there, and Teez is from Beaumont, Texas.”
As Big Jade has continued growing and expanding to audiences outside of her beloved Texas orbit, she’s been trying new things — she attended a writer’s camp recently, and learned that she prefers her comparatively unstructured format of working. She trusts what’s coming out of her brain, uninhibited, like the deliciously vulgar “Lick” off her 2023 project, I Can’t Help It. The day we chat, she’s rehearsing with dancers for an upcoming show, a first for her as she’s expanding the scope of her live performances.
Get to know Big Jade by diving into spending some time with 10 Texas-centric records she’s been loving for years, eight of which include her notes on what makes them great.
