Entry · catalog no. 9303
Dungeon Family
/ /ˈdʌndʒən ˈfæməli/ /DUN-jun FAM-lee
noun · Atlanta, Georgia (East Point) · 1990s
✓ Verified
1.
The family-like network of Atlanta artists and producers tied to Rico Wade's basement studio, 'The Dungeon', and to the production team Organized Noize, including OutKast, Goodie Mob, Cool Breeze, Big Rube and Sleepy Brown.
“Before anyone had a deal, the whole Dungeon Family was in that basement writing verses.”
2.
By extension, a person or act counted as kin to that circle through the studio, the sound or the Atlanta community around it.
“He came up Dungeon Family, so folks knew what kind of bars to expect.”
Origin & Attribution
The name comes from 'The Dungeon', the basement studio in the East Point, Georgia home of producer Rico Wade's mother, where Organized Noize (Wade, Ray Murray, Sleepy Brown) and young Atlanta acts recorded in the early 1990s. The collective released one joint album, Even in Darkness, in 2001. Wade died in April 2024. Sources confirm the studio origin of the name but do not say who first said it aloud.
1991
Organized Noize and Atlanta acts begin recording in The Dungeon basement
2001
Joint album Even in Darkness released
2024
Rico Wade dies; tributes call him the family's anchor
Region of origin
West
Midwest
N.East
South
The South
Atlanta, Georgia (East Point) · 1990s
Spoken by
Atlanta hip-hop artists, producers and fans
$DUNGEOThe Record · cultural traction
▲ Historic35 yrs
ahead of the mainstream
70/100
peak cultural energy
Introduced to English by the culture — logged here before the mainstream caught on.
Cultural usage — the recordMainstream search interest
First used
1991
in the culture
Cultural energy indexed from documented usage, search interest, and citation frequency. The recorded date is the archive’s permanent point of record.
Hear it spoken
By region — how it actually sounds
@nolakid
New Orleans, LA
@htxdri
Houston, TX
Contribute your pronunciation
Citations & Sources
■
Dungeon Family, Even in Darkness, Arista, 2001
song
■
Janee Bolden, 'Rico Wade: The Sound, Spirit, and Legacy That Built Atlanta Hip-Hop', Okayplayer
web
■
+ Cite a sourceWikipedia, 'Dungeon Family'
web
See also