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David Banner: Worthy of the Hulk's Name
David Banner comes by way of the Deep Deep South-not Atlanta or Houston like some other rap stars. Where? We're talking Jackson, Mississippi. And he was no slacker or early misfit like some other rappers you've heard stories about. Levell Crump was studious enough to get to college, Southern University in fact, a traditional and famous all-black college out of Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Again, we're talking Deep South here.
But let's not ruin the David Banner reputation here. Let's focus in on why we're writing about him in the first place: his rapping. He got his first big start back in 2003, on a major studio release called " Mississippi: The Album." This David Banner record went gold, in no small part because of the work and help of Southern all-stars Lil Jon and Lil Flip. It also helped that the David Banner record had David Banner songs on it like "Like a Pimp" and " Mississippi." (Note to self: This was actually the second David Banner album out there … in 2000, he released the underground tracks on "Them Firewater Boyz, Vol. 1," but " Mississippi" definitely put him on the map in the biggest of ways.)
Congress Calling
It's been said that the next big David Banner record, "MTA2: Baptized in Dirty Water," also from 2003, was put together (some would say thrown) in less than two weeks. If that's the truth, that is some impressive work. But it might explain why David Banner had to release a fourth album to make up for the third.
That fourth David Banner record was released in 2005 (so David Banner took his time on this one!) and called "Certified." For this album, David Banner got some help from some friends, including such artists on tracks as Judakiss, Too Short, BG, and Bun B.
Around this time, an event changed David Banner's life, like it did many other people's lives. What are we talking about here? Hurricane Katrina blew through in late August 2005, and left all of the Gulf Coast a wreck, from Mobile, Alabama, all the way to New Orleans. Especially New Orleans. Levell Crump stepped up so much after the disaster that he eventually was honored with the Visionary Award by the National Black Caucus of the Mississippi State Legislature. After all, Mississippi got hit just as hard as New Orleans, perhaps harder, with whole towns being swept off the map by the storm surge and 130 mile per hour winds.
More Than Just The David Banner
Perhaps Katrina made David Banner mad, and he went all figuratively green and mad on the wreckage! But either way, David Banner became a national figure and eventually even testified before the U.S. Congress on how the media perpetuates stereotypes of African Americans. David Banner also got onto the silver screen with the Samuel L. Jackson movie, "Black Snake Moan."
