Southern hip-hop, also known as Southern rap, South Coast hip-hop, or dirty south, is a blanket term for a regional genre of American hip-hop music that emerged in the Southern United States, especially in Georgia, Texas, Louisiana, Tennessee, and Florida—often titled "The Big 5," five states which constitute the "Southern Network" in rap music.

The music was a reaction to the 1980s flow of hip-hop culture from New York City and the Los Angeles area and can be considered the third major American hip-hop scene, alongside East Coast hip-hop and West Coast hip-hop. Many early Southern rap artists released their music independently or on mixtapes after encountering difficulty securing record-label contracts in the 1990s. By the early 2000s, many Southern artists had attained success, and as the decade went on, both mainstream and underground varieties of Southern hip-hop became among the most popular and influential of the entire genre.

Throughout the 1980s and 1990s, the American hip-hop music market was primarily dominated by artists from the East Coast and West Coast. Los Angeles and New York City were the two main cities where hip-hop was receiving widespread attention. The West Coast was mainly represented by groups like N.W.A, Death Row Records, and the East Coast had people like The Notorious B.I.G., Nas and groups like the Wu-Tang Clan, Mobb Deep and Bad Boy Records. In the mid 1980s, cities throughout the Southern United States began to catch on to the hip-hop music movement. The Geto Boys, a hip-hop group from Houston, were among the first hip-hop artists from the Southern United States to gain widespread popularity. Southern hip-hop's roots can be traced to the success of the group's Grip It! On That Other Level in 1989, the Rick Rubin-produced The Geto Boys in 1990, and We Can't Be Stopped in 1991.

By the mid-1990s, Atlanta had become a center in Southern hip-hop music. Local production crews such as Organized Noize that represented hip-hop groups such as Outkast and Goodie Mob played a huge part in helping the South become a center for hip-hop music. Murder Dog magazine and Ozone magazine presented information about gangsta rap.

A defining moment for Southern rap was at the 1995 Source Awards. The duo Outkast had just been awarded Best New Artist, and within the tension that was the East Coast–West Coast feud, member André 3000 came up on stage followed by boos and said, "But it's like this though, I'm tired of them closed minded folks, it's like we gotta demo tape but don't nobody want to hear it. But it's like this: the South got something to say, that's all I got to say." As stated by rapper T.I., "Outkast, period. Outkast. That's when it changed. That was the first time when people began to take Southern rap seriously." Former co-owner of the magazine The Source Benzino took credit for the incident in an interview from April 2023, saying "they gave Outkast 4.5 mics (out of 5)... and it got back to Outkast... I didn't understand the music and I was wrong." Both scenes borrowed heavily from a production style first introduced by way of the obscure late-1980s New York rap group The Showboys, heavily sampling the beats from their song "Drag Rap (Trigger Man)". By the early 2000s, these scenes found mainstream success through Disturbing tha Peace in Atlanta, Cash Money Records and No Limit Records out of New Orleans, and Hypnotize Minds out of Memphis, revolutionizing financial structures and strategies for independent Southern rap labels. According to HipHopDX, "Not only is the South on the radar, but now the region that was an underdog is the barometer for rap music and hip-hop culture."

By the early to mid-2000s, artists from the South had begun to develop mainstream popularity with artists like Slim Thug, Paul Wall, Mike Jones, and Lil Keke from Houston; T.I., Ludacris, Lil Jon, Gucci Mane and Jeezy from Atlanta; Trick Daddy and Rick Ross from Miami; Master P, B.G., Lil Wayne and Juvenile from New Orleans, and Three 6 Mafia and Yo Gotti from Memphis all becoming major label stars during this time.

Southern hip-hop peaked in popularity from 2002 through 2004. In 2002, Southern hip-hop artists accounted for 50 to 60 percent of the singles on hip-hop music charts. On the week of December 13, 2003, Southern urban artists, labels and producers accounted for six of the top 10 slots on the Billboard Hot 100: Outkast (with two singles), Ludacris, Kelis (produced by The Neptunes), Beyoncé and Chingy (on Ludacris' Disturbing Tha Peace label). Additionally, from October 2003 through December 2004, the number one position on the Billboard Hot 100 pop chart was held by a Southern urban artist for 58 out of 62 weeks. This was capped by the week of December 11, 2004 when seven out of the top ten songs on the chart were held by or featured Southern urban artists. In 2004, Vibe magazine reported that Southern artists accounted for 43.6% of the airplay on urban radio stations (compared to 29.7% for the Midwest, 24.1% for the East Coast and 2.5% for the West coast).

"The Dirty Decade", spanning from 1997 to 2007, marked a period of evolution of southern hip-hop. This era witnessed the genre's maturation and widespread recognition, with artists from the Southern United States achieving commercial success. The term "Dirty Decade" is often used to describe the gritty and distinct sound that emerged during this period. Southern hip-hop has its roots in the 1980s, with artists like OutKast and the Geto Boys laying the foundation for the genre. It was during the Dirty Decade that Southern hip-hop gained prominence on a national scale. The genre's influences are diverse, drawing from regional cultural elements and blending them with traditional hip-hop elements. Artists who rose to prominence during this era, such as OutKast, Ludacris, and Lil Wayne, continued to shape the contemporary hip-hop landscape. The regional diversity showcased during the Dirty Decade laid the groundwork for the ongoing growth and expansion of Southern hip-hop.