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Rico Wade

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Source: Kevin C. Cox / Getty
CeeLo Green is working on keeping Rico Wade’s legacy alive for years to come. He purchased his home with hopes of turning it into a museum.

As reported by HipHopDX, the Goodie Mob founding member is grieving the loss of his friend and collaborator, Rico Wade. On Monday (April 15), CeeLo shared a very lengthy social media post announcing he has purchased one of Wade’s homes. The house in question served as the second studio that the Dungeon Family collective primarily recorded out of after growing out of their original location.

“We moved into ‘the White House’ because by unanimous decision, Rico Wade was appointed commander [in] chief of Atlanta music culture,” CeeLo wrote on Instagram. “Our success bought us all homes of our own and the White House was an empty nest. Mr. Wade decided on something more domestic to raise his new family, which was his [quaint] and reserved taste in the first place.”

He would go on to reveal that the property would eventually deteriorate due to tenants who reportedly failed to keep up with the maintenance. “It was too important and invaluable to leave it be. The asking price was around 1 million, I would’ve paid more!” CeeLo said. “I’m proud to say me and my real estate partner… my sister did that for the family! My pleasure.” He would go on to reveal that he will be turning the home into an exhibit. “One day soon it will be a museum, archiving our rich musical history. You’ll be the first to know… and if you’re ever in Atlanta on the southside, come see us sometime and we will take good care of you, the way Father took care of us. #facts one time for Mr. Wade.”
Back in 2019, Big Boi purchased the crew’s original recording home aptly called the Dungeon. It is now available for rent via Airbnb. Rico Wade’s cause of death has yet to be confirmed.

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Source: handout / Rico Wade
It has been a little over a week since the untimely passing of Atlanta Hip-Hop luminary Rico Wade. The founder of the Dungeon Family will be laid to rest on Friday, April 26 at a private funeral.

The late Organized Noize members homegoing will be held at the famed Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta. Per his press representative, Wade will be eulogized “privately and by invitation only” for close friends and family.

Although the services will be private, Clark Atlanta’s band is scheduled to perform hits produced by Organized Noize (Wade, Sleep Brown and Ray Murray) outside of Ebenezer Baptist, the same church where Martin Luther King, Jr. served as co-pastor and is currently lead by US Senator Raphael Warnock.
For those wanting to pay their respects along the funeral procession, details of the scheduled arrangements are below:
Event: Private Funeral Service for Rico Wade
Date:  Friday, April 26, 2024
Time: 11 AM (arrivals typically happen 30 minutes prior)
Location: Ebenezer Baptist Church located @ 101 Jackson St NE, Atlanta, GA 30312
Procession to Gravesite Route:

Start MLK @ Mercedes Benz
Left on Harlan Road SW – Flowers to be laid at 409 Harlon Road SW
Right on Peyton Road SW
Right on Hayne
Left on Lynhurst Drive SW
Left Cascade Road
Right on Adams Drive – Flowers to be laid at 1590 Adams Drive SW
Left on Childress Drive SW
Left on Campbellton Road
Right on Delowe Drive
Right on Headland Drive – Flowers to be laid at the corner of Delowe and Headliand

Rest in powerful peace Rico Wade.

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Source: Ben Rose / Getty
Big Boi wrote an extensive tribute to the late Rico Wade of the Dungeon Family, sharing it with fans on social media.
As the Hip-Hop world is still reeling from the sudden death of southern rap trailblazer Rico Wade, one-third of the Organized Noize production crew and Dungeon Family founder, Big Boi opened up about the loss of his dear friend and collaborator. In a post shared on Instagram on Monday (April 15), the veteran MC and one-half of OutKast displayed a collection of photos and videos from the breadth of their 30-year friendship.

“This is a different type of hurt …. Slick Ricky Wade .. I know you’re with us STILL … in a bigger role now… Big Angel Energy… the Highest of Vibrations … Praise Yah,” Big Boi wrote in the caption of the post, ending off with hashtags honoring Wade and the Dungeon Family. The video clip in the post was taken from The Art of Noize documentary chronicling the Atlanta, Georgia production team of Wade, Sleepy Brown, and Ray Murray which had previously been streaming on Netflix.
“Rico Wade is one-third of Organized Noize and he’s like the mouthpiece for that collective of producers. He was connected to LaFace Records through Pebbles ’cause he went to school with Tionne ‘T-Boz’ Watkins from TLC. She connected him with Pebbles and through them, Pebbles introduced Rico to LA Reid,” Big Boi says before adding: “He was like the gateway to get to LA, as well as the producers who produced Southernplayalisticadillacmuzik. They signed OutKast. Organized Noize were responsible for us signing to LaFace Records. So without Rico Wade, Sleepy Brown, and Ray Murray, there would [be no OutKast].”
The death of the 52-year-old Wade last Saturday (April 13) took everyone by surprise. Many others expressed their grief in posts shared on social media. Grammy Award-winning artist CeeLo Green offered up a heartfelt and lengthy tribute to Wade in his Instagram post. “I speak on behalf of all my brothers and all of your sons we #love you and I cannot thank you enough! I’m forever in your debt. and all of the goodness God has promised us for going forward I shall give you a token of gratitude.. wow my elder is a ancestor now that means you really put that work in… amazing! Job well done.”

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CLOSE

Source: Gregory Bojorquez / Getty
According to multiple sources, Rico Wade, part of Organized Noize and one of the founders of the legendary Dungeon Family of producers and artists out of Atlanta, has passed away. He was 52.

Along with Ray Murray and Sleepy Brown, Wade formed Organized Noize, a production team that worked out of his mother’s basement in Atlanta—which came to be known as “The Dungeon.” Organized Noize would produce OutKast’s landmark debut album, Southernplayaliticadillacmuzik, and would go on to make music for TLC, En Vogue, Ludacris and more. The “Dungeon Family” includes artists like OutKast, Goodie Mob, Killer Mike, Witchdoctor and Cool Breeze, amongst others.
Thus to call Wade instrumental in the creation and proliferation of the Southern Hip-Hop sound out of Atlanta is a massive understatement.
The Grammy Award winning-rapper Killer Mike took to Instagram to mourn Wade’s death. “I don’t have the words to express my deep and profound sense of loss,” wrote Mike for a caption of a photo of Wade in a studio. “I am Praying for your wife and Children. I am praying for the Wade family. I am praying for us all. I deeply appreciate your acceptance into The Dungeon Family, mentorship, Friendship and Brotherhood. Idk where I would be without ya’ll.”
A documentary about the Dungeon Family collective, The Art of Organized Noize, featured Wade prominently and was released on Netflix in 2016. Also worth noting, Wade is star rapper Future’s cousin.

No cause of death has been revealed at this time. Rest in powerful peace Rico Wade.
Check out reactions to his untimely passing in the gallery.

This story is developing. 

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Source: Hulu / hulu
One year after shaking the tables in Black middle-aged households across the country, Hulu’s highly anticipated documentary, Freaknik: The Wildest Party Never Told, will finally make its debut.

According to a video announcement made by Jermaine Dupri, via Instagram Freaknik: The Wildest Party Never Told, will make its official debut during SXSW 2024 (March 8 – 16).

“This is something that a lot of y’all have been asking about,” he said in the video. “Freaknik — what’s up with Freaknik? So here we go.” Dupri then read off an email he received from Hulu saying the documentary would premiere at the world-renowned film and television festival.

Following Dupri’s unveiling, Hulu dropped the official announcement during Super Bowl weekend, revealing that the wider release would happen on March 21.

According to Deadline, Freaknik: The Wildest Party Never Told, is telling the legendary stories about the iconic Atlanta street party that drew hundreds of thousands of people in the ’80s and ’90s, celebrating the legacy of the event that solidified Black spring break and helped put Atlanta on the cultural map. Executive Produced by Luke Campbell, Jermaine Dupri and 21 Savage, and crafted by Mass Appeal and Swirl Films, the documentary features appearances by 21 Savage, Lil Jon, Killer Mike, Jalen Rose, Too $hort, Shanti Das, former Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed, Erick Sermon, CeeLo Green, Rico Wade, Kenny Burns and more.
As previously reported, the streaming giant went viral after announcing it was dropping a documentary about the HBCU-focused annual Atlanta spring break event from the 1980s and 1990s, after concerns from former attendees–now with their college-aged children–were worried about archival footage of them in compromised positions coming to light. Freaknik, which started as a modest HBCU picnic in 1983 and spent 15 years morphing into the quintessential Black Spring Break, was a cultural touchstone that many participants would rather leave in the time capsule, opening the door for the documentary to face lawsuits from women and men worried that their college-aged shenanigans would be presented to the world. Director P. Frank Williams assured those worried it would be a celebratory reflection of the era versus salacious.

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