Tell 'Em Where You're From: The Regional Anthems That Move Us
Across the United States, you'll find regional phrases, dishes, customs and quirks, as well as people eager to defend them. In its American Anthem series, NPR has been exploring songs that tap into collective emotions — and there are few more dramatic sights than a crowd shouting the same song in unison in an expression of hometown pride.
This week, the staff of NPR Music lends our hearts and hands to write about the songs that light up our home regions. Some, like "California Love" and "New York, New York," wear their allegiances on their sleeves. Others are spiritual cousins, embraced across state lines by communities who see and hear themselves in the music. As with all the songs in this series, the soul of an anthem isn't in who writes it, but who claims it as their own.
Atlanta
"No Mo Play In GA" by Pastor Troy
We get. Buck. Crunk. Turnt. Lit. In regional parlance, they're all variations on the same theme. And in Atlanta, we embody them all. But hip-hop's capital outpost hasn't always occupied the center of rap's sphere of influence. Even with OutKast ascending toward the stratosphere by the late '90s, we were still some underdogs down south. Like battle hymns of ill repute, our songs bore out that truth. We tended to wear our pride on our sleeve.
It's a fitting narrative for a city whose professional sports teams were perennial losers, even as our musical heirs provided the winning score of the aughts. Needless to say, we have highlighted ). But the most spirited Atlanta anthem is not by such usual suspects as OutKast, or – though thedefinitely has his fair share. Neither is it produced by , or any other super-producer praised, past or present, for shepherding the sound of Atlanta to international appeal.That honor belongs to one Pastor Troy: His regional hit "No Mo Play In GA" may have never made a dent beyond the Mason-Dixon, but it's been the heartbeat of The Peach State for the past 20 years.
