Dungeon Family

Biography

The Dungeon Family are a musical collective based in Atlanta that specialized in Southern hip-hop with heavy funk and soul influences. Members of this collective recorded music, and had their career emerge, from Rico Wade's basement recording studio in East Point, Georgia, which was known as the "Dungeon".

History

The group derives its name from "The Dungeon", the name given to record producer Rico Wade's studio, located in the basement of his mother's house, where many of the early members of the collective did their first recordings. Rico Wade, Ray Murray, and Sleepy Brown constitute the production/songwriting team Organized Noize, who have produced hits for the main popular Dungeon Family groups Outkast, TLC, and Goodie Mob. Numerous aspiring musicians and artists emerged from the "Dungeon," with Wade even considered to be an originator of Atlanta hip-hop.
The collective released their only album together, titled Even in Darkness, under Arista Records on November 20, 2001.
On October 7, 2011, it was announced that Arista, along with Jive and J Records, would be shut down. All artists on those labels, including The Dungeon Family, were moved to RCA Records. Because of this, the collective decided to part ways with RCA's parent, Sony Music.
On April 13, 2024, Dungeon Family leader Rico Wade died.

In visual media

On March 16, 2016, the documentary The Art of Organized Noize premiered on Netflix.