The Leprechaun (Original Version)

A year after his breakout performance on DJ Screw’s Southside Still Holdin’ mixtape, Lil’ Flip released his debut album, 2000’s The Leprechaun. Though other members of the Screwed Up Click had been rapping about Houston culture for years, it was 19-year-old Flip who crystallized the local style. In many ways, The Leprechaun set the stage for the national attention that Houston rap would experience in the mid-'00s, during which time Paul Wall, Mike Jones, and Slim Thug all rose to superstar status. Though they never became national hits, “I Can Do That,” “Gotta Be Me,” and “Realest Rhymin’” are canonical songs in Houston, and most Texas rap fans who came of age in the '00s can recite them word for word. Flip’s ability to write catchy hooks was perfectly complemented by the rapper’s drowsy flow, which is best experienced on the slowed-down (or “screwed”) versions of “Lil’ Flip” and “Soufside Still Holdin.” DJ Screw first recruited Flip for his freestyling ability. While other members of the SUC could improvise for brief spurts, Flip could go for hours, a talent glimpsed on “Da Freestyle King.”