In Ghetto Stories, a 2010 Baton Rouge hood flick that I like to think of as Trill Entertainment’s The Fast and the Furious, Boosie and Webbie are rivals from opposite sides of town. “You finna witness some other shit, nigga!” threatens Boosie at one point during a gas station confrontation, one of at least a dozen of his hilarious line readings. Unknowingly, the two have a mutual OG, Slimm, a big-time drug dealer with morals, although he’s cheating on his girlfriend, played by Hoopz, the winner of Flavor of Love season one. Eventually, Slimm is mysteriously killed, forcing Boosie and Webbie to come together to carry out his mission of getting rich or something and to find out who did the deed. Most of the second act is about the formation of their friendship, which is strengthened through strip club nights, getting money, cooking crack, and, of course, a makeover montage. Watch the movie once and you’ll understand the central idea of Baton Rouge rap: Nothing means more than brotherhood.
That might be why, even beyond Boosie and Webbie, Baton Rouge has been a city with strong rap duos for a minute: Scotty Cain and Mista Cain, TEC and Maine Musik, and at the moment, 70th Street Carlos and WNC Whopbezzy. Supposedly, Carlos and Whopbezzy met in the first grade when Bezzy walked into class with two golds in his mouth, a chain on his neck, and girls throwing themselves at him. In that instant, Carlos thought, “That lil bitch thuggin’,” and they’ve been boys ever since. (You should know by now to take rappers’ stories with a grain of salt, but I choose to believe this one.)
Years later, in the mid-2010s, back when Bezzy used to do Carlos’ tats, they started rapping on a whim. With a run of singles and a 2017 joint mixtape, the pair made a lot of noise in a competitive era of Louisiana rap—the rise of NBA YoungBoy and JayDaYoungan; Kevin Gates’ star turn—until they eventually took an unexplained break from dropping music together. On their return, with Out The Blue, they pick up right where they left off.