As a member of the production crew Organized Noize, Rico Wade helped elevate the Atlanta and Dirty South hip-hop scene in the 1990s as he, Patrick “Sleepy” Brown and Ray Murray produced the debut albums from Dungeon Family members OutKast (1994’s Southernplayalisticadillacmuzik) and Goodie Mob (1995’s Soul Food).
Born February 26, 1972, Rico Wade grew up in Atlanta’s East Point neighborhood, and in the early ‘90s, he established a recording studio in his mother’s basement called The Dungeon, the location where Organized Noize, OutKast and Goodie Mob formed the Dungeon Family collective. Organized Noize went on to produce hits such as TLC’s #1 pop hit “Waterfalls,” En Vogue’s #1 R&B hit “Don’t Let Go (Love),” Mista’s “Blackberry Molasses,” Ludacris’ “Saturday (Oooh! Oooh!)” and OutKast’s “So Fresh, So Clean” among others. On April 12, 2024, Rico Wade passed away at the age of 52.
In a 2014 interview with Rolling Stone, Future said the following regarding his cousin Rico Wade’s influence:
Rico support me 1000 more times than anybody ever could. Nobody could ever do what Rico Wade did for me. […] Everything I know about music, I know because of Rico.