Travis Porter

If Atlanta’s strip clubs had poet laureates, Travis Porter’s members would be likely contenders for the honour. The rap trio’s music is an unabashed celebration of exotic dance and all its trappings—the chrome pole, the bills raining down, and, most of all, the superhuman feats of agility. Brothers Lakeem “Ali'' Mattox and Donquez “Quez” Woods met their future bandmate Harold “Strap” Duncan in middle school in Decatur, Georgia, in the early 2000s. In 2006, they dubbed themselves the Hard Hitters before adopting the alias Travis Porter in 2008. On the 2009 mixtape Im a Differenter they established their irreverent bona fides, giving it up for house parties and freaky girls over rambunctious Dirty South beats. Just a year later, they scored an enduring hit with “Make It Rain”, a so-simple-it’s-brilliant anthem alternating between inspired wordplay (“I’m single with a lot of Pringles'') and the title’s anthemic command. Over the next few years, they kept the banknotes blanketing Atlanta stages with the hits “Bring It Back”, a tribute to gymnast-level flexibility, and “Ayy Ladies”, a love letter to lap dancers complete with a deliciously lewd Tyga verse. Travis Porter have remained faithful to their bawdy lane even as they’ve branched out stylistically, fueling the turnup on Flosstradamus’ 2014 single “Drop Top”; dipping into woozy, half-time rhythms on 2015’s D. Rich-produced “Faster”; and getting truly twisted on 2018’s slowed-down “Let It Snow”. Whatever the year or season, when Travis Porter step to the mic, the club is always jumping—with a chance of heavy precipitation.