East Level, GA – On Friday, Might 9, 2025, the nook of Headland and Delowe remodeled into sacred floor as hip-hop royalty, group leaders, and followers gathered to honor certainly one of Atlanta’s biggest cultural architects, Rico Wade. The disclosing of a everlasting monument at this historic intersection wasn’t only a ceremony; it was a homecoming, a non secular revival, and a love letter to the visionary who put the South on the map.
With the solar casting a golden gentle over the group and music vibrating by way of the streets, the vitality was nothing wanting electrical. Pals, household, and followers alike stood shoulder-to-shoulder, paying homage to the person whose affect birthed the Dungeon Household and helped carve out a Southern renaissance in hip-hop.
Rico Wade was greater than a producer. He was a prophet with beats, a mentor with imaginative and prescient, and a pioneer who helped craft the sound of OutKast, Goodie Mob, and a complete technology. “That is the place the world meets,” one speaker stated of East Level, and nowhere does that ring more true than the positioning of the monument, the place Wade as soon as labored in a magnificence store that doubled as a cultural incubator. They offered hair care and mixtapes. And unknowingly, they offered desires.
“This can be a stunning affair,” declared 103.3’s Greg Road, as the group nodded in unity. “Rico is Southwest. Rico is SWATS. Rico is flyness. Rico is braveness. And Rico is Atlanta.” The monument, etched together with his identify and legacy, sits as a everlasting reminder of what occurs when inventive spirit meets group soul.
East Level’s Mayor Dina Vacation Ingram and Fulton County Commissioner Marvin Arrington Jr. offered the proclamation for Rico Means Remembrance Day, a becoming tribute for a person who turned basements into launchpads. “He made us imagine we may fly,” one speaker recalled with emotion.
Massive Boi, Killer Mike, Massive Gipp, T-Mo, and Massive Rube, all Dungeon disciples—confirmed up in full power. Their tales painted an image of a time when cell service couldn’t attain the Dungeon, however greatness may. A younger Massive Boi enjoying A Tribe Known as Quest exterior the sweetness store. Spray portray Rico’s Honda Accord. Rehearsing in basements earlier than nationwide excursions. Every anecdote was a verse within the bigger music of Wade’s legacy.
However this wasn’t simply nostalgia, it was prophecy fulfilled. “With out Rico Wade, there isn’t any Dungeon Household. No Goodie Mob. No OutKast,” one speaker affirmed. “He gave us what true Atlanta felt like earlier than the remainder of the world caught on.”
The monument’s placement is poetic. It stands on the crossroads of legacy and future, within the metropolis that birthed him and the tradition he helped form. As Killer Mike put it, “We’re honoring the daddy. The architect. Rico Wade.”
In a world that usually forgets its originators, this second stood in defiance. A monument not just for East Level. Not just for Atlanta. However for the world. A logo of what’s potential when imaginative and prescient meets religion, and group meets artwork.
Rico Wade could have transitioned, however on the nook of Headland and Delowe, his beat goes on.
🕊️ Relaxation in Energy, Rico Wade.
📍 Without end immortalized within the coronary heart of SWATS.
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