Southern hip hop is a form of American hip hop music that emerge from a club oriented vibe in the late-1990s as a popular force from cities including, but not limited to Dallas, Houston, Atlanta, Memphis, Montgomery, Bowling Green, Shreveport, New Orleans, Miami, and Baton Rouge. In the 1980s, the rise and spread of hip hop culture from New York City and California spurred cities in the Southern United States to develop and nurture their own respective hip hop scenes. Southern rap artists were forced to release their music independently, since their music was ignored in the early years despite being one of the most popular forms of Hip Hop music at the moment. The mixtape scene has factored largely in the success of many of today's southern rap artists.