Documentary Photos By Peter Beste

But Houston’s non-centralized and non-zoned geography present drawbacks that extend far beyond real estate value or cultural visibility. Poor civic services and one of the nation’s weakest public transportation systems, combined with its non-pedestrian friendly streets, long summers and unforgiving urban sprawl, have put many of Houston’s poorest neighborhoods on the fringe of an already polarized cultural dichotomy. Parts of Houston have, for decades, remained estranged from Houston.
In that, new cultures have sprouted within those pockets of the city. The neighborhoods of South Park, Fifth Ward and Third Ward have, over the space of the last thirty years, produced a culture centered around rap music that has flourished independently, in the process creating a sustainable economy of its own within the city limits. Houston has developed its own musical genres (the slowed-down sounds of DJ Screw and the horrorcore of Ganksta NIP and the Geto Boys), cultivated a car culture (slabs, candy paint, custom rims) and innovative approach to jewelry (diamond-encrusted mouthpieces known as grills), a homegrown vice (Codeine Promethazine cough syrup mixed with soda) and has encouraged an entrepreneurial spirit that has become commonplace among its artists. This has resulted in an independent scene where artists promote and release their own records, selling them directly to the fans to eliminate the middlemen and keep the money in the community.
The purpose of this photos is to provide an intimate look into the hearts, minds and lives of a fiercely independent and often misrepresented group of individuals who live on the outskirts–both physically and ideologically–of the social and economic experiment known as Houston.