From the New Orleans-based hit factory Cash Money Records to the mob style music of Houston’s own Rap-A-Lot Records to the sometimes-Satanic verses of Memphis ensemble Hypnotize Minds Camp, consistency has been the key to longevity in the world of hip-hop. Year after year after year, these proverbial powerhouse labels continue to give the people heaping doses of their signature brands of down South rap music.

Following in the platinum-plated paths of so many others before them is Nashville-based music staple Felonious Records/ Felonious Entertainment. For more than 10 years, the independent music machine has pumped out hit singles and albums, developed aspiring artists and continually given the southern region its distinct brand of southern fried funk.

Next off the label is the Spring release of independent compilation Business Nothing Personal featuring some of the most talented artists in the city of Cashville. And the seething lead single from the compilation is the neck-jerking anthem “Blame It On My Swag” featuring Zilla, Big Boom and Thorobread.

“People come to Nashville for country music like they go to Atlanta for hip-hop,” says label CEO Maurice Ferguson. “But we are trying to make them come to Nashville for hip-hop because we have a lot of flavor down here.” Ferguson started the label in 1999 and handpicked his first group of artists, a four-man collective known as Illicit Biznez. And they delved head first into the game with the group’s debut single “P-Popping” and came back again with the independent smash single “Throw It Up” featuring Milwaukee rapper Coo Coo Cal. The song made so much noise that Illicit Biznez charted on Billboard’s Top 100 Single Sales charts.

“We were in the streets heavy with the music. It picked up on radio and spread,” says Ferguson. “I wasn’t prepared. I had a runaway single and couldn’t support it.”

Felonious Records hit the music scene again in 2003 Nashville rapper Glass Joe’s highly praised Select-O-Hits-distributed independent album Glacious. The album boasted features with Slim of R&B group 112, Mississippi rapper/ producer David Banner and Bone Crusher and heavily rotated single “Big Wheels," which charted on Billboard’s Top Single Sales of the Year charts in 2005.