The 2010s File Feature
Real Hitta
Real Hitta: Recording and Chart History Plies, born Algernod Lanier Washington in Fort Myers, Florida, in 1981, built his career through a series of Southern…
01 The Story
Real Hitta: Recording and Chart History
Plies, born Algernod Lanier Washington in Fort Myers, Florida, in 1981, built his career through a series of Southern hip-hop releases in the mid-to-late 2000s that emphasized street narratives and vernacular authenticity. His debut album, The Real Testament, released in 2007, established him as a commercially viable act in Southern rap, and subsequent releases maintained his presence in the genre. By the mid-2010s, Plies had become something of an elder statesman in the Southern rap tradition while also demonstrating an ability to collaborate with emerging talent from the next generation of artists.
Kodak Black, born Dieuson Octave in Pompano Beach, Florida, in 1997, represented that emerging generation. Having grown up in poverty in Broward County, Florida, he began releasing music in his early teenage years and attracted significant attention with his 2015 mixtape Heart of the Projects. His raw, emotionally charged delivery and his narrative focus on the realities of life in impoverished communities earned him a devoted following in Southern hip-hop. By 2016 and 2017, Kodak Black had become one of the most discussed young artists in the genre, releasing Painting Pictures in early 2017 to widespread critical notice.
The collaboration between Plies and Kodak Black on "Real Hitta" brought together two Florida artists from different generations but aligned sensibilities. The term "hitta" is Southern slang denoting someone who is authentically committed to their environment and its codes, an individual who has proven themselves through action rather than words. The pairing made natural geographic and cultural sense, with both artists drawing from overlapping traditions within Florida's hip-hop landscape.
"Real Hitta" was released in mid-2017, a period when Kodak Black's profile was rising sharply despite legal challenges that would periodically interrupt his career. The production on the track reflects the sonics prevalent in Southern trap music of the period, featuring heavy 808 bass patterns, sparse melodic elements, and a rhythmic structure designed for slow, deliberate delivery. Plies and Kodak Black's vocal textures complemented each other, with both artists bringing a distinctive drawl and regional specificity to their performances.
On the Billboard Hot 100, "Real Hitta" debuted and peaked at number 100 during the chart week of July 8, 2017. The track spent one week on the chart, entering at the very bottom position but nonetheless registering on the most comprehensive pop chart in the United States. For Plies, the appearance represented continued relevance during a period when many of his peers from the late 2000s era had largely faded from mainstream chart consideration. For Kodak Black, it added to an accumulating chart history that documented his rapid ascent.
The Hot 100 entry reflected streaming activity generated by both artists' fan bases. Plies had maintained an active social media presence and a loyal following in the South that translated to measurable streaming numbers, while Kodak Black's growing audience provided additional momentum. The combination of two established-to-emerging Florida artists created a track with a natural constituency that, while not sufficient to sustain a long chart run, was enough to break through at the chart's outer boundary.
The song accumulated approximately 18 million YouTube views over its lifespan, a figure that reflects meaningful engagement beyond the chart appearance itself. Both artists had audiences accustomed to consuming music through streaming and digital video platforms, and "Real Hitta" circulated through those channels with the organic momentum that characterized much of Southern rap's digital distribution during this period. The visual component of the YouTube presence helped maintain the track's visibility among fans of both collaborators.
Within the careers of both artists, "Real Hitta" occupies a defined historical moment. For Plies, it demonstrated his ongoing ability to connect with younger audiences and emerging artists rather than retreating from the evolving rap landscape. For Kodak Black, it was one of numerous 2017 releases that collectively established him as a significant voice in his generation of Southern hip-hop. The collaboration documented the passing of a kind of cultural torch between two Florida artists whose work, despite the generational gap, shared fundamental commitments to regional specificity and narrative authenticity.
02 Song Meaning
Real Hitta: Themes and Meaning
"Real Hitta" operates within a well-established tradition of Southern hip-hop that takes authenticity as its central preoccupation. The concept of being a "real hitta" functions as a declaration of genuine commitment to one's community, one's values, and the unwritten codes that govern life in the specific social environments from which both Plies and Kodak Black emerged. The track is fundamentally about the distinction between authentic experience and posturing, a theme that runs through much of the hip-hop tradition going back decades.
Both artists bring autobiographical credibility to the subject matter. Plies built his entire career on the premise of Southern authenticity, positioning his lyrics as direct reflections of the realities he witnessed growing up in Fort Myers. Kodak Black's background in Pompano Beach's impoverished Golden Acres neighborhood gave him a similarly grounded perspective. When both artists invoke the idea of being a "real hitta," they do so from a position of lived experience rather than adopted persona, a distinction that resonates strongly with their respective fan bases.
The track engages with themes of loyalty and reputation, two values that occupy central positions in the value systems the song describes. In the world the lyrics depict, a person's word and their consistency of action define their standing among peers. The "real hitta" is someone who has demonstrated through behavior rather than proclamation that they can be trusted, that they will not compromise when pressured, and that their allegiances are genuine. This framework for evaluating character is presented without irony or external judgment, simply as the operative moral code within a specific community.
There is also a geographic pride dimension to "Real Hitta" that deserves attention. The collaboration between two Florida artists creates a kind of state-specific solidarity, a mutual recognition between representatives of different Florida cities that they share common ground. Florida has historically been somewhat underrepresented in mainstream hip-hop narratives relative to Atlanta, New York, and Los Angeles, and collaborations like this one helped articulate a specifically Floridian hip-hop identity during a period when the state was beginning to receive greater national attention for its contributions to the genre.
The production aesthetic of the track reinforces its thematic content. The slow, deliberate pace and heavy bass create a sonic environment that demands a certain kind of focused attention, the kind of careful observation that the track's protagonists apply to reading people and situations. The music itself thus performs the quality it describes: measured, unhurried, confident in its own terms without needing external validation. This alignment between formal qualities and thematic content is characteristic of the most effective Southern trap production of this era.
Culturally, "Real Hitta" belongs to a body of work that documents a specific moment in Southern hip-hop when Kodak Black was transitioning from regional phenomenon to nationally recognized artist. The track serves as a kind of validation, with Plies's participation lending institutional credibility to Kodak Black's emerging status while simultaneously demonstrating that Plies remained an active and relevant voice in the genre. The generational dialogue embedded in the collaboration gives the track a significance that extends beyond its individual chart performance.
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