Rube's unique brand of poetic, red clay wisdom became the connective tissue between Dungeon Family projects. After southernplayalisticadillacmuzik made OutKast stars and put the crew in the spotlight, Rube appeared on the Atlanta duo's even more acclaimed 1996 album ATLiens ("13th Floor") and 1998s Aquemini on the ghostly "Liberation."
By the late 1990s, southern Hip-Hop was centered in the rap mainstream, and the Dungeon Family had become revered as both Hip-Hop's most creative crew and hitmakers in their own right. The crews success meant more visibility for Rube, who appeared alongside Goodie Mob on "Blood" from the AIDS awareness compilation America Is Dying Slowly in 1996. Organized Noize, via a production deal with Interscope Records, would helm a string of albums for the Dungeon Family collective; including Cool Breeze's East Point's Greatest Hit and Witchdoctor's A S.W.A.T. Healin' Ritual, both of which featured Rube (on "Big Rube" and "Remedy," respectively.)
The idea of a rap game oracle wasn't entirely unheard of; fellow Atlanta-based act Arrested Development famously included elder Babe Oje, and Wu-Tang Clan albums often ended with a word from "Popa Wu," aka Freedum Allah. But Rube wasn't a gray-haired senior; he seemed more like a homeboy who'd lived enough to be able to look back with some perspective, still young enough to sit in the trap with his boys but old enough to know when they should do better.
In between the more high-profile Dungeon Family projects, Rube teamed with Ray Murray, Rico Wade and Sleepy Brown of Organized Noize to form Society Of Soul with vocalist Esporanza. The group dropped 1996s Brainchild before disbanding.
As the 1990s gave way to the 2000s, Goodie Mob disbanded and reunited, OutKast became megastars before calling it quits and the Dungeon Family showed signs of strain, Big Rube remained a constant. That trademark voice would grace albums by David Banner and Future. And in recent years, the man who'd been the connective voice between the D.F. became a generational bridge across the southern Hip-Hop landscape, appearing on albums by Denzel Curry and Offset. Rube has attributed his enduring appeal, and the appeal of the Dungeon Family, to sincerity.