Dirty South is a style of rap music that popped up in the latter half of the 1990s and is based in southern cities and states such as Memphis, Nashville, New Orleans, Atlanta, Miami or South Florida, South Carolina, North Carolina, Dallas, St. Louis and Houston. Dirty South descended from southern rap: its inspirations drew from Dr. Dre's Chronic album as well as Luther Campbell's 2 Live Crew's (one of the first southern rap groups to gain notoriety) nasty traditions in equivalent measure, arriving at a stoned, violent, sex-obsessed and profanity-oriented brand of modern hip hop.

Dirty South got its name from a song by Goodie Mob. Some of the Dirty South music is characterized by its bouncy, club-friendly beats and lyrics generally concerning flashy jewelry, luxury automobiles, women, and occasionally gangster lyrics. An offshoot of Dirty South music is Crunk, featuring beats with loud, pounding bass.

Rapper/producer Lil Jon is generally considered the main pioneer of Crunk music.

The genre inspired the nickname "The dirty dirty" for New Orleans.