Hyper-extended family

It's like this: a family reunion that you attend every year, and each time you go, you meet new relatives you didn't know you had -- distant cousins, an estranged aunt, the loud-mouthed, drunken uncle who shows up only when he happens to be in a nearby city.

That's how it is with the Dungeon Family, the extended crew that includes OutKast, Goodie Mob and Organized Productions. Just when you think you've met all the offspring and their cousins and their cousins' cousins, here comes a new batch of kinfolk blowing in to claim their place in the spotlight.

The latest to come forth are the Calhouns, a three-man rap outfit founded by Freddy "Cool Breeze" Calhoun, and also featuring Pauly Calhoun and Lucky Calhoun. Cool Breeze, who scored a solo hit in 1999 with the star-studded "Watch for the Hook" single, tapped his fellow Calhouns for his debut album, East Point's Greatest Hit. Now the trio has a debut album of its own, Made in the Dirdy South, which features appearances by Slimm Calhoun, who released a solo album on OutKast's Aquemini label last year, and a host of other Calhoun "cousins, aunts and uncles."

The record recently hit stores, and ever since, the Calhouns have kept busy trying to explain exactly who they are and how they're related -- or not related -- to one another.

For the record, Calhoun is not the rappers' actual surname. It refers to East Point's Calhoun Avenue, where many of them grew up. But Pauly, Freddy and Lucky say the album is about (you guessed it) family values -- Dirty South style.

"It represents our way of life -- how we eat, drink and think," Pauly says.