(Photo: Darnell Williams/BET) From left: Strap, Quez and Ali

Once upon a time in Houston, Paul Wall said, "I've got the Internet going nuts," but that was  before Travis Porter. The rap trio hailing from Decatur, Georgia, had a huge viral hit with their song "Make It Rain," and parlayed that massive Web buzz into a deal with Jive Records.

Travis Porter is not the only Internet sensation to make a move towards the mainstream. With most record labels cutting back their artist development budgets, this is the new reality for aspiring artists. Young Money star Drake built his name through free mixtape downloads, and more recently rap nerds have been going wild for Tyler the Creator's debut solo EP, Goblin, which dropped this week. But it remains a challenge for youthful hip-hop acts to develop their own audience online and then bring that fanbase with them when they jump to the mainstream.

And so, while the trio—which consists of stepbrothers Ali and Quez and their friend Strap—are appearing on The Mo'Nique Show tonight, and while the video for their latest single, "College Girl," is steady climbing the 106 & Park charts, Travis Porter still churns out viral videos for one simple reason: to maintain that fan familiarity.

"It's so that they do know you," explains Ali. "It always feel better when you feel like you know somebody."

Even before the record deal with Jive, Travis Porter's consistent stream of digital mixtapes made their way onto virtually every major hip-hop blog.

"We were doing our own thing. We did what we wanted to do," says Ali. "We were all over the whole United States, international—just everywhere, not signed."

With their fiercely loyal Twitter following growing by the minute, now would seem to be the perfect time for Travis Porter to translate their online success into mainstream acclaim.

Will tonight's performance on The Mo'Nique Show become a viral hit just as their own videos have? Will they "make it rain" in the Penthouse? Witness a rap phenomenon for yourself on Thursday at 11pm/10c.