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West Coast hip hop

West Coast hip hop: Encyclopedia - West Coast hip hop

West Coast hip-hop, also known as California hip-hop or West Coast rap, is a style of hip-hop that originated in Los Angeles, California in the 1980s. It has since grown into a subgenre of hip-hop and has developed several creative epicenters, most of which are in California. These epicenters are: The greater Los Angeles area, Long Beach, the greater San Francisco area (also known as the "Yay" Area ), ...

Including:

West Coast hip hop - Origins and Early Success

West Coast hip hop - The First Great Divide: East vs. West

West Coast hip hop - The Second Great Divide: Commercial vs. Underground

West Coast hip hop - The Third Great Divide: East vs. West again

West Coast hip hop - West Coast Artists

West Coast hip hop - West Coast Music Websites and Information

West Coast hip hop, West Coast hip hop - Origins and Early Success, West Coast hip hop - The First Great Divide: East vs. West, West Coast hip hop - The Second Great Divide: Commercial vs. Underground, West Coast hip hop - The Third Great Divide: East vs. West again, West Coast hip hop - West Coast Artists, West Coast hip hop - West Coast Music Websites and Information

West Coast hip hop: Encyclopedia - West Coast hip hop

West Coast hip hop

West Coast hip-hop, also known as California hip-hop or West Coast rap, is a style of hip-hop that originated in Los Angeles, California in the 1980s. It has since grown into a subgenre of hip-hop and has developed several creative epicenters, most of which are in California.

These epicenters are: The greater Los Angeles area, Long Beach, the greater San Francisco area (also known as the "Yay" Area ), Oakland/Berkeley, Vallejo, Sacramento/Davis, and Seattle.

West Coast hip hop - Origins and Early Success

The West Coast scene got its start during the early 1980s as hip-hop music first gained national appeal, and established itself in California in general (and in Los Angeles and the Bay Area in particular). Early hardcore/gangsta rap performers included Too $hort, who put out three independent albums during the 1980's before his 1988 major-label debut, "Born to Mack," went gold. His next four albums all went platinum. In Los Angeles during the same period, artists like King Tee and Ice-T gained prominence, while World Class Wreckin' Cru, Egyptian Lover and the Arabian Prince innovated a style called electro hop (or simply electro), essentially a hybrid of dance music and rap - following the lead of Afrika Bambaataa, who had originally created hip-hop by mixing together reggae, funk, and German techno. However, hip-hop purists refused to accept electro hop, and it had all but disappeared by the mid-1990s.

The so-called "gangsta rap" movement also originated in California in the 1980's, serving as a sharp contrast to electro hop and other lighter forms of hip-hop. Hardcore gangsta rap achieved little success until the dawn of the 1990s, though Toddy Tee's "Batter Ram" (1985) and Ice-T's "6'n da Mornin" (1986) did receive some national exposure. Ice-T's seminal 1987 recording Rhyme Pays was a landmark for the genre, and N.W.A.'s N.W.A. and the Posse came out shortly thereafter, making waves among hip-hop listeners nationwide.

In 1988, the now-legendary West Coast group N.W.A. released their blockbuster, Straight Outta Compton, and put the West Coast on the hip-hop map. Their sound was influenced by hardcore, metal-tinged rap performers like Ice-T, Latino music commonly found in the ghettos of East L.A., and 70's soul music and p-funk. Straight Outta Compton united these sounds with minimalistic beats and blunt, hard-hitting lyrics filled with references to (and, often, promotions of) violence, hedonism, ignorance, misogyny, and the criminal lifestyle.

It has been suggested that the West Coast movement gained early recognition in Los Angeles partly due to that city's affiliation with the entertainment industry, especially in its downtown and Hollywood districts, where most of the major record companies and labels reside. And while Los Angeles was the epicenter of the burgeoning West Coast scene, West Coast hip-hop also received vital early contributions from groups based in the Bay Area of San Francisco (particularly nearby Oakland) and Seattle, Washington, which produced artists such as MC Hammer and Sir Mix-a-lot, respectively.

West Coast hip hop - The First Great Divide: East vs. West

With the nationwide success of N.W.A., the West Coast had finally established a style that matched the intensity and grit of the hip-hop that was coming from the East Coast at the time. In gangsta rap, the West Coast scene had a voice that could compete with Public Enemy, KRS-One, and other East Coast powerhouses. Although N.W.A. would eventually crumble and its ranks diminish, its remaining members continued to build on the foundation the group had laid.

Two of N.W.A.'s most prominent members, Ice Cube and Dr. Dre, both launched successful solo careers after the group's dissolution. Ice Cube's style was often more militant, angry, racially charged, and political than Dr. Dre's, and his lyrics and delivery earned him two platinum albums and a score of copycat artists. Dr. Dre's style, dubbed "g-funk" or "Gangsta Funk," was slower and more melodical, with heavy baselines topped by flutes and p-funk samples, and finished with a slurring, often whimsical lyrical delivery. Dr. Dre's debut album, The Chronic (1992), is widely considered to be a seminal work in the genre and not only established the sound of West Coast hip-hop (then primarily gangsta rap) for years to come, but also launched the careers of several key West Coast hip-hop artists, including Snoop Doggy Dogg, Dat Nigga Daz, Kurupt, Nate Dogg and Warren G.

While the beginnings of the rivalry between coastlines can be traced back to N.W.A., it took a personal beef between two of gangsta rap's greatest prodigies to fully capture the nation's attention. Tupac Shakur (2Pac), previously a dancer and second-string rapper with Digital Underground, delivered his debut album "2Pacalypse Now" in 1992 to surprising acclaim. While he was working on "Me Against the World" (1994), he was shot by muggers in the lobby of a New York City recording studio that The Notorious BIG and Sean "Puff Daddy" Combs were also allegedly at. While serving prison time for sexual assault, 2Pac accused The Notorious BIG and Sean Combs, amongst others, of orchestrating the shooting. This series of events sparked an intercoastal war between Bad Boy Entertainment (owned by The Notorious BIG and Combs) and Death Row Records (owned by Suge Knight, who had arranged for 2Pac's parole and posted a $1.4M bail to sign the rapper).

The tension between 2Pac's Death Row and The Notorious BIG's Bad Boy increased as both labels released a series of scathing tracks blatantly filled with insults, threats, and accusations targeted at the opposing labels. During this period of time, almost every incident in both rappers' personal lives was linked to the other, as the feud snowballed into hip-hop's biggest story. The rivalry ultimately died when 2Pac was fatally shot in 1996, a slaying that, not surprisingly, The Notorious BIG was widely suspected to be responsible for. In an incident that may or may not be connected to the rivalry, The Notorious BIG was also fatally shot in a similar fashion to Shakur, exactly six months after the fatal shooting of his West Coast rival.

Knight was eventually arrested on various unrelated charges, Death Row Records crumbled as Dr. Dre departed to form Aftermath Records, and Snoop Dogg left to join No Limit Records. Gangsta rap dissapeared from the national spotlight and was immediately replaced by pop-rap acts such as shiny-suited rappers Puff Daddy, Ma$e, and actor/musician Will Smith. By 1997, West Coast hip-hop had gone underground.

West Coast hip hop - The Second Great Divide: Commercial vs. Underground

An oft-cited reason for the decline of the West Coast scene in the late 1990's was that by that time it had been split into two almost totally unconnected factions. While Gangsta Rap artists like E-40 and Snoop Dogg - along with all of their countless imitators - continued to fight for access to the mainstream, the so-called Conscious Hip Hop scene on the West Coast adopted a more do-it-yourself ethos, disdaining commercial success. The aftereffects of the West Coast scene's "great divide" of the late 1990's can still be felt today: as a result of the split, major West Coast cities like San Francisco and Los Angeles are now home to not one but multiple hip hop scenes, which are differentiated from each other as much by their politics as by their music.

In the late 1990's, the West Coast's Underground Hip Hop scene began to gain national and international prominence as artists like Spearhead, Blackalicious, Zion i, Aceyalone, Del tha Funkee Homosapien, Hieroglyphics, Of Mexican Descent, Jurassic 5, The Coup, Dilated Peoples, Ozomatli, and many others (most of whom self-identify as "conscious" artists, and all of whom include overtly political messages in their music) gained worldwide fame without ever being signed to major labels. Other West Coast artists like Emcee Lynx and Company of Prophets have taken the political aspect of their music a step further and become active participants in - and de-facto spokespeople for - various social movements, something that has not happened to any significant degree in any of the U.S.'s other regional rap scenes.

Despite the emergence of the Underground movement as a major competitor at the turn of the century, West Coast Gangsta rap is still alive and well, although the sound and feel of the music has changed remarkably since the G-Funk era. Snoop Dogg and Dr. Dre continue to be major players in the national mainstream, but local gangsta rap artists like E-40, The Frontline, Andre Nickatina continue to struggle for name recognition, having enjoyed less commercial success then their more politically-minded counterparts.

West Coast hip hop - The Third Great Divide: East vs. West again

Many hip-hop experts believe that the genre is on the brink of another intercoastal rivalry, this time between the artists of G-Unit Records (East Coast) and The Black Wall Street Records (West Coast). The Game, owner of The Black Wall Street Records, is currently "beefing" with 50 Cent, owner of G-Unit Records, over his dismissal from the G-Unit roster and 50 Cent's subsequent slander of The Game on New York public radio. Since that initial incident, artists from both labels have released underground recordings rife with insults and threats targeted at the opposing labels.

It's been theorized by some Hip-Hop authorities that the rivalry between the two coasts is simply a marketing ploy to create consumer loyalty, inspire creativity through competition, generate media attention, and ultimately promote album sales. This theory is supported by the fact that both feuding labels are ultimately owned and controlled by the same entity (Aftermath Entertainment/Interscope Records) and by the fact that The Game, despite having a distinctively West Coast look and sound, was grouped into the distinctly New York-influenced G-Unit just long enough to record and promote his debut album, then "kicked out" immediately following its release. There have also been statements made by non-artists affiliated with Aftermath Records that suggest that The Game and 50 Cent are actually friends off-stage, as was apparently the case with 2Pac and The Notorious BIG.