I go through music preference phases and just recently began to re-connect with hip hop and rap music. I’ve noticed that almost all of the currently popular hip hop and rap artists seem to hail from the Southeast (primarily Atlanta) or New York. I can’t seem to find any from the west coast. Why?
Seems to me most of the West Coast hip-hop nowadays is more underground/backpack rap (at least here in the Bay Area - The Coup being a perfect example). Can’t really speak for L.A.
A lot of hip hop stations try to have their West Coast Wednesdays, but the Southern and Eastern stuff is what’s hip these days, I guess. I get the feeling that if it were any good, it’d get airplay, but a lot of West Coast rappers have been complaining that the newer West Coast stuff isn’t getting a fair shake.
- Does happy dance
One coast down, one more to go. Why can’t kids these days just listen to some nice punk rock, like i did?
I’m still waiting for Detox…
:sigh:
Yea, Oakland has a damn good backpack scene, especially with DJ Zeph, one of the best beat producers currently. Azeem is damn fine himself, not to mention all of the others from Oaklyn records.
We do. There’s no law that says you can’t enjoy both.
I think it has a lot to do with a lack of producing talent in the West. There are a lot of nice West Coast lyricists, but with rap music, it is so vital that the instrumentation marries the vocals.
Ras Kass, The Game, Kurupt, Ya Boy (etc.) are all nice, but listen to their albums/mixtapes and every song sounds exactly the same. It’s only when they jack someone elses beat that they really get to shine. I think it’s a matter of time before a producer emerges on the West that captures that sound, and he or she will be in huge demand there, and you’ll see a reemergence of West Coast rap.
“I heard a few heads say that hiphop is dead; no it’s not, it’s just malnourished and under-fed.”
-Geologic, Blue Scholars
Don’t be sleeping on the Upper-Left Corner now, especially the beats. Hell, two of our finest producers are even on Rhymesayers, Vitamin D and Jake One. Then you got the crazy beats of Butterfly(of Digable Planets)'s overly slept on Cherrywineproject. And of course the brilliant Sabzi of the Blue Scholars. Get to the end of this post and tell me the NorthWest doesn’t have some of the freshest sounds you’ve heard in a minute. There are a lot of really talented artists up here just waiting to blow up- Boom Bap Project, Common Market, Dyme Def, Gabriel Teodros, Grayskul(been playing the hell out of their ‘Bloody Radio’ album lately), and again, but perhaps most notably, the Blue Scholars.
Some of my favorite NW stuff from the youtube crates…
Abyssinian Creol - Crushes Heaven, Dont Cry For Us
Boom Bap Project - Welcome to Seattle
Blue Scholars - Coffee and Snow, Evening Chai(Evening Tea), Joe Metro, North By Northwest, Southside Revival, The Ave
Chicharones - Breaking Point, Surf Rock
Common Market - Black Patch War, Tobacco and Snow Covered Roads
Dyme Def - Let It Be, Pick Up Your Flow(ft. Saigon)
Gabriel Teodros - Third World Wide, Tizita
Grayskul - The Office(ft. Aesop Rock & Slug), Scarecrow
Jake One - Get Er Done(ft. MF Doom), The Truth(ft. Freeway & Brother Ali)
Josh Martinez - Grown Folks Music, Just A Dood
Lifesavas - Hello Hi Hey
Sir Mix-A-Lot - Posse On Broadway
Sleep(of Oldominion) - Fall Guy, Never(ft. Tony Hill)
Sweatshop Union - Humans Race, Labour Pains
I think you missed the word just.
East Coast (of Canada) is where it’s at.
I believe that precedent was set in the landmark decision of “Nu-Metal v. Taste” (1999)
You can take that precedent and stick it up your
(yeah!)
Stick it up your (yeah!)
Stick it up your (yeah!)
Something that is worth looking into are the forefathers. The people in the New York City scene have been active in it. The West Coast rappers, save for Dr. Dre, went and did something else for the most part, possibly dabbling in the music as something ancillary. Any credence to that?
Perhaps, but the forefathers in the East have very little to do with the scene there, either. I mean, everyone pays lip service to the old guys like Kool Herc and Afrikka Bamabatta, but I would be willing to bet that most cats out there rapping have never listened to Critical Beatdown all the way though.
Shit, a couple years ago, Nelly dissed KRS-ONE. NELLY. The guy that made it cool to wear Band-aids…
Snoop Dogg has a new album coming out in Sept. That’s pretty Eastizzle Coastizzle… Bi-atch!