I know it (almost certainly) got both Tupac Shakur and Notorious B.I.G./Biggie Smalls killed, but I’ve never been clear on what it was all about. (Or if it ever ended.)
And – where was the Midwest in all this? I don’t expect any Lake Wobegon Rap, but aren’t there rap scenes in Chicago or Detroit?
Arguably there’s a rap scene in Detroit, but since Marshall went to LA to work with Dre and it’s only other notable is (cringe) Kid Rock’s efforts, it doesn’t really factor in. During the 1980s, Detroit was more involved in transitioning from Motown to helping give birth to House, Acid, and Jungle than it was in hip hop.
Chicago has a rap scene but has no discernible style of it’s own, unlike both the East & West Coast scenes.
[brief rap history lesson]
East Coast rap and hip hop traditionally had very strong solid beats but its focus was on lyrical delivery. Complex rhymes, metaphors and alliterations echoed the phrasings of black preachers. This later also began to incorporate sampled vocals from movies, TV shows and recordings of public speeches.
West Coast rap stripped the beats down to the bass drum, in part, and began to focus lyrically on braggadocio which eventually became what is now known as gangsta rap.
The two coasts existed fine until NWA’s initial release Straight Outta Compton began to get a lot of press, mainly due to it’s controversial lyrics. This seemed to incense at least one guy on the east coast, Tim Dog, who released a track called “Fuck Compton” which was basically just a 4 minute dissing of NWA and the West coast scene in general.
The next year, Dre’s The Chronic was released, followed by Snoop Dogg’s Doggystyle in 1993 and soon Death Row Records was the top of the rap game, taking the spotlight off NYC and putting it firmly on LA.
[/brief rap history lesson]
There is, or was, a Dirty South rap scene centered around Atlanta. I think those three are the dominant players. The Midwest never seems to sustain a musical trend for very long. The exception being Motown, which lasted roughly ten years before succumbing to Philly and eventually disco. One could argue that they collapsed almost immediately after pulling up stakes and moving to LA.
I have no insight on the East-West conflict but NYC/East Coast owned rap until NWA showed up in 1988. The East was old-school styling and the West invented gangsta rap. Given the boasting nature of rap it’s not surprising that each side would taunt the other.
There was also the New Orleans based “No Limit” group, founded under Master P, with Silkk the Shocker, Mystikal and for a period, Snoop Dogg (after Suge Knight went to prison), though it went defunct and was quasi-resurrected but isn’t what it once was.
Nelly came out of St. Louis, and founded Derrty Entertainment, but he remains the only big name in that crew. Da Brat and her So So Def were Chicago-based, but low-key.
As for the East Coast-West Coast beef, it started out of pure basic jealousy. As mentioned, NYC owned rap, the origins of hip-hop as we know it were in NYC, but as the 80s closed and 90s opened, West Coast MCs were getting attention with their very different, more hardcore style of rap, notably from NWA (the group that gave us Dr. Dre and Eazy E) from Compton.
In late 1991, a New York MC named Tim Dog released a diss track called “Fck Compton." A West Coast rapper named Tweety Bird (note that thus far no major artists were involved) released an answering diss called "Fck the South Bronx.” From there it was battle on.
1992 and 1993 belonged almost entirely to Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg after “The Chronic” and “Doggystyle.” Suge Knight’s Death Row crew were the primary focus of attention.
Meanwhile in NYC in 1993, Sean Combs (Puff Daddy back then, you know his myriad nicknames) founded Bad Boy Records, with Notorious BIG and Craig Mack as his main artists. Biggie started blowing up as 93 closed.
But things just sort of simmered along with bad blood and basic “I’m better than you, I deserve more attention” sniping and taunting until November of 1994, when Tupac (who wasn’t in the Death Row crew but was West Coast) was ambushed in the lobby of a recording studio in NYC, robbed and shot five times. Shortly thereafter, Biggie put out a diss track called “Who Shot Ya?” – released while Shakur was still recovering. Shakur decided that the wording of the taunts in the track were evidence that someone in the Bad Boy crew (or the crew, in general) was responsible for the attempted murder.
After that, things took another turn because of ugliness at the 1995 Source Awards, which were in New York City, Suge Knight called out Combs from the stage over Combs’s habit of featuring on all the major releases from Bad Boy artists and showing up in the music videos. Combs was actually gracious in return, praising the Death Row crew and trying to diffuse tensions, but the crowd was pure East Coast, and when Dre and Snoop performed, the crowd was cold and Snoop was not too kind, and now the fans were in it.
After that there was another shooting of another Death Row affiliated person, and Knight again implicated Bad Boy. Tupac joined Death Row and the fire got hotter, centered around Tupac, who really couldn’t find any East Coast artists, especially Bad Boy artists, he couldn’t diss.
Eventually the nastiness boiled down to a the most personal and ugly allegation – first publicized by Jay-Z, who wasn’t Bad Boy crew but was based out of Brooklyn – that Biggie’s wife, Faith Evans, had cheated on Biggie with Tupac.
When Tupac was murdered in Vegas later that year, Suge Knight continued to lay blame at the door of Bad Boy and Combs – despite the fact that shortly before the shooting, Tupac, Knight and their crew beatdown a known member of the Crips gang, and when the shooting occurred they were headed toward a known Bloods-controlled nightclub.
Then Biggie went to LA for an event, and we know what happened next.
Has it all gone away, now?
There was no origin. All was illusory/convenienced slights for purely commercial purposeses. Cumulatively it was lots of talentless arseholes not contributing anything to life but pain over imaginary substance. None solved any problems, invented any cures, advanced any science, just produced opportunities/excuses to waste time/lives/etc. God what a waste of time rap is/was, people. Read a goddamn book.
^:rolleyes:
What sort of problems has opera solved? Cures rock invented? Science jazz advanced?
Get over yourself.
Insomnia?
…and the other genres of music have?
The posters forgot to mention that Tupac released a song (that is on the Death Row’s Greatest Hits CD) called “Hit 'Em Up” (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QDEJjSM2-Xg) WARNING NSFW, in which Tupac dissed Bad Boy Records, some of their artists including Biggie, claimed credit for sleeping with Biggie’s wife, and pretty much challenged the East Coast Rappers to STFU or do something about it.
They chose the latter.
The Insane Clown Posse has been rapping in Detroit for years. They may not be popular but they certainly work hard. Most of the associated Juggalo acts (Twiztid, etc) are also from the area.
The Midwest is nicely represented by Tech N9ne and associated acts (Krizz Kaliko, etc). He’s appearing on Lil Wayne’s next album so I have a feeling he’s about to hit the big time.
It’s not the midwest per se, but you do have Joe Somebody holdin’ it down in the 613…
Or Cleveland? From what I’ve heard about Cleveland, it would have to have a Rap scene.