West Coast hip hop

West Coast hip hop is a hip hop music subgenre that encompasses any artists or music which originates in the westernmost region of the United States. Although the culture of hip hop was given its name in New York City, it is believed by some that the culture itself was a mutual creation by numerous individuals from both the East and West coasts, respectively.

The gangsta rap subgenre of West Coast hip hop began to dominate from a radio play and sales standpoint during the early 90s. By the end of the 90s decade, hip hop's focus began to shift back towards the East Coast and also to a fast emerging Southern hip hop scene.

The West Coast is also known to have a very fertile underground hip hop scene, with Los Angeles and the San Francisco Bay Area being particular hot spots. Many of the West Coast's underground acts focused more on lyrical technique than their more mainstream peers.

History

Early years

Some believe that the five elements of hip hop culture, which include B-Boying, beatboxing, DJing, graffiti art, and MCing, existed on the East and West Coasts of the United States simultaneously during the mid-seventies.^[1] This theory runs in opposition to the more universally accepted belief that the fundamental elements of hip hop were all born and cultivated exclusively on the East Coast, New York City in particular, in the most early stages of the culture.^[1] Although it is agreed that hip hop was given its name in New York, some say a culture that closely mirrored the East Coast hip hop culture had emerged in the West existing from Los Angeles to Oakland during the same period.^[1] The culture itself is believed to have been a mutual creation which probably evolved from interaction between people who identified with elements from their respective coasts.^[1]

How did this happen? Was it an example of The Critical Mass Theory? The theory which states that when a certain critical number achieves an awareness, it may be communicated from mind to mind? Possibly an easier explanation is one summer vacation, somebody’s cousin from South Central takes Poppin’ to The Bronx and brings back B-Boying to L.A.^[1]

—Gregory "G.Bone" Everett

During the early years, most West Coast rap artists essentially imitated the party rap scene of their East Coast counterparts. At the time, the style was already considered to be old by those residing on the East Coast.^[2]

Gangsta rap era

The pioneering gangsta rap group N.W.A and their record label Ruthless Records infamously received a letter from an assistant director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) excoriating their landmark 1988 album. Then after that, gangsta rap exploded and spawned many rappers and even spawned a kid group named Quo (group) , and eventually gangsta rap expanded to the east, midwest, and south Straight Outta Compton for its lyrical themes and content in 1989.^[3]

Decline of gangsta rap

By the end of the 1990s, hip hop's focus had shifted back to the East as well as the emerging Southern hip hop movement.^[2]

Alternative and underground scene

At that time all we had was N.W.A, and everybody thought everything coming out of L.A. is gangsta rap... We don't got to do that, you know? Let them do that, and let us do something else.^[4]

—P.E.A.C.E.

In the early 90s, many of the Los Angeles hip hop scene's most talented and progressive-minded MCs would attend the Good Life Cafe to hone their skills and develop their craft.^[4] Artists such as Abstract Rude, Ahmad, Freestyle Fellowship, Jurassic 5, the Pharcyde, Skee-Lo, a pre-Dogg Pound Kurupt, and many others performed at the Good Life's open mic Thursday nights from the late-80s into the mid-90s.^[5] In the 2009 documentary This Is the Life, L.A. hip hop artist and Good Life regular 2Mex likened the Good Life movement to that of the New York punk rock and Seattle music scenes.^[4]

See also

Hip hop portal

• Culture of California
• List of West Coast hip hop artists
• List of West Coast hip hop record labels
• Music of California

References

External links