West Coast hip hop

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

These centers of West Coast hip hop are: The Los Angeles area, but can also include the greater San Francisco area (also known as the The Bay (Area) ), Oakland/Berkeley, Vallejo, and Seattle.

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 $hort" target="_blank" >^*, who put out three independent albums during the 1980s 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 Ice-T, Captian Rapp, King Tee, Toddy Tee, and Mix Master Spade gained prominence, while World Class Wreckin' Cru, DJ Unknown, 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 1980s, serving as a sharp contrast to electro hop and other lighter forms of hip hop. Gangsta rap achieved a huge success until the mid of the 1990s. Ice-T's "6'n da Mornin" (1986) received 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, and '70s 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, and the criminal lifestyle.

It has been suggested that the West Coast movement gained early recognition in Los Angeles partly due to the city's affiliation with the entertainment industry where most of the major record companies and labels reside.

West Coast hip hop also received early contributions from groups based in the Bay Area, and Oakland in particular. $hort" target="_blank" >^*, for instance, was a giant in the genre, and MC Hammer was one of the first "pop-rap" national superstars. Both artists began their rap careers on the streets of Oakland, and the radically different paths their careers have taken are indicative of the fracturing of hip hop culture into multiple sub-genres over the last twenty years.

Seattle, Washington has also had an active scene from very early on, though their only major commercial success thus far has been Sir Mix-a-lot of "Baby got back!" fame.

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 basslines 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 1991 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 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 Death Row and Bad Boy increased as both labels released a series of scathing tracks blatantly filled with insults, threats, and accusations targeted at the opposing labels. One of the most famous diss tracks that came out of the conflict was 2Pac's "Hit 'Em Up," in which he claims to have slept with The Notorious B.I.G.'s wife Faith Evans and attacks the famed rapper's street credibility. 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 ended 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 Entertainment, and Snoop Dogg left to join No Limit Records. Gangsta rap disappeared from the national spotlight and the resulting void was filled by east-coast pop-rap acts such as Puff Daddy, ^*], and actor/musician Will Smith. By 1997, West Coast hip hop had gone underground.

The second great divide: commercial vs. underground

An oft-cited reason for the decline of the West Coast scene in the late 1990s 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, forgeting commercial success. The rivalry between the East and West also left a bad impresion on West Coast hip hop in general to the music industry. The demise of Death Row and the popularity fading of G-funk signified an eventual crumble of the power house that was West Coast Rap. The after effects of the West Coast scene's "great divide" of the late 1990s 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 in their music.

In the late 1990s, 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 political, social, or insightful messages in their music) gained fame without ever being signed to major labels. Other West Coast artists, such as San Francisco's Emcee Lynx, took the political aspect of their music a step further and became active participants in - and de-facto spokespeople for - various social movements.

Despite the emergence of the Underground movement as a major factor at the turn of the century, West Coast Gangsta rap was still alive, 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 continue to struggle for name recognition, having enjoyed less commercial success then their East Coast counterparts.

The third generation of the West Coast

West Coast rap seems to be on going a third generation of artists. The Game's album “The Documentary” along with a well publicized beef with 50 Cent has received more attention to the West Coast. Some hip hop writers believed that the genre was on the brink of another intercoastal rivalry, 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. In any case, the beef between The Game and 50 Cent did not have an impact any where near as deep as that created by the split between 2Pac and B.I.G.

Cali_Iz_Active.JPG|right|250px|thumb|Photoshoot for Tha Dogg Pound's Cali Iz Active single (2006), featuring cameo appearances by shown artists. Top:WC, Playa Hamm, Ice Cube, Snoop Dogg, Daz, Glasses Malone, Mykestro (partially hidden), Xzibit, Rakaa Iriscience (of Dilated Peoples), Fredwreck, Krondon, Jelly Roll, Romeo, and Evidence.

Bottom: Daddy V, Crazy Toones, Roscoe, Mykestro's associate, Kurupt, DJ Quik, and DJ Babu.

Also involved (not shown in picture): Yo-Yo, $hort" target="_blank" >^*, Warren G, MC Eiht, JT The Bigga Figga, Bishop Lamont, Tyrese, B-Real, J Wells, Soopafly, and Ronald Isley.^*]] Since The Game released The Documentary, artist like G-Malone, Bishop Lamont, Crooked I, JT The Bigga Figga, Eastwood, and Ya Boy have all received much buzz over there signings/music. The Bay area also seems to be picking up steam with there brand of Hyphy music, promoted by long time veteran E-40.

After the success of his latest album R&G (Rhythm & Gangsta) The Masterpiece Snoop Dogg convoke the elder long-famed west side artist including the Bay Area into a meeting called the Western Conference on July 4, 2005. They agreed to join forces again and to end long standing beefs between each other in hopes of helping West Coast music back to its once reigning place. It served as occasion for several members to announce cease-fire in their beefs including the reconciliation of Tha Dogg Pound, Jayo Felony and Snoop, and The Game and JT the Bigga Figga. The headcount was about 60-70 people during the event. Snoop Dogg offered his label Doggystyle Records to be "engine" of the movement, and that he will promote it with his name.

Notes

External links

American hip hop