How come Baltimore and DC never produced any rappers?

[Sankofa Alwayz]

How come the cities of DC and Baltimore never produced any rappers? Two major cities on East Coast where black people are the largest population groups.

The biggest rappers outta DC are/were Wale (he’s also from MD but grew up partially in DC), Shy Glizzy, Fat Trel, Swipey (R.I.P.), Tabi Bonney, and maybe Lightshow. When you branch out into the nearby MD suburbs (PG County and Montgomery County), the biggest artists are somewhat bigger than most of their DC counterparts...You got Wale (as explained, he grew up in both MD and DC), Rico Nasty, Cordae, Oddisee, IDK, Logic, Q Da Fool, GoldLink, etc.

Other than maybe Black Cobain for a short spell, Northern VA don’t really got a real big rap star out there that ain’t super local like most rap nikkas here in the DMV.

I don’t often follow Baltimore rap music but from what I’ve picked up from my time at UMES, their biggest artists are/were King Los, Lor Scoota (RIP), Young Moose, Shordie Shordie, Bandhunta Izzy, YBS Skola, and Tate Kobang. S/O to the homie Ky$hia and the whole Furla Gang tho, they from Bmore and started out at UMES. I know her personally, she loves her craft and she got a nice story to tell.

Now I can’t speak for Baltimore but I can speak for the DMV when I say that this whole Hip Hop thing is a somewhat recent phenomenon with us. We used to have a very hostile attitude towards Hip Hop that mainly stemmed from the time when DC and NYC were beefin heavy back in the early 90’s due to the drug game and you know how provincial East Coast Black culture is by nature compared to other regions. I honestly think our hostility towards Hip Hop had less to do with the music itself than its association with all things New York. As much as we fukked with Biggie heavy, I wouldn’t be surprised if a lot of us were supportive of Death Row’s crusade against NYC On top of that, for the longest, GoGo music was king out here and even to this day, if you a famous rapper trynna do a show or concert in DC, it’s a high chance that you gotta headline with a GoGo band on set before your performance since we get hyped to it (honestly, we get more hyped to GoGo than the actual rap performance).

Fast forward to now tho, everybody and their mama out here in the DMV is a rapper As someone born & bred here, Imma be honest....We definitely got some talent but a lot of these Trap nikkas out here are fukkING TRAAAAASSSHHHHHH. We have our own signature “DMV Flow” and “DMV Sound” and I’m glad we got them but tbh, the flow is meh at best and a lot of the beats these nikkas rap on just be sounding like some distorted Trap beats with some Addam’s Family-sounding ass skeleton piano keys Every one of these Trap nikkas out here rap about the same shyt, doing the same “dances”, and they got the nerve to rap offbeat like that shyt is fukking normal They all just sound the same and do the same shyt in their videos moe smh

S/O to the nikkas who at least dare to be different and/or are serious about their craft or at least sound interesting such as Fat Sean, Cordae, IDK, ChellyTheMC, Sir E.U., Yin Yang, Beatsbyquiik, CalcKnowledge, YungManny, Rico Nasty, Mike of Doom, LiveLifeElii, Shabazz, Premo Rice, Tr3demark, Phil Ade, Crank Lucas, Shy Glizzy, Gleesh, Tabi Bonney, Oddisee, etc. Hell S/O to Logic’s tragic mulatto ass too lol, nikka got heavy bars especially whenever he gives his music some type of personality. And another thing I can admit about Logic, the nikka got one helluva ear for beats....That YSIV album of his is a perfect example of such, shyt was fukking crazy.

Another problem I have with the rap culture here in the DMV is the fact that a lot of these so called supporters are some fukking crabs, most especially in DC. On the homie DMVHoodzNNewz page on IG, some of these kneegrows the other day had the absolute nerve to say my homeboy Cordae ain’t from out here because he was born in North Carolina and never gave back or somehow never shouted out the DMV and also because he’s mainstream now so he automatically ain’t from here A lot of the rap supporters out here are fukking idiots dawg, be wanting to smack the shyt outta them sometimes. Hell some of our biggest artists done bounced and got bigger since they moved out and I don’t blame them. A good number of them was hatin on Chelly hardbody when she moved to ATL. I mean shyt, it’s only so much you can do out here for your rap career, if you wanna REALLY blow up beyond the local/regional market and want that national and even international money with better networking, better producers, better songwriters, big features, etc., you gotta leave the area and of course the crabs will show face. Chelly in ATL now...Shy Glizzy, Cordae, and IDK are chillin out in LA and putting in work....Oddisee out in Chicago now last I checked....Substantial (he’s from PG and is well respected in the underground, breh was a beast in the 2000’s) is living his best life in Japan....Wale be wherever the fukk he be at...shyt I love the DMV and would give back if I could if I were in any of their shoes but I too would commit that move as well, fukk it. It’s basically “damn if you do, damn if you don’t” with a lot of the rap fans out here.

I know it may sound like I just joaned the fukk outta the DMV rap scene but can’t get better without legit criticism I just wanna see my hometown win. We have such a proud yet underrated musical history with not just GoGo or Hip Hop but also with R&B, Jazz, Punk, EDM, Urban Gospel, and Soul music, can’t help but to ensure that our growing rap scene enjoys similar greatness.

 

[Sankofa Alwayz]

Because DC and Baltimore are two of the shyttiest places in America, with the shyttiest people in America.

Facts.

What part of NOLA you live in slim?

 

[Sankofa Alwayz]

didn't Tupac spend his teenage years in Baltimore?

NYC/Bmore vs. Bay Area/LA in 3...2...1

 

[Sankofa Alwayz]

Cant speak for DC but every time a Bmore rapper gets any type of buzz haters come out the woodworks

plus its no industry nikkas here so its hard to network

We got a few that have a small buzz in the industry but IMO Shordie Shordie is the only one with a real chance to blow

bytchuary

 

[Sankofa Alwayz]

have you heard them speak

We may sound “country” but your champ ass would be left leakin out here talking that shyt from the safety of your screen

 

[Sankofa Alwayz]

Gogo music for D.C.

Baltimore is just 'tew' gutta....

Bmore got Club music, both Philly and Jersey took that shyt and basically ran with it

 

[EBK String]

We may sound “country” but your champ ass would be left leakin out here talking that shyt from the safety of your screen

I'm from Chicago we sound country, why do you take offence to sounding country?

 

[Sankofa Alwayz]

Damn...Phil Ade getting no love up in here. Didn't get the right push but his output of mixtapes/albums were tight.

That nikka need to put his first couple of mixtapes on streaming platforms.

This shyt right here takes me back



Underground Rap in the Early 10’s was just so fukking beautiful

 

[Sankofa Alwayz]

I'm from Chicago we sound country, why do you take offence to sounding country?

Who said anything about taking offense? I’m just letting you know what time it is if you think shyt’s country over here slim.

Also you contradicted your own words, how we haven’t blown up because of us sounding country while a lot of you Chitown nikkas that sound like y’all just hopped out a Chicago-bound train from Tennessee and ‘Sip blew up on the national rap scene?

 

[Sankofa Alwayz]

Well I'm from MD and no one i know personally claims the south. Older or younger. It may have been like that back then but not now. It's below the Mason Dixon line but no one claims the south.

Ancestry-wise I claim the South as most of us do naturally. But as far as the present is concerned, I don’t consider myself a Southerner nor do most people I personally know and/or am acquainted with who are from here as well.

 

[Sankofa Alwayz]

Hey, historical facts are what they are regardless of modern perceptions






Is the District of Columbia in or part of ‘the South’?

This is true as well. To be fair tho, even in New Jersey and Long Island, NY you’ll find large plantations or land that used to be plantations. And of course, the true history of Wall Street goes without saying....So I wouldn’t necessarily use slavery as a sole indicator for an area’s Southernness since even some pockets in the North engaged in and profited from this wicked practice as well.

 

[Sankofa Alwayz]

1. Go Go and House Music were staple genres in DC and Bmore respectively so other than free styling on the block, buying tapes, and going to shows, there wasn’t much in the way of a Rap tradition. Go Go Bands have singers and rappers so that filled the void locally.

2. Lots of politics in the local scene, fake gatekeepers, and a lot of hatin ass nikkaz that don’t support

3. Not enough infrastructure to mass produce quality artists.

I’d say those are the main reasons. I see it gradually changing in the DMV but it’s still gonna take time before there’s an outright explosion of artists from the Mid Atlantic region. But there’s definitely a burgeoning arts scene in the DMV.

The issue imo was the schism between DC and NYC in the 80s. Growing up, NY shyt was considered corny outsider shyt but nikkaz couldn’t deny rap. I just think it still prevented a lot of people from getting into it fr. Ironically, this might be one of the few places where East Coast and Southern Music are both appreciated. It’s hella oldheads that are No Limit stans and Lox stans.

Edit: The Mid Atlantic was historically the upper south. And lots of migrations helped to give it a bit of a southern touch to it. But DC is very blended between northeast and south. So no one really considers it the south. BMore to me is a bit more northern. It’s really is a southern Philly.

Facts. Also, with our generation, you’ll run into someone with a new rap playlist with a mixture of Lil Wayne, NBA YoungBoy, Future, Pop Smoke, Lil Tecca, and Fabolous

 

[Sankofa Alwayz]

I’d say the biggest Hip Hop-related dance outta DC recently was the Gleesh Walk

 

[Sankofa Alwayz]

The radio nikkas were scared to break artists and records. Besides Funk Regulata Celo, Iran, and Alizay it seemed like the radio nikkas were more worried about being accepted by the go-go community. Also, it took us a while to find our voice. Rapping was bama shyt back in the day, unfortunately. Then when we did rap, nikkas was sounding like Face or on some super backpack shyt.

Remember when rapping over Screwed Up mixtapes was a thing out here back in the day? The Slow Bounce sound in GoGo music came out of that Screw Tape era lol

 

[Sankofa Alwayz]

Exactly, it’s a lot of factors involved so I forgot the radio. Only local shyt they ever played was Go Go. And like you said, to do any NYC type things was bama shyt. Its one thing to listen to it but a lot of nikkaz ain’t want to actually do it. That’s why rappers leave to ATL or LA or NYC and it leaves the area dry because nothing is being grown organically here like in ATL, Miami, Memphis, Chicago, Detroit, etc.

It’s funny tho you right. It’s a sharp contrast it’s either some backpack shyt or some trapped out gangsta shyt. Not too much inbetween, which is crazy considering all the conscious thugs in the area lol. I feel like it’s gon get better tho. I mean shyt, BMore and DC have definitely held the R&B game down.

DC even gave the world The Winstons and one of the Black band members was responsible for the creation of the ‘Amen break’ that you would hear in some Hip Hop songs especially in its early years...In fact, if it wasn’t for the Amen Break, there would be no Breakbeat (Black music) and there would be no Jungle music (Black music)....Which in turn means there would be no Drum & Bass (Black music)...Which also means there would be no Dubstep (Black music)...Which also means that Moombahton (which is a DC/PG creation, created by a local white boy tho I think) wouldn’t exist either. Some of the the most popular and legendary genres and subgenres in “EDM” would never exist if it wasn’t for this one Black man from DC...You can’t tell me that shyt ain’t Black Excellence Both the DMV and Bmore’s contributions to music is criminally underrated and it’s crazy how severely lacking in documentation they are.