How did NY lose it's regional sound?
- Thread starter Neuromancer
- Start date
My Girl is Bow Legged
JUST DO IT LIKE
samples got more expensive and they started rapping over bootleg knock off bullshyt
If you're asking particularly what killed the boom bap sound? Big dying and then Puffy ruling 97 by bringing in a more glitzy commercial sound was the beginning of the end IMO. There's a couple albums from around that period that updated the boom bap sound by making it more cinematic but still retaining the core sound (IWW, LAD, IDAHIH) - but a lot of the classic boom bap artists saw Puffy's hits and starting following suit. Then Swizz bringing in that keyboard sound in 98. NY falling off altogether is probably a different story.
ISO
Pass me the rock nikka
The music that the youth was making was already drill-like in the same time period that Chicago drill was emerging and in the years leading up to it.
There was a wave of homegrown gangs like YGz, YBz, OY, OGz in the Bronx and Harlem and Hood Starz (Cho) and Wave Gang (Woo) in Brooklyn. This led to new gang wars, the influence of early YouTube and especially those Philly rappers, and NY-based hood/hip hop DVD’s like Smack, led to the WeMobbin series where a lot of this early proto NY drill was featured usually in freestyle form or in early poorly mixed and mastered tracks.
In that time Jadakiss “Child Abuse” beat went platinum every gang seemingly had their own version
When Chief Keef popped there was a huge gravitas because they was on the same shyt, with a similar look, he was the first authentic young nikka signed in a minute at the time labels weren’t investing in them. It was a blueprint that could be followed and that was relatable for NY youth at that time. It was the blog era and they were signing every man, 20 something year olds. Social media and virality and access to home production software and videos and shock value plus kids in real gang wars it opened up a way to get exposure and signed and diss the opps.
Also, that club shyt is pretty huge over the last few years in the East Coast music scene down to mainstream.
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010101
C L O N E*0690//////
the sound has changed everywhere*
we entered the internet age of dominance. regional sound got diluted by a borderless world. when is the last time a new regional sound came into play? drill?
AlbertPullhoez
The Takeover
ISO
Pass me the rock nikka
The new NY sample drill with the Jersey drums is a regional sound.
That drumless Griselda/Roc Marciano sound is a regional sound.
That Detroit sound and flow is a regional style.
I think this is important
DaveyDave
Superstar
Trap beats are the bane of my fukking existence. Even in Australia the majority of new artists are using trap and drill style beats with that same stale ass bass sound and the boring flow on every song. The kids love it for some reason tho.
I think the last big east coast record, when they were only fighting against the east coast might have been Public Enemy. So this is 91.
Meanwhile, the West Coast was not only putting out artists, making money, making the Black Press, making the mainstream press, making white money..so was the South.
At one point, I forget which year, but it was between 1990-1992, guess what city sold the most rap records?
NYC?
LA?
Chicago?
Houston.
Houston, and Texas in general, is/was a MASSIVE market for rap music.
At the same time rappers are moving units at Soundwaves, the east coast has a bunch of songs and skits about bootleggers. Couple years into the 90s, cats was bragging about leaking Illmatic. NYC never supported its own.
While national artists are moving units in Texas, local Texas rappers are also selling cd's out the trunk.
I remember Cham and Paul Wall outside 'Maica, 'Maica.
I bought Screwtapes at a kiosk in Sharpstown.
One of my homegirl's cousin was Pimp C, lol.
WRT to the South, Cash Money and No Limit are moving a lot of units. Labels are paying attention. Urban Radio already knew..I digress
So Houston, Texas, and the South actually spent money on rap music.
Why?
In the Bible Belt, at the time, There wasn't really any rap radio. A lot of Southern black radio stations, still to this day, have Sunday morning church broadcasts.
You could only hear rap music if you bought it. (shout out to 1590 AM Raps tho...)
While everybody was bootlegging in BK, the South was buying records.
Labels knew this.
Radio Stations knew this.
This is like the late 90's to about mid 90's.
96 was the Telecom act.
Clear Channel bought a grip of radio stations. (urban and white rock radio as well)
Where is Clear Channel based?
San Antonio Texas.
At some point, Clear Channel did a few things (my theory)
1) Play radio cuts from popular rap albums
Guess what's selling? It's not Brand Nubian's 3rd LP or the 2nd Artifacts LP. Wu Tang went platinum with their 2nd lp in 97 - but they were being pumped by MTV (who really didn't want anything to do with them in 92, lol)
So Puffy and Bad Boy had their moment in the sun, by playing the pop rap game.
As a side note, there was a lot of backlash against Nas going pop. And it's cats that wasn't really listening to Main Source in 91/92 that don't get why Nas's 2nd and 3rd joints that fail to understand the issue.
2) Set up a NATIONAL playlist
There's still a mix show in the evening/late night on most urban radio stations, but what plays all day is up to corporate. So what you hear in San Antonio is what you hear in Dallas, but also Beaumont, but also Phoenix, Chicago, Philly, Baltimore, etc...
Hearing the same thing everywhere reinforces what sells everywhere.
And record stations that aren't owned by Clear Channel, if not owned by another chain, has to compete with Clear Channel.
So even if they had nothing to do with dem Texas boys, they now had to play the same records. (Because everyone is business are a bunch of cowards and just follow crowds. and make clones..)
3) Heavy Rotation
At some point the national playlist constricted to like 10-20 songs during the day.
So what you have is outsize influence that southern buyers have on the rap world, and Clear Channel just optimizing for maximum local advertising revenue.
It didn't take long. 1992, mostly an east coast heavy mix of rap music, to 2002, when the East Coast is a shell of itself. 2012, 2022 - If there's an East Coast artist in heavy Rotation, he doesn't sound like Roc Marciano.
This same optimization gets taken to the next level with the algorithm...but by the time Pandora/Spotify/YT get involved, radio is dead, and arguably so is its effect on hip hop.
If you're 12 in 1988 listening to Rakim - you'll have that as your blueprint
If you're 12 in 2018....well you see what these young boys rapping like...