Whenever a song by that clique of bay area rappers came on Rap City it was channel switch on sight

[Whogivesafuck]

That's exactly the point I made earlier, the roots of Hip Hop culture are not African American.

It didn't take very long for African Americans to dominate the culture but New York's style is heavily Caribbean influenced to this day.

The New York Hip Hop scene never fukked with the Hip Hop scenes in the rest of the country like that unless nikkas made music that sounded exactly like them (i.e. Common, Lupe, Hiero, Cypress Hill, etc). When you compare the music they don't like to each other - UGK, E-40, Do Or Die, etc. - the commonalities stand out:

- Heavier bass lines
- Heavier focus on melody
- Less focus on rapping about rhyme skills, more Bluesy subject matter
- Heavier use of P-Funk elements

This isn't by accident.

@IllmaticDelta

 

[Techniec]

We aint gonna talk about how OP is shtting on the Bay Area but is a Raiders fan

@Mephistopheles

 

[Dusty Bake Activate]

We aint gonna talk about how OP is shtting on the Bay Area but is a Raiders fan

@Mephistopheles

Eh...I ain't shytting on the bay for real. I was just dissing the rappers named in the OP. Like I said I was always a Hiero fan. But @StillNotSoft started getting at my hometown so I had to respond in kind.

 

[Techniec]

Eh...I ain't shytting on the bay for real. I was just dissing the rappers named in the OP. Like I said I was always a Hiero fan. But @StillNotSoft started getting at my hometown so I had to respond in kind.

I came through VA this past summer...Arlington...DMV area...Im assuming ure more on the eastern end?

 

[Dusty Bake Activate]

I came through VA this past summer...Arlington...DMV area...Im assuming ure more on the eastern end?

I don't live there anymore, but I'm from the Hampton Roads/7 cities/Tidewater area...southeastern tip of the state.

 

[Techniec]

I don't live there anymore, but I'm from the Hampton Roads/7 cities/Tidewater area...southeastern tip of the state.

Will likely pass that on a roadtrip down to Florida then at some point, might have to hit you up on some good local eateries

 

[Luken]

disrespect.

 

[Biscayne]

That's exactly the point I made earlier, the roots of Hip Hop culture are not African American.

It didn't take very long for African Americans to dominate the culture but New York's style is heavily Caribbean influenced to this day.

The New York Hip Hop scene never fukked with the Hip Hop scenes in the rest of the country like that unless nikkas made music that sounded exactly like them (i.e. Common, Lupe, Hiero, Cypress Hill, etc). When you compare the music they don't like to each other - UGK, E-40, Do Or Die, etc. - the commonalities stand out:

- Heavier bass lines
- Heavier focus on melody
- Less focus on rapping about rhyme skills, more Bluesy subject matter
- Heavier use of P-Funk elements

This isn't by accident.

You might be on to something. You make a good point. 90's West-coast Hip-Hop and 90's Southern hip-hop always had commonalities through their use of instrumentation and samples. The Bassline being used, is one of those commonalities. Mobb Music, G-Funk, and 90's era Southern Hip-Hop(UGK, Outkast, Geto Boys. etc) all had the same element, and all used a heavy bassline, funky grooves, or in alot of cases, bluesy guitars and instrumentation. That's something that was most def, set apart from the more uptempo origins of hip-hop that came out of NYC 2 decades earlier in the 70's. When I hear songs like "Rescue 911" by Yukmouth and Dru Down, "Practice Looking Hard" by E40 or songs from UGK like "Pocket Full Of Stones", they all have that same soulful instrumentation and authentically Black sound that I don't get from some of the 70' and 80's Eastcoast hip-hop. I think that's why older Eastcoast acts were more palatable by White Backpackers than Westcoast or Southern hip-hop was. Especially in the internet backpack community.

I also agree about subject matter. Westcoast rappers were rapping actual life stories and "reality raps" early on, while most eastcoast artist(outside of a couple of songs like "The Message") were still rapping about how much better they were at rapping than the next rapper.

 

[Ronnie Lott]

You might be on to something. You make a good point. 90's West-coast Hip-Hop and 90's Southern hip-hop always had commonalities through their use of instrumentation and samples. The Bassline being used, is one of those commonalities. Mobb Music, G-Funk, and 90's era Southern Hip-Hop(UGK, Outkast, Geto Boys. etc) all had the same element, and all used a heavy bassline, funky grooves, or in alot of cases, bluesy guitars and instrumentation. That's something that was most def, set apart from the more uptempo origins of hip-hop that came out of NYC 2 decades earlier in the 70's. When I hear songs like "Rescue 911" by Yukmouth and Dru Down, "Practice Looking Hard" by E40 or songs from UGK like "Pocket Full Of Stones", they all have that same soulful instrumentation and authentically Black sound that I don't get from some of the 70' and 80's Eastcoast hip-hop. I think that's why older Eastcoast acts were more palatable by White Backpackers than Westcoast or Southern hip-hop was. Especially in the internet backpack community.

I also agree about subject matter. Westcoast rappers were rapping actual life stories and "reality raps" early on, while most eastcoast artist(outside of a couple of songs like "The Message") were still rapping about how much better they were at rapping than the next rapper.

 

[mobbinfms]

they all have that same soulful instrumentation and authentically Black sound that I don't get from some of the 70' and 80's Eastcoast hip-hop.

James Brown samples or Jazz/Soul samples aren't authentically black?

I also agree about subject matter. Westcoast rappers were rapping actual life stories and "reality raps" early on, while most eastcoast artist(outside of a couple of songs like "The Message") were still rapping about how much better they were at rapping than the next rapper.

I disagree with that generalization of east coast subject matter...but I agree that generally speaking "reality" rappers rarely rapped about their prowess on the mic.

 

[LunaticVillage415]

The level of disrespect in this thread is disgusting. The Bay Area has the oldest Rap scene outside of NYC. "What would life be if it wasn't Too $hort/it be nothing but rappers from the old New York". Too $hort been rapping since 1983. Too $hort was the first major West Coast Rap star, period. It is clear as day to see his influence in Eazy E, N.W.A. and Snoop. MC Hammer was Hip Hop's earliest super cross over success. Pac, who is lauded as the greatest rapper of all-time, admittedly got his game from Oakland and started his career in the Bay. Master P started No Limit in the Bay and he blew up upon returning to New Orleans which caused N.O. and the South to blow up in the late 90's. Think about it, if it wasn't for No Limit blowing up, Cash Money would have never made it national either. The Bay perfected the art of the independent Rap hustle. When NY rappers were getting buttfukked financially by white Jews, independent Rap nikkas was eating in Northern Cali.

Baltimore ITSELF is around 60% black. There isn't a major city in the bay area that's still majority black. Y'all also don't have a non-rap black dance music scene like all culturally relevant black cities have.

And don't even bring cities like Baltimore into the discussion concerning Hip Hop . Baltimore and DC are primarily black cities who have brought nothing fresh, new or influential to Hip Hop . Y'all are the 40 year old virgins of Hip Hop . Section 8 Mob sounded like they were from Cali. The few Baltimore rappers from the 90's sounded like knock off Mobb Deep. There is no market for Go-Go outside of DC/PG County. The Bay, Midwest and the South always been connected. I know hella nikkas throughout the South who told me that they bumped Bay shyt instead of NY shyt back in the 90's. Check some of the Instagrams of popular Southern rappers like Curren$y and they stay bumping some classic 90's Bay Area Mob shyt. And Bay classics have stayed underground street classics and haven't been watered down by a hipster cac audience the same way mainstream East Coast and L.A. Rap of the 90's has become cac music in the last ten plus years or so. Bay nikkas stay moving throughout the South and Midwest making money independently. What DC/Baltimore nikkas do that?

 

[FruitOfTheVale]

James Brown samples or Jazz/Soul samples aren't authentically black?

Of course he is. At the same time, he was also pop music... Hip hop didn't fully delve into the depths of black music until it went nationwide. And even within New York, it was black producers from outside of the Bronx like DJ Premier (from Houston) and RZA (from North Carolina) that pushed New York in a more soulful direction. One notable exception to this is Pete Rock. He's one of the only Bronx DJs of Caribbean descent that was heavily tapping into black music outside of James Brown and other black pop music back in the late 80s/early 90s.

 

[mobbinfms]

Of course he is. At the same time, he was also pop music... Hip hop didn't fully delve into the depths of black music until it went nationwide. And even within New York, it was black producers from outside of the Bronx like DJ Premier (from Houston) and RZA (from North Carolina) that pushed New York in a more soulful direction. One notable exception to this is Pete Rock. He's one of the only Bronx DJs of Caribbean descent that was heavily tapping into black music outside of James Brown and other black pop music back in the late 80s/early 90s.

If by pop you mean "well known" then I agree. If you mean "watered down" then I disagree.
Also, I think that you are seeing connections that aren't necessarily there. I think that Marley and others in the mid to late 80s sampled James Brown so much b/c it was an obvious move. Then the Ultimate Breaks was mined.
But what do I know, maybe there is something to what you are arguing...it's definitely interesting

 

[Biscayne]

If by pop you mean "well known" then I agree. If you mean "watered down" then I disagree.
Also, I think that you are seeing connections that aren't necessarily there. I think that Marley and others in the mid to late 80s sampled James Brown so much b/c it was an obvious move. Then the Ultimate Breaks was mined.
But what do I know, maybe there is something to what you are arguing...it's definitely interesting

I agree with FruitVale. The James Brown samples were obvious sampling material for Hip-Hop, which at the time, was still "just" dance music. They'd sample the Amen break, and other popular Black artist breaks, but outside of that, they didn't go deeper into sampling other genres of Black music like the Westcoast and Down South did a decade or two later. It was limited to James Brown and other breaks. But than again, that may be due to hip-hop being so young back in the 70's and 80's, that they didn't know HOW to sample anything else but popular uptemo James Brown breaks, rather than them just having a disinterest in Jazz, Blues, and other Funk acts besides James Brown.

 

[mobbinfms]

I agree with FruitVale. The James Brown samples were obvious sampling material for Hip-Hop, which at the time, was still "just" dance music. They'd sample the Amen break, and other popular Black artist breaks, but outside of that, they didn't go deeper into sampling other genres of Black music like the Westcoast and Down South did a decade or two later. It was limited to James Brown and other breaks. But than again, that may be due to hip-hop being so young back in the 70's and 80's, that they didn't know HOW to sample anything else but popular uptemo James Brown breaks, rather than them just having a disinterest in Jazz, Blues, and other Funk acts besides James Brown.

Let's just call the Coli's resident historian. @IllmaticDelta