West Coast hip-hop is a regional genre of hip-hop music that encompasses any artists or music that originated in the West Coast of the United States. West Coast hip-hop began to dominate from a radio play and sales standpoint during the early to-mid 1990s with the birth of G-funk and the emergence of record labels such as Suge Knight and Dr. Dre's Death Row Records, Ice Cube's Lench Mob Records, the continued success of Eazy-E's Ruthless Records, Dr. Dre's Aftermath Entertainment, and others.
Death Row Records is an American record label that was founded in 1991 by The D.O.C., Dr. Dre, Suge Knight, and Dick Griffey. The label became a sensation by releasing multi-platinum hip-hop albums by West Coast-based artists such as Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg (Doggystyle) and 2Pac during the 1990s. At its peak, Death Row was making over US $150 million a year.
2Pacalypse Now is the debut solo studio album by American rapper 2Pac. It was released on November 12, 1991, through TNT Recordings and Interscope Records, while EastWest Records America, a division of Atlantic distributed the album. The recording sessions took place at Starlight Sound Studio in Richmond, California. The album was produced by the Digital Underground production team the Underground Railroad, made up of Big D the Impossible, Shock G, Pee-Wee, DJ J-Z, Raw Fusion, and Live Squad. It features contributions from Stretch, Angelique, Dave Hollister, Pogo, Poppi, Ray Luv and Shock G among others. The album's title is a reference to the 1979 war film Apocalypse Now.
The Don Killuminati: The 7 Day Theory is the fifth studio album by American rapper Tupac Shakur, his first posthumous album and the last released with his creative input. Recorded in July and August 1996, it was released on November 5, 1996, almost two months after his death, under the stage name of Makaveli, through Death Row Records, Makaveli Records and Interscope Records.
Gregory Edward Jacobs, known professionally as Shock G and by his alter ego Humpty Hump, was an American rapper and musician who was best known as the lead vocalist of the hip hop group Digital Underground. He was responsible for Digital Underground's "The Humpty Dance", 2Pac's breakthrough single "I Get Around", and co-producer of 2Pac's debut album 2Pacalypse Now.
"California Love" is a song by American rapper 2Pac featuring fellow American rapper and producer Dr. Dre. The song was released as 2Pac's comeback single after his release from prison in 1995 and was his first single as the newest artist of Death Row Records. The original version is featured on the UK version of his fourth album, All Eyez on Me (1996), and is one of 2Pac's most widely known and most successful singles. It reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100 for two weeks and also topped the charts of Italy, New Zealand, and Sweden. The song was posthumously nominated for the Grammy Award for Best Rap Performance by a Duo or Group in 1997.
Lathan Williams, better known by his stage name Young Lay, is a San Francisco Bay Area-based gangsta rapper.
Jamal Rocker, known professionally as Mac Mall, is an American rapper from the San Francisco Bay Area who became known in the mid-late 1990s.
The East Coast–West Coast hip hop rivalry is a dispute between artists and fans of the East Coast hip hop and West Coast hip hop scenes in the United States, especially from the mid-1990s. A focal point of the rivalry was the feud between East Coast–based rapper the Notorious B.I.G. signed by Puff Daddy and their New York City–based label, Bad Boy Records, and West Coast–based rapper Tupac Shakur signed by Suge Knight and their Los Angeles–based label, Death Row Records. Shakur and the Notorious B.I.G. were murdered in drive-by shootings within six months of each other, after which the feud entered a truce with a "peace" summit in 1997 at the behest of Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan.
"Hail Mary" is a song by American rapper Tupac Shakur from his fifth studio album, The Don Killuminati: The 7 Day Theory (1996). It was released after his September 1996 murder under the Makaveli stage name as the album's third single. Hail Mary features rap verses by Kastro, Young Noble and Yaki Kadafi of the Outlawz rap group and vocals from reggae musician Prince Ital Joe. A music video was shot for the song and can be found on the DualDisc of The Don Killuminati: The 7 Day Theory.
All Eyez on Me is the fourth and final studio album by American rapper 2Pac to be released during his lifetime. Released on February 13, 1996, just 7 months before his death by Death Row and Interscope Records, the album features guest appearances from Dr. Dre, Snoop Doggy Dogg, Redman, Method Man, Nate Dogg, Kurupt, Daz Dillinger, E-40, K-Ci & JoJo, and the Outlawz, among others.
"Trapped" is the political hip hop song written and performed by American rapper 2Pac. It was released on September 25, 1991, through Interscope Records as the lead single from his debut solo studio album 2Pacalypse Now. Recording sessions took place at Starlight Sound Studio in Richmond, California. Production was handled by Ramone "Pee-Wee" Gooden, who utilised samples from the Bar-Kays's "Holy Ghost" and James Brown's "The Spank".
Malcolm Greenidge, known as E.D.I Mean and EDIDON, is an American hip hop artist and a member of the Outlawz. The name is a play on the name Idi Amin, former dictator of Uganda. While in the third grade, Malcolm became friends with Katari "Kastro" Cox who later introduced him to his cousin, Tupac Shakur.
This is the discography of American rapper, Mac Dre. In the late 1980s, he released three albums with what TIME Magazine called "the raunchiness typical of West Coast rap". In the 1990s, he received a five-year sentence but managed to record two albums over the phone. He later started his own label, Thizz Entertainment, and released four more albums, before he was shot dead in a drive by shooting at a red light, in Kansas City, Missouri, in 2004.
Illegal Business? is Mac Mall's debut album. It was released on July 13, 1993, and is considered a classic West Coast rap album. It was produced by Khayree. A single, "Ghetto Theme," was released, for which Tupac Shakur directed the music video. The album peaked at #71 on the Billboard charts. The album sold more than 125,000 copies.
Khayree Shaheed is a music producer, from Vallejo, California. He is best known for producing for Bay Area rappers such as Mac Dre, Mac Mall, Ray Luv, and Young Lay.
The Best of Mac Dre is the first "best of" album by Mac Dre. It was released in 2002 by Sumo/Thizz Entertainment. It is the first compilation of his hit songs, later followed by The Best of Mac Dre, Vol. 2 & 3. Though Mac Dre was killed by gunshot on November 1, 2004, his Bay Area legacy lives on through his music. This album features other Bay Area hip hop legends such as Keak da Sneak, Messy Marv, and San Quinn.
Leila Steinberg is an American manager, business woman, educator, writer, poet, and founder of AIM4TheHeART, a 501(c)(3) non-profit dedicated to helping at-risk youth find their voice using an emotional literacy curriculum and writing workshops. She is best known as the artist mentor and first manager for superstar rapper Tupac Shakur. They met when he was a student in her writing workshop, The Microphone Sessions, in the Oakland Bay area. Today Leila manages the rapper Earl Sweatshirt, formerly of Odd Future.
Craig Venegas Alvarado, known by his stage name DJ King Assassin, is an American disc jockey, producer, and engineer from Los Angeles, California.
