African American and Hispanic communities of the Bay Area and southern California emerged as new bases of hip hop culture in the 1980s.[1] Latinos in the Los Angeles area have played a significant role in West Coast hip hop culture.[2]
Early years
Several events laid the foundations for West Coast hip hop, long before the emergence of West Coast rappers such as Mellow Man Ace, Too Short, Kid Frost, Ice-T and Eazy-E—or even before the emergence of rap itself. According to Syd Caesar, "a cataclysmic event helped give rise to it out West: the Watts riots of 1965."[3] In 1967, Budd Schulberg founded a creative space in Los Angeles entitled Watts Writers Workshop, intended to help the people of the Watts neighborhood and provide a place for them to express themselves freely; one group to emerge from the workshop was the proto-rap group Watts Prophets.[4]
In the late 1970s in Los Angeles, Alonzo Williams, a young disc jockey from Compton, California formed a partnership with another DJ named Rodger Clayton from Los Angeles, California who created a promotion company called Unique Dreams that would hire Williams to DJ at local events.[5] The two eventually went their separate ways: Williams started a group called the World Class Wreckin' Cru and became the house DJs at a local nightclub called Eve's After Dark while Clayton launched what would perhaps be the foremost successful mobile DJ crew in the region by the name of Uncle Jamm's Army that would host parties by top DJs for thousands of people at large venues.[5][6] Other smaller DJ and party crews emerged around this time, hoping to establish themselves in the area.[6] Unlike their East Coast counterparts, the Hip-Hop sound emerging from Southern California was more fast-paced and influenced by electronic music.[7] This could be largely credited to the fact that the local West Coast hip-hop scene revolved more around DJing than rapping.[7] A localized dance sub-culture later came out of this party scene, which was highlighted on a national scale on such motion pictures as Breakin'.[4]Breakdancing, popping and locking gave the Los Angeles music scene some of its earliest credibility outside the region.[4] Further attention came to the West Coast as Uncle Jamm's Army began inviting such well-known East Coast Hip-Hop acts such as Whodini and Run-DMC to their functions.[4]
Another early landmark occurred in 1981, when Duffy Hooks launched the first West Coast rap label, Rappers Rapp Records, inspired by Sugar Hill Records in New York.[4] Its first act was the duo of Disco Daddy and Captain Rapp, whose debut single was "The Gigolo Rapp" which was also released in 1981. The song became a minor success but failed to gain much radio play. Many other Hip-Hop songs recorded in California were released during the early 1980s, but many of them received little or no radio play.[4]Captain Rapp created the classic West Coast song released in 1983 called, "Bad Times (I Can't Stand It)", which is a politically conscious response to Grandmaster Flash's "The Message" arranged by the legendary production duo of Jimmy Jam & Terry Lewis and Rich Cason.[8] Clayton's group, Uncle Jamm's Army, released their first single, "Dial-a-Freak", and in 1984 Egyptian Lover released his On the Nile album, which includes the popular 12" single "Egypt Egypt". Members of Uncle Jamm's Army and the World Class Wreckin' Cru, including Dr. Dre, The Unknown DJ, Egyptian Lover, Ice-T and Kid Frost would later go on to help define the early West Coast hip hop sound throughout the 1980s.
In the same period, the Compton-based former locking dancer Alonzo Williams formed the World Class Wreckin' Cru, which included future N.W.A members Dr. Dre and DJ Yella. Williams also founded Kru-Cut Records and established a recording studio in the back of his nightclub, Eve's After Dark, which was founded in 1979. The club was where local drug dealer Eazy-E and Jerry Heller decided to start Ruthless Records and where Dr. Dre and DJ Yella met the group CIA, which included future N.W.A member Ice Cube, Laylaw, Dr. Dre's cousin Sir Jinx and K-Dee.
During this period, one of the greatest factors in the spread of West Coast hip hop was the radio station, 1580 KDAY, which was the first radio station in the U.S. to play rap and Hip-Hop 24 hours a day, and radio DJ Greg "Mack Attack" Mack.
Late 1980s and 1990s
Ice-T is known as one of the pioneers of West Coast Hip Hop and gangsta rap, with songs such as "6 in the Mornin", released in 1986, demonstrating the unique style of the west coast.[9] In 1988, Ice-T released the R&B hit "I'm Your Pusher", and Too Short released album "Life is ・・Too short".[10][11] In 1988, N.W.A's landmark album Straight Outta Compton was released.[12] Focusing on life and adversities in Compton, California, a notoriously rough area which had gained a reputation for gang violence, it was released by group member Eazy-E's record label Ruthless Records. As well as establishing a basis for the popularity of gangsta rap, the album drew much attention to West Coast hip hop, especially the Los Angeles scene. In particular, the controversial "Fuck tha Police" and the ensuing censorship attracted substantial media coverage and public attention. Following the dissolution of N.W.A due to in-fighting, the group's members Eazy-E, Dr. Dre, Ice Cube and MC Ren would later become platinum-selling solo artists in the 1990s. Ice Cube released some of the West Coast's most critically acclaimed albums, such as 1990's AmeriKKKa's Most Wanted and 1991's Death Certificate, as well as making film and television appearances such as in John Singleton's Boyz n the Hood in 1991.
The popularity of Hip-Hop was undoubtedly assisted by the ensuing feud between Death Row Records and the East Coast's Bad Boy Records, fronted by Puff Daddy and The Notorious B.I.G. The east–west feud gained particular traction when Shakur was shot on November 30, 1994, outside Quad Recording Studios in New York, coincidentally where Biggie Smalls and Puff Daddy had been recording that day, which led Shakur to accuse them of setting him up. Tensions rose to their highest at the Source Awards in 1995, with artists from both sides making indirect comments about the other.
The drive-by shooting of Tupac Shakur on September 7, 1996, which led to his death almost a week later due to his injuries on September 13, 1996, was a major turning point for Hip-Hop as a whole. Shakur had been the West Coast's most popular rapper and among the most critically acclaimed. After his death and Suge Knight's incarceration, Death Row Records - once home to the majority of the West Coast's mainstream rappers - fell into obscurity in 1997. The death of the East Coast rapper and former Tupac adversary, The Notorious B.I.G, concluded the west–east feud that had riddled Hip-Hop throughout the 1990s. The West Coast scene slowly started to fade from the mainstream, and rap fans moved towards the East Coast and Southern scene. Fans loved 1990s rappers such as Nas and the Wu-Tang Clan. In addition, Southern hip hop acts like Master P and Three 6 Mafia reached the mainstream in the early 2000s and, arguably, Atlanta's rap scene became the most popular in the country with the rise of crunk in 2003–2004.
West Coast hip hop's position in the mainstream dwindled greatly in the late 1990s and 2000s, with a few notable exceptions such as Dr. Dre's 2001, Xzibit's Restless, Snoop Dogg's No Limit Top Dogg and Tha Last Meal albums. However, the trend soon changed. Although gangsta rap was still popular on the West Coast in the 2000s, the West Coast sound became more designed for nightclubs with the rise of the Bay Area's hyphy scene, featuring flamboyant raps and explicit references to sex and drugs. A key artist in the genre was E-40, who found a substantial audience with his 1995 album In a Major Way; he found even greater success with the song "Tell Me When to Go" in 2006, featuring Oakland rapper Keak da Sneak.
In the early to mid-2010s, the West Coast had also seen a resurgence with hyphy as well as a transition to an uptempo and club-oriented type of Pop Rap.
Other more peripheral acts that achieved moderate, cult following success in the mainstream include Lil B, who built a strong fan base via social media outlets such as Twitter, YouTube, and MySpace, and has recorded both solo and with The Pack.
As a result, with the resurgence of hyphy and the progression of the ratchet movement through the 2010s, the West Coast has spawned commercially successful rappers such as G-Eazy, Tyga, Jay Rock, Droop-E, Sage the Gemini and Iamsu! of The HBK Gang, YG, Kid Ink, Nipsey Hussle, Dom Kennedy, Ty Dolla Sign, DJ King Assassin, Dizzy Wright and Problem. During the same time, alternative rap acts have also begun to gain traction along the West Coast hip hop scene such as Tyler, the Creator and his Odd Future collective. In addition, Hip-Hop artists who are more socially conscious and focus more on the lyrical aspects of Hip-Hop have also risen from crews such as solo acts Hopsin and group acts such as Black Hippy, entering the mainstream and releasing a number of critically acclaimed and commercially successful albums.
In 2020, Roddy Ricch was #1 on the Hot 100 for 18 weeks.[24]
In 2020, Saweetie released "Tap In" which reached the top twenty on the Billboard Hot 100 charts. The song was influenced by Bay Area hip hop and sampled Too Short's song "Blow the Whistle".[25]
Gangsta rap or gangster rap, initially called reality rap, is a subgenre of hip-hop known for conveying the culture and values typical of urban gangs and street hustlers. Emerging in the late 1980s, gangsta rap's pioneers include Schoolly D of Philadelphia and Ice-T of Los Angeles, later expanding in California with artists such as N.W.A and Tupac Shakur. In 1992, via record producer Dr. Dre, rapper Snoop Dogg, and their G-funk sound, gangster rap broadened to mainstream popularity. Murder Dog magazine and Ozone magazine introduced Gangsta rapper. Pen & Pixel and Phunky Phat produced CD cover.
N.W.A was an American hip hop group formed in Compton, California. They were among the earliest and most significant popularizers and controversial figures of the gangsta rap subgenre, and the group is widely considered one of the greatest and most influential groups in the history of hip hop music.
Marion Hugh "Suge" Knight Jr. is an American record executive and the co-founder and former CEO of Death Row Records. Knight was a central figure in gangsta rap's commercial success in the 1990s. This feat is attributed to the record label's first two album releases: Dr. Dre's The Chronic in 1992 and Snoop Dogg's Doggystyle in 1993. Knight is serving a 28-year sentence in prison for a fatal hit-and-run in 2015.
Eric Lynn Wright, known professionally as Eazy-E, was an American rapper who propelled West Coast rap and gangsta rap by leading the group N.W.A and its label, Ruthless Records. He is often referred to as the "Godfather of Gangsta Rap".
G-funk, short for gangsta funk, is a sub-genre of gangsta rap that emerged from the West Coast scene in the early 1990s. The genre was heavily influenced by the synthesizer-heavy 1970s funk sound of Parliament-Funkadelic, often using samples or recreating the original tracks. It was represented by commercially successful albums such as Dr. Dre's The Chronic (1992) and Snoop Dogg's Doggystyle (1993).
Straight Outta Compton is the debut studio album by American hip hop group N.W.A, which, led by Eazy-E, formed in Los Angeles County's City of Compton in early 1987. Released by his label, Ruthless Records, on August 8, 1988, the album was produced by N.W.A members Dr. Dre, DJ Yella, and Arabian Prince, with lyrics written by N.W.A members Ice Cube and MC Ren along with Ruthless rapper The D.O.C. Not merely depicting Compton's street violence, the lyrics repeatedly threaten to lead it by attacking peers and even police. The track "Fuck tha Police" drew an FBI agent's warning letter, which aided N.W.A's notoriety, with N.W.A calling itself "the world's most dangerous group."
Death Row Records is an American independent 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, Tha Dogg Pound, and 2Pac, during the 1990s. At its peak, Death Row was making over US$100 million a year.
Delmar Drew Arnaud, known professionally as Daz Dillinger or simply Daz, is an American rapper and music producer. In the 1990s at Death Row Records, he is credited with aiding the catapult of West Coast rap and gangsta rap into the mainstream. He is one half of the rap duo tha Dogg Pound, along with Kurupt.
David Marvin Blake, better known by his stage names DJ Quik or Da Quiksta, is an American rapper and producer, known for his production in the G-funk style of West Coast hip-hop. Blake has collaborated with Snoop Dogg, Kurupt, Tupac, Chingy, R. Kelly and Shaquille O'Neal, among others. Blake's stage name reflects his ability to produce songs in a short period of time. Some of his top songs include "Dollaz + Sense", "Tonite", "Born and Raised in Compton" and "Jus Lyke Compton".
N.W.A. and the Posse is a compilation album, re-releasing N.W.A and associated groups' underground rap songs from the Los Angeles area's rap scene on November 6, 1987. It is regarded as American rap group N.W.A's first but neglected album; N.W.A's authorized debut studio album, rather, is Straight Outta Compton, released in August 1988. Whereas the Straight album was certified platinum, one million copies sold in July 1989, the Posse album was certified gold, half as many copies sold, in April 1994.
Timothy J. Blair, better known by his stage name Tim Dog, was an American rapper from the Bronx, New York, who rose to notoriety during the early 1990s with his debut LP Penicillin on Wax and the celebrated diss track "Fuck Compton". Tim had already appeared on songs with the Ultramagnetic MCs and went on to form a duo, Ultra, with member Kool Keith. "Fuck Compton" appeared in XXL magazine's "Top 25 Diss Tracks of All Time" and earned Tim Dog critical acclaim from progressive hip-hop producer Blockhead, who said Tim Dog's "The Dog's Gonna Getcha" is "quite possibly the hardest song ever made." Nas references Tim Dog on his track "Where Are They Now?" from his 2006 album Hip Hop Is Dead, and despite Tim Dog's feud with Dr. Dre, Eminem name-checked him on the track "Ricky Ticky Toc".
The term hyphy is an Oakland, California slang meaning "hyperactive". More specifically, it is an adjective describing the hip hop music and the culture associated with the Oakland area. The term was first coined by Oakland rapper Keak da Sneak.
"Westside Story" is the debut single by American rapper and West Coast hip hop artist the Game. The song was produced by both Dr. Dre and Scott Storch, and was co-written by Mike Elizondo, Dre, Storch, the Game and 50 Cent. It was released in 2004 as the lead single from Game's debut studio album The Documentary. The song debuted at #99 and peaked at #93 on the Billboard Hot 100. It was an airplay-only release, thus no music video for the song was made. Rolling Stone's review of the album described this song as "a kind of L.A. version of "In da Club". The Game has stated that this song is a tribute to Tupac Shakur, with a direct reference to him, saying "I got +California Love+ fuckin' bitches to that Pac shit." The Game also makes references to Tupac's songs, California Love and Against All Odds. Other references include: Nate Dogg, Tha Dogg Pound (D.P.G.) and their song New York, Westside Connection, Michael Jackson and his album Thriller, DJ Pooh and Kool G Rap.
Jerry Buddy Long Jr., better known by his stage name Kokane, is an American rapper and singer best known for his distinctive vocal style and numerous guest appearances, such as on Snoop Dogg's Tha Last Meal.
The East Coast–West Coast hip hop rivalry was 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. Focal points of the feud were East Coast–based rapper The Notorious B.I.G. with Puff Daddy and their New York City–based label, Bad Boy Records, and West Coast–based rapper Tupac Shakur with Suge Knight and their Los Angeles–based label, Death Row Records. The feud culminated in the murders of both rappers in drive-by shootings. Although several suspects have been identified, both murders remain unsolved.
Ricardo Emmanuel Brown, better known by his stage name Kurupt, is an American rapper and record producer who aided gangsta rap's rise via 1990s verses helping set lasting trends. He is one half of the rap duo Tha Dogg Pound, along with Daz Dillinger. His first solo album was released in 1998. After feuding, the duo reunited in 2005.
All Eyez on Me is the fourth studio album by American rapper 2Pac and the last to be released during his lifetime. Released on February 13, 1996, 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.
Craig Venegas Alvarado, known by his stage name DJ King Assassin, is an American disc jockey, producer, and engineer from Los Angeles, California.
The 1995 Source Awards were held at the Paramount Theater in New York City on August 3, 1995. The awards show was one of the most infamous events in the history of hip-hop. The show escalated tensions between the East and West Side hip-hop communities, thereby likely catalysing the murders of Tupac Shakur and Biggie Smalls within the following two years. Televised nationally, the show also worsened America’s moral panic about the influence of rap and hip-hop on its youth.
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