West Coast hip hop
California hip hop
West coast Rap
G Funk

West Coast hip-hop or West Coast rap originated in Los Angeles, California. Hip-hop gained recognition in Los Angeles partly due to its affiliation with the entertainment industry that Los Angeles supports in its downtown and Hollywood districts, through record companies and labels. West Coast hip hop was also contributed to by scenes based in the Bay Area and Seattle, Washington, which produced artists such as MC Hammer and Sir Mixalot.

The scene got its start during the early 1980s as hip hop music first gained national appeal and established itself in California in general and in Los Angeles and the Bay Area in particular. Early hardcore/gangsta rap performers included Too $hort, who put out three independent albums during the 1980s before his major-label debut "Born to Mack," which was released in 1988 and went gold. His next four albums all went platinum. In Los Angeles during the same period artists like King Tee and Ice-T gained prominence, while World Class Wreckin’ Cru, Egyptian Lover and the Arabian Prince innovated a style called electro hop (or simply electro). Electro hop was essentially a hybrid of dance music and rap - following the lead of Africa Bambatta who had originally created hip hop by mixing together reggae, funk, and German techno. However, hip-hop purists refused to accept it, and electro hop was functionally dead by the mid 90’s.

Hardcore gangsta rap achieved little success until the end of the 80s, though Toddy Lee’s "Batter" (1985, 1985 in music) and Ice-T’s "6’n da Mornin’" (1986, 1986 in music) did receive some national exposure. Ice-T’s 1987 (1987 in music) Rhyme Pays was a landmark for the genre and N.W.A.’s N.W.A. and the Posse came out shortly thereafter and made waves among hip hop listeners nationwide.

In 1988 (1988 in music), N.W.A. released the blockbuster "Straight Outta Compton" and put the West Coast on the hip hop map. The sound was influenced by hardcore, metal-tinged performers like Ice-T, Latino sounds like Cypress Hill, the popular success of MC Hammer and the P Funk samples and humor of Digital Underground. Straight Outta Compton united these sounds with minimalistic beats and hard-hitting social commentary.

In the early 1990s, hip-hop was split by a rivalry between the two coasts. N.W.A. splintered apart, with three of the members acrimoniously beginning solo careers. The rage and furor of N.W.A. continued on the Public Enemy-influenced recordings of Ice Cube, but Dr. Dre’s G funk came to dominate the West Coast. G funk relied on P funk samples to create a stoned, hazy beat that was defined by the Death Row Records’ stable of artists. Most important to the solidification of the G Funk sound was The Chronic (1992), Dr. Dre’s solo debut that launched the careers of future G funk stars Warren G and Snoop Doggy Dogg.

The G Funk sound was not limited to Death Row, however, and Paris, a Berkeley, California based "conscious" rapper, presented his own rendition of it, which he called "Guerrilla Funk." His radical leftist politics and hardcore flow won him many listeners and the attention of the Secret Service, who objected to his hit single "Bush Killer" which demanded the assassination of then US president George H. W. Bush.

The inter-coast rivalry culminated in the murders of Tupac Shakur and Notorious B.I.G.. After this, hip hop splintered again. West Coast hip-hop during this period was particularly fractured, with most of the scene going underground and losing access to major radio play, which was increasingly dominated by MTV-style rap-pop artists like Puff Daddy and Will Smith and gangsta rap and hardcore hip hop groups like Wu Tang Clan, all of whom were based on the East Coast.

During the 1990s, West Coast hip hop was further split it into two almost totally unconnected scenes as Gansta Rap artists like E-40 and Snoop Dogg - along with all of their countless imitators - continued to fight for access to the mainstream and the so-called Conscious Hip Hop scene on the West Coast adopted a more DIY ethos which disdained commercial success. As a result of this split, major West Coast cities like San Francisco and LA are now home to not one but multiple hip hop scenes, which are differentiated from each other as much by their politics as by their music.
In the late 90s the west coast’s Underground Hip Hop scene began to gain national and international prominence as artists like Spearhead, Blackalicious, Zion i, Aceyalone, Del tha Funkee Homosapien, Hieroglyphics, Of Mexican Descent, Jurassic 5, The Coup, Dilated Peoples, Ozomotli, and many others gained international prominence without being signed to major labels - most of whom self-identify as "conscious" artists, and all of whom include overtly political messages in their music. Other west-coast artists like Emcee Lynx, Company of Prophets, and Entartete Kunst have taken the political aspect of their music a step further and became active participants in - and de-facto spokespeople for - various social movements, something that has not happened to any significant degree in any of the US’s other regional scenes.

West-Coast Gansta rap is still alive as well, although the sound and feel of the music has changed remarkably since the G-Funk era. Snoop Dogg and Dr. Dre continue to be major players in the national mainstream and local gangster rap artists like E-40, The Frontline, Andre Nicatina, and others continue to struggle for name recognition, but they have tended to have less commercial success then their more politically-minded counterparts. East Coast Hip hop also saw a resurgence of politically-minded artists through the late 90’s and up to the present, Dead Prez, Talib Kweli, Common, Nas, and Cannibal Ox being good examples.

Artist continue to carry the legacy into new horizons after years of remaining dormant on radio stations and music media. The Game is proving to be a force that can compete with many of his East Coast counterparts in the rap business with his debut album already multi-platinum successful.

Source : Wikipedia
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West Coast hip hop, by stephen polius [2008-04-13 04:25:55]

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