Hip Hop of the 1990's

Introduction
Hip-hop is a genre of music that originated in the Bronx, New York in the 1970’s. This genre of music was widely popular within urban communities due to the fact that the lyrical content easily assimilated into inner city culture.

History
By the late 1980’s distinctive regional variations of hip-hop were becoming established in major cities such as Philadelphia, Miami, Atlanta, Seattle, Oakland, and Los Angeles. Music critics felt that this was a natural evolution as hip-hop has always reflected the culture and social issues of each distinctive community. Within a decade these distinctions in style turned into two major factions, East Coast, and West Coast Hip Hop. In the early 1990’s, west coast rap distinguished itself from the old school New York style hip-hop. The popularity generated by West Coast, “gangsta rap” proved to be the most lucrative and successful time for this genre. It was the golden age of hip-hop. 

East Coast
East Coast hip-hop evolved from its early founders such as Grandmaster Flash, Sugar Hill Gang, and Run DMC. The style reflected life in cities like New York, and Philadelphia.

Elements of East Coast Hip-Hop
The rapping was rapid fire, lyrical, and brash, often using multi-syllabic rhymes and complex wordplay. The East Coast sound, although dominated by African Americans, was accepting of white artists, such as the Beastie Boys This reflects the importance of geographic similarities as oppose to racial differences. Although east coast rappers are commonly known for their music’s fast pace rhythm, the lyrical content was important as well.

Significant Artists
Lyrical content was main cause behind the praise of the debut album "Illmatic" (1994)of East Coast rapper Nas. East Coast rappers Public Enemy also stayed true to this mantra by crafting messages of political activism that complemented their East Coast rapping style. The hit album "Fear of a Black Planet" was one of the best examples of this. These rappers paved the road for artists that took the stage in the late 1990s, such as Rapper Shawn Corey Carter, or better known as Z". Jay Z embodied the "rags to riches" theme, using his lyrical talent to catapult him to the top of the rap game in the late 1990s.



By the early 90’s,Sean “Puffy” Combs CEO of Bad Boy Records, up and coming star The Notorious B.I.G(also known as Biggie Smalls), and The Wu Tang Clan were ready to defend their East Coast style against meteoric rise of the West Coast Hip Hop scene. Many consider this time in hip-hop, as the East Coast renaissance.

West Coast
The hardened neighborhoods of cities like Compton,and Los Angeles, California, is where Coast Hip Hop found its voice in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Differing from that of popular East Coast rap, West Coast had its own unique sound.

Elements of West Coast Hip-Hop
West Coast rap was a smoother style, it was associated with street gang life and reflected the ongoing social changes in Southern California’s urban communities. With hard hitting, gritty lyrics, and beats to match, West Coast was soon a major contender to the reign of The East Coast. The music relied heavily on prominent bass, rapping, samplers and synthesizers. The music’s lyrical content focused on social injustice, police brutality, and ongoing poverty in the urban communities. Unlike East Coast rap, prominent West Coast rappers were all African American.

Significant Artists
Artists, such as N.W.A rapped about rising unemployment, escalating drug use, and gang violence that plagued their communities. N.W.A’s second album, Straight Outta Compton clearly established West Coast rap in it’s owncategory, and fueled West Coast rap’s surging popularity. In the 90’s, Dr. Dre’s prodigy, Snoop Doggy Dogg, Tupac (2Pac) Shakur and Marion “Suge” Knight, CEO of Los Angeles based Death Row Records established West Coast rap as a driving force in the music industry.

Rivalry/Violence
The rivalries between East and West Coast artists not only played out in the music, but also in real life. Initially, the rivalry was expressed solely through the lyrics, and music videos. Each side defended their territory while disrespecting and bashing the other coast’s style and abilities to rap. It soon escalated into threats and violence between factions. 

Tupac vs Biggie Smalls
The greatest and most tragic feud was between Tupac and Biggie Smalls. Tupac was killed in a drive by shooting in Los Vegas. One theory is that Biggie Smalls paid a member of the Crips street gang to kill him. The feud started as a typical East Coast/West Coast battle soon turned personal. Tupac allegedly slept with Biggie’s wife, Faith Evans. He revealed this is in the song "Hit Em Up". Biggie’s wife denied the allegations. However, Biggie was unable to forgive and forget. 

Although, Biggie was never directly connected to Tupac’s murder, suspicions rose when the rapper himself was murdered just six months later. People inquired as to whether this was a retaliation to the shooting of Tupac. Within a year, the hip-hop game had lost two of its premier figureheads.

End of an Era
In 1997, Snoop Doggy Dogg and Sean “Puffy” Combs came together to call for an end to the East Coast/WestCoast rivalry. Combs states, “The media needs to let it go and the fans need to let it go”. Snoop agreed and said, “All the kids around the world are watching, they look up to us. By calling for a truce we are giving them something to live for.” The two artists were preparing to appear on the Steve Harvey Show. Before the taping of the show Snoop commented “I don’t want to talk about yesterday, I want to talk about tomorrow, we’ve got to come together, shake hands, call for peace, and move forward.”