After much deliberation it would appear impossible to avoid
some element of criticism regarding this dive into the labyrinth of our beloved
genre. It is a question that frequently pops up when we listen to various
artists, yet it rarely takes on a greater form than a senseless shout of loyalty
towards a particular coast. Bearing that in mind, we shall take the coloured
flags out of both sides of our Khaki’s and determine what it is that makes the
United States a coast-coast superpower of rap.
The dawn of a new era began in the late 70’s and in hindsight
may safely be regarded as the calm before the storm. It would appear both
coasts began on a level par, adapting the fundamental elements of a genre which
was about bare it’s proud posture to an unsuspecting world still coming to
terms with the idea of punk rock. New techniques such as Beat-Boxing and MC-ing
spread simultaneously on both coasts like wild fire, and were utilised by early
groups such as Uncle Jamm’s Army in
California.
Just as Napoleon had his triumph at Austerlitz, rap’s “finest
hour” came with the turn of the decade. In 1983 from the humble surroundings of his
dorm room in New York University, Rick Rubin founded what would become Def Jam Records. The Goliath of production set the East Coast
on the map, employing the talents of LL
Cool J and The Beastie Boys as their
early releases to be sampled by a still reluctant society. Proliferation in
employment on the West Coast was aided by the establishment of Rapper’s Rapp Group in 1981, which aimed
to breed new hip hop groups modelled around the early example of Grandmaster Flash.
What proved indispensable to the growth of Hip Hop, giving the
West Coast an early advantage over their adversaries, was the colossal work of Greg Mack on his afternoon show The Mack Attack on radio station KDAY. The shortwaves that transmitted
out of Redondo Beach, California turned a then unknown group called N.W.A into the Panzer tanks of the Rap Reich
they are to this day.
The 80’s was the bedrock of Hip Hop not only as a Genre but
as a business and stylistic schisms began to appear between the two coasts
which would become candid during the cornerstone era of the 90’s.
East Coast’s answer to elite Hip Hop groups such as NWA was none other than the Wu Tang Clan and is possibly the best
starting point for our determination of what made East Coast rap different.
I have always found it easiest to approach this question by
asking, what East Coast rap isn’t? Whilst early Aftermath productions from Dre
placed emphasis on the encapsulating beats of Yela, this played a secondary role in the music of the Wu Tang. Each song from the infamous ’93 album Enter the Wu Tang: 36 chambers focuses on the grit of lyrics and
the velocity of each bar, often accompanied by a simple Hip Hop beat. It is the
raw lyricism of the early Harlem scene that can be found in every 90’s powerhouse,
including Big L as he pushed the
microphone to the test with Lifestyles of
The Poor and Dangerous (not to take anything away from the tremendous MC
prowess of D.I.T.C member Kid Capri).
The domination of the once held and cherished Dre trait, “street knowledge”, came to
fruition on the East Coast. The emergence of rappers such as the young group Mobb Deep, the infamous Nas and Biggie Smalls, Lord Finesse and Big
Pun to name a few caused a catatonic increase in Rap popularity (and
disapproving mothers). That does not reflect a flaccid nature in the West Coast
scene; after all, ’93 did see the formation of a little group called Thug Life under some guy named Tupac Shakur whose’94 album Thug Life: Volume 1 went Gold.
Nowadays as the Rap industry has been established for “We,
the future”, it is hard to tell which way the Pendulum swings. A level of
ubiquity has occurred, which allows artists such as Soulja Boy to gross $7million in 2010 when he should have been swiftly
escorted off the premises of any producer’s headquarters.
I will stick my neck out and make a bold call. Although it
was the aforementioned emphasis on lyrics in the East Coast scene that
nourished my love for Rap, I feel the greatest signs of growth these days come
from the West. Hip Hop giant Dre continues
to work tirelessly on production with artists such as Compton born The Game and the explosion of Adolescent
Odd Future and their by- products Hodgy Beats and Tyler the Creator onto the scene are reminiscent (whether they
like it or not) of the success the Wu Tang Clan shared years before them.
The one area I do feel the East Coast has never possessed is
an element of excess or baggage, no time ever seems wasted listening to an East
Coast rapper. The die is certainly not cast on this age old debate and it is only with eager anticipation we shall await the next twist.
