Feud For Thought- East Coast vs West Coast: The Origins

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.

 

It was also an era which seen certain “interlopers” like Nas  go West and release an album with Dre’s Aftermath Productions, worth noting if we are ever to acquire that harmonious blend of wise lyrics and phenomenal beats.

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.