East Coast hip hop is a form of
hip hop musicHip hop music is a musical genre which developed alongside hip hop culture, and is commonly based on concepts of loop, rapping, freestyle, DJing, scratching, sampling and beatboxing. The music is used to express concerns of political, social, and personal issues...
that originated and developed in
New York CityNew York is the most populous city in the United States, and the center of the New York metropolitan area, which is among the most populous urban areas in the world. A leading global city, New York exerts a powerful influence over worldwide commerce, finance, culture, fashion and entertainment...
, USA during the 1970s and early 1980s. The style emerged as a definitive subgenre after artists from other regions of the United States emerged with different styles. East Coast hip hop has been noted as the first and original form of hip hop.
Musical style
In contrast to the simplistic rhyme pattern and scheme utilized in
old school hip hopOld school hip hop describes the earliest commercially recorded hip hop music , and by extension the music in the period preceding it...
, or the
call and responseCall and response is a form of "spontaneous verbal and non-verbal interaction between speaker and listener in which all of the statements are punctuated by expressions from the listener", as stated by Smitherman....
style exhibited in the
crunkCrunk is a musical form, either a genre of music itself or a subgenre of hip hop music, that originated from southern hip hop, electro and dancehall in the 1990s. Crunk was created in Memphis, Tennessee, but the most of its development happened in Atlanta, Georgia...
genre, East Coast hip hop has been noted for its emphasis on lyrical dexterity. It has also been characterized by multi-syllabic rhymes, complex wordplay, a continuous free-flowing delivery and intricate metaphors. While East Coast hip hop does not have a uniform sound or standard style, it tends to gravitate to aggressive beats and
sampleIn music, sampling is the act of taking a portion, or sample, of one sound recording and reusing it as an instrument or a different sound recording of a song. This is typically done with a sampler, which can be a piece of hardware or a computer program on a digital computer. Sampling is also...
collages. The aggressive and hard-hitting beats of the form were emphasized by such acts as
EPMDEPMD is an American hip hop group from Brentwood, New York. The group's name is a concatenation of the members' name "E" and "PMD" or an acronym for "Erick and Parrish Making Dollars" , referencing its members, emcees Erick Sermon and Parrish Smith...
and Public Enemy, while artists such as
Eric B. & RakimEric B. & Rakim were a hip-hop duo composed of DJ Eric Barrier and MC Rakim Allah .Hailing from Long Island, New York, the pair is generally considered by hip hop enthusiasts to be one of the most influential and innovative groups in the genre...
,
Boogie Down ProductionsBoogie Down Productions was a hip hop group originally comprised KRS-One, D-Nice, and DJ Scott La Rock. DJ Scott La Rock was murdered on August 27, 1987, months after the release of BDP's debut album Criminal Minded....
,
Big Daddy KaneAntonio Mortimer Hardy better known by his stage name, Big Daddy Kane, is an American rapper. He started his career in 1986 as a member of the rap group, the Juice Crew. He is considered one of the most influential and skilled MCs in Hip Hop. Regarding the name Big Daddy Kane, he said: "The Big...
and
Slick RickRicky Walters , better known by stage names Slick Rick, MC Ricky D and Rick the Ruler, is a Grammy-nominated British-American rapper.-Career:...
were noted for their lyrical skill. Lyrical themes throughout the history of East Coast hip hop have ranged from
lyrical consciousnessConscious hip hop or socially conscious hip-hop is a sub-genre of hip hop that focuses on social issues. It is not necessarily overtly political, but it discusses social issues and conflicts...
by such artists as Public Enemy and the
Beastie BoysBeastie Boys is an American hip hop group from New York City. The group comprises Michael "Mike D" Diamond, Adam "MCA" Yauch, and Adam "Ad-Rock" Horovitz...
to
mafioso rapMafioso rap, or "Crime Rap" is a hip hop sub-genre which first started in the late 1980s and later flourished in the mid-1990s. It is the pseudo-Mafia extension of East Coast hardcore rap....
themes by rappers such as
RaekwonCorey Woods better known by the stage name Raekwon , is an American rapper and a member of the Wu-Tang Clan. He released his solo debut, Only Built 4 Cuban Linx..., in 1995, and has continued recording solo and with the Wu-Tang Clan since then...
and
Kool G RapNathaniel Wilson , better known by his stage name Kool G Rap, is an American rapper from the Corona section of Queens, New York. He began his career in the mid-1980s as one half of the group Kool G Rap & DJ Polo, and also as a member of the Juice Crew...
.
Emergence of hip hop on the East Coast (1970–1980s)
East coast hip hop is occasionally referred to as New York rap due to its origins and development at block parties thrown in New York City during the 1970s. According to Allmusic, "At the dawn of the hip-hop era, all rap was East Coast rap." Early artists of the form, including
DJ Kool HercClive Campbell , also known as Kool Herc, DJ Kool Herc and Kool DJ Herc, is a Jamaican-born DJ who is credited with originating hip hop music, in the Bronx, New York City...
,
Grandmaster FlashJoseph Saddler better known as Grandmaster Flash, is an American hip hop musician and DJ; one of the pioneers of hip-hop DJing, cutting, and mixing. He is also a nephew to the great Former Feather Weight Champion of the World, the late Sandy Saddler...
,
Afrika BambaataaAfrika Bambaataa is an American DJ from the South Bronx, who was instrumental in the early development of hip hop throughout the 1980s. Afrika Bambaataa is one of the three originators of break-beat deejaying, and is respectfully known as the "Grandfather" and "Godfather" and The Amen Ra of...
,
the Sugarhill GangThe Sugarhill Gang is an American hip hop group, known mostly for their biggest hit, "Rapper's Delight", the first hip hop single recorded to become a Top 40 hit. The song uses the instrumental track from "Good Times" by Chic as its foundation....
,
Kurtis BlowCurtis Walker , is better known by his stage name Kurtis Blow, is one of the first commercially successful rappers and the first to sign with a major label...
and
Run-D.M.C.Run-D.M.C. was a hip hop group from Hollis, in the Queens borough of New York City. Founded by Joseph "DJ Run" Simmons, Darryl "D.M.C." McDaniels, and Jason "Jam-Master Jay" Mizell, the group is arguably one of the most influential acts in the history of hip hop. They were the biggest act in...
, pioneered East Coast hip hop during hip hop's development. As the genre developed, lyrical themes evolved through the work of East Coast artists such as the
Native TonguesNative Tongues is a book by the linguist Charles Berlitz.It is a list of words in different languages, etymology and questions with speculations far and wide about words....
, a collective of hip hop artists associated with generally positive, Afrocentric themes, and assembled by Afrika Bambaataa. New York-based groups such as
De La SoulDe La Soul is an American hip hop group formed in 1987 in Long Island, New York. They are best known for their eclectic sampling, quirky lyrics, and their contributions to the evolution of the jazz rap and alternative hip hop subgenres...
,
A Tribe Called QuestA Tribe Called Quest is an American hip hop group, formed in 1985. The group is composed of rapper/producer Q-Tip , rapper Phife Dawg , and DJ/producer Ali Shaheed Muhammad. A fourth member, rapper Jarobi White, left the group after their first album but appears to have rejoined the group since 2006...
and the Jungle Brothers also earned recognition for their musical eclecticism.
The East Coast Renaissance (early to mid–1990s)
Though East Coast hip hop was dominant throughout the late 1980s, N.W.A's
Straight Outta ComptonStraight Outta Compton is the second studio album by Compton, California-based hip hop group N.W.A, released August 8, 1988, on group member Eazy-E's record label Ruthless Records. The production developed mainly from Dr. Dre with DJ Yella giving co-production...
presented the toughened sound of
West Coast hip hopWest Coast hip hop is a hip hop music subgenre that encompasses any artists or music which originates in the westernmost region of the United States...
, which was accompanied by gritty, street-level subject matter. In 1992,
Dr. DreAndre Romelle Young , primarily known by his stage name Dr. Dre, is an American record producer, rapper, record executive, and actor...
's
G-FunkG-funk, or Gangsta-Funk, is a sub-genre of hip hop music that emerged from West Coast gangsta rap in the early 1990s. It was a dominant sound that put west coast hip hop on the map...
record
The ChronicThe Chronic is the debut solo studio album of hip hop producer and rapper Dr. Dre, released December 15, 1992 on his former own label, Death Row Records, and distributed by Priority Records. Recording sessions for the album took place in June 1992 at Death Row Studios in Los Angeles, California and...
would introduce West Coast hip hop to the mainstream. Along with a combined ability to retain its primary function as party music, the West Coast form of hip hop became a dominant force during the early 1990s. Although G-Funk was the most popular variety of hip hop during the early 1990s, the East Coast hip hop scene remained an integral part of the music industry. Several New York City rappers rising from the local underground scene, began releasing noteworthy albums in the early and mid nineties. Music writer David Drake of
Stylus MagazineStylus Magazine was an online music and film magazine launched in 2002. It featured long-form music journalism, four daily music reviews, movie reviews, a number of different podcasts, an MP3 blog, and a text blog....
wrote of hip hop during 1994 and its contributions, stating:
NasNasir bin Olu Dara Jones , who performs under the mononym Nas , formerly Nasty Nas, is an American rapper and actor. The son of jazz musician Olu Dara, he was born and raised in the Queensbridge housing projects in New York City...
's debut album
IllmaticIllmatic is the debut album of American hip hop MC Nas, released April 19, 1994 on Columbia Records in the United States. Recording sessions for the album took place from 1992 to 1993 at Chung King Studios, D&D Recording, Battery Studios and Unique Recording Studios in New York City...
has been noted as a high point of the East Coast hip hop scene, and featured production from such renown New York-based producers as
Large ProfessorLarge Professor also known as Large Pro and Xtra P , is a New York City-based hip hop record producer and emcee. He is also best known as a founding member of the influential underground hip hop group Main Source, and as a frequent collaborator with Nas...
,
Pete RockPeter Phillips , better known by his stage name Pete Rock, is an American record producer, DJ and rapper of Jamaican descent. He rose to prominence in the early 1990s as one half of the critically acclaimed group Pete Rock & CL Smooth...
and
DJ PremierChristopher Edward Martin , better known as DJ Premier, is an American record producer and DJ, and the instrumental half of the duo Gang Starr, together with vocalist Guru. Originally from Houston, he has lived in Brooklyn, New York, for much of his professional career...
. Gabe Gloden of Stylus Magazine later wrote, "From my perspective in the Midwest, the market was dominated by West Coast hip hop, and these albums didn’t make much of a dent in West Coast sales, but with time, these albums filtered their way into everyone’s collections."
See also
- Music of New York City
The music of New York City is a diverse and important field in the world of music; no American city has as central a place in music history as New York City. It has long been a thriving home for jazz, rock and the blues, and is the birthplace of hip hop...
- Culture of New York City
The culture of New York City is shaped by centuries of immigration, the city's size and variety, and its status as the cultural capital of the United States. Many major American cultural movements first emerged in the city...
- West Coast hip hop
West Coast hip hop is a hip hop music subgenre that encompasses any artists or music which originates in the westernmost region of the United States...
- East Coast-West Coast hip hop rivalry
The East Coast–West Coast hip hop rivalry was a feud in the early-mid 1990s between artists and fans of the East Coast and West Coast hip-hop scenes. Seeming focal points of the feud were West Coast-based rapper 2Pac , and East Coast-based rapper The Notorious B.I.G...
External links