![]() Diverse culture and unique language remain fixtures in the sounds emerging from the West Coast, while veterans like Too $hort and E-40 make cameos on hits like Chris Brown’s “Loyal,” and Big Sean’s “I Don’t F–k With You.” While other West Coast sub-genres like “gangsta” rap emerged in the late ’80s thanks to the likes of N.W.A, Snoop Dogg, and 2Pac, it was the Bay that first hosted the diverse cast of characters that made rap the melting pot it is today. Internet favorites like Lil B, G-Eazy, and Iamsu! continue to wave the Bay Area flag today. When It’s Dark Out These lines originate from Welsh writer, Dylan Thomas’s famous villanelle, Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night. Many of the Bay Area’s rappers, from MC Hammer to the Wild Boyz, started out as dancers. Live instruments on slow rolling funk beats became the signature sound for many Bay Area rappers. Particular dance styles now embedded in hip-hop were initially unique to the Bay Area, like boogalooing, rutting and strutting (collectively known as BRS). ![]() Some of the Bay Area’s best hip-hop producers came out of this ’70s funk scene, like Khayree, Ant Banks, Studio Tone, Al Eaton, Jay King, and Foster McElroy. New York hip-hoppers were feverishly searching for breakbeats, while their counterparts in the Bay Area were trying to find the perfect funk groove. As Too $hort once explained, music on the West Coast is defined by the bass, whereas the East Coast centered on the drum. ![]() In the 1970s, the Bay had a pulsating funk movement. Rappers from here weren’t afraid to get raunchy either, as heard on Too $hort’s explicit “Freaky Tales.” Known for its infectious slang and unique delivery (see E-40’s “Tell Me When To Go,” Keak da Sneak’s “Super Hyphy,” and Andre Nickatina’s “Ayo For Yayo,” featuring San Quinn), the Bay Area rap scene brought its own swagger to hip-hop culture, and painted real-life pictures of “the ghetto” on wax. From the Black Panthers’ survival programs, with free breakfast and health clinics to early television programming like The Jay Payton Show and dedicated channel Soul Beat to thriving independent punk, rock, and comedy scenes, the Bay has prided itself on being a place where, as Shock G from Digital Underground pointed out, you can “make a dollar out of 15 cents.” Artists like Too $hort – the godfather of Oakland rap – became known by selling tapes out of car trunks, and performing on transit buses. Over the past several decades, artists from San Francisco, Richmond, Vallejo, and Oakland – like MC Hammer, The Jacka, Digital Underground, E-40, Too $hort and Souls of Mischief – released records that have sold millions of copies, and resonated internationally.ĭIY is in the DNA of the Bay Area. The Bay Area’s hip-hop scene traces its roots back to the early ‘70s. ![]()
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