Location and culture is a big part of hip hop. In this
genre, where you come from almost defines who you are and what kind of music
you make. Ever since hip hop began, feuds and rivalries have taken place
over location and hometowns. These feuds have, in the past, included gang
rivalries, drug wars, and culture differences. According to Allison
Samuels, Newsweek Reporter, "Originally,
at block parties, DJs would play records and
isolate the percussion breaks for the dancing masses. Soon, MCs began
speaking over the beats, usually simply to keep the audience dancing.
Eventually, MCs began incorporating more varied and stylistic speech and
focused on introducing themselves, shouting out to friends in the audience,
boasting about their own skills, and criticizing their rivals. This was often
done in good humor, but several deaths introduced a fear that lyrical rivalries
may develop into offstage feuds that become violent." After rappers started getting angry over who
was better, location and culture became the main topic in hip hop. One of the most common ways rap rivals
clash is through "diss tracks," music tracks that contain
lyrical insults directed at the artist's rivals. Feuds are also fueled by
rivals placing targeted insults in the press and confronting one another at
public events. In some cases, feuds intermingle. This lead to the East Coast-West Coast hip hop rivalry of
the early and mid nineties.
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East Coast- West Cost rivalries was one of the things that started why hometowns matter so much in hip hop
While hip-hop is known to have originated in the East Coast
(particularly, the Bronx, New York), the roots of gangsta rap are accredited to the West Cost (particularly,
Compton, California). Thefocuses of many rap battles involve disputes between
East Coast and West Coast artists. The artists most commonly associated with
the East Coast vs. West Coast beef are Tupac
(2Pac) Shakur from the West
Coast and Notorious B.I.G (Biggie Smalls) from the East Coast. After the deaths of 2Pac and Biggie
Smalls in 1996 and 1997, the beef between East Coast and West Coast died down
and rappers began representing their hometowns, instead of either Coast.
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Hometowns
became a huge part of hip hop music and most songs in some way talk about
someone’s hometown still to this day. Artists
battle over who is better and how their hometown is better. If someone is not from your hometown, then
they don’t belong there and should never go there. For example, artists such as OutKast
represented Atlanta, Snoop Dogg and Dr. Dre represented California, 50 Cent and
Eminem represented Detroit, and Jay Z and Nas represented New York. So therefore, no matter the artist or genre,
part of what makes music so powerful and enduring is the intense connection
every artist has to “where they’re from”. The sights, sounds, feelings and
people in our “hometowns” are inextricably tied to who we are and those influences
almost always resonate in the music artists make. The music has changed, but
today’s most popular artists still wear their “homes” on their sleeves no
matter where their travels take them.
