Everybody knows about the beef that took two of the games brightest stars in Tupac Shakur and The Notorious B.I.G. But no one ever talks about the war that actually killed hip-hop. The war that didn't lead to violence, but it ultimately killed the very artistry that rappers used to be known for. The war I’m talking about is the one between the East Coast and the Dirty South. |
|
At the height of the rap game or what is sometimes referred to as the "Golden Age" of Hip-Hop, it was pretty much all about New York and the East Coast. The West Coast carved out its own niche with the “Gangster Rap” genre and for the most part did very well for itself. You had labels like Ruthless Records and Death Row, groups like NWA, artists like Ice Cube and Snoop Dogg and albums like Doggy Style and The Chronic that put California on the map. But truthfully speaking, if it was hot...it pretty much came out of New York. As a result, they had a swag like no other. They had a strangle hold on the game and they knew it. At the time their attitude was that if you weren’t from New York then you were wack until you proved otherwise. If you wanted to make it in the hip-hop game, you had to take your music to New York and if they didn’t like it, your career was pretty much over. When it came to the rap game, to them the conversation began and ended with them. And really, who could blame them? The game started there. The greatest rap label of all time, Def Jam records started there. An overwhelming majority of the game’s top artists, including the greatest rapper of all time in Biggie came from there. They had a right to be proud. It was good for the game too because it created competition and personal pride. Artists on both the west and the east coasts during that time actually cared about the quality of their work and the albums (not singles) that they were putting out and the music was at an all time high and the best that it had ever been.
But down south things were different. They didn't feel the same way about Hip-Hop. The music didn't speak to them and they couldn't relate to it. They preferred west coast music and the hardcore style of rap. But even more than that, they liked southern artists that represented their lifestyle and southern culture. But when they turned on the TV to watch videos, wasn't no southern rappers on there. When the award shows came around, southern rappers got no love. They started to feel slighted and they developed an enormous chip on their shoulders because they felt like they had music that was just as good but nobody accepted it because it was all about the east coast. So in 1995 after winning the award for Best New Rap group, the frustrations of the south were made public when Andre 3000 of Outkast went on The Source awards and announced that "The south got something to say!" Pimp C later on down the line summed up the way the south felt about Hip-Hop and east coast rap when he said that "These ain't hip-hop records, these is country rap tunes". Basically the overall feeling in the south was "F" New York; they ain't showing us love so we ain’t showing them none and we bout to do our own thing. And that’s how the “Cold War” got started…
| Enter Master P who changed the rap game as we know it and who, real talk…put the south on the map all by himself. He did what the Geto Boys, Eightball & MJG, Outkast and Scarface couldn’t do…he gave the south a voice and a place at the rap table. P was a hustler or what’s known in the south as a "D-Boy" and I don’t care where you’re from, everybody in the rap game loves a hustler. He put up his own money and went independent and started No Limit Records. He pushed his records hand to hand like dope in Louisiana, Texas and Mississippi and the music spread like a forest fire all over the south. He sold 100,000 copies of his first album and 200,000 his second time around on his own and without a major deal. Fans in the south who heard the music felt like they finally had found their hero. Here was somebody who had their own label and wasn’t censored by the majors. He could rap about stuff that they liked and could relate to; murder, gold teeth, candy paint, cheese and dope…and it was all good. |
It didn’t matter to them that P was probably the worst rapper of all time, he was essentially the peoples champ. Here you had a cat that couldn't rap but still sold over a quarter million records all by himself! That got everybody’s attention, including the major labels. As a result he ended up signing a multi-million dollar "distribution only" deal with Priority Records and after that No Limit started dropping platinum records left and right. All of a sudden the south was on top and the east coast had to take a back seat.
But it seemed as though nobody could see how his success was hurting the game. He took a legitimate business and an art form that people took seriously and turned it into a hustle. He proved that you didn't have to actually know how to rap in order to get money in the game because somebody, somewhere was gonna buy it anyway. And we all know that No Limit sold A LOT of records! So his mentality was get in, get as much money as you can, and then get out before people realize that you’re wack and they stop buying your records. As a result, rhyme skills died, wordplay died and hip-hop as we know it died.
Now don't get it twisted, I’m not hating on P. And I’m not saying that everything that came off the No Limit tank was wack either because it wasn’t. But as a whole, even though he sold over 75 million records, No Limit put out some of the wackest music of any label in the history of the rap game. So as a business man I respect what he did. He took advantage of a demand that was there and he capitalized on it and he also opened doors for a lot of cats in the south to get on. But as a lover of Hip-Hop music, he ruined it in so many ways but mainly he made the industry accepting of music that was garbage and if you said it was wack then all of a sudden you were a hater! Without Master P, people would still be focusing on making good albums and not just hot singles and he was the one that started that whole movement. If you bought a No Limit album you got 18-20 tracks on it, 4-5 of them were worth listening to and 2 of those were radio singles. I can’t sit here and say that I’ve ever listened to a No Limit album straight through regardless of whose album it was.
I want to go on record and say that I’m not hating on the south because I think they have some incredible rappers with amazing talent. But real talk…95% of the music and the artists that come out of there is trash and we all know it. But the reason it sells is because of what P was able to do in the mid to late 90’s. Now, every wack rapper no matter where they’re from can get a record deal because it’s not about your music anymore, it’s your gimmick that sells. He’s the reason why we can accept Kanye West as a rapper even though he’s extra weird and wack. He’s the reason why Lil’ Flip, Soulja Boy, Hurricane Chris, Plies, Gucci Mane and Young Jeezy got deals. He’s the reason why consumers will never again be able to appreciate or even recognize what a good rapper is. He’s the reason that Hip-Hop died long before Nas pronounced it dead.
Rest In Peace…
|
