Russell Simmons created the Def Jam record label in the early 1980s, but the legendary label had successfully grown with the times. Meanwhile, the east coast dominated a kind of raw, lyrical penmanship hip-hop fanatics still point to as "classic hip-hop." Rap on the west coast thrived in no small part due to Dre's knack for picking proteges and 2Pac’s ascension to godlike status. This movement saw the appearance of Snoop Dogg, birthed a number of classic hip-hop albums ( The Chronic and Doggystyle), and proved Dre was more than just one of the five members of N.W.A. When he finally managed to contractually escape the clutches of his former record label Death Row, run by hip-hop’s boogeyman, infamous gang member Suge Knight, he started his own movement. Dre played a big role in the development of 1990s hip-hop. Def Jam, Roc-A-Fella, And New York Dominance In other words, the landscape of '90s hip-hop was expansive and there were more options for its growing fanbase than ever before. This uplifting collective was, in turn, starkly contrasted by the Wu-Tang’s Hong-Kong cinema-inspired raps about the seedy underbelly of crime in New York's five boroughs. Tribe and De La Soul, for example, promoted a hip-hop niche called Native Tongues which was Afrocentric, positive, and the celebrated youth and music. The Celebration Of African CultureĪs new hip-hop stars were beginning their journey in the 1990s to irrevocably land in hotly-debated Top 5 Rappers conversations, groups like A Tribe Called Quest, De La Soul, and the Wu-Tang Clan offered listeners entirely unique soundscapes, ideas, and feelings. One of the more insightful interviews 2Pac gave during his fame. Meanwhile, 2Pac was beginning to launch a nationwide movement of young black men against systematic social and political oppression. Nas' Illmatic, arguably one of the greatest hip-hop albums of all time, achieved in 10 tracks what most emcees couldn’t in an entire career - all while conveying the temperature of the streets. At the same time, young artists like Nas and 2Pac poetically conveyed what life was like for youth in America's poor Black ghettos. called out against law enforcement in their song, "Fuck Tha Police," and 2 Live Crew actually went to court for obscenity charges in their music. and 2 Live Crew actually managed to convey and lead a rebellion through their raps. Indeed, before it dipped backed into gloss-centric pop records, legends like 2Pac, Jay-Z, Nas, Biggie, and Eminem cemented themselves as timeless icons of the genre. While the new generation didn’t collectively continue leading that charge, '90s hip-hop did cover a vast amount of social ills in its raps. Public Enemy had already begun to focus on politics in their music in the 1980s. While the end of the 1990s would essentially double back to a superficial focus on bling, parties, and fashion, the lion’s share of this period in hip-hop was comprised of socially-conscious records, battle raps, and the transformation of the medium into the "CNN for black people," as Public Enemy’s frontman Chuck D. Gone was the primary focus on party records and making people dance and in its place entered the art form with independent journalism, poetry, and hard-hitting raps documenting life on America's dangerous streets. If 80s hip-hop marked the genre's birth into the mainstream, then '90s hip-hop and rap marked its drastic growth spurt into adolescence.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |