Hip Hop State

So goes the story that Hip Hop began in the Morris Heights part of the Bronx in New York. It is recognized that DJ Kool Herc began the art of rhyming over music in the parties he hosted on the 1500 block of Segdwick. Kool Herc is accredited with pioneering Hip Hop 's birth in the 1970's.

By 1980 Hip Hop had flooded the East coast of America and New York and the Bronx had been labeled the Hip Hop capitol of the world. By the 1990's Hip Hop had reached the West Coast and players like Suge Knight and his Death Row records had established the G-Funk sound of gangsta-rap with the help of power producer Dr. DRE. As far as sales went the East Coast down to Miami it had been the platinum NY rappers eating the charts until the beginning of the 21 century when other big city talents started focusing attention away from NY and California. Amongst some big states/cities that change the face and sound of new age Hip Hop (and also created genres) was Atlanta, Chicago, Cleveland, New Jersey, Tennessee, and Detroit to name a few.

As for the Midwest....well Midwest rappers don't get signed in the Midwest unless your MGK. Kanye West, Kid Cudi and Bow Wow are some talents that settled for out of State deals as it comes to be that there are no major labels or distributors in the Midwest.

In this day and age Southern Cali and Southern East rappers are selling more with the likes of Whiz Kalifa, Kid Ink, Kendrick Lamar, Tyler the Creator, Wolf Gang, The Game and Dr. Dre to name a few. And if we had to go by numbers then California is currently the new Hip Hop state and more and more good artist emerge. New York state rappers have gone awash and many have tried desperately to change their style up to better their careers as South Eastern Hip Hop instrumentals are becoming more and more standard. In New York now the hottest thing sounds like A.S.A.P. Rocky and that is not so great. The instrumental beats on his LP are mostly Southern type and his rhyming skills are as low as NYC train standards. New York rappers are barely holding on with the help of old Jay, old 50 and many aging Hip Hop stars.

Here are some of this year's best albums so far and it's mostly California talent. Kendrick Lamar and his label mates have been making some great music. I disapprove of Jay-Rock (the only guy in the 5 label mates who raps about selling drugs) who seems immature and I don't understand how he got signed. But Kendrick Lamar, Absoul, Danny Brown and Schoolboy Q are holing it down in Southern California right now.