Region
East Coast
73 artists
East Coast hip-hop is where it all began. Hip-hop was born in the Bronx in 1973, and New York has been one of its creative centers ever since.
The story. Every borough added its own chapter: the Bronx with Grandmaster Flash and KRS-One, Queens with Run-DMC, LL Cool J and Nas, Brooklyn with Big Daddy Kane, The Notorious B.I.G. and Jay-Z, and Staten Island with the Wu-Tang Clan. Long Island gave us Rakim, Public Enemy and De La Soul, New Jersey brought Queen Latifah, the Fugees and Redman, and Philadelphia The Roots. In the mid-'90s the rivalry with the West Coast dominated the headlines. Later generations, from A$AP Rocky and Joey Bada$$ to Ice Spice and the Bronx drill scene, kept New York in the conversation.
The sound. Traditionally sample-based boom-bap with hard drums, and lyricism above everything: complex rhymes, wordplay and street stories. New York rappers are known for treating the craft as a competition.
Key albums
- Paid in Full, Eric B. & Rakim (1987)
- It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back, Public Enemy (1988)
- Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers), Wu-Tang Clan (1993)
- Illmatic, Nas (1994)
- Ready to Die, The Notorious B.I.G. (1994)
- Reasonable Doubt, Jay-Z (1996)
East Coast hip-hop by city
East Coast artists
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