Welcome to the Hood: The Importance of Location, Culture, and Totems.

“Keep in mind when brothas start flexing the verbal skills, it always reflects what’s going on politically, socially, and economically” -Musician Davey D

                Ever since Hip Hop became popular, rivalries have existed. There has never been a bigger rivalry in the music industry than the east coast – west coast rivalry between 2Pac and The Notorious B.I.G. After a huge surge in popularity during the 90’s, these rappers were at each other’s throats. Although not all rappers on the east coast could form an alliance, they all had one thing in common: mutual hatred of Los Angeles and the west coast.

                In 1994 Tupac Shakur was robbed and shot 5 times on his way to his hotel room in LA. Shortly afterword’s, Biggy released his song “Who shot ya?” which was no doubt intended to insult 2Pac and featured some lines like


                "Open your fucking mouth...didn't I tell you not to fuck with me?...Can't talk with a gun in your mouth huh?...Bitch-ass nigga, what?

              Tupac came right back in his song “Hit ‘Em Up” with

              "Who shot me? But ya punks didn't finish now you 'bout to feel the wrath of a menace nigga, I hit 'em up!"

Things further escalated and location became a huge part of the rap game. Where you were from affected what music you listened to more than anything else. East coast and west coast culture were completely different.

On the east coast in an area like New York City, the Mercedes Benz was the car to drive and jumpsuits were the clothes to wear. Beat boxing was very trendy along with boom boxes. Sampling was very heavy in almost all of the work that came from the east coast during the 90’s. The east coast soon had its own dialect thanks to artists like Big Daddy Kane, Special Ed, and Public Enemy. These artists were also very active in the political rap movement. East coast rap was also heavily surrounded on lyricism.

Out west in LA things were very different. Many argue that the founding of Ruthless Records by Easy-E was when west coast culture really started to stand out. Lowriders were everywhere and were unique to the west coast. Street talk, gang violence, anti-police sentiments, and hustling was the topic of most rap. Most people on the west coast dressed the same: Converse, Dickies clothing, Raider’s caps, jerseys, braided hair, tall tees, and even beepers.

Not only did artists look, speak, and act different, they went about making their music completely different as well. One good example would be Michael Moore and Tony Joseph who were independent dj’s that brought their sound to LA and completely changed the game in the early 80’s. They helped set the scene for big name producers such as Dr. Dre.

Graffiti started to gain traction in the rap game in the mid 70’s. “Tagging” your territory was something that started in New York and Spread out west. Soon it was very easy to distinguish where someone was from simply by how their tag looked.

Location, culture, and totems greatly influence how you grow up and what life is like in the hood. The easiest contrast I could find was between the east and west coast, but Hip Hop culture is different literally everywhere. Next time you listen to a song or see some graffiti, make sure you think about all the factors that influenced it.