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Culture between East Coast and West Coast Rappers
Historians agree that the hip hop culture traces its roots from late 1960s to early 1970s in New York with pioneers as DJs Grandmaster Flash, Afrika Bambaataa, and Kool Herc. Whereas hip hop culture emerged in Bronx in the East Cost, West Coast traces it to have emanated from Oakland and Los Angeles at the same time as on the East Coast. The explanation for the emergence of the hip hop at the same time in East and West Coasts is that people might have been in vacation in one coast and brought it in the other coast. The culture is characterized by B-Boying (breakdancing), MC-ing, and Graffiti art, which appeals to the young generations because of the exploding nature. Hip hop in the West Coast in 1980s was pioneered by NWA and Ice T and then Tupac (2Pac) and Death Row continued it in 1990s. The culture between the West and East Coast is further defined by the rivalry of 1990s between fans of Tupac and Notorious Big.
The hip hop culture is further defined by the music, which consists of rhythmic beats and rhymes, a specialty of the Latinos and African Americans. Given that hip hop music was based on live MC-ing performance, it attracted many youths, gaining immense popularity. The hip hop culture is based on disco and a decree of the gangster world through the music, which is expressed in self-assertive and aggressive manner. The lifestyle espoused by the rappers is one that not only is derogative to any friendly society but also imparts vices despised in a virtuous society. Though the East and West Coast rappers aimed at combating racism via enhancing black identity, the rappers’ ideology in distrust of schooling, bias, and negative evaluation explored a culture that did not help the American youth to achieve their American Dream. Notorious Big in his raps has sung that schooling is “acting white” and argued that “bad boys” can make it in life better that those who have gone to school. Therefore, the culture of many youths refusing to go to school in the East Coast is indicative of the prevailing black and Latino culture that devalued education.
The culture of the hip hop in the East and West Coasts extols the black masculinity and gangster lifestyle. This explains why high rate of crime is experienced and reported in these areas especially in the East Coast. The hip hop “tough guy” model quite significant in the Notorious Big and Tupac’s rap songs and has detrimental effects to the generation of black and Latino men. The presentation of education as a form of black oppression has affected many black students who dropped out of school in the East Coast. However, Tupac, unlike other rappers, saw the bright aspect of education. Education to Tupac was pivotal for upward mobility if the youth were to effectively fend off white oppression in the Coast societies. Even though Tupac was part of the oppositional culture, which was encouraging youth education, the role played by the hip hop popular culture through Notorious Big’s rap downplayed youth education empowerment in American society.
The two coasts have experienced continued rivalry among its rappers in the search for fame, which has been attributed many times to the death of both Tupac and Notorious Big. Both hip hop rappers attracted fame and fans in their neighborhood such that this formed formidable rival gangs boosting the success in each area. The two were instantly accusing each other of plotting to eliminate the other. In 1994 when Tupac was shot and robbed, he accused Notorious Big and Sean Combs of facilitating to have him robbed and shot. Notorious Big taunted Tupac in his rap “Who Shot Ya?” saying “C’mere c’mere..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 responded by vowing to show his wrath in the song “Hit ‘Em Up” in verses “…ya punks didn’t finish now you ’bout to feel the wrath of a menace nigga.” This antagonism between West and East Coast, which further expresses rivalry of Death Row and Bad Boys respectively. This rivalry culminated to the death of Tupac in 13th September 1996 after succumbing to the shots he had been shot 6 days earlier in Nevada. Fans and gang of Tupac is believed to have retaliated six months on 9th March 1997 assailant shot Notorious Big in Los Angeles and died same day.
The dominant culture in both East Coast as portrayed by lifestyle of Notorious Big and West Coast from the view of Tupac of partying every weekend. Teenagers ranging from the ages of fourteen years and twenty-five years crowded most of the functions where rappers Mc-ed. Graffiti is another element that accompanied the culture of the West and East Coast artists and it influenced the youth to ape this in their homes and schools. Whereas Tupac may have been talented poetry wise and made his songs to be loved by many of the fans from the West Coast, Notorious Big is credited for traditionally improvising his rap engraving it in the culture of East Coast.
Gangsta rap in 1990s became quite important in East and West Coast hip hop music. However, significant controversy emerged because of the hip hop culture in the two areas was believed to be promoting drug use, violence, misogyny, and promiscuity. Although both hip hop rappers sung songs, which seemed to propagate violence, Notorious Big was more conceited in his approach than Tupac, which depicts a crime-riIDen East Coast neighborhood. Big portrays a person who grew up in a society that was inherently corrupted by cocaine-infested neighborhood in 1980s. This is the same reason why West Coast was more conservative as Tupac advocated for youth to gain education, which he argued would help black men stand up against the racial discrimination rampart at that time in the United States. The lyrics of Tupac were always substantive and contextually enlightening and explained the social issues of the West Coast to the conscious public front. This is depicted by the serious tone used by the rapper to teach his listeners.
In conclusion, the West Coast as portrayed by the hip hop music of Tupac is more conservative as opposed to the East Coast, which was crime and drug-riIDen. The hip hop culture depicted by MC-ing, graffiti, B-Boying, is dominant in both coasts as it almost began during the same time in 1970s. Whereas Tupac showed maturity and depth in his rap lyrics portraying a background in education, Notorious Big indicates a background devoid of education as depicted by his confrontational nature.