Songs about the A... (Atlanta, Washington: transit, dental, metro)

[Born 2 Roll]

Originally Posted by Atlanta-Native

I don't know if it's still a thing, but I don't understand why the rappers from the east coast/west coast like to shoot each other. What was that all about?

Rappers from the East Coast and West Coast didn’t really like to shoot at each other.

The whole East Coast-West Coast thing wasn’t even really a serious beef but was really more an ill-advised and badly misguided attempt at publicity on the part of a few cynical individuals that unsurprisingly got completely out of control and ended in violence.

Pretty much all supposed sustained serious tension between East Coast and West Coast hip-hoppers dissipated after the murders of Tupac Shakur in September 1996 and The Notorious B.I.G. in March 1997.

Make no mistake that Hip-Hop has plenty of other serious challenges, but East Coast-West Coast tension is not one of those challenges and has not been a serious issue in about 25 years.

[Atlanta-Native]

Originally Posted by Born 2 Roll

Rappers from the East Coast and West Coast didn’t really like to shoot at each other.

The whole East Coast-West Coast thing wasn’t even really a serious beef but was really more an ill-advised and badly misguided attempt at publicity on the part of a few cynical individuals that unsurprisingly got completely out of control and ended in violence.

Pretty much all supposed sustained serious tension between East Coast and West Coast hip-hoppers dissipated after the murders of Tupac Shakur in September 1996 and The Notorious B.I.G. in March 1997.

Make no mistake that Hip-Hop has plenty of other serious challenges, but East Coast-West Coast tension is not one of those challenges and has not been a serious issue in about 25 years.

That narrative sure seemed to be pushed back in the day. If it really wasn't a big deal, it was a hell of a marketing approach.

[Born 2 Roll]

Originally Posted by MichiganderTexan

Atlanta crap gay rap will never be anything compared to what East Coast rap was in it's heyday or even west coast rap during the Dr. Dre, Snoop, Tupac hey-day. Atlanta rap really peaked in the early 2000s, there's no one notable out from Atlanta now that I would consider legitimate rap or hip hop

Many music fans who followed Hip-Hop in earlier eras considered to classic and/or vintage eras (like the 1980’s, 1990’s and/or early 2000’s) understandably are not going to consider rap or Hip-Hop music from the 2010’s and (a decade that seems to still be forming its own identity in) the 2020’s to be legitimate often just simply because of a natural age and generational gap.

But even with the obvious generational gap between Hip-Hop fans of earlier eras and Hip-Hop fans of the 2010’s and 2020’s, a focal city/metro like Atlanta has experienced some notable success in a Hip-Hop scene that has evolved and even mutated since the genre’s ‘80’s, ‘90’s and early 2000’s heydays.

Though he often may be derided by older generations of fans for being a mumble rapper, metro Atlanta-based Hip-Hop artist Future has experienced some massive success during his music career, including having two separate albums top the national music charts within 7 months back in 2015-2016, and having two separate albums top the national music charts in the same month back in February 2017.

To date, Future has had six #1 albums in his career, with his most recent #1 album coming back in May 2020.

Other younger and more recent metro Atlanta-based acts like 21 Savage, Playboi Carti, Lil’ Yachty, Rae Sremmurd (who are based in Atlanta but are from Mississippi and had one of the biggest songs and a massive hit in a big year back in 2016 with “Black Beatles”), Migos (who had a massive hit with “Bad and Boujee” in late 2016), Childish Gambino, Gunna, etc., have experienced significant success in recent years, along with the aforementioned Lil Nas X who had one of the absolute biggest smash hit songs of all-time with “Old Town Road” back in 2019.

While other metro Atlanta-based acts like Travis Porter, Waka Flocka Flame, Gucci Mane, B.o.B., iLoveMakonnen, Soulja Boy, Roscoe Dash experienced notable success during the earlier part of the 2010’s, and an act like 2 Chainz also experienced some notable success during the decade of the 2010’s.

Numerous Atlanta-based producers including Mike Will Made It, Metro Boomin (who is from St. Louis), London on da Track, etc., have also experienced considerable success behind the boards.

Rap obviously has changed and evolved and mutated into forms that fans of the music in earlier eras may not even recognize as music, and the internet and social media has democratized music distribution and made it possible for more rap artists to become stars even if they live outside focal cities like New York, L.A. and Atlanta.

But even in today’s vastly different Hip-Hop music scene, Atlanta remains an important and dominant city in the genre.

[MichiganderTexan]

Originally Posted by Atlanta-Native

I don't know if it's still a thing, but I don't understand why the rappers from the east coast/west coast like to shoot each other. What was that all about?

West coast rap is non existent at this point, there's barely a lot of East coast rap now. Rap is not really concentrated around any one region anymore, the biggest concentration is in the South/Atlanta now.

[Born 2 Roll]

Originally Posted by Atlanta-Native

That narrative sure seemed to be pushed back in the day. If it really wasn't a big deal, it was a hell of a marketing approach.

Of course the media pushed the narrative of a big East Coast-West Coast rap war when it was really more of a cynical and wildly misguided publicity attempt on the part of the erstwhile Death Row Records (apparently agitated by former Death Row Records CEO Suge Knight as evidenced by his provocative behavior at the 1995 Source Awards show) that got out of control.

These days, some of the most serious problem spots appear to be the extremely violent and hard-edged Chicago-based and originated Drill Rap scene (which, with the help of social media, seems to have imported deadly gun violence to cities like Atlanta and New York during the pandemic) and the Jacksonville, Florida gang war in which dozens of individuals have been killed after making provocative and very personally inflammatory songs taunting the opposition on social media.

[Born 2 Roll]

Originally Posted by MichiganderTexan

West coast rap is non existent at this point, there's barely a lot of East coast rap now. Rap is not really concentrated around any one region anymore, the biggest concentration is in the South/Atlanta now.

That’s a good point that rap is not really concentrated around any one region anymore and that the biggest concentration of rap activity seems to be in the South now (including Atlanta).

Rap isn’t necessarily focused on (or obsessed with) regional identities anymore like may have been the case in earlier eras.

Though there’s still at least a few notable West Coast and East Coast-based rappers who recently have experienced some success.

Tyler the Creator, Blueface, G-Eazy, Schoolboy Q are some West Coast-based rap artists that have experienced success in recent years while Kendrick Lamar is a West Coast Hip-Hop legend at this point in time.

And East Coast-based rap artists, including New York-based female rap artists like Cardi B (who has children with and currently is married to Offset of metro Atlanta-based Migos) and Nicki Minaj (who actually lived in Atlanta for a time while trying to make her way up in the rap industry before becoming famous around 2009-2010) have experienced massive success in recent years.

[Smocaine]

Originally Posted by MichiganderTexan

Atlanta crap gay rap will never be anything compared to what East Coast rap was in it's heyday or even west coast rap during the Dr. Dre, Snoop, Tupac hey-day. Atlanta rap really peaked in the early 2000s, there's no one notable out from Atlanta now that I would consider legitimate rap or hip hop

I agree. I am here for the early 2000's Atlanta rap. Ludacris, Lil Scrappy, Crime Mob, they were pretty good. The new age '''bubblegum rap'''' from guys like Lil Yachty and Lil Nas X is so corny lol

[Born 2 Roll]

Originally Posted by Smocaine

I agree. I am here for the early 2000's Atlanta rap. Ludacris, Lil Scrappy, Crime Mob, they were pretty good. The new age '''bubblegum rap'''' from guys like Lil Yachty and Lil Nas X is so corny lol

It’s difficult for me to knock an artist like Lil Nas X when he had like one of the biggest smash hit songs ever in the history of songs.

And I can’t knock an artist like Lil Yachty for staying true to himself and not trying to be something that he isn’t.

Besides there’s unfortunately no shortage of harder-edged street-oriented rappers in the Hip-Hop genre who often seem to live the lyrics that they rap, sometimes to an unfortunate end.

[Atlanta-Native]

Originally Posted by Born 2 Roll

Of course the media pushed the narrative of a big East Coast-West Coast rap war when it was really more of a cynical and wildly misguided publicity attempt on the part of the erstwhile Death Row Records (apparently agitated by former Death Row Records CEO Suge Knight as evidenced by his provocative behavior at the 1995 Source Awards show) that got out of control.

These days, some of the most serious problem spots appear to be the extremely violent and hard-edged Chicago-based and originated Drill Rap scene (which, with the help of social media, seems to have imported deadly gun violence to cities like Atlanta and New York during the pandemic) and the Jacksonville, Florida gang war in which dozens of individuals have been killed after making provocative and very personally inflammatory songs taunting the opposition on social media.

Are most of the rappers who are involved in these shootings part of gangs?

[Born 2 Roll]

Originally Posted by Atlanta-Native

Are most of the rappers who are involved in these shootings part of gangs?

Some rappers and hip-hop figures involved in these shootings are part of gangs (with Bloods-affiliated former Death Row CEO Suge Knight probably being the most high-profile example).

Some are part of smaller street crews trying to be feared by perpetrating violence.

Some are the victims of violent and deadly crimes perpetrated by individuals trying to gain and/or grow their street cred by killing someone famous or with a high-profile.

Some are rappers trying to be gangsters.

Some are gangsters who rap.

Some have lifelong enemies that either they caught up to or caught up to them.

Some are hotheads with very short tempers who acted violently after a seemingly questionable dispute or disagreement.

Some are under the influence of dangerous drugs that makes one highly paranoid and/or homicidal.

Some are mentally ill and in need of treatment.

Some mentally ill and are self-medicating with dangerous drugs that makes them violent and homicidal.

It really can run the gamut (from gangs, to crews, to misguided individuals, to people who grew up in a culture of violence, to people who are mentally ill, to people under the influence of drugs, etc.) as to the reason why some rappers and their enemies may be involved in gun violence.