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1. NYC
2. LA/Atlanta tie
4. Miami
5. Houston/Chicago tie
7. SF
8. Memphis
9. Philly
Philly is more influential than credited but it’s lumped in with East Coast hip hop overtaken from NY. Memphis is the birthplace of Crunk music which was instrumental in the making of hip hop as a club genre. San Francisco has sustained their hyphy style a lot longer than Memphis has unfortunately so it gets a spot above. Philly was instrumental in bringing gangsta rap to the east coast, but much like Memphis, it hasn’t sustained its grasp on its impact.
But the Philly’s, Memphis, etc are a good gap after the Houston/Chicago tier because they don’t have the overall impact. Those genres have actually brought out premier fashion designers (Travis Scott & Johnny Dang in Houston. Kanye West in Chicago). These dudes are paving way for the new Gen of fashion. And black businesses are booming in the top hip hop cities as a result. Exotic pop deserves a shoutout for being so innovative in taking Hip hop and reflect it on their soda business. City data is two generations behind and more data based to really grasp hip hop and its impact on society.
Modern Memphis perhaps, but if we're talking 90's (underground) Memphis rap, it's one of the most identifiable sounds in all of hip-hop IMO. And along with crunk, it influences most of modern trap music you hear today:
I don't think anyone could have trouble identifying which City this is from.
As for Philadelphia's ranking I agree 100%. If you weren't an avid hip-hop head, you could've mistaken Philly rappers for New York rappers. Especially now with almost every local artist sounding like an Atlanta or Chicago rapper, it's having an identity crisis. There's still a few rappers still using that "Philadelphia sound" ie; Lik Moss, but it's not making any mainstream waves and I've personally never been a fan of that style.
It’s a good tier above. Memphis is the underdog here. I put them above Philly because they have a bigger impact to hip hop overall. Houston is in the same tier as Chicago, and Memphis and SF ate the tier between Houston-Chicago Memphis
Philly has had a huge impact on hip hop culture. You're only looking at from the musical aspect but bringing in all the elements involved, Philly skyrockets up that list and in that same tier. They have their own subculture and they have their own sound. In fact, cornbread who is widely considered the first graffiti artist in hip hop culture is from Philadelphia. Schoolly D is known as being the first so called gangsta rap artist. Something that people automatically give to LA. Nah, I think you are heavily sleeping on Philly. Heavily.
Modern Memphis perhaps, but if we're talking 90's (underground) Memphis rap, it's one of the most identifiable sounds in all of hip-hop IMO. And along with crunk, it influences most of modern trap music you hear today:
I don't think anyone could have trouble identifying which City this is from.
As for Philadelphia's ranking I agree 100%. If you weren't an avid hip-hop head, you could've mistaken Philly rappers for New York rappers. Especially now with almost every local artist sounding like an Atlanta or Chicago rapper, it's having an identity crisis. There's still a few rappers still using that "Philadelphia sound" ie; Lik Moss, but it's not making any mainstream waves and I've personally never been a fan of that style.
I don't think this sounded like anything from NYC.
Philly has had a huge impact on hip hop culture. You're only looking at from the musical aspect but bringing in all the elements involved, Philly skyrockets up that list and in that same tier. They have their own subculture and they have their own sound. In fact, cornbread who is widely considered the first graffiti artist in hip hop culture is from Philadelphia. Schoolly D is known as being the first so called gangsta rap artist. Something that people automatically give to LA. Nah, I think you are heavily sleeping on Philly. Heavily.
Read the post after that one. I mentioned Philly being the home of Gangsta rap. Where Philly stands isn’t due to Philly being small but for the above just being larger.
I know a lot about Philadelphia and their impact. They’ve been there since the early days and some would even point Philly as the originators of gangsta rap over LA. Even a lot of their newer artists including Meek Mill still take a lot of the original Philly characteristics.
That said, I have it 10th there still. Not because Philly’s impact is minimal, because it’s not at all. But the others are just bigger and longer lasting. You can argue Philly over Memphis, but I personally wouldn’t because particularly from both an instrumental stand point and a social standpoint, Memphis revolutionized club hip hop. But the argument is still there. But the tiers of Chicago/Houston/Miami, I don’t see how you can argue that. Not only are those sounds a lot more unique than Philly, those have hip hop culture impact outside of the music itself. Philly also does but... to a lesser degree. Especially looking at the latter years.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Spade
I don't think this sounded like anything from NYC.
I can also differentiate Philly from NYC, but I’m a hip hop head. Many see Beanie and would think he fits right in with NYC hip hop. Philly’s closer sound to NY also reviluruonized NY hip hop in itself.
Read the post after that one. I mentioned Philly being the home of Gangsta rap. Where Philly stands isn’t due to Philly being small but for the above just being larger.
I know a lot about Philadelphia and their impact. They’ve been there since the early days and some would even point Philly as the originators of gangsta rap over LA. Even a lot of their newer artists including Meek Mill still take a lot of the original Philly characteristics.
That said, I have it 10th there still. Not because Philly’s impact is minimal, because it’s not at all. But the others are just bigger and longer lasting. You can argue Philly over Memphis, but I personally wouldn’t because particularly from both an instrumental stand point and a social standpoint, Memphis revolutionized club hip hop. But the argument is still there. But the tiers of Chicago/Houston/Miami, I don’t see how you can argue that. Not only are those sounds a lot more unique than Philly, those have hip hop culture impact outside of the music itself. Philly also does but... to a lesser degree. Especially looking at the latter years.
I can also differentiate Philly from NYC, but I’m a hip hop head. Many see Beanie and would think he fits right in with NYC hip hop. Philly’s closer sound to NY also reviluruonized NY hip hop in itself.
I can absolutely argue it belongs in that same tier. It being close to NY shouldn't be against Philly here. It still managed to carve out its own sound and feel compared to NY. Many close areas sound similar to each other. Some people thought Dirty was from Atlanta even though they were from Alabama. Philly tbh was doing hip hop just as long if not longer than these cities that you have a tier above them. When I hear Cassidy, Gillie the Kid, Beanie Sigel, Freeway, etc., I don't exactly hear New York. All I have to say is don't let nephi215 see your post.
I can absolutely argue it belongs in that same tier. It being close to NY shouldn't be against Philly here. It still managed to carve out its own sound and feel compared to NY. Many close areas sound similar to each other. Some people thought Dirty was from Atlanta even though they were from Alabama. Philly tbh was doing hip hop just as long if not longer than these cities that you have a tier above them. When I hear Cassidy, Gillie the Kid, Beanie Sigel, Freeway, etc., I don't exactly hear New York. All I have to say is don't let nephi215 see your post.
If we are talking from a pure historic impact standpoint, I would agree that Philadelphia is right there with them. But it's more than just that. Kanye West and Travis Scott have the hottest hip-hop rapper designed shoes on the market. What does Philly have? Miami is one of the only cities since the 2010s (and prior) to possibly overtake Atlanta as the hottest city in hip hop. Then whether its lean, chiraq, south beach, alcoholic beverages, non-alcoholic beverages (hello exotic pop), designers, etc, all of these are continuing some sort of overall trend.
That's why I say, serious question, what does Philly have in comparison in recent years?
Why are we just going to discount modern history as if it didn't exist? Philly hasn't been inactive by any means, but it's definitely been less active than all of the top 5 by a good margin. Philly without a doubt has the history, but you have to add modern era too. Of course to be fair, with that argument, Memphis loses ground.
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