They use to say that rap was divided between the East Coast and the West Coast. The styles were different, the influences split, and the feuds between the coastal camps all too real. The East was defined by jazz samples often laid under brash sprocket-style percussion and darker grittier beats. Boom-bap delivery and smooth jazz were belied by the added beats, which were often shrill and treble-heavy percussion added as contrasting elements. Good examples include Mobb Deep, NAS, or Wu-Tang Clan.
Here is one of the best examples I could find:
“Survival of the Fittest” by Mobb Deep, from The Infamous (1994)
Then there was the West, which used samples of funk or soul and more electrified guitar and keys, and placed that under beats that were less stark, complementing the samples to create an easier groove. DJ Quik, Geto Boys, and Dr. Dre are good examples. Ice Cube’s “Today Was A Good Day” or “Nuthin’ But A G Thang” are the “poster songs” for the West Coast sound.
However, even back in the 90’s there were defiers of basic categorization. NYC artists like Gang Starr, Puff Daddy, and even Notorious B.I.G. himself, the icon of the East Coast faction, would often sample more soulful and funk-based tracks to create uplifting, ebullient cuts more reminiscent of the West Coast groove. West Coast legends like The Pharcyde or Souls of Mischief have the jazz-based boom-bap of the East dripping off the edges of every track. Some might call The Pharcyde one of the originators of the Alternative Rap scene that continued on with groups like Dilated Peoples and Cypress Hill because the sound is hard to categorize as belonging to the East or West. Perhaps they could be called the Alternative faction of the West and the purist jazz-based rap groups like A Tribe Called Quest and Digable Planets the Alternative faction of the East. Either way, subgenres always existed in the genre since the 70’s and 80’s and became even more pronounced in the 90’s.
I love this song “Passing Me By” by The Pharcyde
Despite the exceptions, the lines were drawn far clearer back in the 90’s, especially compared with the state of the genre today. In fact, even as the East and West were trying to drive a wedge into rap/hip-hop and forge different identities in the 90’s, we could see the inevitable course of the genre was always going to be to blur the lines. And those signature style differences of the 90’s occurred when the majority of noteworthy rap was coming from either New York City or Los Angeles, but now the rap genre has so many sources, new influences, fusions of sound, and collaborations between artists that separation is futile. In fact, the key reason rap/hip-hop is so interesting and innovative these days is because the genre is a microcosm of the state of the world today; we are headed towards increased blending and greater specialization. There are so many subgenres of rap and hip-hop fusing the sounds of popular music from the past and present, that it hardly seems like factions anymore and can almost be described as one large community of diverse artists feeding off the energy of one another.
The finest example of a current artist representing all the disparate sounds of the genre today is Schoolboy Q, and his amazing album Blank Face LP (2016). I tried to put my finger on the reason I was so impressed by this album and it’s probably because the album is not only strong from beginning to end (a long-playing LP without fillers) but also brings in some great collaborators that represent the best in all the current offshoots of rap/hip-hop. Although there are dozens of subgenres out there people could point to, it seems Schoolboy Q has an uncanny knack for finding the ones growing fastest in popularity and then capturing the spirit of the style. He seems to have more sense for the musical flow of an album than most current rap/hip-hop artists, which sets him apart. The music isn’t just about the beats, it’s also about the mood and the way the textures seem to add greater depth to the entire album. Now a quick run-through of all the different emerging and established styles of rap evident on the album:
1. Trap
Gucci Mane and Young Jeezy may still be the finest examples of Trap music, and Bryson Tiller typifies the sound of trap-soul that is pushing Trap further into the mainstream of pop culture, but Schoolboy Q gets in on the act with one of his first singles from the album “THat Part” featuring a guest spot by Kanye West sounding very unlike himself. The roots of Trap music is in the Southern hip-hop of Atlanta and Houston, and it’s continued to become a pervasive style of hip-hop as it absorbs the dark and gritty sounds of synthesizer music to create the thick and ominous feel that has come to the fore of popular rap/hip-hop these days. The quick and choppy percussion with the hi-hat is a signature of Trap.
2. west coast hip-hop
Schoolboy Q shows his roots, having been raised in LA, with the song “JoHn Muir” which is also a shout-out to the high school he attended in LA. It’s a great example of the best elements of West Coast Hip-Hop, with a sterling little guitar sample and a chorus brimming with a kind of California-esque soul that feels perfectly at home with the windows down in sunny LA.
3. EDM BASED
When I listened to A$AP Rocky’s 2013 album Long. Live. A$AP (2013), I got a taste of what was coming. It was eye-opening to hear how the dark textures of synth music could add to songs like “LVL” and “PMW” (coincidentally featuring Schoolboy Q), a sinister aspect. It’s the perfect pairing of lyrics and sound- with the ominous undercurrent of darker synth-led EDM capturing the intent behind the words. My favorite song off of Blank Face LP is “Whatever U Want”. The bass, percussion, and synths are all on point. The sound that becomes the backdrop to this track is flawless. A perfect sense of menace using the emerging EDM elements of hip-hop.
4. ALTERNATIVE
It’s a catch-all genre that is wide-ranging and probably includes a dozen or so subgenres within itself, yet this song is so unique and indefinable that I had to just call it “alternative”. It’s funky (just listen to that insanely catchy bass-line that’s thrown in like a dash of pepper for the taste), and quirky…..and did I mention catchy? Tyler the Creator and Earl Sweatshirt are leading the way in this genre right now, but this song reminds me of a group like The Pharcyde, which I mentioned above, because it’s so clearly rooted in the sounds of old but at the same time is difficult to pin down.
5. EAST COAST VIBE
The soul/jazz samples, the down-tempo keys, the little record-scratch, and the traditional beats all sound very reminiscent of a throwback East Coast rap song. Then the interlude puts this song into a different gear that can’t be called East or West. The way this track changes halfway through in such a dramatic way is another good example of the skill Schoolboy Q has at attending not only to the lyrics, but also to the complexity of the music, which is different than most of his peers.
6. SOUL SAMPLE DRIVEN
Thanks to contemporary artists like Jay-Z, Kanye West, and Common, we have a whole genre of soul/R&B based rap to draw from. Albums like The Blueprint (2001) and Common’s Be (2005) are probably the pinnacle of this subgenre in which the track is propelled by very deliberate samples of old soul albums and avoids adding contrasting beats or stark percussion that will vie with the spirit of the source music. “Otis” by Jay-Z and Kanye is another good example of the purity of this subgenre. Schoolboy Q’s take on this style is also one of my favorites on the Blank Face LP, called “Neva CHange”.
