Now I’m hardly an expert on rap music and can probably only name 20 of its artists so no matter what I say in the following, I will not have proved my premise. Still I do listen to the media and think I hear of some of the biggest rap artists. So if you don’t mind a superficial look at things, allow me to proceed.
Practically every one heard of the rivalry between east coast rap and west coast rap in the 90’s. Both sides claimed they had the best rappers. Both sides said they were more gangster than the other. Loyalties were formed and some only bought recordings from one coast.
Was it any surprise that the biggest rap recording artist of the noughties was Eminem who was not from the east coast nor the west coast? Instead he hailed from Detroit or the Great Lakes area. An area that could be named the centre coast of North America.
Other recent big names in rap music are Kanye West who hails from Chicago and Drake who hails from Toronto. These two cities are on the Great Lakes of Michigan and Ontario respectively. Has the centre coast become the centre of the rap world?
While looking up Kanye, I heard mention that alternative hip hop has become a big thing. That’s when the gangsta leanings of a lot of rap music is largely ignored, in lieu of other subjects. This could be the real reason behind the success of centre coast rap.
Still, right at this moment, in a superficial view of rap music, it seems that the rivalry between east and west was so vicious that both sides lost to the middle.
