east & west- whats the difference?

[techniec]

i was chillin with 2 friends today, lets call em X and Y,


X is a huge wu tang, rza, east coast fan, meanwhile you homie techniec has west coast in my blood, now i dont hate the east, i just cant stand listening to it in GENERAL, lots of dope songs, dope albums, and dope rappers from the east, but i just love the west

well anyways we got to the inevitable arguement about whats better
now my other friend Y, isnt into hip hop at all, he asks whats the difference?
this had me thinking, i mean i could say its the beats or the gangsta shit but i was wondering if us wc muthaphukkaz can collectively cum up with the definition of east and west, whats the difference??

beats- west is more rhythym, melody
lyrics- west g shit

can anybody help me out??

[DJ Stew]

yeah the east lyrics u see more lyrisysim and less straight gangsta shit like on the west
beat wise west has "G FUNK" haha

[ImmortalOne]

East coast hip hop is more dark and grimmy, while west coast hip hop is more laidback and hardcore. Its easier to bump west coast in your ride, cuz their sound is made for that more than east coast hip hop is, but the east coast is more into the artform, and most of the lyricists are better over there than on the west. Im a fan of both coasts though, and I also like midwest hip hop and some southern hip hop as well.

[Nosak]

fo me it's

east - beat ,ruff
        lyrics, bling bling,toughness

west - beat, laid back
        lyrics, gangsta life

[TheShiznit227]

Nah, real East Coast aint 'bout Bling Bling, thats only like Jay-Z, and Ja Rule. Jay-Z's only real east CD is Reasonable Doubt, real east coast is like Nas, Mobb Deep, Capone 'n Noreaga, not Jay-z & Ja Rule.  PEACE, One Love: D-Town.

[ImmortalOne]

Nah, real East Coast aint 'bout Bling Bling, thats only like Jay-Z, and Ja Rule. Jay-Z's only real east CD is Reasonable Doubt, real east coast is like Nas, Mobb Deep, Capone 'n Noreaga, not Jay-z & Ja Rule.  PEACE, One Love: D-Town.

True that. Dont forget about Wu, Tribe, The Roots, Biggie, Redman, and Gang Starr as well.

[Don Jacob]

east- more lyricical, more political, the beats arn't overall as good even though they do have some dope producers but the beats are meant to be less thrilling so you will concentrate on the lyrics


west-more about good times and funkiness, west coast is more in your face, and harder, east coast heads hate the fact rappers here are "simplistic" with the lyrics but i don't see anything wrong with it

[Sikotic™]

East - Grimy Lyrics

West - Gangsta shit w/ Da Funk

[Cliftone_Santiago_909]

 I think Too $hort said it best in this one book about 2pac..... I dont really remember EXACTLY what he says but it was something along tha lines of.....

 East Coast Rap is tha type of shit you hear on your headphones to get your mind off the smell of piss in tha subway stations.... West Coast Rap is tha type of shit you bump while rollin' down tha sunny streets of Californ-I-A in your ride with tha top down.

[Braindead]

East coast , west coast anybody killah !  

[Murrow]

I think everyone's got it down.  I can say the same...the East is much more grimy, rugged & raw in their approach.  The West is more smooth &  laid back in their music.

Read this article that I wrote up... http://www.angelfire.com/hiphop/KILLAZ/ArticleDirect.html

If that doesn't work go to wckillaz and hit up the commentary page where I wrote up an editorial called, "Working Outside The West."

[Top-Dogg2001]

You guys said just about everything I could have possibly said.  I felt almost everyone was on point without being too biased about there coast.

[=[Euthanasia]=]

I'd describe East Coast shit as giving off a mo'

underground feel. Yes, there is alot of

commercialism but a majority of it sounds

underground, if you know wad i'm sayin  

West Coast Rap is tha type of shit you bump while rollin' down tha sunny streets of Californ-I-A in your ride with tha top down.

& that is exactly how i'd describe West Coast!
(except 4 me not tha califor-I-A, as I'm not in tha US!)

[Tanjential]

But have you noticed that the coasts are starting to trade off?
i mean the west is getting and has had some east coast level lyricists or even better than many east lyricists like Ras Kass,Xzibit,Kurupt,Crooked I,Tash,Tray Deee, and many others
and the east has been stepping up w/production:irv gotti(dre biter but he is pretty damn good and has a very wc-ish sound for an east coaster),neptunes,rzw,premier,rock,beatnuts,all the wu's producers are dope...it's like they're switching these days
the west is simpler yet the rhymes can be just as dope
i mean while somebody like inspectah will pack a bunch of simple rhymes in one line someone like xzibit will just use one rhyme that's equivalently dope
"Here comes the verbal assaulta/
Rhymes runnin wild/like a child/ in a walka/"-Inspectah Deck,Guillotine
"When i was enlisted
i came to the table double fisted"-Xzibit,Step Up
inspectah deck is talkin lyrical shit with a few nice rhymes, nice lil word web there
xzibit is talking about being ready to fight with one dope rhyme..ya follow? Simpler doesn't mean the actual rhymes aren't as dope as the next man's.
i wouldn't say west coats' production is over-all laid back...it can be but i don't think that should be a defining term. i mean the west just over-all has focused more on production..making it detailed,and well orchestrated with live instruments(the east usually samples instruments while the west gets real musicians usually),
The east has simpler beats usually from layering samples,the beats are more for effect i mean just to create a soundscape for an mc to rip to but the beats are mastered,they layer samples,the drum breaks have a NICE sound you know you're listening to some dope gritty shit when you hear that dope sampled drum break! i mean i'm not talking about puffy sampling but rza/premier sampling when they take a scratchy sample loop it layer some more samples add a few sounds sometimes in the case of beats like "ny state of mind" and "shame on a nigga" they'll even use a west coast production technique which is switching up the beat,taking counter-melodies in and out and such.the east coast production is often more evocative even while less complicated i mean it sets a mood...i mean listen to "shimmy shimmy ya" by ODB produced by RZA when ODB starts singin "oo baby i like it RAAAAAAAWWW!!!" with that beat in the background it sets a mood it takes you intpo the 36 chambers,with west coast it's not as mood setting to you as it is with the song..if the west coast wasn't more politically incorrect than the east (which is more respectful to women by usually calling them shorty's more than bitches,and is just thuggish rather than glorifying the gangsta life) it'd be more commercial because of the sound which is where albums like Nas it was written come in...much of the sound is knock off west coast with the east coast nas on it attemptiong to crossover by using the more general listenability wielding west coast sound with the easier to be commercially accepted east coast lyrics which usually dont piss off just to piss off like the west(and now the midwest).
simply put
West=detailed orchestrated live sound production
simpler more ignorat gangsta yet just as much potentcy wielding lyrics
East-Complicated wordplay.more lyrics/rap style focused, Real conventional type MC shit
Gritty hardercore evocative simpler but mastered production,tweaked loops are common

i kinda went on there...eh.peace-Tanjint

[SABLIMINAL]

HA.....
MO JIGGA HATIN AINT IT....?
AFTER BIGGIE DIED....JIGGA IZ DA KING OF DA EAST COAST.....
HE AINT ALL BOUT BLING BLINGZ.....ALTHOUGH AIN NOTHIN BAD IN BLING BLINGZ.....I DONT CARE BOUT DA TOPICZ...BUT FO DA WAY DA RAPPA DELLIVERZ IT...(FO DA 1000 TIME...LOL) AND BESIDEZ ....JIGGA HAZ SOME DEEP TRACKZ....."DEAR MAMA" TYPE OF TRACKZ..... YA KNOW