How did the West Fell Off?

[Noname]

I havent been following this rap game for a long time. Thats because i was to young when the west was on top. But i dont understand how the west fell of. The West was on top of the world, they were untouchable. All eyez were on the west. How did the west fell of. Was it the tupac murder, or did people just got sick of it? And how come Ny took it all over?

[-Euthanasia-]

because things get played. sounds and styles go out of fashion. then they come back in when the alternate styles and sounds get played. cyclical

[Hatesrats™]

Opinion...

Hatesrats 2oo0V

[ABN]

^^^that and that no labels wanted to deal with west coast artists coz most of them only brought along problems and that made a lot of labels scared. and peeps got tired of the whole gangsta shit in the mid 90´s and that´s another big reason why the west fell off.

[R-Tistic]

This is long as hell, but I posted this up about 8 months ago. You can skim thru it or read it all, it's just my opinion though.

Well, after hearin for the last few years from damn near everybody that Pac's death was the reason for the demise of the west coast, I had to create a post that will explain my opinion to why his death definitely was not the reason the west "fell off." For many of you on here, you will say that the west never did fall off, especially since this is a west coast site. For some, they will say "I know Pac's death wasn't why the west fell off" but I am just givin my reasons to why I believe his death wasn't the main reason. I might be preachin to the choir because everybody on here is still a fan of the west, but if you know people who are not as big of fans of the west as we are, link them to this thread. Also remember, this is coming from a Pac fan who would say that Pac is the best ever.

1. I don't think people realize how big the west coast was in the rap scene in the 90s. Not only did the west create and run the gangsta rap scene, we had rappers doin every different style of rap that was around. We had the Coolios who did what may have been considered gangsta/commercial...we had the Souls of Mischiefs and Pharcydes that were considered to be underground. We had the Ahmads and the Skee-Los that were considered commercial one-hit wonders. We had the MC Hammers that were just completely commercial and were big in their day. We had the Too shorts that were all about pimpin but could still spit a message. We had the Cypress Hills who did psychotic shit. We had the Dominos who were sorta gangsta and commercial but just had their own unique style. We had many types of rappers that covered all fields of rap, just that gangsta rap was what we were best known for. Now with that..the fact that there are virtually NO rappers that are big in these various genres shows that there must be some obvious bias against the west that has nothing to do with the death of Pac. Why is there J-Kwons and Nellys who do watery shit, Fat Joes and D Blocks who do thug shit, Lil scrappys and all else that just do commercial shit, but yet NONE seem to be from the west? After all that the west gave to the game, and knowing that there are obviously many talented rappers on the west, do you think it's any possible way that we could just "fall off" because of Pac's death?

2. Many people may argue against this, but mark my words......PAC WAS NOT THE BIGGEST WEST COAST ARTIST WHEN HE DIED. Maybe it's because I was in L.A. and grew up there and saw who was biggest, mainly from 93 and on. But when he died, he was big, but I will argue that Ice Cube, Dre, and Snoop were still the biggest and most influential west coast artists at the time. Pac wasn't really reppin the west hard until Death Row. I think if one of the three I listed had died, it would have been a bigger deal than Pac's death. People didn't even start sayin the west fell off until 98-99, and the west was still decent at the time.

3. There were many reasons to why the west really did suffer a major decline that I think added up and did more than Pac's death alone.
-The fact that Snoop suffered the sophomore slump that really made people lose a lot of hope in the west. Doggstyle was seen as the best album in rap history to many, and people anticipated the sequel like hell, especially seein that Snoop had the court case. But due to the circumstances, such as the politics in death row, and that Dre did not do any work on it, the album was considered a helluva dissapointment, despite the fact that it was a solid album.
-Dre's "conversion" to being a positive rapper and leaving the gangsta rap scene was a serious backbreaker. Not only was his new music not as hot, but people just weren't buyin it and it didn't work. He was considered the best producer at the time, and when people figured he had fallen off, as well as Snoop havin a weak debut, as well as Pac's death, this really made things look worst for the west.
-Pac's death was one of the many reasons that Death Row collapsed, but Death Row's demise as a whole took a major toll on the west. Not only were they the powerhouse that was the biggest label in rap, but the fact that they died made other companies say "hmm, well it's no more west coast rap to compete with, so it's no need for west coast artists. Next..." and this in turn made things a lot worst for the west.
-Overall, L.A. was just a helluva exciting place that created much interest in the 90s. At first, people saw gangsta rap like "damn, are these cats really as hard as they are supposed to be?" but when the 92 riots happened, it let people know that L.A. really was no joke. This caused a helluva lot of interest in L.A., just like the influx of hood movies that were based in L.A. All the hood movies not only made people interested in LA culture and lifestyle, but these movies came with soundtracks that helped west coast rap as a whole. After a while, the movie industry must have got tired with hood movies, or either ran out of ideas and all, so the decline of hood movies which caused must interest in LA culture was another reason that west coast rap declined.
-Just as Snoop and Dre, Ice Cube's next album wasn't as good as many people had hoped. This here made the critics say damn....Snoop, Dre, and Cube, who were 3 of the biggest west coast artists, came with albums that were below average. Pac, who was another one of the biggest, has died. To add to that, The Dogg Pound who had a very successful debut album did two solo albums, and these definitely did not have a big effect on the west coast, and the people who hoped these albums were going to be good were disappointed, so this is when many people really lost hope and said the west was dead.
-Along with these albums and the chaos that went on during this time, the east came with a completely new sound, which was highly influenced by the west, and the south went on a helluva rise. With this, we all know that people like what they hear. When they turned on the radio, they weren't hearin the west, so they just grew out of the west coast sound. Now even though there were some west coast albums that were real good that came out after Pac's death, many people outside the west felt that the west was dead, and they just weren't feelin the sound of the west anymore. I didn't realize this until I came down south for college, and I would play songs that were great to the west coast, but that they never heard and therefore did not think were that good. Since the west isn't what they heard on TV, they just don't get the same feeling from west coast music that us fans do.

So overall....I think Pac's death was part of why the west coast suffered a major decline, but definitely not THE reason as many people may say. Pac definitely wasn't the only west coast rapper who was big, and as I said, he wasn't the biggest in my eyes. Many people may agree with some of what I wrote and disagree with some of it, and I am sure that I am not 100% correct. But I have been following rap since 93, back when I didn't know or care what coast rappers were from.

Will the west coast ever make a return? Although time can only tell, I will say that in my opinion, we will eventually come back to the major scene, but it will not be as big as we were in the 90s. Believe me, down south crunk rap will die out, and even thug rap will die out. We are already makin some progress just from havin R&B commercial singers who are pretty big. But on the real, I think the media seriously does have something strong against the west coast....I'll leave that to another thread.

[-Euthanasia-]

i read 'this is long as hell' and 'i'll leave that to another thread.'

[Adam Donnelly]

This is long as hell, but I posted this up about 8 months ago. You can skim thru it or read it all, it's just my opinion though.

Well, after hearin for the last few years from damn near everybody that Pac's death was the reason for the demise of the west coast, I had to create a post that will explain my opinion to why his death definitely was not the reason the west "fell off." For many of you on here, you will say that the west never did fall off, especially since this is a west coast site. For some, they will say "I know Pac's death wasn't why the west fell off" but I am just givin my reasons to why I believe his death wasn't the main reason. I might be preachin to the choir because everybody on here is still a fan of the west, but if you know people who are not as big of fans of the west as we are, link them to this thread. Also remember, this is coming from a Pac fan who would say that Pac is the best ever.

1. I don't think people realize how big the west coast was in the rap scene in the 90s. Not only did the west create and run the gangsta rap scene, we had rappers doin every different style of rap that was around. We had the Coolios who did what may have been considered gangsta/commercial...we had the Souls of Mischiefs and Pharcydes that were considered to be underground. We had the Ahmads and the Skee-Los that were considered commercial one-hit wonders. We had the MC Hammers that were just completely commercial and were big in their day. We had the Too shorts that were all about pimpin but could still spit a message. We had the Cypress Hills who did psychotic shit. We had the Dominos who were sorta gangsta and commercial but just had their own unique style. We had many types of rappers that covered all fields of rap, just that gangsta rap was what we were best known for. Now with that..the fact that there are virtually NO rappers that are big in these various genres shows that there must be some obvious bias against the west that has nothing to do with the death of Pac. Why is there J-Kwons and Nellys who do watery shit, Fat Joes and D Blocks who do thug shit, Lil scrappys and all else that just do commercial shit, but yet NONE seem to be from the west? After all that the west gave to the game, and knowing that there are obviously many talented rappers on the west, do you think it's any possible way that we could just "fall off" because of Pac's death?

2. Many people may argue against this, but mark my words......PAC WAS NOT THE BIGGEST WEST COAST ARTIST WHEN HE DIED. Maybe it's because I was in L.A. and grew up there and saw who was biggest, mainly from 93 and on. But when he died, he was big, but I will argue that Ice Cube, Dre, and Snoop were still the biggest and most influential west coast artists at the time. Pac wasn't really reppin the west hard until Death Row. I think if one of the three I listed had died, it would have been a bigger deal than Pac's death. People didn't even start sayin the west fell off until 98-99, and the west was still decent at the time.

3. There were many reasons to why the west really did suffer a major decline that I think added up and did more than Pac's death alone.
-The fact that Snoop suffered the sophomore slump that really made people lose a lot of hope in the west. Doggstyle was seen as the best album in rap history to many, and people anticipated the sequel like hell, especially seein that Snoop had the court case. But due to the circumstances, such as the politics in death row, and that Dre did not do any work on it, the album was considered a helluva dissapointment, despite the fact that it was a solid album.
-Dre's "conversion" to being a positive rapper and leaving the gangsta rap scene was a serious backbreaker. Not only was his new music not as hot, but people just weren't buyin it and it didn't work. He was considered the best producer at the time, and when people figured he had fallen off, as well as Snoop havin a weak debut, as well as Pac's death, this really made things look worst for the west.
-Pac's death was one of the many reasons that Death Row collapsed, but Death Row's demise as a whole took a major toll on the west. Not only were they the powerhouse that was the biggest label in rap, but the fact that they died made other companies say "hmm, well it's no more west coast rap to compete with, so it's no need for west coast artists. Next..." and this in turn made things a lot worst for the west.
-Overall, L.A. was just a helluva exciting place that created much interest in the 90s. At first, people saw gangsta rap like "damn, are these cats really as hard as they are supposed to be?" but when the 92 riots happened, it let people know that L.A. really was no joke. This caused a helluva lot of interest in L.A., just like the influx of hood movies that were based in L.A. All the hood movies not only made people interested in LA culture and lifestyle, but these movies came with soundtracks that helped west coast rap as a whole. After a while, the movie industry must have got tired with hood movies, or either ran out of ideas and all, so the decline of hood movies which caused must interest in LA culture was another reason that west coast rap declined.
-Just as Snoop and Dre, Ice Cube's next album wasn't as good as many people had hoped. This here made the critics say damn....Snoop, Dre, and Cube, who were 3 of the biggest west coast artists, came with albums that were below average. Pac, who was another one of the biggest, has died. To add to that, The Dogg Pound who had a very successful debut album did two solo albums, and these definitely did not have a big effect on the west coast, and the people who hoped these albums were going to be good were disappointed, so this is when many people really lost hope and said the west was dead.
-Along with these albums and the chaos that went on during this time, the east came with a completely new sound, which was highly influenced by the west, and the south went on a helluva rise. With this, we all know that people like what they hear. When they turned on the radio, they weren't hearin the west, so they just grew out of the west coast sound. Now even though there were some west coast albums that were real good that came out after Pac's death, many people outside the west felt that the west was dead, and they just weren't feelin the sound of the west anymore. I didn't realize this until I came down south for college, and I would play songs that were great to the west coast, but that they never heard and therefore did not think were that good. Since the west isn't what they heard on TV, they just don't get the same feeling from west coast music that us fans do.

So overall....I think Pac's death was part of why the west coast suffered a major decline, but definitely not THE reason as many people may say. Pac definitely wasn't the only west coast rapper who was big, and as I said, he wasn't the biggest in my eyes. Many people may agree with some of what I wrote and disagree with some of it, and I am sure that I am not 100% correct. But I have been following rap since 93, back when I didn't know or care what coast rappers were from.

Will the west coast ever make a return? Although time can only tell, I will say that in my opinion, we will eventually come back to the major scene, but it will not be as big as we were in the 90s. Believe me, down south crunk rap will die out, and even thug rap will die out. We are already makin some progress just from havin R&B commercial singers who are pretty big. But on the real, I think the media seriously does have something strong against the west coast....I'll leave that to another thread.

Good post

[UKnowWhatItIs: welcome to my traps....game over]

Firstly,I just wanna say the West does make great music but look,they're nowhere near as good in makin music like they once was.Believe me,the type of music the majority of the West makes is unattractive to a person who isnt a westcoast rap fan.The early G-Funk sound was simply amazing & if the West would still keep makin that kind of G-Funk,the West would still be on top.The new sounds of G-Funk arent that great & only westcoast fans will appreciate that type of music.Now not everyone gets them g-funkish productions from Fredwreck,Battlecat & so on,but not everone on the left side make party bangers.Remember all the first singles from each member of Death Row???Yeah,they were all club bangers.Its always been the same,club bangers were always popular,from then to now.Dont be mad at all these rappers makin club songs,they're doin the same shit the West was once doing,except the sound is different.Like I said before,the westcoast sound doesnt make your head bounce unless you're already a westcoast fan.People need time to like westcoast music.I remember when I was just getting into rap I listened to Xzibit's Been A Long Time song,now everone knows this is a great song.But I wasnt a westcoast fan at all,& when I listened to the song I just hated it.It sounded so fuckin gay,but the more westcoast songs I heard the more I satrted likin it.What do I think of Xzibit's Been A Long Time now???Like I said,its a great song & I dont think I can ever get bored wit it.Anyways,thats my answer to the question.

[Suga Foot]

because you touch yourself at night

[-Euthanasia-]

thats not why!

[Juronimo]

I think Big's death hurt the west coast more than Pac's death.

[i love men who take pictures with their booty's out]

imho ..the west fell off.. when pac came over..and started that drama..

be4 pac came over.. who was runnin rap.. the west..

[music is like magic]

Fuckin Haters. the media the fucking haters and no record companys in the west with big nutts and more haters.  and imo it fell when pac died Game alone cannot bring the west back but shit is he the well is Dre the only one trying snoop is too fucking high to give a fuck so fuck she is out kurupt back on row he out eastsidaz never done shit but flop xzibit flopping brothat lynch cant get no record deal e-40 cant either so yeah i guess floppin haters and no body trying.

[SGV]

imho ..the west fell off.. when pac came over..and started that drama..

be4 pac came over.. who was runnin rap.. the west..

This is on the money. He ruined the West.

And then the South showed up with Master P, Outkast, 8-Ball & MJG and the others who followed after and took the shine.

[schizo1914]

R-Tistic... good post!

Being from LA, I agree completely but I think there's one aspect that you completely forget: the radio.

During the height of the westcoast (let's say 92 through 96), the Los Angeles airwaves were dominated with West Coast hip hop from 92.3 The Beat and Power 106.  During this time, the major annual event was the Beat's Summer Jam.  Around 95, damn near every artist on the playlist was westcoast (DJ Quik, Snoop/Dogg Pound, Ice Cube, Mack 10, etc.) or what I like to call "westcoast affiliates" (Bone Thugs).  Okay...fast forward to around 98.  Damn near every performer was from the south or the east.  Because major radio stations are forced to play whatever's "popular", west coast music had to take a back seat.  Additionally, since not much new music was coming out, the west coast music that was played was only during special "west coast" times where they'd play "Nuthin But a G Thang" 500 times in a row.  The clearest example of the LA radio abandoning it's west coast artists was when 92.3's (now 100.3) long running morning show was replaced by east coast icons Dr. Dre and Ed Lover around '99.  Their morning show failed miserably as they lacked the ability to relate to their Los Angeles audience.  Los Angeles radio stations are now in the process of trying to redeem themselves... but redemption doesn't come from playing "Westside Story" over and over again.  It comes from supporting the underground west coast artists and allowing a "buzz" to be created.  Only then will the west rise again.