why west coast rap doesn't do that well

[LIL GUY]

TO BE HONEST NO COAST REALLY SELLS.  IF YOU LOOK AT THE EAST COAST AND WHO GOES PLATINUM YOU HAVE JAY-Z, NAS, JA-FOOL, FABULOUS, I CANT THINK OF ANY MORE RIGHT NOW BUT IF YOU LOOK AT ALL OF THESE ARTIST THERE IS A REASON FOR ALL OF THEM TO GO PLATINUM.  JAY-Z GAME IN THE WITH FOXY ON "AINT NO NIGGA" WHICH GOT THE LADIES INVOLVED. THEN HE HAD THAT BABYFACE SINGLE. AND THE ONE WITH MARY-J THEN ONCE YOU HERD HIS ALBUM H HAD A LOT OF STREET SONGS ON IT SO HE WAS GETTING BOTH AUDIENCE. THEN HE CAME OUT WITH THAT SONG "THE HARD KNOCK LIFE" WITCH SAMPLED "ANY" (NO OFFENCE) BUT WHITE PEOPLE ALL OVER THE WORLD LOVE "ANY" SO EVERONE LOVE THAT SONG AND JAY-Z GOES ON TO SELL 5 MILLION.  EVER SINCE THAT HE'S HAD A HIT THERE AND A HIT HERE TO KEEP HIMSELF ESABLISHED.
NAS HAS ALWAYS BEEN A TIGHT RAPER BUT AS TIGHT AS ILLMATIC WAS IT ONLY WENT GOLD CUSE ONLY THE THUGS BOUGHT IT.  BUT WHEN HE CAME OUT WITH HIS NEXT ALBUM HE USED THE BIGGEST STAR AT THAT TIME TO COME OUT WITH, LAUREN HILL.  ALBUM GOES 2 PLATINUM.  EVERSINCE THEN NAS HAS BEEN PLAT.  EVENTHOUGH HE HAS HAD SOME SUB-PAR ALBUMS HIS FIRST SINGLE IS ALWAYS TIGHT SO PEEPS "SAY OH NAS IS BACK HIS NEW SONG IS BANGIN" THEY RUSH TO GET THE ALBUM.
JA - FOOL COMES OUT WITH JAY-Z ON THE HIT SINGE "CAN I GET A WUT WUT" AND EVERYONE JUST SAYS LOOK AT THIS FAKE PAC. BUT THE SINGLE GETS SO MUCH AIR PLAY HE GETS A NAME FOR HIMSELF. THEN NOT TO LONG AFTER HE DROP THAT SINGE HE HAD WITH ALL THE GIRLS IN IT(DONT REMEMBER THE NAME) BUT IT WAS REAL COMERICAL. THEN WHEN IT'S TIME FOR PROMOTION HE CAN SAY (JA-RULE FROM THE MULTI-PLAT. CAN I GET A AND HIS FIRST SINGLE) THEN THE LADIES RUSH TO GO AND GET THE ALBUM.  AFTER THAT HE COME OUT WITH MORE LADIES SING AND THEN STARTS SINGING HIMSELF.  TALKING ABOUT TAKING CARE OF THE LADIES AND BEING DOWN WITH HIS CHICK AND THE SALES GO TRIPLE PLAT.
FABOLOUS COMES OUT WITH LITTLE MO. GETS A GANG OF VIDEO AND RADIO PLAY, THEN HE IS ON EVERY MIX TAPE THEN HAS NATE DOGG ON HIS FIRST SINGLE USING A PAC LINE THEN COMES BACK OUT WITH THE CATCHY NEPTUNES HOOK HOLLA BACK WHOOO WHOOO AND KIDS GO AND GET THE RECORD.  ITS THAT SIMPLE IF YOU KEEP HAVEING HITS YOUR ALBUM WILL SELL, IF BUILD UP ANTICAPATION YOUR ALBUM WILL SELL.

LETS LOOK AT THE WEST COAST CATS WHO STILL GO PLAT.  SNOOP, DRE, XZBIT, EASTSIDAZ.
SNOOP WE ALL KNOW HIS STORY, DRE WE ALL KNOW HIS STORY BUT LETS LOOK AT XZIBIT.
HE COMES OUT AND HAS 2 TIGHT ALBUMS AND DONT SELL PLAT. COMBINED BUT THEN ALL OF A SUDDEN HE'S GOING PLAT.
FIRST HE WAS ON THE BANGING BITCH PLEASE WITCH WAS BANGIN ON THE EAST COAST. PEEP WAS LIKE "HE'S COOL BUT WHO IS HE" THEN HE GETS TIGHT WITH DRE AND IS ON THE 6 TIME PLAT. 2001 NOW PEEPS KNOW WHO HE IS.  EVERYWHERE SNOOP AND DRE GO YOU SEE XZIBT. THEN HE HAS THE BANGIN' "YEAR 2000" NOW CATS LIKE "I CANT WAIT FOR HIS ALBUM".  THEN THE NEXT THING YOU KNOW THE SINGLE "X" DROPS AND IS BANGING PEEPS RUSH THE RECORD STORE AND BUY THE SHIT. HE HAD BUILD UP AND ANTICAPATION, WHILE PEEPS WAS WAITING FOR HIS ALBUM HE WAS DROPING SINGLE'S.  
THE EASTSIDAZ ARE KINDA THE SAME BUT G'D UP DID IT FOR THEM.  THEY HAD A TIGHT VIDEO KINDA LIKE "STILL D.R.E" AND THE WEST WAS STILL HOT OFF OF "2001"  PLUS SNOOP HAD HIS NAME ON IT, AND WAS ALL OVER IT.
LOOK AT OTHER ARTIST IN THE WEST THEY JUST COME OUT WITH NO BUILD UP.  YOU MUST HAVE SOME HITS UNDER YOU BELT BEFORE YOU COME OUT.  IF YOU COME OUT WITH A SINGLE THEN DROP A ALBUM HOW YOU EXPECT TO SELL.  JUST CAUSE YOU WITH SNOOP DONT MEAN YOUR GONNA SELL.  JUST CAUSE YOU GO TO A NEW LABEL DONT MEAN YOUR GONNA SELL.
OTHER THINGS THAT HELP YOUR SELL.
-TIGHT VIDEO'S(IF YOU HAVE A CHEAP VIDEO WITH A TIGHT SONG THE VIDEO WILL BRING THE SONG DOWN. BUT IF YOU HAVE A TIGHT VIDEO WITH A WEAK SONG IT WILL FORCE THE VIDEO STATIONS TO KEEP PLAYING THE VIDEO, THEN THE SONG WILL START TO GROW ON PEOPLE CAUSE THEY KEEP HEARING IT. A LOT OF FAMOUS PEOPLE IN THE VIDEO NEVER HURT ANYBODY)
-R&B CAMEO- THIS ALWAYS WORKS FOR EAST COAST CATS BUT WEST COAST GUYS JUST REFUSE TO DO IT. A SONG WITH A POPULAR R&B FEMALE ALWAYS GETS VIDEO AND RADIO PLAY.
-POPULAR PRODUCER- RIGHT NOW IT'S THE NEPTUNES ALMOST EVERYSONG IS PRODUCED BY THE NEPTUNES. TIMBO IS STILL HOT AND DRE NEVER HURT NOBODY.
BASICALLY THE MORE HITS YOU HAVE THE BETTER OFF YOU WILL BE. ONE TIGHT SINGLE WILL NOT SELL YOUR ALBUM ASK DOGGY ANGELES.

[Trauma-san]

Nah, this thread isn't true.  I live in north carolina, haven't lived in cali for years, and it doesn't offend me to hear them say 'west west' on a song.

Also, when you got half of the rappers alive reppin' New York and Queens, and the Bronx, what's wrong with Dre reppin los angeles?  

Paul McCartney, Elton John, Eric Clapton, all 3 of them go way out of the way to let everyone alive know they're from england, but that doesn't bother me, or make me not want to hear their music.  Rap's the same way. Nobody cares where people are from.  

[Trauma-san]

I think the real problem comes down to the materialistic world we live in.  People done went commercial, LOL.  It's like the 80's all over again, everybody wants to see shiny stuff.  That's why they relate to the eastcoast cats.  IMO.  That's not the whole story, but it's a big big part of it.  That's why cash money, no limit, bad boy, all them made it.  

[Cliche]

a few points i made on SOHH.com in a thread called "Does The West Matter?"


there's no more variety out of NY than Cali. The difference is what gets airplay, and since the hip-hop media is mostly focused in NYC, that's what you hear about.


Well, you can look at it like this, take mixtapes as an example, when do you see a west coast artist besides snoop/dre/xzibit on a "bigname" mixtape (kayslay, clue, etc)... the only joint in recent memory is the Ras Kass "Goldyn Chyld" Remix, and it was a Dj Premier remix, if it had been a E-Swift remix, or a Evidence remix, it wouldn't matter how dope it was, that **** wouldn't have been on there. The west has a perception problem, and its existed ever since gangsta rap started blowing up left right and center, that's all major labels, magazines, radio stations, etc want to hear, talk about, read about, put on. sadly, what gets exposure in hip-hop is based on what sells, even when you're talking about artists like Redman, Nas, Pete Rock etc, they will get play in NY because programmers, ceos, a&rs know that their music will sell there, whereas artists like Del, The Coup or The Liks won't get the same opportunity, because it's already ingrained into peoples minds what "west coast sound" means. It's going to have to start in the minds of the listeners, because once they get past that perception they will see that there's a lot more variety out west than they think. it also needs to come from record labels, although its happening more now (groups like J5, Dilated, etc), many labels would still rather take a chance on the NY flavour of the month (Fabolous) than an established west coast artist (Saafir anyone?) the major artists out west also have to share some of the blame. Xzibit at least shouts out Likwit Crew... but guys like Snoop, Dre, etc really need to start breaking out some lyricists. I mean, Hittman and Knocturnal are all very well and good, but I always wonder why Aftermath isn't scooping up the top lyrical talent that's just laying around in Cali (and lord knows Dogghouse could use talent of any kind.) That point aside, from my point of view the west is at a different stage of development than the east. in a lot of ways the gangsta rap boom hurt the west more than it helped, because only now are record labels starting to build from the ground up out there to the point where they can get major distribution and airplay, whereas labels based out of NYC have been at that point for close to 15 years. The west is playing catch up in the areas of marketing, airplay, etc but definitely not in talent. the talent is out there, the trouble is that up until recently no one was even looking for it from a labels standpoint. now with the success of groups like dilated, j5, deltron etc i expect that situation to improve, because west coast artists will prove that they can sell as well as their counterparts on the east, given the chance.



basically, when the west blew up of gangsta rap, it gave the west some exposure to the hip-hop media... but it wasn't necessarily posative exposure, because after that basically if you weren't doing the same thing as Dre, Cube, Snoop, etc. then no one in the recording/music industry (based on the east coast) gave a shit.  they wanted something that would sell, and they felt the easiest way to get that from a west coast artist would be gangsta music.  And when the popularity of it died down, a lot of artists got dropped, or buried, because the west didn't have a similar industry structure in place... they're still on the indy level that east coast artists had to deal with in the late 80s...

[S.G.V.]

a few points i made on SOHH.com in a thread called "Does The West Matter?"


there's no more variety out of NY than Cali. The difference is what gets airplay, and since the hip-hop media is mostly focused in NYC, that's what you hear about.


Well, you can look at it like this, take mixtapes as an example, when do you see a west coast artist besides snoop/dre/xzibit on a "bigname" mixtape (kayslay, clue, etc)... the only joint in recent memory is the Ras Kass "Goldyn Chyld" Remix, and it was a Dj Premier remix, if it had been a E-Swift remix, or a Evidence remix, it wouldn't matter how dope it was, that **** wouldn't have been on there. The west has a perception problem, and its existed ever since gangsta rap started blowing up left right and center, that's all major labels, magazines, radio stations, etc want to hear, talk about, read about, put on. sadly, what gets exposure in hip-hop is based on what sells, even when you're talking about artists like Redman, Nas, Pete Rock etc, they will get play in NY because programmers, ceos, a&rs know that their music will sell there, whereas artists like Del, The Coup or The Liks won't get the same opportunity, because it's already ingrained into peoples minds what "west coast sound" means. It's going to have to start in the minds of the listeners, because once they get past that perception they will see that there's a lot more variety out west than they think. it also needs to come from record labels, although its happening more now (groups like J5, Dilated, etc), many labels would still rather take a chance on the NY flavour of the month (Fabolous) than an established west coast artist (Saafir anyone?) the major artists out west also have to share some of the blame. Xzibit at least shouts out Likwit Crew... but guys like Snoop, Dre, etc really need to start breaking out some lyricists. I mean, Hittman and Knocturnal are all very well and good, but I always wonder why Aftermath isn't scooping up the top lyrical talent that's just laying around in Cali (and lord knows Dogghouse could use talent of any kind.) That point aside, from my point of view the west is at a different stage of development than the east. in a lot of ways the gangsta rap boom hurt the west more than it helped, because only now are record labels starting to build from the ground up out there to the point where they can get major distribution and airplay, whereas labels based out of NYC have been at that point for close to 15 years. The west is playing catch up in the areas of marketing, airplay, etc but definitely not in talent. the talent is out there, the trouble is that up until recently no one was even looking for it from a labels standpoint. now with the success of groups like dilated, j5, deltron etc i expect that situation to improve, because west coast artists will prove that they can sell as well as their counterparts on the east, given the chance.



basically, when the west blew up of gangsta rap, it gave the west some exposure to the hip-hop media... but it wasn't necessarily posative exposure, because after that basically if you weren't doing the same thing as Dre, Cube, Snoop, etc. then no one in the recording/music industry (based on the east coast) gave a shit.  they wanted something that would sell, and they felt the easiest way to get that from a west coast artist would be gangsta music.  And when the popularity of it died down, a lot of artists got dropped, or buried, because the west didn't have a similar industry structure in place... they're still on the indy level that east coast artists had to deal with in the late 80s...

i agree with most of what u said....but the majority of the east coast artists now say theyre gangsta and they make music for the gangstas and the streets....theyre trying to embrace that style that the west made popular...the only thing that theyre doing right with it is that they got majors(as almost every major is based on the east) believing them....the west has very few majors out here....its hard to have artist relations when the home office is on the other side of the country....oh well fuck it....the west dont need record sales...as long as we make the best fucking music in the world!!

[Cliche]

that's true, but when most people think about east coast they dont automatically thing "gangsta shit" like they do with the west... and that's the problem.  both coasts have a ton of diversity but it all gets pigeon-holed into certain labels by the media and the public accepts that...