In response to the eastcost monopoly ....

[allfromtheIE]

Soopadoopfly or somethin was talkin about the east havin a monopoly and not wantin us to come up.  Heres what I think:

I think thats exactly it.  Naw, I know its it.  If you think about it, thats how the whole east coast west coast beef started.  The east was runnin shit, and then the chronic turned it around. Thats why everybody was lovin biggie cuz he was reppin the east again and putting it down.  I know everybody remembers when snoop snapped at the awards in new york sayin they aint have no love for the west.  Death row was on fire then, then pac jumped on, and was puttin it down for the west.  We got too big, and pac was a giant, reppin for us, and it wasnt nuthin the east could do about it but hate, so it turned to beef. The shit with pac and big was only the spark.  Fuck what ya heard.  It wasnt cuz of the magazines or any other reason someone might try to say.  Shit exploded so big so quik cuz there was always some hatin goins on (read the 3rd paragraph and ill tell u why) .Pac died, suge went to jail, dre went on a hiatus, snoop took a short break ... went down south and put an average or below average album out.  The bay never got an artist that was hella big nation wide.  So all this time, we was quite outside of cali.  Wasnt nobody fighten for us, and the next big album that dropped for us was in 2001 (When dre came back). 

Its obvoius why we aint poppin,and it aint got shit to do with the music.  It takes a big name from your region to bring out your region.  Nelly: Chingy, st lunitics.  Diddy:big, mase, rob, syhne , list goes on Eminem:D12, JZ: Camron, memphis bleek, Neptunes?, Beenie Siegal, Russel simmons..., Master P, JD,blah blah blah, u get the pt.  So basically, from 96 to 2001, there wasnt no one big from the west to piggy back on so couldnt no one blow.  Snoop was fuckin with no limit, so couldnt no one jump on his back, plus he was stugglin his damn self. Wasnt no big west coast label cuz suge was locked up.  Dre came back, but didnt bring no one with em, hittman was supposed to be it, but never dropped.  So we aint getting airply for all these years, New folks just gettin into rap music, dont know shit about the west, dont respect the west.

Rap is the only music genre were shit is regional.  Depending on where your from, your favorite artists probaby is from where you from, so you luv when your shit blow up, which intrinsically kinda not want other regions to have the same success.  Pride for where u from transforms to pride for your music since, artists are reppin for you. Its just like blocks.  You associate yourself with that group and sho yo pride.  Now when all the blocks start reppin, thats when the beef starts, thats when the hate starts. Rap is the same way.   Rap is naturally dividing because of this, and dvision and seperation breeds hate.  Everybody tries to play down that east west beef, but its still there.  Niggas out west really aint happy.  Just listen to the quik song, listen to what they think about us.  Think why niggas out there always quik to say our shit is trash.  Why am I out at a black school in Atlanta, we have a party on campus, the dj finally plays a couple west coast joints, and before you know it, its like 20 people from cali in a cricle yellin fuck the east coast.  The shit is still there.  All it takes is a spark to blow some shit up, and that beef ill be right back.  If you think about it, west coast rap is synonmous with west coast/east coast beef.  You cant turn to a documentary on west coast rap and not here about some beef. So why would big names on the east want to fuck wit us anyway.  Niggas from down south and east wanna talk shit, but i look through there cd collection and what do i see-chronic, doggystyle, dogg pound, 2pac, nwa. 

The main thing is we aint getting no luv on radio and video.  When it comes to that, its all about makin money so unless its from a big name, a big label, or a big name brining out a no name, its not happen.  You aint getting nation wide covereage.  Regardless of what anybody says, your shit aint gettin played in the clubs unless its well known, cuz females only dance to what they know.  So thats strike one on the west.  Second, you really on listen to what you want to listen to, or what u like.  Ive already established that your predisposed to listen to some shit where u from.  3rd, you really only listen to what you have to listen to.  So if you only got a radio, then guess what, your listening to whats on there.  4th, you really only listen to what you know, which is a direct effect of my 3rd pt.  And thats what happens when big business like clear channel get monopolies and shit, same thing with tv.  You aint gonna see or hear different shit cuz, they tell you what the fuck u gonna see or hear.  Everybody using microsoft, even though  linux is the better system.  Nobody really knows about linux.  Same shit.
IE

[King Tech Quadafi]

You bring up some great points , props

[Darksider]

You bring up some great points , props

[Ozir]

So we aint getting airply for all these years, New folks just gettin into rap music, dont know shit about the west, dont respect the west.

great points, but I think this one ^ is the most powerful one.  I hadn't thought of it like that, but shit makes a lot of sense.  It's like education... you gotta catch the kid when they young and you got a student for life... same shit with music... hook em when they young and you got a fan fo' life...

If some kid in Boston ain't hearing any Westcoast rap (and they ain't... I live out there right now)... it's very unlikely he/she will ever be a fan of the West.

Great point there man.

peace 

[GangstaBoogy]

worth the read...

[youngmessnucca]

people seem to buy whatvea mtv or hot97 or xxl tells them too.......if we cant get any real promtions for artists that arent snoop, dre or xzibit then shit would change.
alot of people are spectikal but e-40 being signed to BME has the potential to really open up doors for where the real talent is...the bay

[krzieg]

Great Read man...u got lots of good points on there and i agree with you 100% about westcoast music gettin hated. I listen 2 both commercial rap and gangsta rap(westcoast rap) and personally id have 2 say i prefer westcoast music over that radio shit any day
big uppz homie

[Juronimo]

Word

That's some real shit right there.

When the west coast was coming up, with NWA and Ice Cube and Dre going solo, E40 and Too Short and them, they didn't like it. They would take their little potshots at the west coast (Common Sense, Masta Ace, Will Smith, Tim Dog, etc etc). The thing about it is that the west coast blew up not because of media support, but because of underground support. If you remember, NWA and Ice Cube were going platinum with no airplay, Too Short was going platinum with no airplay, Icd-T was going gold with no airplay. There was strength in the underground grass roots support of west coast music, and artists from other regions even benefitted from it, such as Geto Boys and Outkast. Outkast wasn't accepted with open arms by the new york rap establishment either if you remember.

I think you're right on when you talk about a centralized figure that could galvanize support for west coast music. First it was Ice-T, then NWA, Too Short, then Ice Cube solo, then Dre/Snoop/DPG and then 2pac. AFter 2pac died, Ice Cube had already fallen off, Dre went on vacation and Snoop went south, that left a void in the west coast music scene. There was no central figure to rally behind, to lead the west coast so to speak. That's when everything kind of fell apart after that. If you noticed, after the west coast dropped in prominence, the quality of hip hop music in general dropped quite a bit. The west had set the standard, and it took artists like Nas, Big, Wu Tang, Mobb Deep, Redman and others to match the quality of music that the west was putting out. They may have hated the success the west was having, but they knew they had to step up their game and they did. Once the west fell off, that resulted in a drop off of overall quality since that measuring stick was now gone.

[Don Seer]

very dope..

1 nitpicking thing... dre's 2001 album came out in 1999

[Mr. RuthlessG]

I agree with a lot of the points in the first post.

Another problem is the few people from the west that could help isn't doing shit.

Dr. Dre would rather support 50 Cent, Eminem, Busta Rhymes etc.
Suge Knight talks more shit than trying to release anything.
Ice Cube is busy making wack movies.
Snoop Dogg rather work with The Neptunes and other east coast artists.
Tomica Wright could do more with Ruthless but she fucked it up.
E-40 is rolling with Lil Jon.

Also from what I hear westcoast radio doesn't really support their own artists either so that's also a problem.

[k-dogg]

This was an excellent post and I agree with most of the points made but I still feel that Dre and to an extent Snoop has gotten a bad rap on this subject.  Remember, there is a reason Dre is still around and on point in this game even approaching 40 years old.  The man has vision and he realized  a long time ago that if his career was going to stay hot and to make a lot of money, he was going to have to expand and work outside of the West. Dre has not uncovered any new talent in the East but he has just worked with established rappers that he feels is hot. Most of the West coast rappers crying  about 'DRE WON'T HELP ME" are just recently starting to work with rappers in other regions. Dre was doing this A LONG TIME AGO ever since he left Death Row.  Rappers with star quality (multi-platinum ability) don't come around very often and when Dre finds one (Snoop, Em, 50, Game) he is going to give his all no matter where they are from.  I don't know if you can blame anyone in particular, but I do think the West is on the way back though it will not be as dominant as the Death Row days.  It was mainly just the East and West back then but know you have the South and the Mid-West as well.