1985
West Coast
↑ See it on the mapOakland & the Bay
Northern California
Mobb music · hyphy · Hieroglyphics jazz
Ride the roster3:00Story, bloodline and 9 names
The Bay independently invented the independent rap business: Too $hort sold tapes out of a car trunk before anyone had a deal, E-40 built a vocabulary the whole country now uses, and Hieroglyphics ran a fan club and a webstore before labels understood the internet. Then hyphy gave 2006 its own physics.
Bloodline · 1 stop from The Bronx
- 1973The Bronx
- 1985Oakland & the Bay
TransferSouth Central (LA)
LA electro came up the coast first. Too $hort then skipped the label stage entirely and sold cassettes out of a car trunk — the Bronx park-tape economy, rebuilt as a business.
HieroglyphicsSolesides/QuannumLiving LegendsSick Wid ItThizz
Roster
1993
Hieroglyphics
Del, Souls of Mischief, Casual — a crew that owned its own masters from the start.
1994
Blackalicious / Quannumdeep cut
Gift of Gab and Chief Xcel; DJ Shadow and Lyrics Born in the same collective.
1996
Living Legendsdeep cut
Eight MCs, Oakland-centred with LA roots, touring the world on self-pressed CDs.