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New York and the East Coast · New York City · since 1986

1986
East Coast
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Brooklyn

New York City
Boom bap · hustler narrative · Brooklyn drill
Ride the roster2:00
Story, bloodline and 9 names

The borough of the great storytellers. Big Daddy Kane made technical rapping look like showmanship, Biggie made the crack-era memoir into pop music, and Jay-Z turned the same material into a business empire. In 2019 Pop Smoke imported a UK drill beat and Brooklyn started over.

Bloodline · 2 stops from The Bronx
  1. 1973The Bronx
  2. 1982Queens
  3. 1986Brooklyn

TransferThe Bronx

Big Daddy Kane joined Marley Marl's Juice Crew across the river, so Brooklyn's first great MC came up inside a Queensbridge crew before the borough had its own.

Next stopsToronto, Staten Island

Juice CrewBad BoyRoc-A-FellaBlack StarPro Era
Roster
1988
Big Daddy Kane

Bed-Stuy. Speed, elegance and stage command in one package.

YTW
1989
Gang Starr

Guru's monotone over DJ Premier's chopped jazz — the definition of boom bap.

YTW
1990
Masta Acedeep cut

The concept-album craftsman; Brownsville's most underrated pen.

YTW
1994
The Notorious B.I.G.

Ready to Die — the most fluid voice rap has produced, over two albums.

YTW
1996
Jay-Z

Marcy Houses to Roc-A-Fella; made the CEO an available rap character.

YTW
1996
Lil' Kim

Rewrote what a woman was permitted to say on a rap record.

YTW
1998
Black Star

Mos Def and Talib Kweli carried conscious rap through the shiny-suit years.

YTW
2012
Joey Bada$$ & Pro Era

Teenagers who revived 90s Brooklyn on purpose and made it stick.

YTW
2019
Pop Smoke

Put a London drill beat under a Brooklyn growl and changed New York overnight.

YTW

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