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The Midwest · Illinois · since 1992

1992
Midwest
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Chicago

Illinois
Soul chops · drill · gospel horns
Ride the roster2:20
Story, bloodline and 10 names

Chicago has produced three complete scenes. No I.D. taught Kanye to chop soul records, and Common and Kanye gave the Midwest a lyrical identity. In 2012 teenagers on the South Side invented drill, which is now the default street sound of London, Brooklyn and Sydney. Then Chance made an independent gospel-rap album and won a Grammy without selling a copy.

Bloodline · 2 stops from The Bronx
  1. 1973The Bronx
  2. 1982Queens
  3. 1992Chicago

TransferLong Island·The Bronx

No I.D. chopped soul the way Pete Rock and Premier did and taught Kanye the method directly. Common came up in the same jazz-rap lane as Tribe — while Chicago house ran underneath all of it.

Soulquarians (adj.)G.O.O.D. MusicGlory BoyzSaveMoney
Roster
1992
Common

Can I Borrow a Dollar? through Like Water for Chocolate — the Midwest's conscience.

YTW
1992
No I.D.deep cut

Chopped the soul records and taught Kanye how. The godfather.

YTW
1997
Twista

Once the fastest rapper in the world, and still musical with it.

YTW
2004
Kanye West

The College Dropout made the producer a superstar and reset the decade.

YTW
2006
Lupe Fiasco

Dense, referential, willing to argue with his own label in public.

YTW
2012
Chief Keef

Sixteen years old; drill went from Englewood to global in one summer.

YTW
2013
Chance the Rapper

Acid Rap free online; then the first streaming-only Grammy winner.

YTW
2013
Lil Durk

Drill's survivor and its most melodic writer.

YTW
2016
Nonamedeep cut

Spoken-word cadence, live band, radical politics, no label.

YTW
2018
Sabadeep cut

CARE FOR ME — the most affecting Chicago album of its decade.

YTW

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