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New York and the East Coast · Pennsylvania · since 1985

1985
East Coast
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Philadelphia

Pennsylvania
Live instrumentation · double-time · street soul
Ride the roster1:00
Story, bloodline and 8 names

Philly gets there early and gets no credit for it: Schoolly D's P.S.K. (1985) is arguably the first gangsta rap record, two years before N.W.A. Then Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince won rap's first Grammy, and The Roots decided to do the whole thing with a band.

Bloodline · 1 stop from The Bronx
  1. 1973The Bronx
  2. 1985Philadelphia

TransferHarlem

Ninety miles down the turnpike: New York records arrived the week they dropped, and Philly's DJ battle circuit grew straight out of Flash's. Schoolly D took the hard end of it further than New York had.

The RootsState PropertyDreamchasers
Roster
1985
Schoolly D

P.S.K. What Does It Mean? — the blueprint Ice-T openly built on.

YTW
1987
DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince

Won the first-ever rap Grammy — then boycotted the ceremony over it.

YTW
1993
The Roots

A live band in a sample era; still the best musicians in the room.

YTW
1996
Bahamadiadeep cut

Kollage — flat, unhurried, endlessly sampled by everyone underground.

YTW
1999
Beanie Sigel & State Property

The gravel-voiced heart of Roc-A-Fella's Philly wing.

YTW
1999
Eve

Ruff Ryders' First Lady; the first woman to top the chart with a rap debut in years.

YTW
2012
Meek Mill

Full-throated street rap, then a genuine criminal-justice reform campaign.

YTW
2018
Tierra Whackdeep cut

Fifteen songs, one minute each. Nobody else is doing that.

YTW

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