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BY: ANDRES FELIX
Official
Whenever the older guys bring up the 90s, the younger generations ridicule the 90s era of rap into a category that is for "oldheads". This website is an attempt to bridge the gap between the two demographics by enlightening this new ignorant generation that the good music they're listening to right now came from the great music in the 1990s.
Tupac v Biggie: Welcome
THE RIVALRY
From the hood to diamonds.
THERE’S NO DENYING THAT THE '90S YIELDED A HUGE AMOUNT OF TOP-SHELF RAP MUSIC.
THE '90S REALLY WERE A GOLDEN AGE FOR RAP. IN THE EARLY PART OF THE DECADE, THE GENRE WAS USHERING IN ITS PLATINUM ERA. BY THE END OF THE DECADE, IT WAS A FULL-ON COMMERCIAL MONSTER, A DOMINANT FORCE—THE DOMINANT FORCE—IN POP MUSIC. ARTISTS LIKE ICE CUBE, METHOD MAN, A TRIBE CALLED QUEST, PUBLIC ENEMY, BUSTA RHYMES, AND DE LA SOUL WERE SHAPING YOUTH CULTURE WORLDWIDE.
MAYBE '90S RAPPERS WEREN’T AS REVOLUTIONARY AS THEIR '80S COUNTERPARTS, THE FOREFATHERS WHO LAID THE GROUNDWORK FOR HIP-HOP. BUT THE '90S RAPPERS MATURED THE FORM, MODERNIZING RAP TO THE STYLE THAT’S STILL PREVALENT TODAY. THOUGH THE ERA WAS MARRED BY CONTROVERSY, VIOLENCE, ARRESTS, COASTAL RIVALRIES, AND FINALLY TRAGEDY, THE '90S STAND AS THE HEYDAY OF THE GREATEST, MOST IMPACTFUL, INFLUENTIAL ARTISTS RAP HAS EVER PRODUCED.
WITH THAT IN MIND, WE TOOK A LOOK BACK AT THE BEST RAPPERS OF THE '90S AND HOW THEY AFFECTED AND INFLUENCED THE ERA OF HIP HOP TODAY. TO THE WAY EITHER NWA DROPPED A LITERAL BANGER OF F***
1990s
THE BIGGEST RIVALRY IN THE HIP HOP WORLD
THEIR WORLDS SEEMED DESTINED TO COLLIDE. THEY WERE TWO OF THE MOST TALENTED HIP-HOP RAPPERS ON THE SCENE AND THEY BOTH WERE DEDICATED TO EXPOSING THE TRUTH OF THE TRIBULATIONS OF LIFE ON THE STREETS, SOCIAL INJUSTICE AND THE RACIAL DIVIDE. BUT THE BIGGEST DIFFERENCE BETWEEN TUPAC SHAKUR AND BIGGIE SMALLS: THEY REPRESENTED DIFFERENT COASTS.
WHAT EXPLODED INTO ARGUABLY THE BIGGEST RIVALRY IN MUSIC HISTORY, ENDED UP IN THE DEATH OF BOTH ARTISTS, JUST AS THEIR CAREERS WERE SKYROCKETING. TUPAC (ALSO KNOWN AS 2PAC) WAS GUNNED DOWN ON SEPTEMBER 7, 1996, AND DIED SIX DAYS LATER, WHILE BIGGIE (ALSO KNOWN AS THE NOTORIOUS B.I.G.) WAS SHOT AND KILLED SIX MONTHS LATER ON MARCH 9, 1997.
NEITHER MURDER HAS EVER BEEN SOLVED.
BUT ONE THING THAT THERE’S NO QUESTION ABOUT IS THAT THEY STARTED OFF AS FRIENDS. NOT ONLY WERE PAC AND BIGGIE POPPIN WITH SONGS LIKE "HIT EM UP" OR "WHO SHOT YA" BUT THE NWA HAVE COMPLETELY SHATTERED THE BILLBOARDS. ON JUNE 22, 1991, BILLBOARD ANNOUNCED A NEW ALBUM HAD SURPASSED OUT OF TIME, BY R.E.M., TO BECOME THE MOST POPULAR IN THE COUNTRY. IT WAS NIGGAZ4LIFE, BY N.W.A., WHICH HAD DEBUTED THE PREVIOUS WEEK AT NUMBER 2 AND SOLD NEARLY A MILLION COPIES IN ITS FIRST SEVEN DAYS. BILLBOARD HAD PUBLISHED AN ALBUM CHART FOR 45 YEARS, BUT THIS MARKED A HISTORIC WEEK: IT WAS THE FIRST TIME THAT A RAP GROUP CLAIMED THE TOP SPOT ON THE BILLBOARD 200.
2PAC v the Notorious B.I.G
LEGACY AND INFLUENCE
THE FLOWS TO THE BEATS AND THE DRUMS BUT BEST OF ALL IS THE AUTOTUNE. THE INSTRUMENTS AND THE COOL SOUNDS AND BEAT DROPS HAVE NOT CREATED ANY TYPE OF CULTURE REGARDING HIP HOP. HIP HOP AND ITS' FUNCTIONS HAVE EVOLVED OVER TIME. BY FUNCTIONS, I MEAN THE WAY PEOPLE USE HIP HOP EITHER AS A FORM TO DE-STRESS OR RELAX.
THE REASON WHY BIGGIE AND TUPAC WERE SO INVOLVED IN THIS NEW ERA OF RAP WAS THAT THEY TOOK THE NEW SOUNDS AND BENT THEM IN BRILLIANTLY AND AUTHENTICALLY WITH THEIR CULTURE. ALONG WITH THEIR FLOW THE LYRICS AND "BARS" WAS WHAT TRULY MADE THEM FAMOUS, SOMETIMES EVEN INFAMOUS.
MOST OVERSEE THE FACT THAT RAP DID NOT JUST APPEAR IN 1991 BUT IT STARTED DECADES BEFORE. AFTER ALL, "RAPPER'S DELIGHT," BY SUGAR HILL GANG, THE FIRST RADIO HIT THAT CONTEMPORARIES CONSIDERED HIP-HOP, WAS RELEASED 12 YEARS PRIOR, IN 1979. RICK RUBIN FOUNDED DEF JAM RECORDS IN 1982. RUN-D.M.C. RELEASED KING OF ROCK AND PERFORMED IN LIVE AID IN 1985, AND THE BEASTIE BOYS CAME OUT WITH LICENSED TO ILL IN LATE 1986. THE FIRST MUSIC SHOW DEDICATED TO RAP, THE PERFECTLY-NAMED "YO! MTV RAPS," DEBUTED IN 1989, AND SOME HISTORIANS LOOK BACK ON THE PROGRAM AS THE BAPTISM OF HIP-HOP AS A MAINSTREAM GENRE. "HIP-HOP DID NOT JUST APPEAR OUT OF THE BLUE [IN 1991]," SAID MATTHIAS MAUCH, A CO-AUTHOR OF THE PAPER. "WE SEE A RISING TREND TOWARDS LESS CHORD-ORIENTATED SOUND A FEW YEARS EARLIER."
Project Tagline
THE FIRST GREAT MOMENT OF RAP
THE FEW YEARS LEADING UP TO THE 90S, RAP WAS STILL SEEN LIKE IT WAS MEANT FOR PEOPLE WHO BROKE ALL OF THE RULES APPLIED ON THEM. RAP WAS CHEAP, DISGUSTING, FOUL WITH EXPLICIT LYRICS, OR SO IT WAS PRIOR TO THE 90S. IT WAS ACTUALLY QUITE RARE FOR SOMEONE TO LISTEN TO RAP. BUT THEN THE NWA RIPPED A HOLE IN THE BILLBOARD CHARTS. IF YOU HAVEN'T GIVEN NIGGAZ4LIFE A LISTEN I HIGHLY SUGGEST YOU DO SO. RAP'S FIRST BOMB WAS THE NWA IN THE 90S. RAPPER TODAY LIKE LIL UZI VERT, KENDRICK LAMAR, DRAKE, THE MIGOS, JUICE WRLD, THE XXL FRESHMEN OF 2020(HTTPS://WWW.BROOKLYNVEGAN.COM/XXL-FRESHMAN-CLASS-2020-ANNOUNCED-POLO-G-CHIKA-FIVIO-FOREIGN-CALBOY-MORE/), AND MANY MORE ARE THE EVOLUTION OF THE 90S. EVEN TODAY SONGS LIKE "DAMN" OR "GOD'S PLAN" BY KENDRICK AND DRAKE, TOW OF THE WORLDS BIGGEST RAP NAMES OF TODAY HAVE TAKEN A LOT OF INFLUENCE FROM THE LEGENDARY ERA OF THE 90S. THE 90S WAS TRULY A GOLDEN ERA WHERE MUSIC SHOWED ITS CAPABILITY TO DRAMATICALLY SHIFT PERSPECTIVES AND INFLUENCE LIVES NOT ONLY IN THEIR PRESENT DAY BUT EVEN TODAY AS WELL.
https://genius.com/search?q=gods%20plan
https://genius.com/artists/J-cole
Tupac v Biggie: Work
Tupac v Biggie: Music
Tupac v Biggie: Contact
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