East Coast hip hop is a type of hip hop music that comes from the East Coast of the United States. It originated in New York during the 1970s. East Coast hip hop only became a distinct subgenre after artists from other regions of the United States emerged with different styles.
East Coast hip hop
Eastcoast vs. Westcoast
Main article: East Coast vs. West Coast
In the early 1990s, the American hip-hop scene was characterized by a strong rivalry between the West Coast and the East Coast. On the West Coast side were the followers of the band N.W.A, who popularized West Coast hip-hop as aggressive gangsta rap with their "Straight Outta Compton" (1988). It was primarily former N.W.A members Dr. Dre and Ice Cube who influenced its development in the West. The hip-hop war culminated in the murders of the two rappers Tupac Shakur (Westcoast) and The Notorious B. I.G. (Eastcoast). On the East Coast, the Wu-Tang Clan and solo artists like Nas and Jay-Z emerged to battle the pop-influenced successes of Puff Daddy and the Bad Boy Records.