1990
Mainstream breakthrough Rap is the rock 'n' roll of the day. Rock 'n' roll was about attitude, rebellion, a big beat, sex and, sometimes, social comment. If that's what you're looking for now, you're going to find it here.
“ ” — Bill Adler, Time, 1990[58] In 1990, Public Enemy's Fear of a Black Planet was a significant success with music critics and consumers.[59] It was highly contributory to hip hop's mainstream emergence in 1990, dubbed by Billboard editor Paul Grein as "the year that rap exploded".[59] In a 1990 article on its commercial breakthrough, Janice C. Thompson of Time wrote that hip hop "has grown into the most exciting development in American pop music in more than a decade."[58] Thompson noted the impact of Public Enemy's 1989 single "Fight the Power", rapper Tone Lōc's single Wild Thing being the best-selling single of 1989, and that at the time of her article, nearly a third of the songs on the Billboard Hot 100 were hip hop songs.[58] In a similar 1990 article, Robert Hilburn of the Los Angeles Times put hip hop music's commercial emergence into perspective:
It was 10 years ago that the Sugarhill Gang's "Rapper's Delight" became the first rap single to enter the national Top 20. Who ever figured then that the music would even be around in 1990, much less produce attractions that would command as much pop attention as Public Enemy and N.W.A? "Rapper's Delight" was a novelty record that was considered by much of the pop community simply as a lightweight offshoot of disco—and that image stuck for years. Occasional records—including Grandmaster Flash's "The Message" in 1982 and Run-DMC's "It's Like That" in 1984—won critical approval, but rap, mostly, was dismissed as a passing fancy—too repetitious, too one dimensional. Yet rap didn't go away, and an explosion of energy and imagination in the late '80s leaves rap today as arguably the most vital new street-oriented sound in pop since the birth of rock in the '50s.[60] However, hip hop was still met with resistance from black radio, including urban contemporary, of which Russell Simmons said in 1990, "Black radio hated rap from the start and there's still a lot of resistance to it".[60]
MC Hammer hit mainstream success with the multi platinum album Please Hammer, Don't Hurt 'Em. The record reached #1 and the first single, "U Can't Touch This" charted on the top ten of the billboard hot 100. MC Hammer became one of the most successful rappers of the early nineties and one of the first household names in the genre. The album raised rap music to a new level of popularity. It was the first hip-hop album certified diamond by the RIAA for sales of over ten million.[61] It remains one of the genre's all-time best-selling albums.[62] To date, the album has sold as many as 18 million units.[63][64][65][66] In 1992, Dr. Dre released The Chronic. As well as helping to establish West Coast gangsta rap as more commercially viable than East Coast hip hop,[67] this album founded a style called G Funk, which soon came to dominate West Coast hip hop. The style was further developed and popularized by Snoop Dogg's 1993 album Doggystyle.
Hip hop became a best selling music genre in the mid-1990s and the top selling music genre by 1999 with 81 million CDs sold.[68][69][70] By the late 1990s hip hop was artistically dominated by the Wu-Tang Clan.[67] The Beastie Boys continued their success throughout the decade crossing color lines and gaining respect from many different artists.
Record labels based out of Atlanta, St. Louis, and New Orleans gained fame for their local scenes. The midwest rap scene was also notable, with the fast vocal styles from artists such as Bone Thugs-n-Harmony, Tech N9ne, and Twista. By the end of the decade, hip hop was an integral part of popular music, and many American pop songs had hip hop components.
World hip hop In Haiti, hip hop was developed in the early 1980s, and is mostly accredited to Master Dji and his songs "Vakans" and "Politik Pa m". What later became known as "Rap Kreyòl" grew in popularity in the late 1990s with King Posse and Original Rap Stuff. Due to cheaper recording technology and flows of equipment to Haiti, more Rap Kreyòl groups are recording songs, even after the January 12th earthquake.
In the Dominican Republic, a recording by Santi Y Sus Duendes and Lisa M became the first single of merenrap, a fusion of hip hop and merengue.
De La Soul at Demon Days Live in 2005 New York City experienced a heavy Jamaican hip hop influence during the 1990s. This influence was brought on by cultural shifts particularly because of the heightened immigration of Jamaicans to New York City and the American-born Jamaican youth who were coming of age during the 1990s.
In Europe, Africa, and Asia, hip hop began to move from the underground to mainstream audiences. In Europe, hip hop was the domain of both ethnic nationals and immigrants. British hip hop, for example, became a genre of its own and spawned artists such as Wiley, Dizzee Rascal, The Streets and many more. Germany produced the well-known Die Fantastischen Vier as well as several Turkish performers like the controversial Cartel, Kool Savaş, and Azad. Similarly, France has produced a number of native-born stars, such as IAM and Suprême NTM, MC Solaar, Rohff, Rim'K or Booba. In the Netherlands, important nineties rappers include The Osdorp Posse, a crew from Amsterdam, Extince, from Oosterhout, and Postmen. Italy found its own rappers, including Jovanotti and Articolo 31, grow nationally renowned, while the Polish scene began in earnest early in the decade with the rise of PM Cool Lee. In Romania, B.U.G. Mafia came out of Bucharest's Pantelimon neighborhood, and their brand of gangsta rap underlines the parallels between life in Romania's Communist-era apartment blocks and in the housing projects of America's ghettos. Israel's hip hop grew greatly in popularity at the end of the decade, with several stars both Palestinian (Tamer Nafar) and Israeli (Subliminal). In Portugal hip hop has his own kind of rapping, which is more political and underground scene, they are known for Valete, Dealema and Halloween. Russian hip hop emerged during last years of Soviet Union and cemented later, with groups like Malchishnik and Bad Balance enjoying mainstream popularity in the 1990s, while Ligalize and Kasta were popular in the 2000s.
In Asia, mainstream stars rose to prominence in the Philippines, led by Francis Magalona, Rap Asia, MC Lara and Lady Diane. In Japan, where underground rappers had previously found a limited audience, and popular teen idols brought a style called J-rap to the top of the charts in the middle of the 1990s.
Latinos had played an integral role in the early development of hip hop, and the style had spread to parts of Latin America, such as Cuba, early in its history. Later in the decade, with Latin rap groups like Cypress Hill on the American charts, Mexican rap rock groups, such as Control Machete, rose to prominence in their native land. An annual Cuban hip hop concert held at Alamar in Havana helped popularize Cuban hip hop, beginning in 1995. Hip hop grew steadily more popular in Cuba, because of official governmental support for musicians.
Brazilian hip hop is heavily associated with racial and economic issues in the country, where a lot of black people live in a bad situation in the violent slums, known in Brazil as favelas. São Paulo is where hip hop began in the country, but it soon spread all over Brazil, and today, almost every big Brazilian city, such as Rio de Janeiro, Salvador, Curitiba, Porto Alegre, Belo Horizonte, Recife and Brasilia, has a hip hop scene. Some notable artists include: Racionais MC's, Thaide, and Marcelo D2
Bosnian and Herzegovinan hip hop is currently dominated by Edo Maajka, the most popular rapper of the Balkans. In that region, especially Bosnia, hip hop is still used as a political and social message in song themes such as war, profiteering, corruption,etc... Frenkie another Bosnian rapper, who is associated and the closest worker with Edo Maajka, has collaborated beyond Bosnians boarders. Frenkie collaborated with German artists such as Flip Star, Cika Reks and others. Frenkie also collaborated on his latest album, Protuotrov, with Masta Ace, the song is Zivili (lived).
East vs. West rivalry Main article: East Coast–West Coast hip hop rivalry West Coast hip hop Main article: West Coast hip hop Snoop Dogg After N.W.A broke up, Dr. Dre (a former member) released The Chronic in 1992, which peaked at #1 on the R&B/hip hop chart,[71] #3 on the pop chart and spawned a #2 pop single with "Nuthin' but a 'G' Thang." The Chronic took West Coast rap in a new direction,[72] influenced strongly by P funk artists, melding smooth and easy funk beats with slowly drawled lyrics. This came to be known as G-funk and dominated mainstream hip hop for several years through a roster of artists on Death Row Records, including Tupac Shakur, whose double disc album All Eyez on Me was a big hit with hit songs "Ambitionz az a Ridah" and "2 of Amerikaz Most Wanted",[citation needed] and Snoop Dogg, whose Doggystyle included the songs "What's My Name?" and "Gin and Juice", both top ten hits.[73] As the Los Angeles-based label Death Row Records built an empire around Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg, and the charismatic, complicated rapper-actor Tupac Shakur. It also entered into a rivalry with New York City’s Bad Boy Records. (See the article on the East Coast-West Coast hip hop rivalry.)
Detached from this scene were other artists such as Freestyle Fellowship, The Pharcyde as well as more underground artists such as the Solesides collective (DJ Shadow and Blackalicious amongst others) Jurassic 5, Ugly Duckling, People Under the Stairs, Tha Alkaholiks, and earlier Souls of Mischief represented a return to hip hop roots of sampling and well planned rhyme schemes.
East Coast hip hop Main article: East Coast hip hop In the early 1990s East Coast hip hop was dominated by the Native Tongues posse which was loosely composed of De La Soul with producer Prince Paul, A Tribe Called Quest, the Jungle Brothers, as well as their loose affiliates 3rd Bass, Main Source, and the less successful Black Sheep & KMD. Although originally a "daisy age" conception stressing the positive aspects of life, darker material (such as De La Soul's thought-provoking "Millie Pulled a Pistol on Santa") soon crept in.
Artists such as Masta Ace (particularly for SlaughtaHouse) & Brand Nubian, Public Enemy, Organized Konfusion, Ingnacio Bernal, had a more overtly militant pose, both in sound and manner. Biz Markie, the "clown prince of hip hop", was causing himself and all other hip-hop producers a problem with his appropriation of the Gilbert O'Sullivan song "Alone again, naturally".
Wu-Tang Clan at the Virgin Festival in 2007. In the early-1990s, the Wu-Tang Clan revitalized the New York hip hop scene by pioneering an East coast hardcore rap equivalent to what was being produced on the West Coast.[74] According to Allmusic, the production on two Mobb Deep albums, The Infamous and Hell on Earth (1996), are "indebted" to RZA's early production with Wu-Tang Clan.[75][76] The success of artists such as Nas and Notorious B.I.G. during 1994–95 cemented the status of the East Coast during a time of West Coast dominance.
The productions of RZA, particularly for Wu-Tang Clan, became influential with artists such as Mobb Deep due to the combination of somewhat detached instrumental loops, highly compressed and processed drums and gangsta lyrical content. Wu-Tang solo albums such as Raekwon the Chef's Only Built 4 Cuban Linx, Ghostface Killah's Ironman, and GZA's Liquid Swords are now viewed as classics along with Wu-Tang "core" material. The clan's base extended into further groups called Wu-affiliates.
Producers such as DJ Premier (primarily for Gangstarr but also for other affiliated artists such as Jeru the Damaja), Pete Rock (With CL Smooth and supplying beats for many others), Buckwild, Large Professor, Diamond D and The 45 King supplying beats for numerous MCs regardless of location.
Albums such as Nas's Illmatic, Jay-Z's Reasonable Doubt and O.C.'s Word...Life are made up of beats from this pool of producers.
The rivalry between the East Coast and the West Coast rappers eventually turned personal.[77]
Later in the decade the business acumen of the Bad Boy Records tested itself against Jay-Z and his Roc-A-Fella Records and, on the West Coast, Death Row Records. The mid to late 1990s saw a generation of rappers such as the members of D.I.T.C. such as the late Big L and Big Pun.
On the East Coast, although the "big business" end of the market dominated matters commercially the late 1990s to early 2000s saw a number of relatively successful East Coast indie labels such as Rawkus Records (with whom Mos Def and Talib Kweli gained great success) and later Def Jux; the history of the two labels is intertwined, the latter having been started by EL-P of Company Flow in reaction to the former, and offered an outlet for more underground artists such as Mike Ladd, Aesop Rock, Mr Lif, RJD2, Cage and Cannibal Ox. Other acts such as the Hispanic Arsonists and slam poet turned MC Saul Williams met with differing degrees of success.
Diversification of styles Further information: List of hip hop genres In the 1990s, hip hop began to diversify with other regional styles emerging on the national scene. Southern rap became popular in the early 1990s.[78] The first Southern rappers to gain national attention were the Geto Boys out of Houston, Texas.[79] Southern rap's roots can be traced to the success of Geto Boy's Grip It! On That Other Level in 1989, the Rick Rubin produced The Geto Boys in 1990, and We Can't Be Stopped in 1991.[80] The Houston area also produced other artists that pioneered the early southern rap sound such as UGK and the solo career of Scarface.
Atlanta hip hop artists were key in further expanding rap music and bringing southern hip hop into the mainstream. Releases such as Arrested Development's 3 Years, 5 Months & 2 Days in the Life Of... in 1992, Goodie Mob's Soul Food in 1995 and OutKast's ATLiens in 1996 were all critically acclaimed. Later, Master P (Ghetto D) built up a roster of artists (the No Limit posse) based out of New Orleans. Master P incorporated G funk and Miami bass influences; and distinctive regional sounds from St. Louis, Chicago, Washington D.C., Detroit and others began to gain popularity.
In the 1990s, elements of hip hop continued to be assimilated into other genres of popular music. Neo soul, for example, combined hip hop and soul music. In the 1980s and 1990s, rap rock, rapcore and rap metal, fusions of hip hop and rock, hardcore punk and heavy metal[81] became popular among mainstream audiences. Rage Against the Machine and Limp Bizkit were among the most well-known bands in these fields.
Digable Planets' 1993 release Reachin' (A New Refutation of Time and Space) was an influential jazz rap record sampling the likes of Don Cherry, Sonny Rollins, Art Blakey, Herbie Mann, Herbie Hancock, Grant Green, and Rahsaan Roland Kirk. It spawned the hit single "Rebirth of Slick (Cool Like Dat)" which reached #16 on the Billboard Hot 100[82]
Though white rappers like the Beastie Boys, House of Pain and 3rd Bass had had some popular success or critical acceptance from the hip hop community, Eminem's success, beginning in 1999 with the platinum The Slim Shady LP,[83] surprised many.
“ ” — Bill Adler, Time, 1990[58] In 1990, Public Enemy's Fear of a Black Planet was a significant success with music critics and consumers.[59] It was highly contributory to hip hop's mainstream emergence in 1990, dubbed by Billboard editor Paul Grein as "the year that rap exploded".[59] In a 1990 article on its commercial breakthrough, Janice C. Thompson of Time wrote that hip hop "has grown into the most exciting development in American pop music in more than a decade."[58] Thompson noted the impact of Public Enemy's 1989 single "Fight the Power", rapper Tone Lōc's single Wild Thing being the best-selling single of 1989, and that at the time of her article, nearly a third of the songs on the Billboard Hot 100 were hip hop songs.[58] In a similar 1990 article, Robert Hilburn of the Los Angeles Times put hip hop music's commercial emergence into perspective:
It was 10 years ago that the Sugarhill Gang's "Rapper's Delight" became the first rap single to enter the national Top 20. Who ever figured then that the music would even be around in 1990, much less produce attractions that would command as much pop attention as Public Enemy and N.W.A? "Rapper's Delight" was a novelty record that was considered by much of the pop community simply as a lightweight offshoot of disco—and that image stuck for years. Occasional records—including Grandmaster Flash's "The Message" in 1982 and Run-DMC's "It's Like That" in 1984—won critical approval, but rap, mostly, was dismissed as a passing fancy—too repetitious, too one dimensional. Yet rap didn't go away, and an explosion of energy and imagination in the late '80s leaves rap today as arguably the most vital new street-oriented sound in pop since the birth of rock in the '50s.[60] However, hip hop was still met with resistance from black radio, including urban contemporary, of which Russell Simmons said in 1990, "Black radio hated rap from the start and there's still a lot of resistance to it".[60]
MC Hammer hit mainstream success with the multi platinum album Please Hammer, Don't Hurt 'Em. The record reached #1 and the first single, "U Can't Touch This" charted on the top ten of the billboard hot 100. MC Hammer became one of the most successful rappers of the early nineties and one of the first household names in the genre. The album raised rap music to a new level of popularity. It was the first hip-hop album certified diamond by the RIAA for sales of over ten million.[61] It remains one of the genre's all-time best-selling albums.[62] To date, the album has sold as many as 18 million units.[63][64][65][66] In 1992, Dr. Dre released The Chronic. As well as helping to establish West Coast gangsta rap as more commercially viable than East Coast hip hop,[67] this album founded a style called G Funk, which soon came to dominate West Coast hip hop. The style was further developed and popularized by Snoop Dogg's 1993 album Doggystyle.
Hip hop became a best selling music genre in the mid-1990s and the top selling music genre by 1999 with 81 million CDs sold.[68][69][70] By the late 1990s hip hop was artistically dominated by the Wu-Tang Clan.[67] The Beastie Boys continued their success throughout the decade crossing color lines and gaining respect from many different artists.
Record labels based out of Atlanta, St. Louis, and New Orleans gained fame for their local scenes. The midwest rap scene was also notable, with the fast vocal styles from artists such as Bone Thugs-n-Harmony, Tech N9ne, and Twista. By the end of the decade, hip hop was an integral part of popular music, and many American pop songs had hip hop components.
World hip hop In Haiti, hip hop was developed in the early 1980s, and is mostly accredited to Master Dji and his songs "Vakans" and "Politik Pa m". What later became known as "Rap Kreyòl" grew in popularity in the late 1990s with King Posse and Original Rap Stuff. Due to cheaper recording technology and flows of equipment to Haiti, more Rap Kreyòl groups are recording songs, even after the January 12th earthquake.
In the Dominican Republic, a recording by Santi Y Sus Duendes and Lisa M became the first single of merenrap, a fusion of hip hop and merengue.
De La Soul at Demon Days Live in 2005 New York City experienced a heavy Jamaican hip hop influence during the 1990s. This influence was brought on by cultural shifts particularly because of the heightened immigration of Jamaicans to New York City and the American-born Jamaican youth who were coming of age during the 1990s.
In Europe, Africa, and Asia, hip hop began to move from the underground to mainstream audiences. In Europe, hip hop was the domain of both ethnic nationals and immigrants. British hip hop, for example, became a genre of its own and spawned artists such as Wiley, Dizzee Rascal, The Streets and many more. Germany produced the well-known Die Fantastischen Vier as well as several Turkish performers like the controversial Cartel, Kool Savaş, and Azad. Similarly, France has produced a number of native-born stars, such as IAM and Suprême NTM, MC Solaar, Rohff, Rim'K or Booba. In the Netherlands, important nineties rappers include The Osdorp Posse, a crew from Amsterdam, Extince, from Oosterhout, and Postmen. Italy found its own rappers, including Jovanotti and Articolo 31, grow nationally renowned, while the Polish scene began in earnest early in the decade with the rise of PM Cool Lee. In Romania, B.U.G. Mafia came out of Bucharest's Pantelimon neighborhood, and their brand of gangsta rap underlines the parallels between life in Romania's Communist-era apartment blocks and in the housing projects of America's ghettos. Israel's hip hop grew greatly in popularity at the end of the decade, with several stars both Palestinian (Tamer Nafar) and Israeli (Subliminal). In Portugal hip hop has his own kind of rapping, which is more political and underground scene, they are known for Valete, Dealema and Halloween. Russian hip hop emerged during last years of Soviet Union and cemented later, with groups like Malchishnik and Bad Balance enjoying mainstream popularity in the 1990s, while Ligalize and Kasta were popular in the 2000s.
In Asia, mainstream stars rose to prominence in the Philippines, led by Francis Magalona, Rap Asia, MC Lara and Lady Diane. In Japan, where underground rappers had previously found a limited audience, and popular teen idols brought a style called J-rap to the top of the charts in the middle of the 1990s.
Latinos had played an integral role in the early development of hip hop, and the style had spread to parts of Latin America, such as Cuba, early in its history. Later in the decade, with Latin rap groups like Cypress Hill on the American charts, Mexican rap rock groups, such as Control Machete, rose to prominence in their native land. An annual Cuban hip hop concert held at Alamar in Havana helped popularize Cuban hip hop, beginning in 1995. Hip hop grew steadily more popular in Cuba, because of official governmental support for musicians.
Brazilian hip hop is heavily associated with racial and economic issues in the country, where a lot of black people live in a bad situation in the violent slums, known in Brazil as favelas. São Paulo is where hip hop began in the country, but it soon spread all over Brazil, and today, almost every big Brazilian city, such as Rio de Janeiro, Salvador, Curitiba, Porto Alegre, Belo Horizonte, Recife and Brasilia, has a hip hop scene. Some notable artists include: Racionais MC's, Thaide, and Marcelo D2
Bosnian and Herzegovinan hip hop is currently dominated by Edo Maajka, the most popular rapper of the Balkans. In that region, especially Bosnia, hip hop is still used as a political and social message in song themes such as war, profiteering, corruption,etc... Frenkie another Bosnian rapper, who is associated and the closest worker with Edo Maajka, has collaborated beyond Bosnians boarders. Frenkie collaborated with German artists such as Flip Star, Cika Reks and others. Frenkie also collaborated on his latest album, Protuotrov, with Masta Ace, the song is Zivili (lived).
East vs. West rivalry Main article: East Coast–West Coast hip hop rivalry West Coast hip hop Main article: West Coast hip hop Snoop Dogg After N.W.A broke up, Dr. Dre (a former member) released The Chronic in 1992, which peaked at #1 on the R&B/hip hop chart,[71] #3 on the pop chart and spawned a #2 pop single with "Nuthin' but a 'G' Thang." The Chronic took West Coast rap in a new direction,[72] influenced strongly by P funk artists, melding smooth and easy funk beats with slowly drawled lyrics. This came to be known as G-funk and dominated mainstream hip hop for several years through a roster of artists on Death Row Records, including Tupac Shakur, whose double disc album All Eyez on Me was a big hit with hit songs "Ambitionz az a Ridah" and "2 of Amerikaz Most Wanted",[citation needed] and Snoop Dogg, whose Doggystyle included the songs "What's My Name?" and "Gin and Juice", both top ten hits.[73] As the Los Angeles-based label Death Row Records built an empire around Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg, and the charismatic, complicated rapper-actor Tupac Shakur. It also entered into a rivalry with New York City’s Bad Boy Records. (See the article on the East Coast-West Coast hip hop rivalry.)
Detached from this scene were other artists such as Freestyle Fellowship, The Pharcyde as well as more underground artists such as the Solesides collective (DJ Shadow and Blackalicious amongst others) Jurassic 5, Ugly Duckling, People Under the Stairs, Tha Alkaholiks, and earlier Souls of Mischief represented a return to hip hop roots of sampling and well planned rhyme schemes.
East Coast hip hop Main article: East Coast hip hop In the early 1990s East Coast hip hop was dominated by the Native Tongues posse which was loosely composed of De La Soul with producer Prince Paul, A Tribe Called Quest, the Jungle Brothers, as well as their loose affiliates 3rd Bass, Main Source, and the less successful Black Sheep & KMD. Although originally a "daisy age" conception stressing the positive aspects of life, darker material (such as De La Soul's thought-provoking "Millie Pulled a Pistol on Santa") soon crept in.
Artists such as Masta Ace (particularly for SlaughtaHouse) & Brand Nubian, Public Enemy, Organized Konfusion, Ingnacio Bernal, had a more overtly militant pose, both in sound and manner. Biz Markie, the "clown prince of hip hop", was causing himself and all other hip-hop producers a problem with his appropriation of the Gilbert O'Sullivan song "Alone again, naturally".
Wu-Tang Clan at the Virgin Festival in 2007. In the early-1990s, the Wu-Tang Clan revitalized the New York hip hop scene by pioneering an East coast hardcore rap equivalent to what was being produced on the West Coast.[74] According to Allmusic, the production on two Mobb Deep albums, The Infamous and Hell on Earth (1996), are "indebted" to RZA's early production with Wu-Tang Clan.[75][76] The success of artists such as Nas and Notorious B.I.G. during 1994–95 cemented the status of the East Coast during a time of West Coast dominance.
The productions of RZA, particularly for Wu-Tang Clan, became influential with artists such as Mobb Deep due to the combination of somewhat detached instrumental loops, highly compressed and processed drums and gangsta lyrical content. Wu-Tang solo albums such as Raekwon the Chef's Only Built 4 Cuban Linx, Ghostface Killah's Ironman, and GZA's Liquid Swords are now viewed as classics along with Wu-Tang "core" material. The clan's base extended into further groups called Wu-affiliates.
Producers such as DJ Premier (primarily for Gangstarr but also for other affiliated artists such as Jeru the Damaja), Pete Rock (With CL Smooth and supplying beats for many others), Buckwild, Large Professor, Diamond D and The 45 King supplying beats for numerous MCs regardless of location.
Albums such as Nas's Illmatic, Jay-Z's Reasonable Doubt and O.C.'s Word...Life are made up of beats from this pool of producers.
The rivalry between the East Coast and the West Coast rappers eventually turned personal.[77]
Later in the decade the business acumen of the Bad Boy Records tested itself against Jay-Z and his Roc-A-Fella Records and, on the West Coast, Death Row Records. The mid to late 1990s saw a generation of rappers such as the members of D.I.T.C. such as the late Big L and Big Pun.
On the East Coast, although the "big business" end of the market dominated matters commercially the late 1990s to early 2000s saw a number of relatively successful East Coast indie labels such as Rawkus Records (with whom Mos Def and Talib Kweli gained great success) and later Def Jux; the history of the two labels is intertwined, the latter having been started by EL-P of Company Flow in reaction to the former, and offered an outlet for more underground artists such as Mike Ladd, Aesop Rock, Mr Lif, RJD2, Cage and Cannibal Ox. Other acts such as the Hispanic Arsonists and slam poet turned MC Saul Williams met with differing degrees of success.
Diversification of styles Further information: List of hip hop genres In the 1990s, hip hop began to diversify with other regional styles emerging on the national scene. Southern rap became popular in the early 1990s.[78] The first Southern rappers to gain national attention were the Geto Boys out of Houston, Texas.[79] Southern rap's roots can be traced to the success of Geto Boy's Grip It! On That Other Level in 1989, the Rick Rubin produced The Geto Boys in 1990, and We Can't Be Stopped in 1991.[80] The Houston area also produced other artists that pioneered the early southern rap sound such as UGK and the solo career of Scarface.
Atlanta hip hop artists were key in further expanding rap music and bringing southern hip hop into the mainstream. Releases such as Arrested Development's 3 Years, 5 Months & 2 Days in the Life Of... in 1992, Goodie Mob's Soul Food in 1995 and OutKast's ATLiens in 1996 were all critically acclaimed. Later, Master P (Ghetto D) built up a roster of artists (the No Limit posse) based out of New Orleans. Master P incorporated G funk and Miami bass influences; and distinctive regional sounds from St. Louis, Chicago, Washington D.C., Detroit and others began to gain popularity.
In the 1990s, elements of hip hop continued to be assimilated into other genres of popular music. Neo soul, for example, combined hip hop and soul music. In the 1980s and 1990s, rap rock, rapcore and rap metal, fusions of hip hop and rock, hardcore punk and heavy metal[81] became popular among mainstream audiences. Rage Against the Machine and Limp Bizkit were among the most well-known bands in these fields.
Digable Planets' 1993 release Reachin' (A New Refutation of Time and Space) was an influential jazz rap record sampling the likes of Don Cherry, Sonny Rollins, Art Blakey, Herbie Mann, Herbie Hancock, Grant Green, and Rahsaan Roland Kirk. It spawned the hit single "Rebirth of Slick (Cool Like Dat)" which reached #16 on the Billboard Hot 100[82]
Though white rappers like the Beastie Boys, House of Pain and 3rd Bass had had some popular success or critical acceptance from the hip hop community, Eminem's success, beginning in 1999 with the platinum The Slim Shady LP,[83] surprised many.