Dre, Nipsey Hustle, Dom Kennedy, Xzibit, and Saweetie. They have worked with many of the artists who appear here, including Dr. Our expert eyeballer for the 100 Greatest West Coast Hip-Hop Songs is Mike Cox of the L.A. After compiling the initial list, we thought it would be nice to get an insider’s opinion. The list was compiled by our editors and a team of critics headed up by Bay Area writer and longtime RS contributor Mosi Reeves. Even then, we struggled to include everyone who matters. Instead, we chose to go broad, sticking to one main artist’s song apiece, with few exceptions. We could dedicate half of the list to the N.W.A family tree alone, a lineage that stretches from the World Class Wreckin’ Cru to Kendrick Lamar. From the electro era to mobb music, turntablism, hyphy, and more, it has produced so many standout artists, micro-scenes, one-hit wonders, and multi-genre fusions that it proved impossible to fit them all into a single, 100-song list. In four-plus decades, the West Coast scene has blossomed with musical variety, not only in Los Angeles and the Bay Area but also Sacramento, Phoenix, Seattle, and other cities across the region. “Rapping is just something you pick up in the ghetto.” Rap Brown in the Sixties, most of rap is nothing more than straight-up Black bravado,” wrote Ice-T in his book The Ice Opinion. There’s plenty of evidence that rap developed long before the Sugarhill Gang’s “Rapper’s Delight” brought New York hip-hop to the world. However, the tale could start much earlier. The label’s first release was “The Gigolo Rapp,” a nine-minute party platter that featured Disco Daddy and Captain Rapp rocking over an interpolation of Rick James’ “Give It to Me.” That same year, Oakland entrepreneur and soul singer Mickey “Mo” Moore released “Super Rat,” by Motorcycle Mike and the Rat Trap Band on Hodisk Records. That’s when producer, songwriter, and industry veteran Duffy Hooks III formed Rappers Rapp Disco Co. Our story of West Coast hip-hop music begins in 1981. To celebrate the music’s 50th anniversary, “Rolling Stone” will be publishing a series of features, historical pieces, op-eds, and lists throughout this year. HIP-HOP WAS BORN in the Bronx in the summer of 1973.
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