East Coast Hip-Hop
The New York-born subgenre that prizes complex lyrics over dance beats.
East Coast hip-hop is a regional subgenre of hip-hop that originated in New York City in the 1970s; hip-hop itself is recognized to have emerged first in the Bronx. Compared with other styles it prioritizes complex lyrics for attentive listening rather than beats for dancing.
Quick Facts
- Stylistic origins
- Hip-hop, funk, disco, R&B, jazz, blues, dub
- Other topics
- West Coast hip-hop
- East Coast–West Coast hip-hop rivalry
- list of hip-hop musicians from New York City
Lore & Background
In the late 1980s the subgenre moved past the simpler rhyme patterns of old-school hip-hop toward lyrical dexterity: multi-syllabic rhymes, complex wordplay, continuous free-flowing delivery and intricate metaphors. Aggressive, hard-hitting beats and combined samples were common in the mid-to-late 1980s, emphasized by acts such as EPMD, the Beastie Boys and Public Enemy, while Rakim, Boogie Down Productions, LL Cool J, Big Daddy Kane, Nas, The Notorious B.I.G. and Slick Rick were noted for lyrical skill.
Reader's Guide
The term specifically denotes hip-hop from the Northeastern United States, including the District of Columbia, Virginia and Maryland; Georgia and Florida produce Southern hip-hop instead. Lyrical themes have ranged from the consciousness of Public Enemy and A Tribe Called Quest to the Mafioso rap of Raekwon, MF Grimm and Kool G Rap.
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