The West Coast is Back

Back in the glory days of West Coast Hip-Hop, the 90’s featured some of the most prolific artists in the industry. Hip-Hop greats such as NWA, Mack 10, Easy-E, Ice-T, super producer Dr. Dre, and the late great Tupac are just a few artists of the many that represented the West Coast.

Photo Courtesy of blog.jayrock.com

For a while now, the hip-hop community has been missing a strong voice from the West Coast. In recent years, it seemed that The Game was set in place to be the resurgence of West Coast Hip-Hop and even the talented Nipsey Hussle look poised to putting the west coast back on the map for listeners. Taking nothing away from their accomplishments thus far, the biggest hip-hop movement that has grown from the West Coast since the 90’s is from the group Black Hippy.

Black Hippy is an American hip-hop group that features west coast natives Ab-Soul, Jay Rock, Kendrick Lamar, and SchoolBoy Q. The group formulated in 2009 when all of the members were signed to Top Dawg Entertainment, indie label based out Carson, California.

Black Hippy is the only rap group ever to have all of its members apart of XXL Magazine Top 10 Freshman list. Jay Rock becoming a member in 2010 followed by Kendrick in 2011 and Schoolboy Q and Ab-Soul becoming members in this year’s freshman class.

Currently, each member of the group is working on solo projects for 2013.  Kendrick is teaming up with Macklemore for the “Yahoo On The Road” tour. Also he is preparing for his upcoming “Good Kid Maad City” world tour, which will feature performances in 15 different countries and at 22 international festivals. Jay Rock and TDE are gearing up for the official 30 days 30 records takeover challenge. Schoolboy Q is working on debut album, Oxymoron and Ab-Soul are currently touring and working on new music for 2013. 

Will Black Hippy be the resurgence of West Coast Hip-Hop? Only time will tell but these talented young men have the entire west coast supporting their movement as emerging hip-hop artists.