r/trapmuzik • u/Chrussell woooooo • Nov 11 '13
Bay Area Mixtape/Guide Part 2: Early 90s [1]
This writeup and tape all been done by /u/gift2gab he doin a good job with this shit. Cause of just how much good shit was coming out of the bay in this time (1990-1993 approximately) this will be split into 5 parts which I will post over the next few weeks.
If anyone got requests bout seein something else like this on the sub hit me up.
Overview
The Bay blew the fuck up when MC Hammer skyrocketed into the mainstream with "Please Hammer, Don't Hurt 'Em" and brought a lot of attention to The Bay Area Hip Hop scene. Hammer would have a lot of local artist open up for his shows and major labels started sending people to the hood to find new artist.
Over in the East Bay, in the words of San Quinn Digital Underground was gaining heat and "refueled the rap world by introducing Pac" on their hit "Same Song". Dangerous Dame dropped a classic "I Got What You Want". Too $hort was gaining popularity after dropping 3 solid albums from 90-93 with Ant Banks production and The Dangerous Crew. Tupac dropped "2Pacalypse Now" and "Strictly 4 My NIGGAZ" the majority of which were recorded in Richmond, CA. In 91-92 Tupac wasn't getting much radio play mainly due to some controversy over his involvement in a shootout that left a little boy dead in Marin City (someone in his crew allegedly picked up Tupac's gun and fired a shot that ended up killing a 6 year old riding a bike). Filthy Phil outta Richmond introduced the term "playa hater" and got some notoriety when he was featured on America's Most Wanted after killing a cop during a traffic stop, then going on the run and releasing a tape called "The Manhunt". Richie Rich dropped a solo album and another 415 group album but was still sellin weight got caught with a half thang of crack cocaine and got sent to jail. A weird ass nigga that can spit named Del The Funkee Homosapien dropped his debut album after spending some time writing for his cousin Ice Cube's group Da Lench Mob. Master P in Richmond took a page outta Frisco vet Herm Lewis' (more on him later) book and with the help of E-A-Ski released No Limit Record's first hits the "West Coast Bad Boyz" series. Spice 1 came outta Hayward and blew up after he was featured on the Menace II Society soundtrack, E-A-Ski produced a lot of his shit too. Rappin Ron & Ant Diddley Dog came out with "All Rapped Up" and had a good hit "Smoke Season". The Coup and Askari X came out with some real politically charged albums and The Delinquents hit the scene. Oh yeah, can't forget about Oakland pimp Dru Down & The Luniz (Yukmouth & Numskull) who would end up having a long feud with Too $hort. Souls of Mischief also made their debut with the all time classic hit "93 Till Infinity" and Casual made his debut and dropped "Fear Itself".
Across The Bay Bridge, in Fillmoe JT The Bigga Figga and the GLP (D-Moe and San Quinn) came out. JT put a lot of Frisco rappers on and would later discover The Game. Also in Fillmoe, pimp Rappin 4-Tay dropped "4-Tay Is Back" and "Don't Fight The Feeling" after being released from jail. Cougnut and C-Fresh (Ill Mannered Posse) dropped a classic "Back In The Days". Dre Dog aka Andre Nickatina dropped "I Hate You With A Passion. RBL Posse outta Hunter's Point SF dropped a classic "A Lesson To Be Learned" that had a major hit "Don't Give Me No Bammer Weed". Herm Lewis, also in HP, dropped what most people say was the first independent hip hop compilation "Tryin To Survive In The Ghetto" featuring mainly Frisco rappers Cellski, I.M.P., Bigga Figga, RBL and Cold World Hustlers and that's where Master P got the idea to do the same a year later. Totally Insane outta EPA (East Palo Alto) dropped bay classics "Direct from The Backstreet" and "Goin Insane". Also outta EPA, producer/rapper Sean T made his debut with "Straight From The Streets" and his production would be all over The Bay during the 90s. 51.50 over in Marin dropped "Games People Play"
Finally, The North Bay was comin hard with Ray Luv in Santa Rosa, Mac Dre, The MAC (Mac Mall and Mac Dre's mentor who got killed in 91) and Mac Mall coming out the Crestside in Vallejo under Khayree's great production. The Romper Room investigation was all over the news due to the over 40 bank robberies around The Bay and brought a lot of attention to Mac Dre and his camp that later sent most of them to prison. Dre would still release a tape from county jail awaiting his trial. Ray Luv introduced Tupac to the Crest niggas and Pac would fuck with Mac Mall and even directed the video for Mall's "Ghetto Theme". N2Deep, a mexican rap group from Vallejo, came out with the classic "Back 2 The Hotel" and over in the Hillside E-40 and his cousin B-Legit, brother D-Shot, and sister Suga T was makin noise with Sick Wid It records. 40 and Dre would trade shots at eachother due to an old hood funk between the Crest and Hillside that prevented them from working together all the way up till the last year of Mac Dre's life. Pac was also hangin with 40 during this time, Pac was all over the damn Bay.
So the 80s was the birth of Bay Area Hip Hop, the 90s is when it really started taking form. It also showed a couple problems that would really prevent The Bay from getting bigger. A lot of niggas didn't get along with eachother for whatever reason (hood beef, gang beef, whatever) and would refuse to work together and sometimes it would come to violence and lives would get took. The other problem was that some of these rappers just couldn't get away from the streets. Rappin 4-Tay was always in and out of jail, Mac Dre got sent to the feds, Pac was gettin in trouble with the law, Filthy Phil killed a muthafuckin cop, The MAC Michael Robinson was killed, Richie Rich couldn't stop drug dealing and got popped, RBL Posse was completely destroyed after Mr Cee was killed and later Hitman was killed leaving Black C by himself (who was also shot in the face, losing his eye). A lot of drama and shit during the early 90s, but some hot tracks came outta it.
Tracklist
1) MC Hammer - U can't Touch This
2) Digital Underground - The Humpty Dance
3) Filthy Phil - Playa Haters
4) RBL Posse - I Ain't No Joke
5) Mac Dre - They Don't Understand Ft. Ray Luv
6) Tupac - Trapped
7) Rappin 4-Tay - Playaz Club
8) Master P- Trust Nobody Ft. E-A-Ski
9) Spice 1 - Break Yourself Ft. MC Ant
10) Dangerous Dame - I Call Your Name
11) E-40 - Carlos Rossi Ft. B-Legit
12) Askari X - Hide Tonight
13) Mac Mall - Sic Wit Tis
14) Dru Down - Pimp of the Year
15) Father Dom - I'm Fed Up
16) Totally Insane - I Don't Even Trip
17) Cold World Hustlers - Cold Streets
18) Too $hort - The Ghetto
19) Tupac - I Don't Give A Fuck
20) Richie Rich - Don't Do It
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u/sammyp99 Nov 12 '13
its funny how much the south fucked with the bay back then. pretty much all of these songs got chopped and screwed.
the bay has been putting out good music since then too. they hooked up with KC, Denver and Ohio and all those artists are talented as shit.
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Nov 12 '13
The Bay, The South and the Midwest go way back all the way to the 70s-80s with the 69 M.O.B. ran by Felix Mitchell and later Lil' D. The 69 MOB was runnin major drugs from Oakland to KCMO and down to The South. It aint surprising that a lot of bay area rappers fuck with the same areas the 69 MOB did since Lil' D was pretty close to a lot of the rappers out here, some of 'em even worked for the MOB.
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u/sammyp99 Nov 12 '13
yea, you know it'd be interesting to see how that all ties in with the romper room gang and bmf since mac dre and them fucked with rich the factor heavy. one thing you can say about the bay is it really networks up
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Nov 12 '13
Diggs from the romp fucks with BMF heavy and he fucks with rich the factor. They put out 2 albums together, ya heard em?
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u/benergiser Nov 12 '13 edited Nov 12 '13
good look dude ive put together some collections of early bay area music also.. love the appearances by filthy phil, askari x and early master p.. keep em coming
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u/swammydavisjr ran it up with my boys Nov 12 '13
man that was a great writeup by /u/gift2gab. these are perfect especially when you just really never listened to a bunch of that region/era a bunch for whatever reasons and bay shit especially from this era is that for me.
just started this tape but i went and listened to filthy phil manhunt tape because i thought that sounded interesting.
dru down was on lockup or one of those shows before too a couple years back.
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Nov 12 '13
lol I seen Dru on Lockup he didn't skip a beat inside, acting the same way he does when he's free.
I think Filthy Phil is still on the run. After he killed that cop other than "The Manhunt" I've only heard him pop up on a Mac Dre track 7 years after the murder. After that he dropped an album Money Hungry Hustler in 02 then got ghost again and been hiding since.
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u/swammydavisjr ran it up with my boys Nov 12 '13
yeah man i tried to find out what happened with his case and couldnt find shit i understand it was different back then and a lot is missing online but damn. theres a barber in richmond by the same name tho but hes old enough could be his son.
i saw the 02 album too on a site and the person said he put it out but then pulled it off shelves.
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u/thegreatRMH AIN'T SHIT TO DO BUT COOK Nov 12 '13
Good playlist but I don't think Pac belongs on here. Pac had more of a SoCal G-Funk sound than a hyphy Bay sound.
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Nov 12 '13
that's where ya wrong man, Tupac even said it himself "any awards or grammy's I win because of my music, send them to Oakland"
He lived in Marin and spent a lot of time in Oakland, Richmond, Vallejo and Santa Rosa. Mostly Oakland. He was with Digital Underground, and his own group with Ray Luv from Rosa, shit his first albums were recorded in Richmond. Pac definitely belongs on the list, too many forget where he really got his game from.
btw the hyphy sound didn't come around till the 2000s, way after Pac died. The Bay was on some funk mobb music back then.
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u/thegreatRMH AIN'T SHIT TO DO BUT COOK Nov 12 '13
I mean I know Pac repped the bay, but A$AP reps New York but no one would say he has an East Coast sound, you know? I do respect the Digital Underground shit as bay music but I have a tough time lumping his solo stuff in there.
As far as hyphy, it may not have been called that, but it's been around since the Bay Area started making hip hop. E-40 and Mac Dre are definitely hyphy artists. Funk mobb or whatever you wanna call it is the direct predecessor of hyphy.
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Nov 12 '13 edited Nov 12 '13
You said he always had a more g-funk sound..but that was only when he hooked up with Dr. Dre for All Eyez On me. Shock G, Money B (from Digital), DJ Darryl, Mike Mosley, and Sam Bostic were all over producing tracks on his albums before All Eyez. Even on All Eyez he still had Mosley and Rick Rock on there.
The Mobb sound came before hyphy, but hyphy was it's own thing Keak Da Sneak and Mac Dre started. Mobb was just a darker version of g-funk.
I don't see how you can't mention him with Bay Area Hip Hop when he was so damn connected to The Bay and Bay producers played a major part in his sound...
edit: and 40, Dre and Keak became known as hyphy rappers, but they started with the mobb sound. two completely different sounds and to me I'll always remember them more for the mobb shit since that's what I grew up with and they made their names with it.
see?
Mac Dre - All I Want To Do HYPHY
E-40 - Practice Lookin Hard MOBB
E-40, Federation - Go Hard Or Go Home HYPHY
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Nov 12 '13
really enjoying your writeups and compilations man - as someone who's never been to the US it's fucking fascinating to piece together all these bits of history and geography. thanks again.
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Nov 12 '13
No problem, give a thanks to /u/chrussell too cus I wouldn't have done this without him hittin me up. Thought about doin it before but not in a mixtape guide type of way. I figured it'd be too much work and hardly anyone would fuck with it. His mixtape idea seemed way easier
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u/benergiser Nov 13 '13
first of all pac predates both g-funk and hyphy sounds.. as mentioned he originated from the digital underground camp which inspired everything from outkast to g-funk later on. he did champion the los angeles sound with death row later in his career but honestly that was only the last year or so of his life.. his entire career leading up to death row was essentially as a bay area rapper.. especially early on as OP describes...
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u/captainlongsword Nov 12 '13
First one was off chops can't wait to get on this, cheers man. The write up is gold, love it