Skip to main content

Rap Regions II: Leaders of the new school vs. old School veterans

Rap Regions II

Back in 2012, i made 4 blog posts about the rap regions. There was East Coast, West Coast, Midwest, and Dirty South. While all 4 coasts are still relevant today, I feel the landscape of rap has changed dramatically in just that short time. Now more than ever; rap has become less regional. Let's peep some of the new rappers from each region. and the vets.


East Coast-The Eastside has been dominant for most of the last 20 years of rap. Artists like A$AP Rocky, Joey Bada$$, Action Bronson, Mac Miller are some nice rappers in this region. Of course they join a whole host of veteran rappers like Jay-z, Nas, Raekwon, Talib Kweli, Fabolous, Jadakiss, Joe Budden, and 50 Cent, just to  name a few. The East Coast has collaborated with the other coasts for a long time, but it seems you rarely here the classic E.C. sound anymore. J.Cole is more of an East Coast rapper style wise then dirty south, so he rounds out this roster.

Dominant Rapper-J.Cole
Fallen Rapper-50 Cent

West Coast- The west coast is arguably the dominant coast now, which is  really really hard to believe. Rappers like the Game and Dr. Dre have stayed relevant as ever. The new school rappers tho have become dominant forces, namely TDE and Vince Staples. You can even throw Earl Sweatshirt & Tyler the Creator in there...King Mez too. I guess it was just a matter of time that this coast made a serious comeback. Kendrick Lamar is arguably the best rapper right now. His label mates Schoolboy Q, Jay Rock, and Ab-Soul are all potent rappers. Snoop Dogg is also still relevant but he's singing more than rapping on his BUSH album.It doesnt look like the Westside will be fading anytime soon again.

Dominant Rapper-Kendrick Lamar, The Game
Fallen Rapper-N/A

Midwest - Ah the Midwest. Chi Town comes to mind but theres also Detroit, Cleavland, and St. Louis. Rappers like MGK are doing well, hailing from Cleveland. He seems to favor a Dirty South sound tho. There's also Danny Brown who's a weird but very talented rapper. Then there's the big emergence of Big Sean, Kanye's disciple. Big Sean is on GOOD music while rapper Kid Cudi is not. Veterans like Kanye West, Eminem, and Lupe Fiasco have continued to excel in recent years. Rappers Nelly and Twista have all but fallen off, despite, releasing good music in the last 2 years.

DR-Lupe Fiasco, Eminem
FR- Nelly

Dirty South- Once the most dominant region in rap...The durty durty has seen the emergence of Trap music in recent years. Not Crunk...you know stuff like Fetty Wapp and Future. The latter is becoming a force in rap. There are alot of veterans that are still making good music like T.I., Rick Ross,Big Boi, Jeezy,Bun B, and Ludacris. Lil Wayne was once considered the most dominant rapper in the region, but now thats far from true. Travis Scott and Young Thug are some new decent rappers. Its kind of hard to categorize Drake, but he has a Houston sound to some of his mucic, making him the dominant dirty south rapper. But then there's Big K.R.I.T. who's also really really good.

DR-Drake,T.I.
FR-Lil Wayne

Popular posts from this blog

My Top Rappers of All Time List

30) Rick Ross (7.7) Essential Album: Teflon Don Starting off the list is Ricky Rossay. Ross has great delivery and a lot of good albums. He scores really high in the versatility category. Ross’s pen game has definitely gotten better from when he debuted in 2006 with Port of Miami. Ross’s biggest flaws were his storytelling and impact. Otherwise solid MC.     29) Young Jeezy (7.8) Essential Album: The Recession Another dirty south MC. Jeezy is one of my favorite rappers. He has a lot of good albums with no real duds. He does have the best ad libs in the game. His collaboration and versatility are high. He really brings the heat on his features. Storytelling and Impact weren’t that high but hey; hes tied with the next rapper.   28) Nicki Minaj (7.8) EA: The Pinkprint Arguably the most dominant female rapper of all time. Nicki really shines when features on others tracks. She usually steals the show like on Kanye West’s “Monster” song. She’s also really versatile; able to sing also and

My Favorite R&B Albums (as 2023 list)

Here are my favorite R&B albums. I'm not gonna do the countdown....I'm just going to list them. The last time I did a list like this was 2013. 1.       Rihanna-Good Girl Gone Bad- As her best album and the album that made her a star…it’s only right that as my favorite singer Rihanna takes the title. GGGB isn’t a perfect album but I love it. There’s a little something for everyone here. The smooth “Lemme Get That”, the party anthem “Don’t Stop the Music”, and the jam “Umbrella” featuring Jay-Z. “Hate that I love You” featuring Ne-Yo is really good too. This album is just always a blast to listen to. 2.       Amerie-In Love & War- When I made this list about 10 years ago, this was the number one album. I love this album so much. I was considering her “Because I Love it” album for this list too, but I don’t really go back to that one that much. This album is just a flamethrower of R&B execution. That first half is great with songs like : “Heard Em All”, “Why R U”, and

My Favorite Rap Albums (As of 2024) List

1.       Kanye West-Graduation -Coming in at number one we have Kanye’s 3 rd  album. Sure it’s not his best or flashiest but damnit I love it so much. Listening to this album just gives me so much joy honestly. “Champion” is a great song, then there’s a fan favorite pick “I Wonder”. I do think the lyrically dense “Can’t Tell Me Nothing” is the best track. Who could forget the smooth “Flashing Lights”. It really amazing that Kanye was able to create another great soundscape that sounded very different than College Dropout and Late Registration. Honestly this album isn’t my favorite by leaps and bounds over the top 10; but its certainly still my favorite rap album. 2.       Ludacris-Word of Mouf- Coming in at number 2 is Ludacris. I think this album is his best while others may say Release Therapy or Chicken & Beer. Fun fact this was the first album I ever bought. Sure there’s some filler…but this album has a lot of Ludacris’s best tracks on it. There’s “Rollout”, “Move Bitch”, “Area