Unit 3 Magazine

FLAPJAX ART CENTRE 

EXCLUSIVE EXHIBITION E-MAGAZINE 

THE MUSIC THAT MAKES US 

flapjax 

MARCH 2018 

FREE DIGITAL COPY 

THE MUSIC THAT MAKES US 

THE FASHION 2PAC & NOTORIOUS B.I.G. BIRTH OF HIP-HOP

DJ Kool Herc 

Photographed by Ruvan 

The Birth of Hip-Hop 

East Coast hip-hop was, at one time, the only [sub] 

genre of rap due to the fact that all hip-hop and 

rap started in this region of the United States, 

specifically in the Bronx on 1520 Sedgwick Avenue. 

It all started at a house party for a girl whose brother, ‘DJ 

Kool Herc’, discovered the impact of hip-hop and how 

talking over a beat can influence a crowd. From this point 

on, new MCs and rappers began creating music, and as time 

went on, these artists developed flows that fit to the beat. 

The main founding father of hip-hop was the 

aforementioned Herc, but others helped develop this genre 

and form its foundations. The other fathers of the hiphop 

genre in the 70s were the likes of Afrika Bambaataa, 

Grandmaster Flash and The Sugarhill Gang. These were 

all heavily influential in the development of hip-hop and 

rap as a whole. As hip-hop developed and spread across 

the nation, rap artists began popping up everywhere. 

“ A lot of times, when 

people say hiphop, 

they don’t 

know what they’re 

talking about. They 

just think of the 

rappers. When you 

talk about hip-hop, 

you’re talking about 

the whole culture 

and movement. You 

have to take the 

whole culture for 

what it is. 

- Afrika Bambaataa 

On the West Coast, hip-hop was introduced and it started 

develop into ‘gangsta rap’. This was a subgenre that 

was especially popular with the locals of Los Angeles. 

Rappers that associate with this subgenre consist of 

Dr. Dre, Eazy-E, Ice Cube and Snoop Dogg. West 

Coast Hip Hop started with the likes of music such as 

‘gangsta rap’, ‘hyphy’ and ‘g-funk’. These were influenced 

by musical artists such as Parliament Funkadelic. 

On the East Coast, after DJ Kool Herc had ‘created’ hiphop, 

artists in and around New York began to develop 

their own styles of music. The most distinguishable of 

these being The Notorious B.I.G., Nas and JAY-Z. These 

hip-hop artists didn’t come around until the 1990s, 

about 20 years after DJ Kool Herc introduced the genre. 

The rivalry between east and west coast rappers started 

to develop in the 1990s around 20 years after hip hop was 

born; this was the distinct point at which the two coasts 

were defined as sub-genres instead of ‘rap’ as a whole. 

Two of the most notable musicians in the east/west coast 

rivalry were the Notorious B.I.G. (east coast, Brooklyn) 

and Tupac Shakur (west coast, California). A massive 

divide between these places sparked a fierce rivalry. 

When other regions of America started creating 

music with distinct styles, the broad term of 

the ‘rap’ genre was separated into subgenres. 

Fastforwarding into the present day, hip-hop has spread 

all over the world and because of this, many many sub 

genres have sprung into existence. Grime, horrorcore and 

alternative hip-hop are now all very prominent subgenres 

of hip-hop that were never associated with the genre at first. 

3 

The Music that Makes Us

“Now it’s all about 

Versace, you copied 

my style. Five shots 

couldn’t drop me, I 

took it and smiled. 

2Pac - ‘Hit em Up’ 

Tupac v The Notorious B.I.G. 

Since the birth of hip-hop, there has always 

been a rivalry between the East and West Coast 

of the United States. The most famous of these is 

between rap legends 2Pac and The Notorious B.I.G. 

Tupac was signed to the Californian label ‘Death Row 

Records’, with B.I.G. signing for ‘Bad Boy Records’. 

A rivalry between these two record labels was ignited when 

2Pac was robbed and shot whilst leaving a recording studio in 

Manhattan. 2Pac immediately blamed Bad Boy records, and 

especially B.I.G. and the founder of Bad Boy, Sean ‘Diddy’ 

Combs. Immediately after this, The Notorious B.I.G. released 

the song ‘Who Shot Ya’ in the album ‘Ready to Die’. 2Pac saw 

this as a way of B.I.G. mocking him about the robbery, and hit 

back with the song ‘Hit ‘em Up’. The song contains 3 minutes 

of Tupac rapping about Bad Boy Records. As well as this, 

the final 2 minutes is an aggressive monologue from Tupac 

aimed at B.I.G. This sparked a fierce rivalry between the two 

coasts of the USA. Snoop Dogg and ‘Tha Dogg Pound’ shot 

a video in New York where they were seen to be ‘crushing’ 

buildings, symbolising their hatred of New York. This song 

was called ‘New York, New York’. During the shoot of this 

video, they were shot at by a gang in the local area. Although 

this was thought to be unrelated to B.I.G., it was still seen 

to be a symbol of the rivalry. In response to this, New York 

rappers Capone-N-Noreaga released a song called ‘LA, LA’. 

The great rivalry between the two coasts helped 

contribute greatly to rap culture as well as defining 

the subcultures and genres of rap with clarity. 

Nowadays, the rivalry between the east and west coast has 

greatly subsided due to fact that rap music has distanced itself 

from gang relation. There has never been as violent of a rivalry 

than there was between 2Pac and The Notorious B.I.G., and 

there probably won’t be again. The rivalry lived on between 

the two legendary rappers even when they had passed away. 

In 1999, Afeni Shakur and Violetta Wallace, the mothers 

of 2Pac and The Notorious B.I.G. stood on the stage 

together during the MTV awards and delivered a speech 

about how they are going to unite and forgive eachother. 

This sent out a very strong message to everybody that 

the rivalry resulted in nothing but death and the misery 

of both sides’ families and friends. It worked very well 

as it sparked the beginning of the end of a rivalry. 

Although there is still a somewhat 

mild rivalry between the East and West Coast 

nowadays, it’s prevalenece has dwindled massively. 

Notorious B.I.G. Backstage 

Photographed by Chi Modu 

4 The Music that Makes Us

Fashion in Hip-Hop 

Fashion in the 1990s for rappers is very different to how we 

see fashion nowadays. Fashion in the rap scene is massive 

nowadays, and is much more in the spotlight than it once was. 

In the 90s, rappers wore oversized jerseys, bandanas or caps 

and boot cut jeans. Due to the fact that rap in this era was 

very heavily gang related, they wore colours that related to 

their gang; people associating with the Bloods would wear 

red, and the Crips would wear blue. This was done to show 

which side they were representing, and this shows that 

there was inter-city rivalries as well as nationwide rivalries. 

A lot of rappers would wear shell tracksuits with classic 

sportswear brands such as FILA, Champion and Kappa. 

Something else that was very often seen worn by rappers 

in this era was Kangol bucket hats. Fashion in the 90s was 

more about showing off bright colours and representing 

yourself and dressing like a gangsta than dressing well. 

“ Better learn 

about the dress 

code: B’s and 

2Pac - ‘To Live and Die in LA’ 

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“ Fashion is 

more about 

feel than 

science. 

Pharrell Williams 

In the 90’s, hip-hop culture heavily revolved 

around the use of graffiti, whether that be 

street art or the mark of a gang. Many people 

used graffiti as a way to express themselves, 

and this could be seen through the clothes 

worn too. 


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A lot of the fashion 

6 The Music that Makes Us 

7

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