History Main / HardcoreHipHop

Hardcore hip hop, also referred to as hardcore rap, is a SubGenre of hip hop music that developed through the East Coast hip hop scene in the 1980s. Pioneered by such artists as Schoolly D, Boogie Down Productions, [[Music/KoolMoeDee The Treacherous Three]] and Spoonie Gee, and Kool G Rap, it is generally characterized by an aggressive sound and technical, confrontational lyricism.

While the style is commonly associated with boom-bap (a production style based on minimalist, gritty funk or soul drum loops), this is because hardcore hip-hop [[TropeCodifier was defined in the public consciousness]] in the early 1990s, when virtually everything from the East Coast was produced as boom-bap -- hardcore hip-hop is more about the style of lyrics rather than the musical accompaniment. A lot of hardcore hip-hop artists have therefore had pop crossover success; many rappers in the subgenre take pride in maintaining their standard of lyricism even on PopRap beats, and lyrics in this style can be clean and apolitical enough for RadioFriendliness while still being gritty and authentic enough to maintain credibility.

Hardcore hip hop, also referred to as hardcore rap, is a sub-genre of hip hop music that developed through the East Coast hip hop scene in the 1980s. Pioneered by such artists as Schoolly D, Boogie Down Productions, [[Music/KoolMoeDee The Treacherous Three]] and Spoonie Gee, and Kool G Rap, it is generally characterized by an aggressive sound and technical, confrontational lyricism.

* Music/TupacShakur (but he tamed down in later years, becoming more G-funk than anything else)

Hardcore hip hop, also referred to as hardcore rap, is a sub-genre of hip hop music that developed through the East Coast hip hop scene in the 1980s. Pioneered by such artists as Schoolly D, Boogie Down Productions, and Kool G Rap, it is generally characterized by an aggressive sound and confrontational lyricism. While the form has often been associated with GangstaRap, hardcore hip hop does not generally revolve around "gangsta" lyrical themes, even though there is a great deal of overlap, especially among hardcore rappers of the 1990s. Similarly, while it is commonly associated with boom bap (a specific production style that got its name from the onomatopoeic representation of the drum sound; it was basically ''the'' production style on the East Coast up until the very late 1990s), boom bap is not synonymous with the style even though a lot of hardcore artists from that time period did make use of it. While hardcore rap has been associated with a "monolithic 'gangsta' outlook" by the popular press, hardcore rappers have laid claim to a wide variety of ground. Following a breakthrough in the early 1990s, hardcore hip hop became a popular crossover style during the mid-1990s.

* Xzibit