Hip Hop Across the Bay

The West Coast Hip Hop scene first began to dominate radio play and record sales in the early 90’s and it was around this time that many Bay Area artists started the Hyphy subgenre of Crunk music. The phrase was originally coined by Bay Area Rapper Keak Da Sneak, but became popular when artist E-40 put the underground Hip Hop culture of the Bay Area on the national map.

To this day the Bay Area continues to produce a steady stream of both mainstream and underground artists from AP.9, Bailey, Balance, Big Rich, Bueno, D.Willz, E-40, Fed-X, Fully Loaded, Husalah, J.Stalin, Mistah F.A.B., Mob Figaz, Rydah J. Klyde, San Quinn, Shady Nate, The Jacka and Too Short.

While venues like the HP Pavilion and the San Jose Civic will host concerts for big name artists, such as the recent performance by East Coast artist Jay-Z, many Bay Area artists perform at Downtown hot spots such as the VooDoo Lounge in San Jose, the Zen Lounge in Mt. View and the Avalon in Santa Clara. Of course if you can’t make it out to see your favorite artist, local stations such as 106 KMEL, Wild 94.9 and San Jose State University’s college station 90.5, all play the best of mainstream and local Hip Hop.

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