Think for a second you’re having a conversation with one of your boys about rap music. It’s the average rap enthusiast conversation you know who your favorites are, new albums and the like. You talk about west coast hip hop, east coast hip hop and the dirty south. What all those regions have in common is that for the most part with a few exceptions here and there. Is that the artist from each respective region have very similar beats, flows, messages and overall sound. Take a listen to Biggie and Jay-Z even though they are completely different artists they talk about the similar things and sound to the undiscerning ear similar. I could play two artists from the west coast and any hip hop fan could tell me that there from the west coast primarily Cali. You take any artist from Houston whether it is Slim Thug or Trick Daddy or Kirko Bangz and they all have that laid back flow that made Houston rap famous. East coast rap is very gritty in your face lyrics and beat. If you hear unknown artists you could guess pretty accurately which region there are from and there is nothing wrong with that. With all that being said Minneapolis does not have a general sound. Whether you listen to Eyedeas, Atmosphere, Brother Ali, Doomtree, St. Paul Slim, Minnesota Boys, they all sound very different. Slug from Atmosphere is a genius at word play with double meanings and oxymoron’s melting into the middle of his lyrics like cheese in a Matts Jucy Lucy. The collective of Doomtree sounds completely different from any other artist or group from Minneapolis. Looking back at the major musicians coming from Minnesota, Prince or Bob Dylan, both came into the music scene with unique sounds and changed what people thought of folk music or pop. The rap scene is holding true to the Minnesota artist that came before them and making their way with their own unique sounds and lyrics. What makes Minnesota so enjoyable to live in is the same thing that makes Minnesota hip hop so enjoyable to listen is we do things just a little bit different here and so do the artists that come from here. That is the reason I enjoy the Minneapolis hip hop scene.
Boys, they all sound very different. Slug from Atmosphere is a genius at word play with double meanings and oxymoron’s melting into the middle of his lyrics like cheese in a Matts Jucy Lucy. The collective of Doomtree sounds completely different from any other artist or group from Minneapolis. Looking back at the major musicians coming from Minnesota, Prince or Bob Dylan, both came into the music scene with unique sounds and changed what people thought of folk music or pop. The rap scene is holding true to the Minnesota artist that came before them and making their way with their own unique sounds and lyrics. What makes Minnesota so enjoyable to live in is the same thing that makes Minnesota hip hop so enjoyable to listen is we do things just a little bit different here and so do the artists that come from here. That is the reason I enjoy the Minneapolis hip hop scene.