At some point, Hip Hop had clear and distinct regional differences. Regions and states had different sounds. You could hear a song and in the first few seconds know pretty definitively where the artist was from. Various influences, weather differences, and regional vernacular all came out in the music and gave people hometown heroes to root for. But as Steve Stoute mentioned in his Drink Champs interview, "mass adoption is corruption." As Hip Hop started to become more marketable and drive more revenue for record labels, they began to influence sound. Labels threw money behind what worked and also decided to sign carbon copies of whoever the popular artists were at the time. Authenticity went out the window, and soon the sounds were homogenized.
Regional Sounds in Hip Hop Still Matter
Regional Sounds in Hip Hop Still Matter
Regional Sounds in Hip Hop Still Matter
At some point, Hip Hop had clear and distinct regional differences. Regions and states had different sounds. You could hear a song and in the first few seconds know pretty definitively where the artist was from. Various influences, weather differences, and regional vernacular all came out in the music and gave people hometown heroes to root for. But as Steve Stoute mentioned in his Drink Champs interview, "mass adoption is corruption." As Hip Hop started to become more marketable and drive more revenue for record labels, they began to influence sound. Labels threw money behind what worked and also decided to sign carbon copies of whoever the popular artists were at the time. Authenticity went out the window, and soon the sounds were homogenized.