Storytelling is by far the most appealing ability that the majority of Hip-Hop salivate over. The appearances of that form of rap have died out throughout the decade, you don’t see songs like “Stan” or “Warning“. Storytelling has been around since the dawn of Hip-Hop in the ’70s. Nobody knew what to call it but for sure the element was sprinkled in some DJ Kool Herc records somewhere. Storytelling isn’t just a concept for songs, some artist have created entire projects off that ability alone; take “good kid, m.A.A.d city” as an example.
The Westside easily produces the best storytelling songs in Hip-Hop today, and you could make a poor case that the Eastside of Hip-Hop has a better history of storytelling. When you think of classic records regarding storytelling, Ice Cube “Today was a good day” is the first record to naturally come to mind. Despite the fact that LA was in it’s prime in the ’90s, “today was a good day” exploited the gang violence and police brutality in his daily life. “Today was a good day” is a song that everybody knows the words to, the only song that I truly cared for when I would binge-play Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas.
The Westside love for the concept of storytelling runs deep and is delivered in all shapes and forms. A beautiful example of that would be “Regulate” by Warren G and Nate Dogg, the glossy vocals describe an LA night that consisted of attempted car-jacking. Not only did the song “Regulate” add to the resume of dominance in the West, but it was also the lead contributor to the G-Funk sound later in the decade. “Regulate” became the soundtrack to the life for LA in the summer of ’94, the song climbed to No.2 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart.
Storytelling on the Westside has been apart of decade-defining albums. “Good kid, m.A.A.d city” by Kendrick Lamar was far one of the best albums to release in the last decade, that goes without saying. The last successful storytelling album would easily be YG “My Krazy Life” which was released in 2014. “My Krazy Life” would be the last narrative album to be glorified on the same plateau of albums like ” Good kid, m.A.A.d city” or “Undun“.
“Illmatic” is solely Nas reporting what is going on outside his window at a young age, Westside rappers are beyond belief incredible at reporting the surroundings around them. Westside rappers have this ability mastered and it always seems natural, the west owns the storytelling rap lane.
Check out this playlist highlighting the Westside Love for Storytelling: