East Coast Rap/Hip-Hop

East Coast Rap & Hip-hop has more of an Old-School flavor than West Coast. Public Enemy, Run-D.M.C. and other artists draw on their hip-hop ancestry cultivating a sparseness and a sharpness that is counterpoint to West Coast flamboyance. This leads to harder-edged beats and a rigid, punchier rhyming style. As the wall between east and west erodes and rap becomes a bi-coastal amalgam, the incisive East Coast sound continues to thrive in the work of innovative artists Nas, Mobb Deep and Jeru the Damaja.