East vs. West

The rivalry

By 1995 rap was the biggest story in American music, and its biggest story was a feud. Death Row Records, home of Dr. Dre, Snoop Doggy Dogg and, after his release from prison, 2Pac, faced off against Sean Combs's Bad Boy Records and The Notorious B.I.G. What started as insults at the 1995 Source Awards turned into diss records and real violence. 2Pac was shot in Las Vegas in September 1996 and died six days later. Biggie was killed in Los Angeles in March 1997, weeks before Life After Death came out.

New York's hard reset

Away from the headlines, New York made some of its darkest, most detailed records. Mobb Deep's The Infamous brought Queensbridge menace, the Wu-Tang Clan's solo albums, Liquid Swords above all, spread RZA's sound, and Jay-Z's Reasonable Doubt introduced a hustler's calm. By 1998, Rawkus Records and Mos Def and Talib Kweli's Black Star were building an independent alternative.

"The South got something to say"

At those same 1995 Source Awards, OutKast were booed, and André 3000 answered with the line that defined the next decade. ATLiens and Aquemini, produced with Organized Noize, made Atlanta a creative capital. In Houston, DJ Screw's slowed, chopped mixtapes spread across Texas, and UGK's Ridin' Dirty became a Southern classic without a hit single. In Memphis, Three 6 Mafia built a dark, lo-fi underground sound that would echo for decades.

The Bay goes its own way

In the Bay Area, E-40, the Luniz and the Sick Wid' It and In-A-Minute crews kept selling records independently, with Vallejo and Oakland mobb music running on slow, heavy funk. The decade ended with rap as pop's center of gravity, Lauryn Hill's Miseducation winning Album of the Year at the Grammys and Dr. Dre returning with 2001.