North Carolina is best known for its beautiful beaches, inventing Pepsi, and taking over the East Coast rap world. With heavy hitters such as J Cole, Dababy, and YBN Cordae coming out with smash hits. Conscious rap, gangsta rap, spiritual rap, North Carolina has it all. However, the media does not give North Carolina the recognition it deserves. Da Baby just hit a net worth of 3 million, and while he was born in Cleveland, Ohio, he was raised in Charlotte, North Carolina. J Cole speaks for himself. YBN Cordae’s project hit number thirteen on the Billboard 200 Chart. Yet NC remains the underrated top dog.
North Carolina rappers are leading the charge in conscious hip hop. J Cole’s new label, “Dreamville” has acquired many different east coast rappers, all of them lyrical masterminds. Dreamville has entered healthy competition with Top Dawg Entertainment in the west coast (Kendrick Lamar, Ab Soul, and Schoolboy Q). Meanwhile, young Cordae is closing the generational gap by producing conscious trap fusions. On the other end of the spectrum, Da Baby is dominating the charts with hard hitting gangsta rap songs that trump anything Blue Face, or any other new West Coast artist has to offer.
For too long, North Carolina has been slept on. Hopefully, this article provided a new found appreciation of the state, or it served as a reminder of the influence North Carolina has demonstrated on the music industry. Let this article also inspire young NC artists to recognize that they are situated in a hip hop mecca equivalent to that of New York, Atlanta, and California.
By: Mad King James