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Music World History & Scenes

Choose a genre, move through countries and cities, then follow the scenes, artists, labels, releases, and contributors that shaped the sound.

Genre

Country

City

Hip-Hop / United States

New York Timeline

New York/Before 1990s

Roots of 1990s New York Hip-Hop

Park jams, early Def Jam, disco breaks, sound-system technique, and neighborhood crews created the grammar. Follow it through Nas and Madlib, labels like Def Jam, Columbia and Blue Note, and releases such as Illmatic, Shades of Blue and To Pimp a Butterfly. The producer and contributor trail runs through Rick Rubin and Peter Saville, while the later movement points toward Memphis Rap Underground and Chicago House.

Open scene profile

New York/1990s

1990s New York Hip-Hop

A dense city ecosystem where producers, labels, radio, street retail, and borough identity shaped rap as a complete culture. The trail runs through dusty sample loops, independent retail, major-label bidding, mixtape economies, and producers whose fingerprints made records recognizable before the chorus arrived. Follow it through Nas and Madlib, labels like Def Jam, Columbia and Blue Note, and releases such as Illmatic, Shades of Blue and To Pimp a Butterfly. The producer and contributor trail runs through Rick Rubin and Peter Saville, while the later movement points toward Memphis Rap Underground and Chicago House.

Open scene profile

New York/After 1990s

1990s New York Hip-Hop Afterlife

The producer-led album era fed modern rap catalogs, crate digging, streetwear, regional scenes, and label identity worldwide. Follow it through Nas and Madlib, labels like Def Jam, Columbia and Blue Note, and releases such as Illmatic, Shades of Blue and To Pimp a Butterfly. The producer and contributor trail runs through Rick Rubin and Peter Saville, while the later movement points toward Memphis Rap Underground and Chicago House.

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