West Coast Hip Hop

West Coast Hip Hop emerged in the early 1980s, primarily from California, as rappers began swapping out the East Coast's gritty beats for more laid-back grooves; because who wouldn’t want to rap about sunshine and palm trees? Characterised by its smooth production, gangsta narratives, and the occasional penchant for all things funky, it’s essentially the soundtrack to cruising down an infinite highway, with the windows down, pretending you’re harder than you really are. Remarkably, it’s not just a musical genre, but a lifestyle that convinced a generation that wearing oversized T-shirts and baseball caps was peak fashion.