Chicago Fire: The Music that Shaped the Chi

To say that the sound of Hip Hop changed when Kanye West entered the scene is an understatement. There was a moment after The College Dropout was released in 2004 that a seismic shift happened across the entire industry. Hip Hop has always been regional — The East Coast/West Coast beef of the early 90s, Andre 3000’s assertion on the 1995 Source Awards stage that “The South got something to say,” Nelly bursting on the scene in 2000 putting St. Louis rap on the map — and Chicago with its unique sound, distinct style and pantheon of complicated G.O.A.T.s  is no different.

Chicago Hip Hop does not begin and end with Kanye West, though he is arguably the most recognizable and most polarizing figure of the city. The music that has come out of Chicago has always been fresh and new. The 1920s brought Dixieland or “Hot” Jazz — faster, and heading towards the Lindy Hop. In the 1950s, the open air markets of Maxwell Street electrified the Blues, changing the sound from the Mississippi Deltas from acoustic guitars to electric ones. The 60s brought us Chuck Berry and Rock’N’Roll. And in the 70s and 80s, not only were Chicagoans innovating existing styles of music – they were creating their own. House music was created in clubs like The Warehouse where folks could dance to driving electronic beats, heavy bass and off-beat hi-hats — the nascent stages of the Electronic Dance Music genre that has spilled into our pop music so thoroughly that it can be heard in artists as far spread as Lady Gaga and Pet Shop Boys.

So when Hip Hop arrived in the late 70s and early 80s, it met a town already primed to define itself musically. Bolstered by a history of activism, resistance, knowledge and community, Chicago Hip Hop had a mission. The Nation of Islam — the Black Muslim organization of Malcolm X and Elijah Muhammed — was headquartered in the Chi and its impact on the lyricists there birthed a movement of “Conscious Rap.” Hip Hop from every region had always used its lyrics to hold up a mirror to the society around it — all the way back to Grandmaster Flash’s 1982 song “The Message” with its opening “It's like a jungle sometimes / It makes me wonder how I keep from goin' under.” In 1991 when Chicago rappers like Common Sense, who now goes under the mononym Common, hit the scene a niche was carved. Common’s arrival was written about in The Source magazine that year:"Impressive rhyme skills especially for an MC coming out of Chicago," marking Chicago’s true introduction to the Hip Hop mainstream and turning everyone’s head from the three main “coasts” of the genre – East, West, South. Now Chicago was here with something of its own to say.

Chicago rap would expand and innovate into a hub of Hip Hop royalty. The 2010s brought with it Drill Music, yet another rap innovation. From local greats like Sandman and the rap group Psychodrama, to impactful artists like Twista and Da Brat, to crossover names like Chance the Rapper, Common, and yes Kanye West, Chicago Hip Hop history is long, storied, varied and distinct. Like Chicago itself, the music scene is both tainted and golden hearted, rich and alive and always on a precipice of innovation.