I don't know everything, but to me Bay Area is the best and was very active in the late 1980's through mid 1990's. Lots of underground joints and of course classic artists like Too Short, E-40, Mac Mall, Tupac (RIP), Digital Underground, Souls Of Mischief. There's so many!! A couple of my favorite cuts are '93 Til Infinity by Souls Of Mischief and Bammer Weed by RBL Posse. Here's a
thread with a list of the 50 best ever Bay Area tracks.
Houston is the home of Rap-A-Lot records, featuring artists like Geto Boys, Scarface, Willie D, Seagram, Big Mello, and Bushwick Bill. Houston also was the origin of UGK and DJ Screw (RIP). Also the home of Wreckshop records, with guys like Fat Pat (RIP), Big Pokey, and Big Moe. A couple favorites are Mr. Buddy by Hustlers By Choice and Wanna Be A Baller by Lil' Troy. This scene still thrives to this day and started way back in the late 1980's with Geto Boys.
New Orleans had a vibrant scene as well, though it really never recovered after Katrina (many records were certainly destroyed by the hurricane as well). The New Orleans sound was different than other southern rap. No Limit records had a profound impact on New Orleans hip hop. The label was created in Richmond, CA by Master P, but it never took off until he recruited local New Orleans artists like Mystikal, C-Murder, Silkk, Mia-X, and Big Ed. Later No Limit recruited Snoop Dogg which added to the label's popularity. Lil Wayne and Juvenile are also from N.O. There's a lot of underground out there too, but these records are nearly impossible to find. One I used to have that was dope was MC Nero Baby.
Atlanta is known as the melting pot of the south, and was the home of many hip hop styles, including R&B infused hip hop, a lot of it on LaFace Records. Also born here was the crunk sound (Lil Jon and The Eastside Boys). Jermaine Dupri is based out of Atlanta and has hundreds of hits under his belt. He was the founder of So So Def records. Outkast was born in Atlanta and T.I. as well. I really like the tracks Players Ball and Rosa Parks from Outkast. As far as underground, nobody really huge that I can think of. It seems that most of the underground emulates the crunk style and that style ran hot and cold and has basically been replaced by trap.
Cleveland of course has Bone Thugs-N-Harmony, with a plethora of hits, including Crossroads, Thuggish Ruggish Bone, and 1st Of Tha Month. They're known for working with Eazy-E and Eazy's last track recorded before his death was with Bone (Foe Tha Love Of $). Unfortunately, I don't know any notable hip hop other than Bone from Cleveland, but I'd sure like to be enlightened! But I really like Bone, so I figured I had to make Cleveland #5.
Metrowax Records & Metrowax Blog
Nice Thread.
