Hardcore hip hop

Hardcore hip hop refers to Hip Hop music characterized by confrontation and aggression, whether in the lyricism, vocal delivery, hard beats, heavy production, or any combination thereof. Lyrical themes typically include violence, drugs, crime, sex, politics, or boasting about one's skills, generally in a braggadocious or combative manner. Hardcore hip hop first emerged out of the early 1980s East Coast Hip Hop scene as a reaction to the more party-oriented music of Disco Rap and Electro artists with the seminal act Run-D.M.C.. Driven by minimal, hard-hitting drum machine beats and layered samples rather than synthesizers and Disco/Funk grooves, the group and other Mid-School Hip Hop artists that followed aimed to make music more reflective of the gritty "street" environments they lived in with more confrontational, braggadocios lyrics, shouted vocals and in-your-face attitude. Other early influential artists include Schoolly D who laid the groundwork for Gangsta Rap and Too $hort known for his sexually explicit lyrics and gritty street tales. Later in the decade, artists such as Boogie Down Productions and Ice-T wrote lyrics based on observations of street life and violence, while the aggressive vocal delivery and bombastic production on Public Enemy's records set new standards for hardcore hip hop and hip hop production. Rappers like Big Daddy Kane and Kool G Rap pushed the boundaries of lyricism with their complex battle rhymes and rapid-fire deliveries. These artists became globally influential, inspiring Britcore in Britain and Europe. By the late 1980s, the genre grew largely synonymous with gangsta rap from the West Coast Hip Hop scene with seminal act N.W.A mainstreaming the genre with controversial lyrics explicitly referencing involvement in gang life, drugs, sex and police brutality.