Bay Area hip-hop

Bay Area hip-hop refers to the regional hip-hop scene centered on the San Francisco Bay Area in Northern California. The scene took shape in the late 1970s and early 1980s, and is distinguished by an unusually strong tradition of do-it-yourself entrepreneurship (mixtape distribution, independent labels), heavy low-end "slap" production, regional slang, and a sequence of homegrown sub-styles, such as pimp rap, mobb music, turntablism, conscious rap, and hyphy, that have repeatedly influenced mainstream hip-hop.