 | | Keak da Sneak launched his career as one-third of 3X Krazy, a semi-successful mid- to late-'90s hardcore rap trio from Oakland, and soon after embarked on a solo career in 1999. |
 | | From Vallejo, CA (also the home of the Click), gangsta rapper Mac Dre moved to the Romp label in 1996 after two small releases on the Strictly Business label. |
 | | After producing hits for the likes of 2Pac, Jay-Z, and E-40, the California-based Rick Rock recruited rappers Doonie Baby, Goldie Gold, and Mr. |
 | | Synonymous with Bay Area rap, E-40 garnered a regional following, and eventually a national one, with his flamboyant raps, while his entrepreneurial spirit, embodied by his homegrown record label, Sick Wid' It Records, did much to cultivate a flourishing rap scene to the east of San Francisco Bay, in communities such as Oakland and his native Vallejo. |
 | | B-Legit (aka the Savage) had previously performed with the Click before striking out on his own with 1995's Tryin' to Get a Buck. |
 | | One of the most prominent and colorful figures of the San Francisco Bay Area hyphy movement in the late 2000s -- sometimes hailed as the scene's "crown prince" -- North Oakland-based rapper Mistah F. |
 | | On the street and on mixtapes, they often use their alternate name, the Wolfpack, but the Bay Area crew that exploded onto the scene with its ode to slip-on sneakers is officially known as the Pack. |
 | | Rapper Yukmouth first surfaced as one half of the Oakland, CA-based duo the Luniz; debuting in 1995 with the album Operation Stackola, they launched a major hit with the single "I Got 5 on It. |
 | | His rapping style an influence on Snoop Doggy Dogg (by Snoop's own admission), Richie Rich first entered music in the late '80s with the Oakland-based group 415. |
 | | Messy Marv is a West Coast rapper from the Bay Area who debuted in 1996 and released a dizzying number of albums in later years. |
 | | Shaking dreads and slapping car doors open and shut have become as synonymous with the Bay Area's "hyphy" rap phenomenon in California as much as San Jose artist Traxamillion has become one of its main signature producers. |
 | | Born Marcellus McCarver, Celly Cel grew up in Vallejo, CA, just north of San Francisco and the surrounding Bay Area. |
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 | | Rappers Band-Aide and Scoot Dogg make up the duo Dem Hoodstarz, a top-tier rap group in the California Bay Area hyphy scene. |
 | | Sharing the hometown and nickname of Major League Baseball's Oakland Athletics, the Oakland, CA-based A'z garnered more national attention for the California hyphy movement with the club hit "Yadadamean" (Bay Area slang for "you know what I mean") in 2006. |
 | | Discovered by Souls of Mischief and Hieroglyphics member Tajai, Beeda Weeda was a rising hyphy star in the Bay Area around the mid-2000s. |
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 | | San Quinn began in the early '90s alongside J.T. the Bigga Figga and recorded for J.T.'s Get Low label for several years before breaking away at the end of the decade. |
 | | Coming out of Pittsburg, CA, rapper the Jacka was influenced by local heroes C-Bo, Mac Dre, and Too Short. |
 | | With a penchant for old-school rhymes and lo-fi beats, Andre Nickatina hails from the West Coast. He released Cocaine Raps and Raven in My Eyes simultaneously on the Dogday imprint, but it was the trilogy of 1999's Tears of a Clown and 2000's These R the Tales and Daiquiri Factory Cocaine Raps that put Nickatina on the West Coast circuit. |
 | | West Coast gangsta rap trio 3X Krazy rose from Oakland alongside a small wave of other similar-minded groups during the mid-'90s and retained its hardcore slant throughout the decade as its group members broke away for respective solo careers. |
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 | | A Bay Area rap duo formed at the beginning of the 1990s, RBL Posse (short for Ruthless By Law) was originally founded by Black C and Mr. |
 | | Along with better-known rappers like E-40 and 2Pac, Mac Mall was one of several who helped put the Cali Bay Area on the map in the mid- to late '90s as a hotspot in the rap game. |
 | | Oakland rapper Dru Down debuted in 1994 with Explicit Game, scoring a hit with the single "Mack of the Year"; the record also served as a launching pad for his Bay Area cronies the Luniz. |
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 | | As the embodiment of '90s gangsta rap, Snoop Dogg blurred the lines between reality and fiction. Introduced to the world through Dr. |
 | | A member of Harlem-based mixtape crew the Diplomats (aka Dipset), 40 Cal (b. Calvin Alan Byrd) made his first appearance with the self-titled theme song "40 Cal" on the Dipset album Diplomatic Immunity, Vol. |
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 | | San Francisco-based rapper JT the Bigga Figga became the subject of considerable underground buzz thanks to the success of his self-released 1993 LP Playaz n' the Game; a major-label bidding war ensued, and he ultimately signed with Priority to issue 1995's Dwellin' in tha Labb. |
 | | San Francisco-based Rappin' 4-Tay (aka Anthony Forté) was fresh out of high school when he debuted on record on Too Short's "Don't Fight the Feelin'" (from Life Is. |
 | | Luniz are a rap duo out of Oakland consisting of Yukmouth and Knumskull, two friends who have known each other since junior high. |
 | | Too Short discovered rapper Spice 1, who'd been born in Texas before moving to California. His self-titled debut was as vivid and fatalistic a gangsta album as possible, and his hard-edged, angry, and pessimistic rapping style and tone only added to the despair emanating from the disc. |
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 | | San Diego-based rapper Jayo Felony (aka Bullet Loco or Peer Pressure) turned to music after spending his teen years in a gang, a decision that ultimately resulted in a stint in prison; after recording a handful of underground tapes he issued the single "Piss on Your Tombstone," selling it on consignment at local record stores. |
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 | | A versatile producer as well as an excellent solo rapper in his own right, Brotha Lynch Hung was born Kevin Mann in Sacramento, California. |
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 | | Before becoming one of the West Coast's most illustrious MCs at the end of the 1990s, and later a TV celebrity, Xzibit was a promising underground rapper. |
 | | Born in Los Angeles, but an Oakland resident by the age of 14, Too Short was the first West Coast rap star, recording three albums on his own before he made his major-label debut with 1988's gold album Born to Mack; his next four all went platinum. |
 | | One of the key members of the mid-'90s Death Row Records empire, producer/rapper Daz Dillinger worked alongside some of the West Coast's best rappers. |
 | | A Bay Area family affair, Click is a four-member hip-hop posse from Vallejo, CA, headed up by rapper E-40 (Earl Stevens) and including his brother D-Shot, sister Suga T, and cousin B-Legit, who grew up in the same household. |
 | | Suga Free's career got off to a slow start despite a promising debut album, 1997's Street Gospel. In 2000, he returned to the spotlight with high-profile guest appearances on Xzibit's Restless and Snoop Dogg's Tha Last Meal. |
 | | Beginning with his 1993 debut, Gas Chamber, C-BO made it clear that he planned on surprising rap listeners with his controversial lyrics, which would eventually land him in jail. |
 | | Kurupt began his winding career with Death Row Records and rose to momentary fame alongside Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg, but struggled to establish himself as a successful solo artist. |
 | | Signed to Slip-N-Slide in 2004 after recording his first track, "Tell Dem Krackers Dat," the Ft. Myers, FL-based Plies built anticipation for his official debut album with a couple mixtape releases, along with an appearance on Trina's "So Fresh. |
 | | The rap supergroup Westside Connection came together in late 1996, comprising Ice Cube, Mack 10, and WC (of WC & the Madd Circle). |
