1980-1986 1982 marked the year “The King Crewsade” radio show started on KBOO based in Portland Oregon. Host Chris Blanchard, aka “King Vitamin” hosted this call in rap show with rudimentary scratch mixes featuring Sugarhill Records and songs like Planet Rock.
1986–1992 In 1986, the first radio show in Spokane to play rap and hip-hop on commercial radio was
The Power Switch on POWER 104 FM (KXVO). Hosted by TJ Collins, Collins also featured local rappers and began airing mixes by GrandMixer GMS (who was a young teenager at the time). Nastymix Records, the Northwest's first hip-hop label was founded with the local release of Sir Mix-A-Lot's "Square Dance Rap". Def American released Sir Mix-A-Lot's 1992 #1 hit "Baby Got Back", which won a
Grammy Award for Best Rap Solo Performance. This award came after Nastymix's last release,
Criminal Nation's 1992 album
Trouble in the Hood.
1993–2002 Seattle
hip-hop culture was confined to the only venues that would play hip-hop, all of which were in Seattle's traditionally
African-American neighborhood, the
Central District (referred to in Seattle as "The CD".) In 1993, Jonathan "Wordsayer" Moore of
Source of Labor approached Caroline Davenport of Tasty Shows, who was responsible for booking a popular Seattle venue called RCKCNDY. In 1996 a venue called the Power Plant, 825 Western Ave, Seattle (now a Dania Furniture store 2015)became a popular venue on Saturday nights with a hip-hop group called The High Children. Home for B-Boys, break-dance battles and hosted the legendary Invisible Scratch Pickles versus X-men. Funk Daddy, Gangsta Nut, Dee Lyrious, Crooked Path, Mob Related, Self-Titld were from Seattle and Bosko, Cool Nutz, Maniak Loc & CN, Hakim & J-Mack were from Portland, Oregon. The
alternative/grunge music scene soon dominated the Northwest's musical image, and in both Seattle and
Portland this contributed to the troubled adolescence of local hip-hop. The
Teen Dance Ordinance, which had been in effect since 1985, made it almost impossible for most Seattle venues to book all-ages shows. The social turmoil of Seattle during the late 1990s (
The World Trade Organization Protest), the city's outspoken political opposition to President
George W. Bush, and the despised Teen Dance Ordinance characterized the socially conscious style that defined Northwest hip-hop after 1993, a style that was continually strengthened as the hip-hop culture was attacked and labeled as violent and disruptive. However, production companies grew in NW like Winetime productions producing in the 1990s for national artists like
The Click,
Celly Cel and
E-40. Winetime then took Midwest/local artist Tony-O and climbed the
Billboard charts in 1998 and 1999 peaking at #14 in Rap Singles with a song called "PHD (Playa Hater Degree)". Rap artist Tony-O is the only NW artist other than Sir Mix-A-Lot until Macklemore to top the billboard charts in hip-hop at that time.
2002–present Macklemore is a hip-hop artist from the Pacific Northwest who received much national and international attention. At the
56th Annual Grammy Awards, Macklemore received seven Grammy award nominations, and won four of those, including the awards for Best New Artist, Best Rap Album (
The Heist), Best Rap Song and Best Rap Performance ("
Thrift Shop"). However, Macklemore's success has been met with frustration from many local PNW hip-hop artists who feel that Macklemore's status as a white, middle class male has led him to his popular position and feel disheartened that the underground artists are not better able to represent their city and region.
Macklemore & Ryan Lewis went on to self-produce their first full-length album
The Heist, released in October 2012, and earned a 2014 Grammy for Best Rap Song for their national hit, "Thrift Shop", and MTV Video Music Awards for Best Hip Hop Video, Best Video with a Social Message, and Best Cinematography for "
Can't Hold Us", "
Same Love", and "Can't Hold Us", respectively. In 2019, DJ Nasty Nes revived his classic radio show,
KFOX Nightbeat, featuring songs he originally played on
Fresh Tracks and
Nightbeat, as well as exclusive new music (like he did on
Fresh Tracks), and mastermixes by Spokane's GrandMixer GMS. The Beacon strives to create a safe place for the hip-hop community. By the late 2000s,
Anchorage's rap scene began to decline as federal attention began to shift towards numerous arrests in connection to crimes ranging from drug trafficking and murders. A new wave soon emerged in the late 2010s with numerous artists exhibiting influences from across the United States as Alaska's population continued to grow with incentives for employment and residence. The resurgence in growth was not solely limited to Anchorage as
Juneau also saw a rise in its own rap scene. Rappers of
Tlingit descent have mixed phrases and elements of their ethnic music and language into their own expression of hip hop. Notable Northwest rappers of the
2020s include
bbno$ of
Vancouver, British Columbia, and
Lil Mosey and
charlieonnafriday of
Seattle. ==
The Legacy of Seattle Hip-Hop at MOHAI==