REGIONZ: The Story Of The Underdog

A seemingly uncharted land, the Midwest has always been the true underdog of hip hop overshadowed by the trends of the East, West, and South. Instead of fading to the background, this title fuels the gritty bars and unique sounds coming from the region that forces heads to turn with every listen. The Underdog is emerging from the shadows.

What makes the Midwest unique?

As a whole, the Midwest is used to being doubted, but that doubt serves as fuel for the underdog region. Representing cities like Chicago, St. Louis, Cleveland, Detroit, and more, midwestern artists use the music as an opportunity to shine a light on what life is like in their cities. Detroit rapper Tee Grizzley told the world the story of his upbringing and time in prison in his debut hit “First Day Out.” Common represents the city of Chicago on classic tracks like “Chi-city” and “Southside” featuring fellow Chicagoan Kanye West. Missouri native Tech N9ne gave us a taste of his home on “Mizzizy Gets Bizzy.” Every artist wants listeners to know that their cities may be overlooked and overshadowed by the rest of the country, but the Midwest has a story to tell of tough times and triumph alike.

Midwest artists love to flaunt their abilities when it comes to lyrical gymnastics. The Midwest is home to some of the fastest and most clever rappers to ever hit the scene and more are on the way as we speak. Slim Shady himself brought the grime of Detroit to the rap scene and flooded everyone’s ears with flows so fast you almost overlooked his insane lyrics. Twista showed everyone how he earned his name with his tongue-twisting lyrics that made anyone feel accomplished when they mastered just one of the complicated verses. On “Home,” Bone Thug-n-Harmony spit a stream of rhymes about issues like poverty, public housing, and more over a beat that forces the rappers to keep the bars coming for a solid 5-minute track. In today’s rap scene, the Midwest is represented by artists like Big Sean, Sada Baby, Smino, and 42 Dugg amongst many others. Each of these artists is carrying on the legacy of hard raps and rhymes at lightning speed.

The Midwest is one of the more innovative regions with the creation of new styles of music and production. The Midwest is the home of house music (Chicago and Detroit) that took nightclubs by storm, and the music style continues to influence the pop and electronic dance music industries today. On the other side of the spectrum, the Midwest is also the home of drill music, a subgenre of hip hop that rose to popularity in the early 2010s with the emergence of drill rapper and Chicago native Chief Keef in mainstream music. Drill music has not only taken off in other cities like New York, but also traveled the world influencing hip hop in the United Kingdom, Australia, and many Southeast Asian countries. The innovative styles coming out of the Midwest are astonishing to watch as they break ground in parts of the world we never imagined it would or could reach. It’s enough reason to always keep an eye on the Midwest to witness the region’s next move.

Check out the playlist below highlighting Midwestern artists both old and new and leave your thoughts in the comments!