In the late 90’s, and early-mid 2000’s I was completely immersed in hip hop culture and always had my ear to the street trying to find some fresh new rap tracks. Living in San Diego gave me some pretty good access to the scene and I had a crew that was always out to find some good music There weren’t group texts back then so we waited until we all hung out to talk about the latest music we were bumping. I was just a fan of the music while my homies covered the four elements of hip hop. While all of my friends honed in on their crafts, I just listened to music all the time. Just a scrawny young kid trying to find his way in life. Being white, I obviously gravitated towards anybody dope who had the same skin color as me. To be white in hip hop back then was tough unless you were the Beastie Boys, Eminem, Everlast, or MC Serch. Even for them there were issues to breakthrough. People hated on your skin color regardless of how dope you were. But there were some white emcees on the underground rap scene who broke through. Most of them don’t get the shine they deserve so I’ll try to shed some light on a few of my favorites.
The Grouch & Eligh (California)
The Grouch and Eligh from the Living Legends in Cali exposed me to dope white emcees at a time when being white and rapping wasn’t really accepted. When I first started listening to them in 1997 I didn’t even know what color their skin was. All I had was their music and that’s all I needed. The Grouch had a style like no other and Eligh was Andre 3000’s long lost west coast cousin. Some hip hop heads still don’t know about the Legends and that’s just wild to me.
El-P from Company Flow (New York)
When I think Company Flow I think of the groundbreaking beats they had from El Producto aka El-P. But El-P was also nice on the mic and he is probably the most slept on rapper producers outside of DJ Quik. El-P, Rawkus Records, and the Soundbombing compilation were the perfect music to skate to back in 1997.
Slug from Atmosphere (Minnesota)
Wait… There is hip hop being made in Minnesota? I had no idea but I first heard Atmosphere and it really didn’t matter. Slug was on the rhymes and Ant was on the beats and they had a Guru / Preme type connection on some Midwest type vibes. And I don’t even feel right for putting Slug here because while to all he looks white, he is also of African American and Native American descent. But for this article, I’m throwing him in the white bucket. Sorry Sean!
Eyedea (Minnesota)
Minnesota hip hop wasn’t just Atmosphere either! There was so much dope hip hop coming out of the Twin Cities. Eyedea was a rapper who was on the Rhymesayers Record Label who seemed like he was 14 but he had soooooo much energy bottled up inside of him. I always considered him to be Slug’s little brother but they were not related. Eyedea was a dope freestyler and live performer who was taken from us way too soon. RIP Mikey!
Aesop Rock (New York)
Aesop Rock out of NYC had a style and vocabulary like you had never heard before. He also worked with a producer named Blockhead who was making amazing ahead-of-its time type beats. Aesop Rock had me feeling like a G while I acted like I was studying at the library when I was actually trying to memorize his lyrics and flow.
Copywrite (Ohio)
I don’t even know how I found out about the crew MHz but they had some songs on the Table Scraps album that were totally different than anything else out. Unique flows all around and the beats were fire. Copywrite is an emcee that I need to go back and listen to more. I’ve been saying that for 20 years so maybe now is actually the time! Btw, the song below is from Copywrite and Camu Tao. RIP Camu!
R.A. The Rugged Man (New York)
R.A. is another emcee I really need to spend more time with. I have my homies Jared and Kevin always sending me links too. I guess I really just need to quit my day job so I can start listening to more music? R.A. is a legend in the game and an OG who came up in the 90’s and even has a song with Biggie that remains slept on. R.A. was blackballed by the industry which is a shame because he was and is dope. He just dropped a new album called All My Heroes Are Dead that you shouldn’t sleep on!
Evidence & Alchemist (California)
Evidence is one of the my favorite rappers out now from Venice Beach, California. He is signed to the Rhymesayers record label but goes back to the 90’s for his work with the legendary rap group, Dilated Peoples with Rakaa and DJ Babu. Ev is nice on the beats and nice on the rhymes. A dope photographer too! He is one of the most consistent rappers out and you can always count on him for dopeness with his solo releases. I loved his “Unlearning” track that dropped in 2020 and can’t wait for that next full length.
Evidence’s partner in rhyme and crime is the Alchemist aka ALC. Alchemist was producing a lot of Dilated Peoples songs and was also very closely tied to Mobb Deep (RIP Prodigy) for a stretch of time. But before all of this, Alchemist went by the name Mudfoot in his early 90’s rap group The Whooliganz with Scott Caan (aka Mad Skillz). The Whooliganz were a part of the Soul Assassins crew with Cypress Hill, House of Pain, and Funkdoobiest and actually went on tour with them. Over the years, ALC spent countless hours in the studio honing his craft and working with a ton of legendary emcees. He is also nice on the mic himself and remains slept on for his rhymes. Together, Evidence and Alchemist are known as the Step Brothers and they’ve released a couple of albums together. Below is one of my favorites from the Cali duo.
Okay…. I need to get ready for my day job. I know I left out some dope white emcees on this list (Mac Miller, Logic, Lil Dicky, Necro, Maclemore, Jack Harlow and more!) but I have to stop at some point and this is my list remember! Wish I could just write hip hop stories all day but that won’t happen unless I get more support. Hit the comments… Tell me who I missed… Tell me that some of these rappers aren’t 100% white. Tell me you liked the article. Or just hate on it! Let’s just talk and keep hip hop alive y’all!
Gotta end this with Slug and Eyedea on the Wake Up Show from 2001. If you haven’t seen this, please tell your boss, wife, and kids to kick rocks for 10 minutes so you can do you!