The New Boys on the block: Coast Contra

Drill rap is at the forefront of Hip Hop culture presently, as a result of numerous villainies gaining media attention via the internet. The combination of drill rap’s meteoric rise and newfound media exposure helps some critics create a negative narrative of Hip Hop culture. Coast Contra has a rebuttal for those critics, offering an album rooted in Hip Hop’s liberating and uplifting history. 

Coast Contra consists of Eric Jamal, Taj Austin, Ras Austin, and Rio Liz. Their humble beginnings started with all of them living in a studio apartment in Philadelphia. They eventually leave for Los Angeles to further pursue making music. Coast Contra would articulate their experience into an album, Apt.505.

Apt. 505 is fifty minutes long at seventeen tracks, and an easy listen. A nostalgia-inducing track like “Pimpin’ Benjamin,” is just one style of rap Coast Contra excels in. The ability to interchange different languages, flows, and mesh the appropriate instrumentals accordingly is phenomenal. And their twist on the Junior Mafia outro is coyly entertaining.

Hopefully, the connotation of Hip Hop is changing, while Coast Contra continues developing and promoting their craft. Hip Hop’s cultural impact exceeds rap music. Rapping is merely a facet of Hip Hop culture, it is not Hip Hop entirely. The rap subgenre, drill rap, romanticizes the afflictions within Hip Hop culture. The violence, drugs, and suffering plaguing diverse and disadvantaged communities across the world. Luckily Coast Contra’s Apt. 505 acts as a reminder of Hip Hop’s prosperous legacy.