Nov 10, 20265 min read

Today in Hip Hop: November 10

Three birthdays, one chart first, and two debut albums that still get played. November 10 has been good to this culture.

OMYGOTTI

Toronto hip-hop artist | 730K+ Facebook

1970

Warren G Is Born in Long Beach

Warren Griffin III was born on November 10, 1970, in Long Beach, California. He grew up in the same soil as Snoop Dogg and Dr. Dre, and with them he became one of the chief builders of G-funk, that slow, melodic West Coast sound that ran the early nineties.

His signature moment came in 1994 with Regulate, the Nate Dogg duet that turned a Michael McDonald sample into a street sermon. It remains one of the most replayed records of its era, the kind of song every generation of drivers finds on its own.

My take: G-funk never really left. It just moved into the DNA of everything melodic that came after it, and Warren G is one of the reasons the West Coast sound still feels like sunshine and lowriders.

1971

Big Pun Is Born in the Bronx

One year later to the day, Christopher Rios was born in New York City on November 10, 1971. The world came to know him as Big Pun, the Bronx lyricist whose breath control and internal rhymes still get studied by rappers who take the craft seriously.

Pun made history as the first Latino solo rapper to earn a platinum album, powered by records like Still Not a Player. He anchored Terror Squad alongside Fat Joe, and his pen set a standard for technical rapping that the Bronx still measures people against.

My take: Pun's career was cut short, but the bar he set was not. Put his verses next to anyone's, any era, and the writing holds up line for line.

1978

Eve Is Born in Philadelphia

Eve Jeffers was born on November 10, 1978, in Philadelphia. She broke through at the end of the nineties as the first lady of Ruff Ryders, with her 1999 debut Let There Be Eve... Ruff Ryders' First Lady putting her at the front of the era's hardest crew.

Eve — Photo: Mika Väisänen via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)

She crossed every lane without losing herself, from Who's That Girl to the Gwen Stefani duet Let Me Blow Ya Mind, then into film and television. Philly raised her, but the whole culture claimed her.

My take: Eve carried a crew's banner in a male dominated era and never once sounded like she was asking for permission. That is the whole blueprint.

1979

Rapper's Delight Enters the Hot 100

On November 10, 1979, the Sugarhill Gang's Rapper's Delight entered the Billboard Hot 100 at No. 84. It was the first rap song to land on the chart, proof on paper that the music coming out of Bronx parties belonged on national radio.

The record ran long, bounced over the Chic bassline from Good Times, and introduced most of America to a form it did not have a name for yet. Every charting rap single since then walks through the door this record opened.

My take: No. 84 does not sound like history. It was. The chart had never made room for a rap record before, and it has never closed that door since.

1992

UGK Drop Their Debut, Too Hard to Swallow

Bun B and Pimp C released UGK's debut studio album, Too Hard to Swallow, through Jive Records on November 10, 1992. The Port Arthur, Texas duo arrived fully formed, country rap tunes built on live sounding funk and two voices that fit like gears.

The album climbed to No. 37 on the Top R&B and Hip-Hop Albums chart and No. 14 on Heatseekers, modest numbers for a record that would end up foundational. The South's whole independent blueprint, from the sound to the business, traces back through UGK.

My take: Texas rap does not get its respect timeline right without this date. UGK were building the Southern sound while the industry was still calling it a regional curiosity.

1998

Pete Rock Releases Soul Survivor

Pete Rock stepped out solo on November 10, 1998, with Soul Survivor, his debut album under his own name. The Mount Vernon producer had already reshaped the sound of New York rap with CL Smooth, and this record let him conduct the whole orchestra himself.

Singles like Tru Master and Take Your Time showed his range, equal parts basement grit and polish. Producers still study the way Pete Rock chopped samples, because nobody has ever made it sound easier.

My take: Some producers make beats. Pete Rock made weather. Soul Survivor is him proving the climate was always his, partner or no partner.

2009

Wale Arrives With Attention Deficit

Washington, D.C.'s own Wale released his debut studio album, Attention Deficit, on November 10, 2009, through Allido Records and Interscope. The project debuted at No. 21 on the charts and announced a writer who rapped like a poet with something to prove.

Wale had already built a name on mixtapes and go-go rooted singles. Attention Deficit was the moment the industry had to take the D.C. scene seriously as more than a footnote between New York and Atlanta.

My take: Wale's pen was never the question. Attention Deficit is the sound of a city getting its first real flag planted in the mainstream, and D.C. has been louder ever since.