West Coast hip hop was pretty short lived. I think with WC it was more about the sound "G-Funk" that made it popular. In terms of lyrical dexterity, hard hitting and deeper lyrics, the East Coast shits all over the West Coast. Now before someone brings up Tupac, lets not forget he was born and raised on the EC until he was 17 or so, so he cant really be classed as a true West Coast artist like Dre, Snoop, Ice Cube etc. Anyway comparing guys like Dre, Warren G, Snoop, Cube with guys like Mobb Deep, Wu tang, Nas, L, Biggie, Rakim etc but Im sorry they just cant stack up to them. Those guys were the pinnacle and the benchmark
Anyway, my favourite hip hop artist of all time is Big L. IMO this cat had it all, the look, the flows, the rhymes, the beats (old school shit), the swagger...he was just the total package. A real shame he died so young and the piece of shit who killed him is walking around as a free man. Someone spoke about the best intro ever and this is my favourite intro to any album ever
His flow and wordplay are just ridiculous.