Hip-Hop music began to thrive during the early stages of the crack epidemic.  Many of the original rappers and DJ's had names that reflected the environment this music originated from.  Names like Coke La Rock, Scott La Rock, Kurtis Blow, Rob Base and EZ Rock to name a few.  The names were so common that outsiders didn't even seem to notice the correlation.  But we all heard it.  Dope was being injected into veins, lungs, noses and tape decks.  To this day people still use the word dope.  Not referring to actual drugs, but as the thing to say when something is good or liked.
See... during this era, there were few ways of actually making it out of the slums.  At the time, cocaine was a recreational drug for the rich and upper middle class.   Eventually it made its way into the neighborhoods of people of a darker skin tone.  These people already used music as a way of coping with the harsh realities of life and these neighborhoods were known as the birth place of blues and jazz.   But when crack hit, slowly things began to crack apart.

The early hustlers saw crack as a way to make a quick buck to put food on the table.  The users saw it as a way to cope and feel as good as the upperclass for a small price.  But that price came at a cost.  A cost that would change hip-hop as we know it.  And the beautiful people of these streets changed too.  The crack epidemic made young kids millionaires.  And the rappers looked up to the dealers.  Which goes right back to the use of the drug in their names.  The hustlers funded many music careers and the rappers reflected the hustler lifestyle in the music.  This was the greatest time in hip-hop.  Money, cars, clubs, art, fashion and pure fun.  Then coke had the last laugh.  See no one knew the effects that this would bring until the storm.  What's the saying? When it rains it pours.  Well the beautiful people of the slums reigned like kings until crack fell on the poor.  Welcome to North Cocaína.

...click below to watch the full North Cocaina Music video.