text=Early East Coast rap was actually really silly, goofy stuff--with rarely any swearing, if any. The heavyweight label was Def Jam Records, and the main theme of most of the music was just seeing how creative and stupid you could get with words. Even Public Enemy, the first militant, politicised rap group that advocated social change and awareness infused with Black Panther-like aggression, kept things on an even keel with the comic relief antics of Chuck D's sidekick, Flava Flav. So no one really took things seriously. Not even Will Smith's special brand of bubblegum rap. All this changed, however, when rap's influence was taken up by a second generation of artists.......who were not from the east coast, and were not amused at all about East Coast Rap's toothless smirk.
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