Golden Age
East coast versus West coast is a defining factor of identity for American citizens. Depending on where you are born defines how you present yourself as a person and ultimately how you live life. These stereotypes are seen as the truth, deeply embedded in the media we consume daily. Notably in 1995 the tensions between the regions came to a boiling point through Hip Hop. West coast’s Death Row Records versus the East coast’s Bad Boy Records. Notorious B.I.G. versus Tupac Shakur. To visualize this conflict, I presented each region's sound as pure audio waveforms, mapped to the shape of prominent states of the East and West. The waveforms are a visualization of the accompanying music, the left channel being West, and the right channel as East. Viewing both waveforms at once creates a conversation between both sounds, highlighting the differences and similarities between the two. Additionally, the video features a waveform that represents the South, highlighting how the remaining regions of the USA are often overshadowed by the East and West. The video collage creates the experience of an outsider, viewing every side of the conflict equally while surrounded by the golden age of hip hop.