the "virginia beach sound" (?)

it's always been kind of unbelievable to me that missy elliott, timbaland, the neptunes & clipse all came out of virginia beach/hampton roads in the same period of time, especially since that area is not particularly well-known for its contributions to american music. what i would *love* is an oral history of their come-ups throughout the 90s, but i'll settle for any writing about them & their shared roots and, i assume, their influence on each other in the 90s & early 00s. anyone know of anything?

One element of inquiry could be the impact of the military presence and the large middle-class African American population.

That Hip Hop Evolution show on Netflix had a good and lengthy segment on Virginia Beach on one of the episodes.

super interesting topic to me as a VA native, though i was several hours away outside of DC. two threads worth pulling on.

what is the influence of skateboarding culture? i used to play soccer tournaments in VA beach as a kid and it was one of the few areas that had legit skateparks. the military comment above even makes me wonder if there could have been some cross-pollination from somewhere like san diego, another big military hub.

another interesting thing is the presence of a large filipino/polynesian community. maybe also military related? obviously chad hugo, but I went to school at VCU in richmond and a LOT of the dopest artists, skaters and DJs were filipino dudes. they were very influential to the hip-hop and dance music culture in early 2000s richmond.

the military comment above even makes me wonder if there could have been some cross-pollination from somewhere like san diego, another big military hub.

that's an interesting theory, undermined somewhat by the paucity any sort of music scene here

here = san diego

we've contributed eddie vedder, stone temple pilots, three mile pilot and other post rock, assorted screamo of which the least obscure is the locust, and iron butterfly

we have a bad pop reggae festival and jack johnson plays here so much ppl think he's from here

all the other things you say about local culture are true. skateboarding, soccer, military, diversity, etc. but there's no homegrown music scene past derivatives of punk.

This is an odd bit of trivia but both Jewel (16x platinum) & Jason Mraz (2 Grammys, 5x platinum) both achieved prominence performing at Java Joe's open mic nights in OB, SD. Jewel was actually working there as a barista as well when she signed her first contract.

@thelategreat one slight clarification re: san diego. i meant cross-pollination/export of skateboarding and skate culture specifically.

i do think there are second order effects on music however. if you look at skate videos from that era, they were pretty eclectic and mashed up all sorts of music genres and styles. i skated as a kid too and videos produced in cali turned me to everything from east coast rap (tribe called quest, de la soul, artifacts) to daft punk to black sabbath. i say this with no evidence at all but i feel like skate video soundtracks could have been a big influence on the neptunes.

OR BMX

sorry didn't mean for that to be in all caps. or bmx:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I_uDcCZDrxg

pharrell's brother was a pro skater and his nickname in high school was skateboard p

lol.

I've read some good pieces on this, will try to find:

https://daily.redbullmusicacademy.com/2015/04/origin-stories-the-neptunes

https://ambrosiaforheads.com/2019/05/teddy-riley-pharrell-neptunes-timbaland-video/