After years of taking a backseat to the East, the West Coast emerged as a dominant force in hip-hop in the early '90s. Dr. Dre's The Chronic and Snoop Dogg's Doggystyle were instrumental in making gangsta rap hip-hop's most commercially viable subgenre. Meanwhile, a new breed of New York MCs—documenting street life from an East Coast perspective—was on the verge of a major breakthrough.  Wu-Tang Clan (Enter the Wu-Tang), Black Moon (Enta Da Stage), Nas (Illmatic), The Notorious B.I.G. (Ready to Die) and Mobb Deep (The Infamous), to name a few, all released seminal hardcore hip-hop albums to bring the East back.