SOHH Left Coast

So this is the last Random S#!t of 2006... It’s been an amazing year for me, and hopefully everybody out there had a good one as well. And although I wasn’t really feeling it the first couple of weeks, I’ve actually enjoyed doing this blog - a few of you even had something intelligent to contribute every now and then.

I’m gonna use this chance to close things up for ‘06.

First off, it wouldn’t be the end of the year without Skillz dropping the 2006 Wrap Up. For those who are unfamiliar, he’s been doing this for the last few years, and after his sophomore album got shelved by Rawkus, it’s pretty much the only music he’s been releasing at all. Which is a shame, because From Where??? was the shit back in the day.

It’s totally irrelevant to the West Coast, and there was no reason for me to bring it up before this, but I had to shout out one of the most memorable lyrics of the entire year. For the ten of you that bought Mobb Deep's 7th album, you should already be familiar - I’m talking about Prodigy’s verse on “Pearly Gates.” The final version was all chopped up and censored by some crab ass motherfucker at Interscope (apparently some copies of the album - including mine - have the lines reversed, while other copies just replace a couple of the lines with new ones), so here’s the original version in it’s entirety:

“Now homey if I go to hell and you make it to the pearly gates
Tell that nigga God we got beef
And tell Jesus Christ I'm a see him when I see him
And when I see him, I'm a beat him like a movie
For leavin us out to dry in straight poverty
For not showin me no signs they watchin over me
Yo! We a new breed in two thousand six
We don't give a fuck about that religious bullshit
Nigga show me where the cash at
The nice whips with the three car garage to fit them shits
Man my life is painful, pray to angels
I'm prayin to myself hopin I ain't got to spank you
My bullets shank you, and when my guns start cuttin, ain't nobody 'gon save you
In the bible times, they ain't had to deal with the shit
We dealin within, these survival times”

With all the crazy shit that’s being said in lyrics these days, they really had to censor that shit because P was airing out some atheist views? Please... For a record label that makes all of it’s money off hip hop artists, censoring one of their signees is some real pussy shit.

Just wanted to get that off my chest.

And lastly, there’s one thing I want to get off my chest before the year is over. Everybody’s been hating on the South all year, and hating because before Jigga and Nas dropped new albums, they were the only ones moving any units. Although there are a small handful of lyricists in the south (and no folks, T.I. is not a lyricist), I would be the last one to argue with anyone who says that you can find more lyricism in other regions. But the reason they sell more records is BECAUSE THEY HAVE BETTER BEATS. If rappers in the rest of the U.S. would wise up and get some decent fucking production, they would sell records, and everyone could stop bitching about how hip hop is dead. For the record, wack production and low expectations are what’s killing hip hop, not the South.

Alright everyone, I’m out for oh six. Have a good weekend, a safe New Year’s Eve, and I’ll see you all in 2007.

And don’t forget to come holler at the SOHH Left Coast Myspace jumpoff at www.myspace.com/sohhleftcoast.

Posted by SOHH Leftist at 2:19 AM | Permalink | Comments (37)

So my pick for the West Coast Video of the Year was a late bloomer; there weren’t a whole lot of videos that really put up any competition, but when this one showed up, it became pretty clear that the race was over.

And for the slow learners, I’ll explain it to you again; you might have your own pick for the West Coast video of the year, but this is my choice. And my choice is Snoop Dogg's “Candy (Drippin’ Like Water)”.

I’m not sure what it is about this video that does it for me, and I’m not really expecting any of you to agree with me on this choice - there’s no crazy ass theme to the video, no crazy special effects or pyrotechnics, and no Hype Williams-esque cinematography; in fact, the vide-hos aren’t even all that great-looking. But for some reason there’s just something about seeing Snoop revived out of his decade-long blunt coma that just makes my motherfuckin’ day. Take a look for yourself...

I guess it helps that the song itself is dope, and that Big Snoop brought through E-40, MC Eiht, Goldie Loc, Daz and Kurupt to kill it over a Rick Rock beat. As expected, all of them show up for the video (including Rick Rock), along with an unexpected surprise: Ladybug from Digable Planets swings through - and she’s looking a lot better with the longer hair - to lip-synch her vocal that was sampled for the hook. And if I’m not mistaken, I saw JT Tha Bigga Figga in there as well...

At any rate, lemme know what West Coast video you were feeling in oh six...

Posted by SOHH Leftist at 2:18 AM | Permalink | Comments (45)

First of all, big shouts to all you salty-ass haters out there who dropped in yesterday to tell me that the list of my favorite top ten albums of 2006 was “wack,” “sucked,” etc. But, uhh... I’m gonna go ahead and take your opinions with a grain of salt- especially if you had Fat Joe and/or Lloyd Banks’ albums in your top ten.

But here’s another chance for you to do some more hatin’. Commmmme git serrrrrrrved...

There were two West Coast releases this year that proved to be monumental in the world of hip hop- Doctor’s Advocate and Tha Blue Carpet Treatment, as if that really needed clarification - but all in all, there weren’t a ton of really great albums that came from the Left. Which is why I was forced to include the Ice Cube album and the Too Short album, even though they were both a bit mediocre.

So here they are, in no particular order...

E-40- My Ghetto Report Card
Good beats, and 40 Water’s style sounds perfect on each and every one. “Tell Me When To Go” pretty much put the spotlight on the hyphy movement, which could be a good thing or a terrible thing, depending on who you ask.

The Game- The Doctor’s Advocate
A solid sophomore album from the self procalimed saviour of West Coast hip hop. Now if he could stop acting like a 12 year old every other week, maybe the focus will stay on his music and his obvious talent...

The Jacka, AP 9 and Husalah- Mob Trial
The Mob Figaz come through with an undergrgound heater. If you don’t know who The Jacka is yet, don’t worry- you will by the end of next year.

Daz- So So Gangsta
So so slept on. But the second single, “Weekend,” is starting to spread the word.

Xzibit- Full Circle
The Black John McClain’s best joint since 40 Dayz & 40 Nightz. “The Whole World” is one of the best songs to come out this year.

Murs- Murray’s Revenge
Another album full of dense lyricism from one of backpack rap’s most reliable talents, with spotless production from one of hip hop’s best producers, 9th Wonder.

Oh No- Exodus Into Unheard Rythms
Madlib’s younger brother continues to prove that he’s a force to be reckoned with. “No Aire” with Vast Aire of Cannibal Ox is absolute fire.

Ice Cube- Laugh Now, Cry Later
Took me a while to come around on this one, but “Smoke Some Weed” and “The Nigga Trap” have slowly been changing my mind.

Too Short- Blow The Whistle
A solid album... not too many bells and whistles, but Todd Shaw showed with this one that he’s definitely got some good years left in him.

And... (drumroll please) what is, in my opinion, the best West Coast hip hop album of 2006...

Snoop Dogg- Tha Blue Carpet Treatment
I don’t even really have to say anything about this one. Every time I listen to it, it gets better and better.

Posted by SOHH Leftist at 1:59 AM | Permalink | Comments (46)

I have to say it one last time before the year is through... RIP J DILLA.

Hopefully everyone had a good holiday weekend, and hopefully all of you got whatever it was you wanted and got to spend some quality time with the fam-a-lam. Since we have one short-ass week left in 2006, we got some quick biz-nass to take care of to wrap up this year.

We’re going to get today cracking with my list for the top ten hip hop albums of 2006. This will be followed up in tomorrow’s blog by my list for the top ten West Coast hip hop albums for they year, so if you don’t see something in today’s list, don’t get your panties in a bunch. As a matter fact, these lists are just a reflection of my taste and not anyone else’s, so it doesn’t really matter what you think should or shouldn’t be on my list.

If the comments section ends up working again at any point today, feel free to post your top ten lists as well; I’m interested in seeing what they look like.

Here they are, in no particular order: (edit: for some inexplicable reason, I thought I already had the Clipse album down and forgot to get it in there, so the Gnarls Barkley album had to go)

E-40 - My Ghetto Report Card

Snoop Dogg - Tha Blue Carpet Treatment

Lupe Fiasco - Food & Liquor

J Dilla - Donuts

Clipse - Hell Hath No Fury

Young Jeezy - The Inspiration

Oh No - Exodus Into Unheard Rythms

Ghostface - Fishscale

Mobb Deep - Blood Money

The Jacka, AP 9 and Husalah - Mob Trial

Want to know what my fellow SOHH staffers had on their lists? Then check out SOHH's Top 10 Hip-Hop/R&B Albums Of '06 list here.

Posted by SOHH Leftist at 3:10 AM | Permalink | Comments (131)

Alright folks, I’m off to go celebrate another bi-racial Christmas in the Bay area.

Have a good holiday everyone; if you’re heading out of town for the holidays, have a safe commute. I’ll see you all next week when we start the countdown to the new year.

Peace,
80

Posted by SOHH Leftist at 2:35 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

...you don’t know what you’ve got ‘til it’s gone.

I never thought I’d say this, but I actually miss hearing what you guys have to say at this point -- even all the goons that come on here to talk shit or criticize my writing and/or choice of topics. And hopefully you guys aren't getting too bored at work by actually having to... work.

Whatever. Watch a video and hopefully shit will be corrected soon.

By the way, if you type in “Streiht Up Menace” in the youtube search field, the first thing that comes up is a video of a dude giving a nine minute tutorial on how to play every note of the song on the piano. Shit is classic.

Posted by SOHH Leftist at 2:08 AM | Permalink

Since the comments section of the blog is down, I’m going to save the rest of the What Ever Happened To The Four Elements feature for a time when things are working correctly and the topics can be disussed, dismissed, dissed, etc.

Instead, here’s this week’s installment of “such and such rapper got arrested for blah blah blah...”

Apparently while Bay Area artist Jacka (of Mob Figaz) was in Sacramento on Saturday night, he got into some heat; after a short chase, Jacka (whose real name is Dominick Newton) and three other men fled on foot. Three of them ran into a nearby nightclub, where Jacka and one of the other men were arrested. The fourth man ran into a residential backyard and fired two shots at the officer who was chasing him; apparently the officer didn’t return fire, and although they brought the ghetto bird out, the man got away. This whole little scene led to a lockdown from 10:30 pm that night until 11:30 am the next morning, and when residents of the nighborhood were finally allowed to come and go, their cars were first searched by police. After all was said and done Jacka was charged with marijuana posession and resisting arrest.

Gotta love the fucking rap game right now...

You can check out the article on the Sacramento Bee website here when you get the chance- http://www.sacbee.com/101/story/94534.html. Make sure you read the ridiculous comments that some Sacramento’s racist ass yuppie fuckwads posted in response to the article.

Posted by SOHH Leftist at 2:31 AM | Permalink

Revok AWR/MSK

Due to some technical difficulties, the blog I posted yesterday didn’t show up until late in the afternoon, and it was a bit hard to get to. I’m reposting it today with some new additions.

I’m going to wrap this all up at the end of the week and at that point you’ll see where I’m going with it (although the title of the blog should be pretty sufficient as far as hints go), but for now, we’re going to take this step by step.

Today we’re goinna get things started with the only illegal element of hip hop: graffiti. Although I’ve experienced all four of the elements firsthand at one point or another, this is the only one that I ever actively took part in- after doing graff for the past 9 years, I decided earlier this year (a couple months after I got married) to call it quits. As a 26 year old adult, I had finally reached a point in my life when I had too much to lose. My wife had always been supportive, and had even gone out bombing with me on more than one occasion, but I had experienced enough close calls and sketchy moments up to that point, and I just didn’t feel comfortable putting my livelihood on the line anymore.

That being said, I want to start this week off with the element of hip hop that’s closest to me. I’m going to give you some homework...

At some point today, whether it’s when you get home, or while you’re bored at work, take a moment to go research one of these California graff artists (or all of them if so inclined). If you think it’s a waist of time, take into consideration that it can’t hurt to learn something new about a topic that you may be unfamiliar with, especially if it’s part of a culture that you claim to love. With everyone saying that hip hop is dead, maybe it's time to start taking some action to bring it back to life.

So here’s the list:
- Saber AWR/MSK (check out some info on his infamous LA River piece; www.saberone.com is a good place to start)
- Revok AWR/MSK (check out www.revok1.com)

- Tribe AWR (aka DJ Lady Tribe)
- Gkae AWR (If I had to recommend one, I’d go with this guy; the story of how he ended up doing prison time for graff is INSANE; also, if you look his name up on youtube, you can see his pre-incarceration appearance on Gabrielle Carteris' talk show, which is pretty crazy)
- Twist THR (aka Barry McGee)
- Dug TMF
- Slick K2S/STN
- Toomer TKO
- Meek TKO
- Giant BA (make sure you also check out his tattoo work; you can go to www.mikegiant.com for both)
Happy hunting... and tomorrow, we’ll move on to element number two: turntablism.

Posted by SOHH Leftist at 2:28 AM | Permalink | Comments (287)

I’m going to wrap this all up at the end of the week and at that point you’ll see where I’m going with it (although the title of the blog should be pretty sufficient as far as hints go), but for now, we’re going to take this step by step.

I’m going to give you some homework...

At some point today, whether it’s when you get home, or while you’re bored at work, take a moment to go research one of these California graff artists (or all of them if so inclined). If you think it’s a waist of time, take into consideration that it can’t hurt to learn something new about a topic that you may be unfamiliar with, especially if it’s part of a culture that you claim to love. With everyone saying that hip hop is dead, maybe it's time to start taking some action to bring it back to life.

So here’s the list:

- Saber AWR/MSK (check out some info on his infamous LA River piece; www.saberone.com is a good place to start)

- Revok AWR/MSK (check out www.revok1.com)

- Tribe AWR (aka DJ Lady Tribe)

- Gkae AWR (If I had to recommend one, I’d go with this guy; the story of how he ended up doing prison time for graff is INSANE)

- Twist THR (aka Barry McGee)

- Dug TMF

- Slick K2S/STN

- Toomer TKO

- Meek TKO

- Giant BA (make sure you also check out his tattoo work; you can go to www.mikegiant.com for both)

Happy hunting...

Posted by SOHH Leftist at 9:12 AM | Permalink

There wasn’t really any kind of news this week as far as West Coast Hip Hop goes. Maybe that’s a sign that artists out here need to start making some power moves...

I had a Chuck D interview coming for everybody, but Public Enemy cancelled their show tonight here in Sacramento; no reason was given yet but I’d guess it was due to low ticket sales, which is a shame.

If you’re in the Bay, the Rock The Bells tour with Pharoahe Monch, Raekwon, Redman, Ghostface, Smif N Wessun and Supernatural will be stopping in San Jose tonight and SF tomorrow night. If you’re in the area, be sure to go check that shit out.

So as MrMe3zup requested, here it is. (Had to go with the remix, though...)

That’s it for now; hopefully some crazy shit happens next week, because God knows this week was boring as fuck. As always, I wish you all a good weekend.

Posted by SOHH Leftist at 2:10 AM | Permalink | Comments (44)

So yesterday some guy was so hung up on what The Game has to say that he got all excited about an interview that Game did with allhiphop.com, and came on SOHH Left Coast babbling about how I should be writing about that. I just finished reading the interview, and at this point, I’m going to have to ask what all the fuss is about...

Besides the fact that whoever interviewed him either has no idea hot to follow up a question, or just didn’t have the time, there really just isn’t any new or interesting information in the interview.

The only thing that he said in the interview that is actually worth discussing is this:

“I was drunk on that song, so I don’t remember or care what I was talking about that night. That was just that night, and it was documented and it’ll forever be remembered ‘cause it’s on that album; it’s just the way I was feeling that night and not the next morning and not the day before.”

First of all, I’m gonna have to go ahead and call bullshit on that first statement. He obviously did care about what he was talking about on that track because not only did he leave the song on the final cut, but he named his fucking album after it. And the whole back story about him being hella drunk when he recorded it suspect as hell; he was apparently sober enough to write coherent verses and spit them without slurring like a motherfucker, yet he was so drunk that doesn’t remember what he was talking about that night? Not even to mention that the little dialogue sections at the beginning and end of the song just make the whole story about this song seem even more fraudulent...

And then there’s the second half of that quote: “...it’s just the way I was feeling that night, and not the next morning and not the day before.” Wow, I swear I’ve heard this same quote from him before... oh wait, I did, back in October when he extended a peace treaty to 50, and then went on Power 106 a few days later and rescinded it, saying that it was only good for one day. Is there any consistency in this man’s life?

At this point, there’s not really anything The Game could say that I would find surprising or controversial; he’s kind of turned into the boy who cried wolf at this point. While I’d definitely like to hear a few more Game albums, at this point I’d almost just as soon take him up on that “I’m gonna retire if I don’t go platinum” offer he made. Truth be told, I would really feel the Game about 73% more if somebody would just lock his ass in a basement when he’s not recording music.

Whatever happened to the days when you could like an artist's music and actually respect them for how they conduct their lives on a day-to-day basis?

Posted by SOHH Leftist at 12:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (327)

(Records on K Street, RIP... and PLEASE tell me everyone knows where this photo is from)

Wasn’t really shit that dropped yesterday as far as new West Coast releases, save for a new one from Andre Nickatina, aka Dre Dog (I’ll burn it). But I did search through the used section at the record store, and I managed to dig up some heaters...

Just to put out the warning, these aren’t all West Coast albums- in fact, only one of them is.

Some days you go digging through the used section at a record store with a pocket full of cash waiting to be spent, and you come up empty-handed. And some days, you go digging and you find every album that ever got lost, stolen or lended out indefinitely. Today was one of the latter days.

Besides a shitload of albums that I’ve always kind of thought about copping, or albums that I was interested in, but hadn’t heard enough about yet, there was a pretty hefty inventory of albums that I had on a list in the back of my head, as well as a one or two that I had forgotten about.

First off, I found Mobb Deep’s Hell On Earth, and now the Mobb’s section in my M/N/O CD storage is complete (although it’s been hard to keep from taking Infamy out and throwing it as far away as I can. One of my favorite hip hop groups on God’s green earth, which is a fact that will help me forgive them for making Blood Money over time.

Next up, Likwidation Tha Alkoholiks, which is a certified classic. While it’s not as good 21 & Over or Coast To Coast, it’s definitely not as bad as their last album. While just about any Liks album is worth buying just to hear Tash rip, “Killin’ It,” “Hip Hop Drunkies” and “Likwit Ridas” definitely make this one worth keepin’ around.

Right next to the Alkaholiks album, I found Between A Rock And A Hard Place from Artifacts. I don’t even have to say anything about this one, other than that I wish Tame and El had never parted ways... If you don’t know about this album, you suck at life.

Gang Starr’s Hard To Earn, ditto. Every fucking song on this one is a classic.

Last but not least, I unearthed a gem: Witchdoctor’s a s.w.a.t. healin’ ritual. I lost this one after it got jacked in my senior year of high school, and I hadn’t listened to it since. But as corny as it may sound, hearing this album again was like running into an old friend. This guy’s album was criminally slept on, which is a shame, because it’s one of the most perfect albums that Organized Noize ever laid their hands on. There are appearances from the whole Dungeon Family- and this is when they were in their prime -but dude can definitely hold his own. If you never heard this album, seek it out. It might be alittle hard to find, but you’ll be so glad that you searched.

There were a few more albums that I’m going to go back on Friday to swoop up on. If I cop anything worth telling you all about, I’ll definitely fill you in.

On top of everything else, of course I bought that new Jeezy album, and I gotta say it’s pretty fucking consistent. Of course he’s not dropping crazy knowledge bombs or anything, but I don’t think anyone would buy a Young Jeezy album expecting such. The production on the new joint is up to par with the Let’s Get It, and it’s nice that he eased up a little on all the coke rap and showed he at least had the versatility to talk about some other topics. I’m glad that Jeezy didn’t fall into a sophomore slump; shit’s definitely worth picking up if you didn’t already.

And somebody please tell me if the new Project Pat’s worth copping... I’m a little hesitant.

Posted by SOHH Leftist at 12:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (106)

So besides the letter from Boots Riley, there was another letter that showed up in my email on Friday. Tis’ the season...

This one’s from weird-ass Shock G, aka Humpty Hump; I have absolutely no idea what prompted this letter, but it’s oddly entertaining and has a couple interesting points in it (along with some painfully obvious ones) so I thought I’d reprint it for you all to read. It’s in the exact form in which I recieved it, so any spelling or grammatical errors (such as the ever-so-popular replacement of “you” with “u”) can be credited to Shock, and not to me. Just thought I should throw that out there before the haters get going...

Oh, and if anyone wants to know the fictional back story that was made up for Shock’s Humpty Hump character and why he wore the whole fake nose/glasses ensemble, holler at the SOHH Left myspace page (at www.myspace.com/sohhleftcoast) and I’ll fill you in. I knew reading that Yo! MTV Raps book in junior high would come in handy one day...

So here it is, in all of its... um, glory...

"U Can't Handle the Truth!"
(Shattering the Myths) by shockg

MYTH 1: GOOD CHRISTIANS & CATHOLICS DON'T DO MARIJUANA;
RECREATIONALLY SMOKING WEED & DOING MUSHROOMS IS A SIN

Really?
By being happy & enjoying the world you best honor god. Respect
Jesus by honoring the natural stimulants put here by his parents,
..Jah/Allah/God/Mother Nature/The All Mighty, whatever u like to call
him/her/them.

If doing Gods natural drugs is a sin, can u imagine the magnitude
of evil it must be to do an advil?
Ha ha ha, can't argue that!
______________________________________________________________

MYTH 2: TUPAC STARTED OUT AS A DANCER AND EVOLVED INTO A RAPPER

Please.
Pac was just touring with us (digital underground) to kill time while
we shopped his demo and helped him finish his album. Money-B's brother
Cullen, our original Humpty-dancer, stayed home to make room for Pac,
so Pac filled in and did the dance. Yes, you could say he did this as
part of his "job" but he did it mostly for fun. Everyone in our
8-person crew wanted to do the dance, it pulled the chicks after the
show each night.
We signed Tupac Shakur to our indy label TNT records as an emcee
and began working on his album in 1989. He began touring with d.u. a
year later, after being bored & frustrated with waiting for us to
return from tour to continue working on his project. And we were
constantly shopping him the entire time, many companies passed before
Interscope finally agreed to distribute him.
His "I was Shocks roadie" comment from "Resurrection" also makes my
blood boil; as if the nigga carried my personal bags. He never did.
Everyone carried their own suitcases. Unloading & loading the stage
equipment was the tour responsibility he speaks of, a "right of
passage" to every d.u. member. We all did it for a tour or 2,
including myself & Money-B on the first tours, and later it was how we
initiated new blood. So did DJ Fuze, Saafir, DJ-JZ, Pee Wee, and every
other d.u. member except the females. (they cleaned the bus & did the
laundry; perhaps chauvinist but true)

To say that Tupac "originally started as a dancer", as many
people & publications often do, not only insults his true title &
essence at that time, (emcee, public activist, & social critic) but it
also insults digital undergrounds awareness & recognition of who he
really was at the time. Worst of all, it promotes that it's uncool to
dance, and that no self respecting revolutionary, "thug", or "gangsta"
would be caught dancing; as if Pac graduated outta dancing into a
stronger male. Nope, sorry, he was already the strong male
revolutionary, with 2Pacalyspe Now recorded, BEFORE he danced with
d.u.

Therefore, Tupac deserves even more credit for being all of the above
and still remaining humble enough to contribute to d.u. as a dancer &
roadie. It was his choice to do this, not an ultimatum, as his solo
album was already being shopped, and as we were already committed to
his project.

He also can be seen playing congas & doing background vocals onstage
w/d.u. on televised Yo MTV Raps Live, and Showtime at the Apollo
tapings, well after the movie Juice and his solo album was out. This
is documented fact, do the research, and then do the math.

_______________________________________________________

MYTH 3: DJ DARRYL PRODUCED I GET AROUND; SHOCK-G PRODUCED TEMPTATIONS.

Nope, Easy-Mo Bee produced Temptations, I just happened to be in the
video.

Billboard magazine mistakenly listed I Get Around as produced by DJ
Darryl the whole summer it was on the charts. Just for the record,
here are the songs I produced for Tupac in the order we recorded them:

89 thru 95:
Rebel of the Underground
Revenge of tha Lunatic
Words of Wisdom
Do For Love (acoustic piano + Pac rimin; never officially released)
It Ain't Necessarily So (unreleased)
I Get Around
Still Down (original version, unreleased)
So Many Tears
Fuck the World

after sept 96 remixes:
produced w/Numskull of the Luniz:
Resist the Temptation (unreleased)
Po Nigga Blues
Changes (unreleased)

produced w/Richie Stites & D-Rizzo:
And 2morrow (Havenotz remix, unreleased)

__________________________________________________
MYTH 4: ONLY SELLOUTS DATE BEYOND THEIR RACE

Lenny Kravitz, 50 Cent, David Bowie & Iman, Heidi Klum & Seal, Tiger
Woods parents, my own parents (daddy Shock & momma Humpty), Dennis
Rodman/Carmen Electra, Sean Combs/Jennifer Lopez/Ben Affleck, Hugh
Grant/Divine Brown, Woopie Goldberg, Ted Dansen, and Madonna aren't
the only people who enjoy inter-racial relationships. A couple of less
known others are:

> Robert Deniro (African American wife & daughter)

> Clint Eastwood (African American wife)

> Tupac Shakur (several European American a.k.a. "white" girlfriends;
before/during/and after digital underground)

The importance of not hiding these truths is that concealing them
perpetuates racial divides. Many fans & other people with
impressionable minds view Clint Eastwood as a traditionally "white"
western hero; Deniro as the tuff New York City Italian purest, and
Tupac as a strict "black" revolutionary; all of whom would never date
beyond their own race, a public image which contributes to negative
stereotypes and further alienates the races.
Promote harmony within the mighty & beautiful HUMAN race, and
forever let the truth be known: people are people.

People often joke about successful African American men "selling
out" or "betraying their race" by enjoying the company of a woman of
European or Asian descent, but seldom do we acknowledge the fact that
interracial experimentation seems to be a pastime of successful people
in general.
Perhaps outstanding accomplishments & financial success grants one
the confidence, the freedom, the privacy, or the courage, to follow
ones heart and explore the world more freely? ..without the usual
trappings & scorn from the many unhappy crabs in a barrel who lack the
courage or resources to follow their own hearts?

Okay, what happens in Vegas is supposed to stay in Vegas, but while
we're on the subject, let's review another interesting fact:
If you interview a "black" working girl at any of the brothels &
escort agencies of Nevada, you will find that the majority of their
customers are married "white" male conservatives by day, but chocolate
nookie lovers by night.
Hee hee, and it's the same with all the other "colors" too.
("Hey, I'm married to an apple, but I wanna see what an orange feels
like!")

So don't single out Dennis Rodman or Hugh Grant, "playaz gonna play
wit who dey wanna play wit".

Thank you.
Shock

Posted by SOHH Leftist at 12:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (42)

Can’t believe I’m saying this again already, but it’s Monday. Hopefully everyone had a good weekend and didn’t go fucking up awards shows or anything...

I made the mistake of renting Miami Vice this weekend, and it was a serious fucking waste of two hours of my life; I know this doesn’t relate to hip hop or anything, but I figure if I can put the word out and save a few of you from making the same mistake I did, then why not do so?

I’m gonna get into Wassup Rockers next, and I have a pretty strong feeling that should be better by leaps and bounds. Larry Clarke hasn’t let me down yet...

Before we start things off, I just wanted to touch base on the last few blogs that I’ve posted. Midway through Wednesday, the blog server crashed. It came back up, but then from mid-Thursday on, readers were unable to leave comments (which is a shame, because a lot of you had some interesting things to say in response to the blog). If humans are indeed smarter than machines, than by the time you’re reading this, you should be able to leave comments; if you get the chance, let me know what you thought of the videos I posted on Friday because I definitely want to hear what you think.

Getting right to business, I recieved an email from a publicist I know at Epitaph Records, which is the label that The Coup is signed to. Rather than trying to paraphrase it for you, I figured I’d just repost it for you all to read. I understand that a lot of you might not have the means to help out (unless all of you that come on here and brag about being big time hustlers are telling the truth, which I seriously doubt), but if you do, then you should throw a couple bucks their way. The artists that were involved in the crash are prime examples of hip hop artists who struggle so that they can entertain and sometimes enlighten fans.

At any rate, here’s the letter from Boots Riley:

The Crash
So,
we got on the bus after doing a show at The House of Blues San Diego as part of The Coup/Mr. Lif tour. As the bus took off, I thought that I would go lay in my bunk, listen to my Ipod, and write. But then Zhara, Mr. Lif's friend and the tour's merchandise seller, announced that she had "Anchorman" on DVD. Oh Shit. Will Ferrell or writing? Hot 16s would have to wait tonight...Good Night San Diego! So I stayed up in the front lounge of the bus and, even though I've seen this movie twice, commenced to laugh my ass off. Almost literally, because of what happened next. Shortly after the acapella singing of "Afternoon Delight" by Ferrell et al., a big bump, then another, then plummeting down as we tipped over to the left. I was sitting in the diner-like booth that many of these buses have in the front. I held on to the table with one hand and tried to guard my head with the other, all the while thinking that I was probably about to die. I don't remember seeing everyone flying and flipping around me as it was happening, but Carter's (the road manager) and Wiz's face were covered in blood, and everybody seemed to be laying around hurt. The bus was on it's side, with the entrance door up. I called for people to say there names so we could get a head count of who was conscious or not. Silk E, Q (drums), Riccol (bass), and Metro (Lif's hype man) were trapped in the back lounge because the doors connecting the front and back lounges to the bunks were electrically powered and didn't move with no power on. They ended up ripping and squeezing their way out of a tiny little window and jumped down off the bus as the rest of us got out the front. I was the third person to jump off the front of the bus, as I hung down to make the jump shorter, I saw that the front of the bus was on fire. I yelled to everyone, saying to get off the bus immediately because the bus was on fire and it could blow up. We all did. No one was killed. The bus was totally engulfed in flames. For a while no one stopped to help, supposedly because the thought we were "illegal aliens" crossing the border. Eventually some great folks stopped and helped. Silk E has two broken ribs and a punctured lung. Wiz has a broken nose, two deep lacerations to the head, and a shattered knee. Zhara has injuries to her hand and had to undergo surgery. Carter had to get stitches to his head and lip. The driver, Glenn, has a broken jaw. All the first three will be in need of follow-up treatments. We all have aching backs, legs, heads etc. Many of us are on pain killers.

We lost everything in that crash and fire. We were packed to live and do shows on that bus for a month. Most of us had every stitch of clothing we owned on there. We lost clothes, computers, recording equipment, cameras, IDs, phones, keys to cars and homes. We lost cash.We lost all our damn instruments and equipment to perform with. We were and are happy to walk away with our lives. But now we're home. Most of  the band touring with The Coup has kids, rent that won't quit, bills, and holiday expenses coming. We need money, because like I said the band doesn't have the tools that they make a living with. Not only did we lose cash and material things on the bus, but we also were depending on this tour for money to make it through. It may take a year for us to see any money from the insurance company.

I have set up a Paypal account so people can make donations for The Coup. The money will be split between Me (Boots Riley), Silk E, Q, Steve Wyreman (guitar), and Riccol. Mr. Lif is setting one up on his site and when I have that info, we'll let you know.

There should be a button right below this that allows you to donate even without a paypal account.

If you have an account, ours is thecoupbuscrash@gmail.com.

Thank you in advance to anyone who does this, this is a really crazy situation. I never thought I would would be doing something like this. I also never thought that we would almost die like like that.

We're grateful for anything you can do.
Thank you,
Boots Riley

P.S. Thank you for the messages of love and warmth we've been receiving. It makes a difference.
4:25 PM "

There's a Pay Pal button to make a donation at The Coup's MySpace page (under: 'About The Coup'):
http://www.myspace.com/thecoupmusic

Come holler at the official SOHH Left Coast myspace page at www.myspace.com/sohhleftcoast

Posted by SOHH Leftist at 12:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (11)

Today we’re gonna end the week the same way we came into it: with some classic west coast video business. But today I’m gonna hit you off with two for the price of .. um...none.

We’re gonna start off with one for all my L.A. heads...

Man, poor Dj Pooh, always getting picked on...

Hard to believe that Tha Alkaholiks once existed without Rico, aka Catashtrophe, aka Tash, but such a time did exist. King Tee drops the fucking heat with his verse, as he always does; it’s a shame that he got slept on for pretty much all of his career because he’s definitely one of the dopest to ever do this, from any coast. Tha Alkaholiks got a little more shine then their mentor, but they were still criminally slept on up until last year, when they released their garbage-ass swan song, and broke up for good. Tash has been in my list of top 5 MCs since the first verse I ever heard him spit, and I still think that in his prime, he could’ve merked just about any rapper in the game, past present or future.

Next up, we have a little something for the Bay Area cats...

It was between this one and “How We Comin” (with Rick Rock, Mystikal, and Big Lurch’s crazy shermhead ass), but you know I had to go with the classic. If the Bay had an anthem, this joint (and of course "I Got 5 On It") would definitely be among the top 5 choices.

If there are any West Coast classic videos that anyone wants to see up here, leave your suggestions and I'll pick one of them to post next Friday.

As always, have a good weekend, and be safe. I'll see you all on Monday.

Holler at the official SOHH Left Coast Myspace page at www.myspace.com/sohhleftcoast

Posted by SOHH Leftist at 12:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (16)

As some of you might already know, this past Saturday, members of Bay Area political hip hop outfit The Coup were involved in a fiery bus crash in the early morning. Luckily, both Boots Riley and Pam The Funkstress -- as well as their touring partner Mr.Lif -- made it out relatively unscathed, despite losing equipment, cash, laptops and clothing.

When SOHH posted an article on Tuesday covering the bus crash, someone reponded with a comment saying,”Who is this garbage? Cmon let’s report on some real artists not some crappy a$$ no names,” and it immediately got me to thinking: how the fuck is it that this guy’s never heard of The Coup or Mr. Lif? That led me to thinking about something else -- has underground hip hop completely lost its footing in today’’s market?

When I was growing up, I learned to love all kinds of different shit that I came across, from RBL Posse to Heltah Skeltah, to Goodie Mob, to Hiero, to Freestyle Fellowship, to Mobb Deep, to Beatnuts, and so on. After being conditioned to having an open mind towards music, I just carried on with that same mentality; if I liked something, I liked it, whether it was on a major label or on some indie.

I’ve posted a couple blogs on here about some underground artists, and the blogs elicited the same response from some people as the article on The Coup’s bus crash did. Instead of trying to expose themselves to something new, and maybe doing some research on an artist or group they’ve never heard of, motherfuckers just want to hear about some mainstream shit that they’re familiar with. It’s almost as though people quit digging to discover good music; now they just sit around and wait for Interscope or Def Jam to spoon feed them their hip hop, which is sad as fuck.

I guess what I’m trying to get at is this: do any of you still care about underground hip hop?

Posted by SOHH Leftist at 12:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (30)

I apologize if the blog is a little scatterbrained today, but cold season is officially in full motherfuckin’ effect, and I feel like death. I’m gonna take some meds, get some rest, and hopefully tomorrow I’ll be back in top form so I can argue with you all intermittently throughout the day.

I’m still trying to get the lowdown on just what happened at the B.A.R.S. Awards on Saturday, but details seem to be pretty scarce and the official B.A.R.S. website has been no help. I did to talk to my homie Portia Jackson, who is the publicist for Mob Figaz, Traxamillion, and Bay Area DJ team The Demolition Men, and from the way she recounted the night’s events, shit sounded like it got way out of hand.

According to her, the ceremony only had the time to get a few performances off (apparently the awards were to be handed out after the performances) before the event was shut down. Dudes kept making their way to the stage with huge entourages in tow, and as she recalls, someone she didn’t recognize pulled out a cash wad and started making comments about how no one else was walkin’ around with 10 G’s like he was; as she recalls, it was around then that things started to get out of control. As people started crowding around the press area in front of the stage as if it were a concert (which it wasn’t), more and more attendees started climbing up on the stage, which she described as “huge.”

At one point, somewhere around 300 people were on the stage, and although many of the artists who were either performing or presenting- including E-40, San Quinn and Keak Da Sneak -tried to diffuse the situation by attempting to talk the crowd off the stage, eventually the San Mateo Police Department took things into their own hands, and was leading the entire crowd towards the exits in single file lines. Booyowski, one of the event’s head coordinators, apparently yelled out the award winners (with no microphone, albeit) before the event was completely shut down. In a moment that could best be described as bittersweet, The Jacka of Mob Figaz won Best Underground Artist Of The Year; unfortunately, not many other people were around to hear it.

There’s definitely a sense of disappointment shared by many Northern California hip hop fans that this event went down the way it did; after years of fighting to be taken seriously by the rest of the hip hop world, a few people put forth the effort to do something for their own scene and to provide an event where we could show gratitude to the artists that are displaying the talent and effort to push Bay Area rap to the forefront. And instead of making the shit pop off like it could have, a bunch of ignorant jackasses had to ruin it and show the rest of the world that a lot of people from the Bay Area still aren’t ready be taken seriously.

And one last thing; to clear things up for all of you dumb motherfuckers who think that every artist that comes out of the bay is a hyphy artist, it’s time to pull your heads out of your asses. What happened at the BARS awards had nothing to do with the so-called hyphy movement, and a good portion of the artists in attendance have absolutely nothing to do with that scene. Saying that someone like Yukmouth or The Jacka or Guce is associated with hyphy is like saying that every rapper outta NYC is associated with “Chicken Noodle Soup,” or that every rap artist down South is making snap music. If you’re not familiar with Bay Area hip hop, bite your fucking tongue and do some research before you start running your mouth.

Posted by SOHH Leftist at 12:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (19)

For all of those who complain about how Tipper Gore and Oprah have tried to hold hip hop back, this weekend proved that we as hip hop fans are doing a pretty good job of doing that by ourselves.

After last year’s B.A.R.S. Awards in San Francisco turned into a retarded example of hyphy gone bad, this year’s awards ceremony was held in San Mateo. I had press credentials and a ticket to attend the event, but at the last minute I decided not to go, due in part to the stories I had heard about how crazy last year’s event had gotten. When I reached out to the B.A.R.S. publicist that I had been corresponding with so that I could get this year’s award results, she had this to say:

“If you didn't hear, the show ended early due to kaos and mayhem. It wasn't that bad (when I left however), but there were police there in riot gear with german shepard dogs when it was over, escorting everybody out. E-40 came and performed. San Quinn performed, but after that ... people kept crowding the stage and jumping on stage even though they were told to stop. Even the police were inefficient with controlling the crowd. www.barsawards.com is the official website. Don't know how much information you will be able to get.”

This shit is so fucking lame; after last year’s awards went south, they found a city that was willing to give them another chance, and fans act a fool and shut shit down. Can we have one fucking hip hop show that doesn’t end in a riot or gunshots?

At this point, I’d say A1-Sway and Booyowski, the organizers of the event, will be pretty hard pressed to find a venue willing to host the awards next year, which is a shame, because a lot of the nominated artists were pretty hyped at their chance to be recognized by the scene that’s supported them. There’s a pretty good article at insidebayarea.com that featured some commentary from San Quinn, DJ Backside and Band Aide from Dem Hoodstarz illustrating how the artists hoped the event would go down; you can check that article out here.

As of right now, the only awards winner that I can confirm is Jacka from Mob Figaz, who one Best Underground Artist. I’ve been searching for a more in-depth story as to exactly what happened and who won, but the best info I could get came from the email above, and from one newspaper story that’s being reprinted word for word on several different news sites. You can check it out here.

On a related note, there a couple dope Bay Area albums dropping today; Thizz Nation, Vol. 8: Starring Mistah Fab, Mac Dre’s 16 Wit Dre, Part 2What You Know About Me will be hitting the record shelves. That Messy Marv album is gonna be a beast, and the other two should be worth copping as well.

Posted by SOHH Leftist at 12:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (54)

There's not too many people on the planet who love Mondays, so hopefully this will help you through the day a little bit. Gotta love pagers and Cross Colours outfits...

I'm sure that just about everybody can associate this joint with some kind of memory, so feel free to take a minute out of your day and reflect for a moment. And I know you all know the words, so unless you're watching this on the low at work, don't be afraid to sing along...

Posted by SOHH Leftist at 12:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (393)

So my friend Danny told me a pretty interesting story while he was visiting Sacramento the other day. Danny works at Freshjive, a clothing company out of L.A., and he told me that Lil’ Eazy E's lawyer sent them a cease and desist order (which is a pretty common occurrence in the clothing biz) regarding a new shirt design with an image of Eazy E and “Freshjive” in the same font as the Ruthless logo. What makes this interesting is that Lil Eazy was wearing said shirt at the BET Hip Hop Awards a couple days prior. Gotta love those Cali lawsuits...

I finally got a chance to hear the Messy Marv/Mob Figaz collabo, Explosive Mode Vol. 3 and the shit is fire... for anyone who likes that Bay Area gangsta shit (which shall be referred to as B.A.G.S. from this day forward), this album is for you. There’s a track on there called “Dope Man (Me)” that’s worth the $14.99 by itself. As far as Bay dudes doing big things right now, Mob Figaz are those dudes; besides this joint, Jacka, Ap. 9 and Husalah recently released Mob Trial, and Jacka and Husalah released the oddly-titled Shower Posse. I just scooped up both of those albums and will be checking 'em out in the next few days; I’ll let you know how they are.

There’s a dope new video on Youtube for Percee P's new joint “Put It On The Line,” produced by Madlib. The video features a little bit of footage of the NY-bred mc, who currently resides in Cali, and a lot of footage of some 1979-era NYC biker gang called the Savage Skulls. Check it out.

Teenage mutant hyphy group The Pack are set to release an E.P. called... ahem... Skateboards 2 Scrapers. Seriously. And their publicist was kind enough to translate the word “slumpers” for everyone she sent the email out to. Besides “Vans,” which is equally loved and loathed by hip hop heads (alright, maybe it's a little more loathed than loved) throughout the nation, the E.P. also has songs called “Ride My Bike” and “Freaky Bopper.” This sounds so ridiculous that I almost want to hear it, even more so after I saw them on BET about a month ago; the Bubba Gump-looking dude (on the upper left on the album cover) couldn’t even close his mouth to pronounce a word because he had huge ass grill that made him look like somebody shoved the fender off of a Cadillac in his mouth. I can’t wait to hear this dude rap now...

Bay Area para-revolutionaries The Coup have resumed their North American tour in support of their new album, Pick A Bigger Weapon. They’ll also be playing the Sonoma County Fairgrounds on New Year’s Eve.

And to end a sad note, hitsdailydouble.com projected that first week sales for Clipse's sophomore album Hell Hath no Fury will be around 122,000. The good news is that they also projected total sales of around 940,000, which isn’t too bad. NOW GO BUY THAT SHIT IF YOU HAVEN'T ALREADY.

Alright everyone; that's a wrap; have a good weekend, and be safe.

Posted by SOHH Leftist at 12:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (182)