SOHH LEFT COAST

After a thoroughly successful (and drama-free) first event, March 8th will see the second installment of the Unity Festival. DJ Muggs and Chace Infinite’s tribute to Bigga B is definitely shaping up to be a consistent string of dope events, and hopefully it continues to succeed at achieving the goal its organizers were aiming for- bringing Los Angeles residents of various ethnicities and background together to celebrate hip hop culture in a peaceful manner.

Where the last installment (which I had also posted a blog about prior to the event taking place; hopefully some of you got the chance to go and check it out) saw performances from Strong Arm Steady, Chace Infinite (of Self Scientific) with Sick Symphonies, and Ras Kass with Alchemist, March’s Unity Festival will feature performances from Chino XL, Pacific Division & The Oddibles, La Coka Nostra and Evidence with Defari.

I’ve had the chance to see Evidence perform with Dilated Peoples, and I also saw Defari rock it a few times alongside Tha Alkaholiks so I can definitely vouch that the two of them onstage together will make for a dope performance. Chino XL used to be one of the hugest lyrical talents in the West, but these days, he’s more of a swole-up b-movie actor than any kind lyrical force to be wreckoned with. Nonetheless, if he touches down on any of the classics from Here to Save You All it should make for at least a couple great moments.

As far as the other acts, I’m not really sure... and I don’t mean that in a bad way, but I’m just not really familiar. La Coka Nostra is apparently a new project from Danny Boy, Everlast (yup, he’s rapping again instead of singing), DJ Lethal and Ill Bill- so it’s basically House Of Pain featuring one-third Non Phixion. I was never really a big fan of House Of Pain- although of course I got down with “Jump Around” when that shit first came out back in the day, and you’re lying out of your ass if you try to say that you didn’t -and I can’t stand all of the bluesy, wannabe folk shit that Everlast tried to do, but I will say that Ill Bill is a fucking maniac on the mic. I listened to a couple of songs on their myspace page, and it wasn’t really all that impressive. But that was mostly due to weak production, so maybe the live show will be something different.

As far as Pacific Division, these guys are the shit. Their sound is along the lines of Little Brother or early Slum Village shit, and they’ll definitely bring a positive vibe to the event. If you haven’t heard them yet, check out their myspace page at www.myspace.com/pacificdivisionmusic; they have some major heaters on their for you to check out.

Basically, if you’re out in the L.A. area, you should go out and check this event out. Muggs, Chace Infinite and the rest of the Soul Assassins camp are doing an amazing thing here by tryin to put on quality events, and more importantly, by doing something to try to make hip hop events safe and fun environments again. For more details, vist www.myspace.com/unitysuperfest.

Also, I know the haters out there don’t celebrate this holiday, but for every man or woman out there that’s going to be celebrating Valentine’s Day with the person they love, my best goes out to you and yours. Today’s actually my one year wedding anniversary, so I’m loving this day already. And I’m especially looking forward to crackin’ that 1998 bottle of Dom P that we got on our wedding day.

If you’re looking for a soundtrack to whatever you’ve got planned for tonight, Los Angeles DJ and label founder extraordinaire Peanut Butter Wolf put together a nice little Valentine’s Day mixtape that’s available until tomorrow. You can listen to it at http://www.stonesthrow.com/pbwolf/valentinesday.html.

Or you can just pop in the ol’ Al Green tape...

Either way, enjoy your day whether you’re sharing it with someone else or not.