June 2007 Archives

First off, I just wanna thank everybody for contributing their opinions yesterday and giving me some feedback. I'll definitely take what you guys wanna read into account, and do my best to continue to hook up interviews with artists that I feel like you would be interested in. Doing interviews is a pain in the ass (dudes always being on "rapper time" and calling you 45 minutes late when you got other s**t to do) and they're even more of a pain in the ass to transcribe, but I know that it adds some flavor to SOHH Left Coast, and hopefully you guys have enjoyed reading the interviews I've posted thus far.

That said, enjoy this interview with Planet Asia. I hope you all have a good weekend.

My internet's been crapping out again today, so I only have a quick second to post some s**t...

I wanted to get some feedback from you, the readers about a couple things. First off, after the complaining about the lack of coverage on dope up-and-coming artists, yesterday's blog reviewing the new Planet Asia album got ZERO love. I did an interview with him last week and was planning on posting it on Friday, but should I even bother?

It was less than a year ago (a week short of 9 months, to be exact) that Planet Asia dropped The Medicine, which featured production by Evidence on each and every track. On Tuesday, the Fresno vet dropped his fourth proper full-length, Jewelry Box Sessions: The Album, and the s**t is off the chain (no pun intended).

Apparently Suge Knight is being forced to sell the house that Death Row built. After being forced into bankruptcy following Lydia Harris’ 2005 lawsuit (which ended in the judge awarding $107 million to the plaintiff), big Sugar Bear is slangin’ his seven bedroom, nine-and-a-half bathroom Malibu mansion for $6.2 bajillion (million) dollars.

Hopefully everybody had a chill weekend, but now it’s Monday, so we’re gonna start the week off the same way that we always do- with another West Coast Classic.

I know there are a lot of you out there that like to hate on the backpacker s**t, but I think even you might have a hard time denying this one.

Some of you have been waitin’ on the Turf Talk review ever since its June 5th release (thanks for the patience... Bookayfam, I see you), while others who have made their unadulterated hatred for Bay Area rap obvious, couldn’t care less. Yet even more of you have no idea who Turf Talk is, where he’s from, or what he sounds like. But I think everyone mentioned above is in for a big surprise if they cop his sophomore album, West Coast Vaccine (The Cure)- as far as Cali hip hop albums that have dropped in 2007, Turf has put out one of the most solid offerings thus far.

After yesterday’s momentary deviation from the course, it’s time to back on track with the reviews. Today we have two amazing albums that are dropping in July from one of my favorite West Coast hip hop labels, Stones Throw. If you don’t already know, the label- founded by the indelible Peanut Butter Wolf -is responsible for bringing us classic albums from Jaylib (Jay Dilla and Madlib), Madvillain (MF Doom and Madlib), Lootpack, Wildchild, Oh No, Jay Dilla, Aloe Blacc, MED, and Rasco over the last ten years, and this year looks to be another strong year full of dope releases.

I’m going to have to stray from my original plan for this week, which was originally to bring you a bunch of new West Coast album reviews. We’ll get back on track with that tomorrow, but for the time being, we have something a little more important to discuss...

I know a lot of you have been wondering where Ron Mexico (of Talkin’ Videos fame) disappeared to as of May 11th. I went back and forth with him in a couple of emails, and while I knew the situation and what brought it about, I had no idea what its outcome would be. But as of yesterday, it’s official: it’s not looking like Ron will be returning to SOHH. Some of you may already know the whole story, but for those of you who don’t, here’s the abbreviated version.

The promos have been pilin’ up for a second now, so I’m gonna take this week to catch you up on some new music from all ends of the spectrum. A few of these album come out soon, a couple of them don’t drop for a month or so, and some of them were already released in recent weeks.

To start things off, I’m gonna have to show some hometown love and speak on one of the biggest and best to come out of the Capitol, C-Bo. It’s been a good couple of years for Bo Loc; after dropping the well-recieved Money To Burn in 2006, he shocked everyone by signing to Young Buck’s Cashville Records earlier this year. And most recently, on June 5th he dropped the third installment of his West Coast Ryders series, The Southeast Connection. The verdict? It’s one of the best yet.

Today we’re going to take a second to bring back a West Coast Classic from a dude that’s held it down in the game now for over 15 years, and is still as relevant as ever. That man is DJ Quik, and the song we’re lookin’ at today is his very first single, “Tonite”, from his 1991 debut album, Quik Is The Name.

In regards to all the drama taking place in the response section of SOHH Left Coast over the last two days, having people go back and forth bickering at each other definitely wasn't my intention. But no matter what coast they're from a lot of people are proud of where they're from and are apparently pretty quick to flare up when someone's talking s**t about their city. Not to mention that Summer's here with a f**kin' vengeance, and the heat is known to make people a little irritable.

So uhhh, I’m not necessarily trying to be on some East Coast/West Coast beef s**t here, but something really had to be said about this.

On Tuesday I posted a blog about boycotting DMX’s upcoming albums since he recently made disparaging comments about West Coast hip hop. Although there were plenty of responses of the “f**k that crackhead DMX” ilk, there were also numerous comments made by some East Coast heads that were throwing some hate my way, and even more that were sending hate in the direction of the West Coast in general.

I gotta be totally honest here... Out of the first few joints that I heard from 40 Glocc, I was feeling a grand total of... zero of them.

Mobb Deep had a semi-decent track record up to this point as far as artists that they’d taken under their collective wing (Big Noyd and Twin weren’t all that bad), but I just wasn’t really feeling their draft pick from the West Coast- his voice and flow weren’t really all that dope to me, and his choice in beats always seem to be kind of spotty. And last but not least, that “So Hyphy” track that he dropped was ridiculously bad on so many levels (especially for a dude who’s not even from The Bay).

DMX’s best-of album, Definition Of X: Pick Of The Litter comes out today. And if all is right in the world, the first week album sales on the West Coast for this album and his next new album (tentatively titled Soul Of A Man) will add up to a paltry ZERO.

Another Monday, another West Coast Classic for everyone.

It took a few years and several albums for Xzibit to really blow up after he emerged on the Cali rap scene, but once his talent was witnessed by the masses, he could not be ignored anymore. While it took Dre and Pimp My Ride to really make him a household name, a lot of us found out about the man in 1996 when he announced his arrival on the scene with this little gem...

We’re gonna end the week off on a high note. I got an email about this video the other day, and knew instantly that there was a pretty good chance it would turn out to be dope.

And sure enough...

Record company people are shadyyyyyyy...

The other day an email was passed down through the ranks of SOHH and ended up on my doorstep like a paper bag full of dogs**t lit on fire. Well, it just so happens that Uninteresting Propaganda is my third middle name, so I’m gonna run with it.

Last Wednesday on his radio show on L.A.s Power 106, DJ Skee revealed that he will be teaming up with Nu Jerzey Devil to drop a collaborative mixtape from The Game and Lil’ Wayne, tentatively titled Blood Brothers.

And yes, this means all of you Game haters and Weezy haters finally have the chance to join up and share your respective “fake Blood” accusations.

Rejoice.

I gotta make this one quick... It's dumb hot here in Sac, and apparently Comcast's modems don't work all that well in high temperatures, because my s**t's been going down intermittently all weekend. So without further ado, here is your West Coast Classic for the week, from the Godfather of Bay Area rap.

So out of all the emails I get every day, about 85% of them are bulls**t. Some of ‘em I skim through, some of them I delete right away, some of ‘em I ignore.

But I’m glad I opened this last one from a publicist at Warner Brothers about a newly signed MC from Watts and his new single, “Lift Me up”...