As everyone knows, this will be my last post here on SOHH. It's been almost a year exactly since I posted my first blog on SOHH, and although there were more than a few days when I got fed up with all the bullsh*t that went on in the comments section, there were also plenty of days when I actually enjoyed doing this.
Tomorrow's my last day here at SOHH, but before I bounce, I’m interested in hearing everyone’s five favorite West Coast hip hop albums of all time. You don’t need to give a reason or an explanation as to why, you don’t need to critique and/or talk sh*t on other people’s choices, and you don’t need to give a song by song description of the album... Just list ‘em off.
This the last time you'll ever have to read an installment of "Remembering A West Coast Classic". I know some of you actually enjoyed them, so this one's for all of you...
There are quite a few dope independent albums that either came out recently or will be hitting the shelves soon. I don’t have time to review all of these albums individually and I only have a week left here, so I’ll just post the ones that are worth buying...
I just got back from seeing Stevie Wonder at a sold-out show at the Concord Pavilion, and it was one of the most amazing experiences of my life. You can go see all of the bullsh*t radio station new jack R&B artist Summer Jams in the world and they'll never compare to seeing a three hour set from one of the most influential and talented musicians that any of us will ever experience in our lives.
And by the way, if you think that Stevie Wonder doesn't have anything to do with hip hop, you couldn't be more wrong.
There are a couple of dope events jumping off... If you're anywhere near the 415 or the 209, you should definitely make your way over to one of these events.
This seals the deal... Lil' Eazy is officially not dope.
This beat is kinda sounding like one of Timbaland's throwaways, but even dude's secondhand sh*t is hotter than half the production floating around these days.
I don’t even know what to make of this... As if we needed any more proof that all of this industry gangster bullsh*t is faker than a scam, now Tha Dogg Pound- a group comprised of two self-proclaimed Crips -has signed to Cash Money Records, a label headed by two artists who claim to be Bloods. Kind of like Glasses Malone did.
I know this one's been floating around for a little bit, but I'm interested to see what you all think about it...
This is the second to last installment of "Remembering A West Coast Classic" that I'll be writing for this site, so from here on out I'm just doing whatever I want to do. That said, it was only right that I got this joint in here before I take off.
I don't care what kind of thugged-out tough guy gangster d*ckhead that you procalim to be... If you call yourself a fan of hip hop, there is no denying this song. When it comes to the book of old school West Coast Classics, this one's written in stone...
Go buy it. Even though dude's management hella flaked on setting up the interview that they hit us up for, it's still all love.
I know I've been singing the praises of Crooked I for a minute now, but I think it's goddamn shame how many people are sleeping on this dude. To be perfectly honest, I have no idea who - if anyone - is going to "bring the West back", and I'm pretty burned out on trying to predict it at this point.
If any of you have been keeping up with Mistah Fab’s “Air It Out†video blogs on the myspace, he just dropped part nine of the series. Some of these are funny as hell; there are a few that are a lot better, and most of ‘em are on youtube if you care to check out any of the other ones.
Out of all the artists that 50 has signed since Buck, Banks and Yayo, Mobb Deep are the only ones to have dropped an album so far. Finally, however, it looks like we’re about to see an album from one of the newer members of G-Unit, that member being Spider Loc.
The catch?
Since Cypress Hill is currently making the rounds on the Rock The Bells tour, I had to show them some love on today’s installment of “Remembering West Coast Classic.†Hopefully those of you in L.A. and the surrounding area made it out to the sold out show this past weekend, and for those of you in SF and Sacramento, it’ll be stopping off in Northern Cali next weekend.
For everyone in the LA area who's hitting up the Rock The Bells festival (or has been thinking about going, I've posted the set times for you below. It should be a pretty ridiculous gathering, and I hope to hear from some of you on Monday how the show went.
Everybody take care... I'm off to L.A. for the weekend.
Youtube has already prompted a wave of cheaply-made, on the fly, hand-held camcorder music videos from every dude out there who raps- signed or unsigned. But Carson's own Corporate Thug Roccett has taken it a step further than that by releasing a youtube video for his verse from U.S.D.A.'s "Respect Da Shield".
Check it out...
For those of you who already read part one of the interview, here's the conclusion. If you missed the first half, go dig through last week's blogs and get caught up before you read today's blog. To check out his music, go to www.myspace.com/techniec.
I’m gonna try to keep it balanced with the West Coast Classics these next few weeks, so today we got one for the L.A. heads and one for the Bay Area heads.
I didn't know a whole lot about Techniec going into this interview; I had a heard a couple really dope songs from him, and remembered his appearance on LBC Crew's "Beware My Crew", but I didn't really know a whole lot about him or his background other than the fact that he had a ton of talent, and inexplicably, had never dropped an album even though he had signed with the labels of several big name artists. I had written a short blog about him and when his manager hit me up the next day, I felt as though dude was definitely talented enough (and had an interesting enough story) to warrant an interview.
Needless to say, I was not disappointed. Dude is extremely well-read, and had a plethora of enlightening thoughts, morals and opinions regarding the hip hop game. Although I didn't go into the interview knowing a lot about Techniec, in the end, this turned out to be one of my favorite interviews that I've done since signing on with SOHH.
And for those of you who aren't familiar, I included a little video at the bottom of the page of Tech gettin' down in the booth. And yeah, the sh*t's from an interview with a different website, but whatever.
Read on... and be sure to tune in next Tuesday for the conclusion of the interview.
I just thought I’d take a second today to let everybody know that August will be my last month here. I’ve had some good times here, but an opportunity came along that was too good for me to pass up, and after August 31st, I'll no longer be responsible for posting the SOHH Left Coast blog.
