I recently hung with Zulu Nation/Rebel Alliance/Highland Park rapper Sista Hailstorm for a story (she'd just returned from a mission-trip to Rwanda, you'll have to read my story when it comes out for the details...)
Part of being on the West Coast is that by the time we're eating Cheerios, the East Coast has been working for hours. Football starts at 10 AM on a Sunday and that really messes with East Coasters' minds. Well, that's why this post didn't post at 10 AM. But yesterday, we caught up with Mistah F.A.B., who was in LA to teach celebrities how to rap with Too $hort. The Baydestrian talked about everything from his label frustrations to putting the entire coast on his back and we got the exclusive interview for our beloved cookie cutters.
We think this video of the Game exiting court yesterday is mad entertaining. Especially the dude in the background who goes, "right on, brother." Check it out and see for yourself...
While we're grinding and working on some upcoming new sh*t for you the fine commenters of SOHH Left Coast, we wanted to impart you with a quote from a certain Queensbridge rapper about hip-hop out here (while he was in LA). We'll let you weigh in...
DJ Skee is real peoples and he hooked you cookie cutters up real good on this fine Monday morning. Click here to hear "To The Top" from the very serious mixtape DJ Skee & Snoop Dogg Present Terrace Martin: Soundwave. The track features rhymes from Game, Snoop, Martin and the musical stylings of Uncle Chucc and it's very official. Considering both Game and Snoop just skirted two charges, they were probably due for a celebration.
Well, everyone knew it was just a pipe dream, but Dr. Dre told the Los Angeles Times that Detox will not leave rehab this year. Maybe he's been too busy working out.
DJ Skee might not have been born in LA, but he's repping real hard for this city right now. Best known as The Game's mixtape DJ, he's less than a year into his gig on Power 106 (aka the biggest hip-hop station in the country) and already turning around that old adage that LA radio doesn't support its own. Check out his Five on the Rise out of the hometown Los Angeles.
What would you ask Jay Rock if you could interview him?
Once a week we here @ SOHH Left like to deflect the hateration to an innocent bystander...meet J Prince!
So listen, I'm proposing that one day a week you all cut us some slack and let us cover something rap relevant but not just West Coast related â€" something we have to bring up because it makes us go "uh?" (Sometimes "uhhhnnn"). For example, this week's "he did not just say that" which comes by way of LL Cool J's famous lips (sorry but i'm a girl)...
This cover got us wonderin'...
I keep talking about this weekly column piece called “How the West Was Lost,†but I’m not sure you cookie cutters are ready for it. While there are always sprinkles of “Where’s the new sh*t?†and calling us a museum when we rep the Cali classics, the West Coast remains antiquated because the majority of cats don’t want to give up the sound that was knocking boots in 1993. That was 14 years ago and you are old. With that said, can the West really be won with production by DJ Toomp and a hook from Akon?
On this day of Tupac Week, SOHH Left reached out to a few homies to tell us in their own words, Pac's legacy. What did the fallen rapper mean to you?
Part of Tupac’s legacy was that through rhymes, interviews and movies, he was able to exist more as a human than any other rapper before or since. In SOHH Left’s continued tribute to the life he ledâ€"on this, the day that he passed, 11 years ago todayâ€"we take a look at the films that made ‘Pac a suitor of Janet Jackson, a foe of Omar Epps and a partner of James Belushi.
One writer imagines a world in which Tupac survived. What do you think?
Say what you will about all the lost tapes, unreleased b-sides, posthumous remixes and mid-album placeholders, Tupac’s greatest work was always in the singles. The hits were that way for a reason: They remain the man’s best pieces of artistry. In continued celebration of Pac’s life, eleven years after his passing, here are his six greatest singles.
"I don't have no fear of death. My only fear is coming back reincarnated." â€"2Pac
The blessing and the curse of the Internet is the accessibility of accessibility. MySpace/Crackspace/Facebook your music and it's instantaneously available to billions. This isn't pushing units out the trunk, this is streaming to the masses.
Alright, so leading off with a little diversity probably wasn't the move. Fair enough. From time to time SOHH Left will be looking at events surrounding hip-hop culture, but it probably should've been saved until a time when it made sense to you cookie cutters. Tomorrow, you'll get an exclusive interview with DJ Muggs on his new record and a preview of the new album. If you got questions for Muggs, put them in today's comments and we'll ask them. This is how SOHH Left will be popping in the future too; as long as they haven't passed (Pac, Eazy, Mac Dre) or continue to be holed up, afraid of the world (Dr. Dre), we'll get at them for you. But for today, the present, you get a blast from the past with the first installment of West Coast Customs.
Ain't nothing more hip-hop than sneakers...well, maybe lyrics and beats...but still, sneakers are pretty close to the fifth element. The biggest sneaker spot in LA had a BBQ banger and SOHH Left Coast was there to give you the rundown.
We begin by giving proppers to our predecessor: SOHH Eighty held down the Left Coast for a minute, but please, allow us to introduce ourselves and the O.G-enius that you'll find in these pages every single day.
