Hard body. That's what Jayceon spits on this "911 Is A Joke (Cop Killa)". A Huey P Newton reference and everything. Listen to the track and then watch his 8-minute diatribe on why he admires Hillary Clinton, or something.
It worked for Ghostface (when he flipped Beyonce's summer jam), maybe it'll work for Willy Northpole. And as he's a Phoenix resident, maybe it'll help the Suns come back in that Spurs series.
Classic show with legendary performances left and right, up and down. Peep one of our Left Coast legends in a rare and favorite clip of the show after the flip...
Compton's very own Hot Dollar takes his "I Luv Tha Streetz" to a visual gangsta (gangsta) film noir level with this cinematic video. See if you can ride out the whole 7:08 minutes on the flipside...
Sometimes I say "no Crooked I posts this week," and I almost make it, 'cause it's Thursday and I had no need to gush about some four bar metaphor that goes over most of your heads for the first three days of the week. But no one out here, strike that, no one in hip-hop is as prolific and bar-by-bar exciting as Crooked I is right now (at the recorded verse). He takes on New York on the flip...does he win?
No rapper's voice is comparing to dude's, right now or maybe ever. His raspy is bananas. Who can compete with him? Weezy? Only on his weirder I feel like dying days. Mr. Lif? He's an underground cat out of Boston that you cookie cutters will try and clown me for even mentioning. Watch the video for "That Go", featuring Prodigy and Alchemist and discuss amongst yourselves...
Our fam @ URB Magazine caught up with three nice MCs from the LA area who go by the collective name: Pacific Division. Check out what they have to say about the Left Coast, some interesting influences on their music and how they keep the flow breezy...
The Game pays homage to his heroes on this smooth joint with Keisha Cole, callin' out some of his favorite rappers and sentimental moments in music history. Take a walk down memory lane with "Pain" on the flip...
Blue Scholars "Loyalty" Music Video from Zia Mohajerjasbi on Vimeo.
The Pacific Northwest is better known for its temperate rain storms and early-'90s ploy to steal shine from Dr. Dre (we see you Nirvana), but it's a major city like any other. Just because Ray Charles moved there to leave the South doesn't mean it's without the hard knock race and class fueled isms that run this country.
We are feelin' the freestyle love these days. That, and we just got home from the Jay-Z concert at the Hollywood Bowl, so we're also feelin' a little beat and a lot hyped on hip-hop. Plus, we rarely get to post about Carmen Electra's ex.
Well, color us speechless. This is what Snoop Dogg looked like at Monday night's Country Music Awards (what? you missed it?) Ya'll might not think Snoop would show up at a hoedown (actually, on second thought, maybe he would) but there was, paying homage to the late, great "Man In Black" in more ways than one...
The late great Tupac Shakur was famously quoted as saying that he spent much of his time in the womb as his mother spent time in prison. As if he was born incarcerated. It's a striking metaphor for the black community and the struggles that are inherently thrust upon it through systematic racism and centuries of oppression. I've wondered out loud for years if the CIA was behind the assassination of Tupac Shakur in continued efforts to deny the black community a strong leader...so I'm not mad at Alicia Keys. And I doubt Afeni Shakur is, either.
So while I was gone, LA got all sorts of hot. It's officially sweltering in the city of angels and even my inbox is feeling it. Got two dollops of knowledge regarding mixtapes from DJ Warrior, DJ Envy and DJ Skee, plus the accompanying music.
Another Friday, another round-up of various goods that fell through the cracks throughout the week. I've been on vacation all week--doing this remotely from the future, sons and daughters--and promise to have some trilly hot ish in the coming days. Until then, send me your photos (craigthatclapp@gmail.com) and i'll get you in this Snoop video. I can see Hate Hate And More Hate's red hair on Snoop's body right now. Ew.
Frank "Webby" Meyer from G4 online recently caught up with Iceberg Slim in the studio for a spit session and sit down about the state of rap and "rhymin' circles" around weak challengers. Check out the video and then a throwback that takes me way back (and probably you too).
For two very different reasons, Ice Cube and The Game are two of the most intense artists we have in hip-hop, and certainly two of the most intense out West. They're on the cover of XXL come June. You see Cube's brand of intensity above, but wait till you see the faux-hawk wonder that is The Game's image.
I know we're currently killin' ya'll with the Crooked I composite, but it's for good reason, not the least of which is two homies: the Crook himself and now, Left Coast nephew/SOHH commenter DJ Skee.
At the end of last week, Crooked I's historical Hip-Hop Weekly series came to an end. The series was as epic as some critics have noted but not just for its productivity and commitment, but for Crook's lyrical mastery that never once slipped throughout this series' 52 weeks.
A video is currently making 'rounds and revolutions in cyberspace and we wanted to take a minute to acknowledge it. Actually, you know whatâ€"you're rightâ€"we just love an exclusive to look back on a West Coast hip-hop classic. But this time there is a twist...
We started doing this on Fridays, then stopped and now we're doing it on a Thursday. It's one of those weeks. And y'all can't even appreciate a well-written joke. All sorts of goodies from Snoop, Crooked I, Sick Jacken and more for 'ya.
Sometimes us here @ SOHH Left can get a little self-centered, aka Cali-centric. That said, we wanted to give a shout out to our SouthWest homies in what Willy NorthPole calls the Four Cornersâ€"Utah, Colorado, Arizona and New Mexico.
In a surprise move that parallels Radiohead's release of In Rainbows and the latest Raconteurs' record, Dr. Dre announced that his long-awaited Detox is available on iTunes starting today. SOHH Left Coast has a few highlights from this shocking move and while we're still just listening to the good Doctor's third solo release to review, wow, this is just awesome. We can't believe we're typing this.
