Bone Thugs-N-Harmony

Rock the Bells - San Manuel Amphitheater - Sept 7 & 8, 2013

Rock the Bells Hip-Hop Festival San Manuel Amphitheater 9/7/13 - 9/8/13 This weekend was the 10th anniversary of hip-hop festival Rock the Bells. Anticipated for its reunions, game changing new artists, and ODB and Eazy-E holograms, it was two days for hip-hop fans and artists to connect. Still, we ... More >>

The Best Concerts to See in L.A. This Weekend

Don't forget to check our constantly-updated Los Angeles Concert Calendar Friday, September 6 Anticon 15th-Anniversary Party featuring Baths, Daedelus, Doseone, et al. ECHOPLEX Tip your hat to 15 years of Anticon greatness: The label/collective founded by Oakland's Adam "Doseone" Drucker has champ ... More >>

Music Picks: Anticon Anniversary, Rock the Bells, Murder By Death

How to Grow Weed in Los Angeles If Dispensaries Go Away

See Also: Medical Weed's Stay of Execution in L.A. Inside 420 W. Pico Ave. in downtown L.A., patients can pick their treatment from a menu; the strains of marijuana have names like "skittles," "sour diesel" and "sucker punch." The main attraction at Kush Connection, though, is "Master Yoda" -- known ... More >>

KDAY, the Gangsta Rap Oldies Station, Breaks New Ground by Playing Music From the Bad Old Days

All They Do Is Win Try: Kid Basketball Players Talk About Rap Music

For the last couple months, I've run an after school basketball program at a middle school. Much as I'd like to say I Phil Jacksoned 'em into a championship caliber squad, that they've grown from piddly-poop to a run 'n gun offensive juggernaut with impenetrable defense, the truth is that the team - ... More >>

Rock the Bells 2012 Lineup Announced

See also: Our review of Rock the Bells 2011 Last night Guerilla Union announced this year's Rock the Bells 2012 dates, headliners and lineup. Beginning in 2010, the hip-hop festival's headliners -- famous acts whose first few albums often outshine their later work -- have performed their classic ... More >>

Bone Thugs-n-Harmony's "Thuggish Ruggish Bone": Why This Song Sucks

[Editor's note: Why This Song Sucks determines why particular tracks blow using science. It appears on West Coast Sound every Wednesday.] Song: Bone Thugs-n-Harmony's "Thuggish Ruggish Bone" History: "Thuggish Ruggish Bone" was Bone Thugs' 1994 breakout single. It's one of the most pioneering, ins ... More >>

If You Don't Like Country Music You're a Blue State Elitist

See also: Toby Keith's "Red Solo Cup": Why This Song Sucks Asking people what kind of music they like can be a loaded question. People want to seem open-minded, yet cool, which for some reason tends to inspire this insipid response: "I like pretty much everything. Except country." (The hipster var ... More >>

The Worst Day Of K-Fed's Life

It's hard to believe, but five years have passed since the release of Kevin Federline's debut Playing With Fire, which came out on Halloween, 2006. It was a scary night for some, but K-Fed was on top of the world. Married to Britney Spears, he was psyched to finally bring his brand of hip-hop to the ... More >>

Nappy Roots - El Cid - September 13, 2011

Rebecca HaithcoatNappy Roots​Nappy Roots El Cid September 13, 2011 Better than ... whatever you were doing at home. Hip-hop group the Nappy Roots have four albums, one of which is multi-platinum. Their producers include everyone from Raphael Saadiq to Kanye West to Lil Jon. And to this day, ... More >>

1st Generation at Club Nokia, 7/23/11

Ian Cohen​1st Generation Club Nokia July 23, 2011 Better than: Compton High School's annual talent show, but possibly not. It's been said that you can instantly judge the economic health of a neighborhood based on the prevalence of barriers: fences, security systems, especially speed bumps. ... More >>

Mash-Up Party in the USA: The LA Weekly Interview with Girl Talk

Photo by JP Coakley​ In a lot of ways, Gregg Gillis, a.k.a. mash-up artist Girl Talk, isn't as reckless as he used to be. You wouldn't guess that from toilet paper hurricane raining down on you at his show, nor the wall of pulsing neon lights, nor the mess of confetti and balloons he tends to ... More >>

Music Picks: Dum Dum Girls, Tricky, Leon Russell, OFF!

Also, Peaches, Killing Joke, Albert Lee and others

Whatever Happened to N.W.A's Posse?

The Eazy-E True Hollywood (or True Compton) Stories behind the legendary L.A. hip-hop cover

Music Picks: Gary Numan, Ana Moura, Mark Sultan, XBXRX

Also, California E.A.R. Unit, Bonobo, Mr. Gnome, Grouper and others

Weekend Roundup: Backyard Boogie at House M

Regal D​ It was a cozy night last Friday at House M. The squared bar, mirrored walls and old fashioned  décor could made you feel nostalgic for home. DJ Rudebwoy spun an opening set of clean jungle to the few arriving and winding down, while DJ D-Dub followed with an all ragga set and DJ A ... More >>

The Miseducation of Freddie Gibbs

In 2009, rap is no longer dangerous. Meet an MC wrestling with capital-letter issues: blood, dirt and death

Talking Hip Hop (and Phil Collins) With At the Movies' Ben Lyons

By Brandon Perkins Perhaps if Ben Lyons' movie chops were as obvious as his hip-hop track record, then sites like StopBenLyons.com wouldn't exist. Ever since the E! personality took the helm of the Siskel, Roper and Ebert's beloved At the Movies, Lyons has been berated with more thumbs down than ... More >>

After Marlo Jones' Arrest: How to Keep Ex-Gang Members Straight?

You've got to hand it to our city's social guardians, they can see a gold lining in every tragedy. In the soul-searching that has followed last week's arrest of gang-interventionist Marlo Jones, several people gave the L.A. Times explanations for his alleged role in robbing a member of the hip hop g ... More >>

Has the L.A. Hip-Hop Plague Finally Passed?

Four on the floor

Bone Thugs-N-Harmony Week Day 3: Why "1st of Month" is the Greatest Song Ever Written About Welfare

Sometimes, I feel sorry for the 13-year olds of today. I can't even begin to imagine how disgruntled my adolescence would've been had I been forced to listen to "A Bay Bay" and "Low" everywhere I went. We got "Regulate," and "Hip-Hop Hooray," they got the Soulja Boy dance. And of course, there wa ... More >>

Discovering the Candidates Through Their Playlists

It's My Party and I'll Cry If I Want To

N.W.A: Compton's Most Vaunted a Hard Act to Follow

Two decades later, Straight Outta Compton is as vital — and brutal — as ever

Film Reviews: Disturbia, Perfect Stranger and More

Also Aqua Teen Hunger Force Colon Movie Film for Thetaers, The Ritchie Boys and this week's pick, Red Road

Julio G. Is for Real

After a three-year hiatus from radio, KDAY’s hardcore son comes home

Live in LA

Compton Rises Again

Lil’ E on the legacy of Eazy and being his own man

The Whole Damn Thing

Outkast, Dead Prez in the freedom stakes

The Undeath of West Coast Flow

Hunger Pains

Ja Rule, Krayzie Bone: Inside the New Sensitive Thug

Down for the Good Life

A Unified Revolution Called Jurassic 5

Word According to B.I.G.