Eazy-E

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 >>

Top 10 L.A. Hip-Hop Producers in History

For better or worse, L.A. hip-hop is strongly identified with gangsta rap, and that genre is mostly identified with its rappers and their outsized personas. But the classic Los Angeles albums wouldn't be what they are without the incredible sonic textures that define them, the funk, electro, rock, a ... More >>

The Four Best Songs Playing on My Rented Minivan's Radio

[Editor's Note: Shea Serrano sometimes writes about Why This Song Sucks, and sometimes about his hilarious and poignant life and times. Better put your shoes on because your socks are about to be blown off.] Last week, I speculated that I would die, either in a plane crash or in a tragic murder-sui ... More >>

The Gaslamp Killer Confronts Tragedy and Finds His Way Forward

Henry Rollins: The Column! Being a Local, Temporarily

[Look for your weekly fix from the one and only Henry Rollins right here on West Coast Sound every Thursday, and come back tomorrow for the awesomely annotated playlist for his Saturday KCRW broadcast.] We are in beautiful Olympia, Wash. My shows in Hawaii and Alaska are behind me, and a few hour ... More >>

Insane Clown Posse Calls the FBI's Actions "A Public Lynching of Our Name"

See also: *Insane Clown Posse Is Suing the FBI (!!!) *Our cover story on ICP from last year Oddly, Insane Clown Posse rapper Joey Utsler -- better known as Shaggy 2 Dope -- is humble. Today, on the group's bus in the parking lot of the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel, he speaks as if he can't believe hi ... More >>

N.W.A's MC Ren Now Lives 
in Palm Springs

The best fake fact on Wikipedia is that MC Ren studied classical literature at Brown. It's a strain of truthiness so absurd as to be almost believable. Except when I mention it to the former enforcer of N.W.A, he roars. "Fuck no, I didn't go to no Brown," says the man born Lorenzo Patterson. "I didn ... More >>

KMG the Illustrator: RIP to The Above the Law Rapper

[Editor's note: Jeff Weiss's column, "Bizarre Ride," appears on West Coast Sound every Wednesday. Be sure to also check out the archives.] *Top 20 Greatest L.A. Rap Albums Of All Time: The Complete List *Top Ten Rap Albums For People Who Don't Know Shit About Hip-Hop If you ever go to a nightclub ... More >>

Eazy-E's Daughter Commemorates the Anniversary of His Death, Lies On His Tombstone

Yesterday was the 17th anniversary of Eazy-E's death. To commemorate the date, his daughter E.B., who is also a rapper, put on a gauzy white gown and curled around her father's tombstone. She also re-created two of her father's iconic album covers. You can see them below.

Bizarre Ride: Jeff Weiss's Five Los Angeles Music Archetypes

[Editor's note: Longtime Weekly scribe Jeff Weiss's new column, "Bizarre Ride," begins today. You can find it on West Coast Sound every Wednesday.] The L.A. cliché is a war of shadow and light: fallen stars gone to seed, saccharine pop and gangsta rap. But this is 2012 and Dr. Dre is a headphone g ... More >>

Christmas Rapping: Jim Carrey, Busta Rhymes, And Eazy-E Bring The Ho, Ho, Hoes

​While visions of sugarplum fairies might be dancing in your head this time of year, it's going to take a little more to bring your Christmas party to the next level. While the traditional seasonal standards are... standard, the surefire way to put the star on your tree -- or the eggs in you ... More >>

Funky Homosapiens: The Best Rapper Names Of All Time

Busta Rhymes​See Also: The Worst Rapper Names Of All Time, Besides Shorty Shitstain Last week we ran down the world's corniest MC names, and on Haterade Monday this week we complained about the worst albums by the best L.A. rappers, as well as the most ridiculous Beach Boys songs (including o ... More >>

Remember Our Top 20 L.A. Rap Albums? Here Are The Worst Records By Those Artists

​[Editor's note: Haterade Monday continues! Earlier in the day we told brought you the five dopiest Beach Boys songs (including one where Brian Wilson raps). And now, on the heels of our top 20 greatest L.A. rap albums of all time here's some more drivel from classic artists.] Hip-hop doesn' ... More >>

Everlast's Top Five Most Influential West Coast Rap Albums

​See also: *Don't Call Him Country. Everlast is Hip-Hop, Dammit. *Top 20 Greatest L.A. Rap Albums Of All Time: The Complete List As a teenager, Everlast was a graf writer. He made a couple tapes with his buddies, and the next thing he knew he was part of Ice-T's Rhyme Syndicate crew. He, Dan ... More >>

Top 20 Greatest L.A. Rap Albums Of All Time: The Complete List

​Editor's note: In conjunction with our music issue we rolled out the top 20 L.A. rap albums of all time this week, as picked by Ian Cohen, Rebecca Haithcoat, Jeff Weiss and Ben Westhoff. But the list was broken up into four posts, which can get a bit unwieldy, so we've compiled the full list ... More >>

Top 20 Greatest L.A. Rap Albums Of All Time: 10-6

​See also Top 20 Greatest L.A. Rap Albums of All Time: 20-16 Editor's note: For our music issue, out on Thursday, Ian Cohen, Rebecca Haithcoat, Jeff Weiss and Ben Westhoff run down the top 20 L.A. rap albums of all time. We're unveiling the list all this week on West Coast Sound. 10. Freesty ... More >>

Top 20 Greatest L.A. Rap Albums Of All Time: 20-16

​Editor's note: For our music issue, out on Thursday, Ian Cohen, Rebecca Haithcoat, Jeff Weiss and Ben Westhoff run down the top 20 L.A. rap albums of all time. We're unveiling the list all this week on West Coast Sound. The party waits for no man. So while we watched the tubes for Detox, Los ... More >>

Yelawolf - El Rey Theatre - October 11, 2011

Timothy Norris​Yelawolf El Rey Theatre October 11, 2011 Almost a year ago, Yelawolf opened for Wiz Khalifa at the Music Box to little interest. His modest van was parked next to the headliner's tour bus in the lot. Last night at the El Rey Theatre, though, Yelawolf was in his element. Havi ... More >>

D.O.C.'s Top Five D.O.C. Ghostwritten Songs

Brandon Showers​In the paper this week I get inside the head of D.O.C., who ghostewrote the bulk of the early Ruthless Records catalog and is all over The Chronic and Doggystyle. His own solo career was ascendent on the strength of his platinum debut No One Can Do It Better before a car accide ... 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 >>

Fanatics! Henry Rollins' KCRW Show Tomorrow Night: Procedure Club, Horrors

Timothy Norris​KCRW BROADCAST #124 for Saturday, July 23. Fanatics! Another week, another great show lined up for you! I am listening down to the songs at this moment and it's going to be an excellent night of jams. I wanted to make a show that rocked out but had some quiet dynamics. I am r ... More >>

DJ Quik: Trials and Tribulations of a West Coast Legend

NWA Reunion Today at the Santa Monica Pier: Here Are All the Details

​ Everyone has been asking us all the details about the NWA reunion show that's supposed to happen today at the Santa Monica Pier. Here's what we know:

Top 10 Gratuitous Acoustic Pop Covers

​Watching Katy Perry's cover of Lady Gaga's "Born this Way" reminded us: In college, roughly 68% of undergraduates (a figure we made up for purposes of sounding researched) take up the acoustic guitar. Think of it as a rite of passage marred by awful covers of Neil Young and the inevitable Bla ... More >>

OH, JOY-- HIP PEOPLE ASKING US FOR THINGS

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

Straight Outta Hollywood: N.W.A. Biopic in the Works

Yes, *that* Jonathan Gold​The Hollywood Reporter (via MTV) has details of an announcement about an upcoming N.W.A. biopic currently in development at New Line. The film has the working title Straight Outta Compton and "will follow N.W.A (short for N---az With Attitude) from their early days i ... More >>

Ice Cube at the House of Blues: From Compton to 'Cribs'

View more photos in Timothy Norris' Ice Cube slideshow. Ice Cube @ House Of Blues, Dec 11 Twenty-plus years into the game, Ice Cube has figured out at least a few things about the rap performance. He's perfected the rapper-on-stage routine with minimal extras (no fire, video, bitches, or shirt-ri ... More >>

Hypnotic Brass Miguel Atwood-Ferguson Ensemble Shake the Explex

Hypnotic Brass Miguel Atwood-Ferguson Ensemble Shake the Explex

Mullen on Music

Brendan Mullen the Writer: Highlights of his Work for the Weekly

In addition to opening punk club the Masque, LA DIY music giant Brendan Mullen, who died at age 60 yesterday after suffering a stroke on Saturday, was a longtime LA Weekly music writer whose prescient insight and in-the-trenches curiosity captured the experience of being a music head in LA in the 8 ... More >>

Mack 10’s Hustler Handbook

When in doubt, says the veteran rapper, heed the late Eazy-E’s advice: “Always stay about your money”

Arabian Prince: A Jheri Blossoms

Electro pioneer who quit N.W.A weeks before Compton now makes beats for Grand Theft Auto

Hunting Party

Bone Thugs-N-Harmony Week Day 2: "Thuggish Ruggish Bone" And the Importance of "Branding"

Whether consciously or not, rappers have understood the concept of branding since the on-and-on-to-the-break-of-dawn days. You can listen to everything from the "The Breaks" to "Crank That" and figure out pretty quickly that they were performed by Kurtis Blow and an autistic 4th Grader with a rud ... More >>

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

Jonathan Gold meets N.W.A.

On May 5, 1989 the L.A. Weekly printed a cover story, written by Jonathan Gold, about N.W.A., the most notorious band in the U.S., let alone in Los Angeles. Twenty years after the release of their first album, N.W.A and the Posse, we are happy to present Jonathan Gold's article online. (Cover p ... More >>

N.W.A: A Hard Act to Follow

Hip-hop and hype from the streets of Compton (reprint of May 5, 1989, Weekly cover story)

People Who Need People

What to do in LA this week

Rawk Your Body!

L.A. club DJs mix indie rock and hip-hop; world does not explode

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

California Love

The Game and Daz bring gangsta back where it belongs

Pose and Mean It

Eazy Does It

Gangsta rap hits L.A.

Killaz and Victims

DJ Quik lays 'em out

Rap and Revelation

Words to the wise from Blood of Abraham

Beat Seeker

Don't punk Julio G