Kendrick Lamar

15 Weird Years of Anticon Records

[Editor's note: Weekly scribe Jeff Weiss's column, "Bizarre Ride," appears on West Coast Sound every Wednesday. His archives are available here.] Anticon turns 15 this month but it has been imbued with a teenage spirit since its inception. The artists are frequently mercurial, rebellious, idealisti ... More >>

Controversial Watts Battle Rapper Daylyt Slays His Opponents

Battling another MC is a daunting enough proposition, but Watts MC Daylyt has done it while (at various times) wearing a ski-mask, stripping naked or dressed as Batman. Through it all, he's become one of the most successful and in-demand battlers working today. We spoke with him about his relations ... More >>

The Best and Worst of Outside Lands 2013

Outside Lands went down at San Francisco's Golden Gate Park this weekend; it was frigid and there were transportation headaches, but the music made it well worth it. Here's the best and worst of the weekend:

Mayer Hawthorne Talked to Kanye West for Five Hours. It Changed His Outlook

Mayer Hawthorne can be excused for running a few minutes late. The Ann Arbor-native just returned to Los Angeles from a European tour and will be making several L.A. to New York trips in the coming days as part of a promotional push for his upcoming album Where Does This Door Go, which is out tomorr ... More >>

Snoop Dogg and Kendrick Lamar - BET Live - June 29, 2013

Snoop Dogg, Kendrick Lamar, J. Cole, Miguel, Schoolboy Q Staples Center 6/29/13 It may feel like summer all year long in L.A., but there's still something special about summer in L.A. On Saturday night at Staples Center Snoop Dogg and Kendrick Lamar co-headlined as part of the BET Experience event ... More >>

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

Don't forget to check our constantly-updated Los Angeles Concert Calendar Beyoncé STAPLES CENTER Like her fellow Texan Erykah Badu, Houston-raised Beyoncé is part of the opening-night festivities at the BET Experience. But Beyoncé Giselle Knowles-Carter's worldview is markedly different from Bad ... More >>

Music Picks: Beyoncé, Snoop Dogg and Crazy Squeeze

The Best Albums of 2013 So Far, in Haiku Form

[Editor's note: Weekly scribe Jeff Weiss's column, "Bizarre Ride," appears on West Coast Sound every Wednesday. His archives are available here.] A list is essentially an argument in numerical order. By nature, it's a reflection of personal taste and limited time. It's easy to forget that the sound ... More >>

Schoolboy Q, Ab-Soul - XXL Freshmen Live - 5-18-13

ScHoolboy Q, Ab-Soul, Dizzy Wright XXL Freshmen Live 2013 Club Nokia 5-18-13 Better Than... Actually being a freshman in high school Since 2008, hip-hop magazine XXL has named its "top freshmen" each year, and on Saturday night the bulk of them performed at Club Nokia. Black Hippy crewmates School ... More >>

Dr. Dre on His USC Academy: "This Is the Biggest Thing I've Ever Been a Part Of"

As our sister blog The Informer reported yesterday, Interscope Records boss Jimmy Iovine and boss of all bosses Dr. Dre pooled together $70 million they had lying around to establish the USC Jimmy Iovine and Andre Young Academy for Arts, Technology and the Business of Innovation. It will offer stude ... More >>

Let's Break Down the Awfulness of Kendrick Lamar's New Video

[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 year, Kendrick Lamar released good kid, m.A.A.d. city, his gorgeous proper debut album ... More >>

Paid Dues - San Manuel Amphitheater - 3/30/13

Paid Dues Independent Hip-Hop Festival San Manuel Amphitheater 3/30/13 Traffic was hellish. Parking was a mess, the outhouses were a disaster, the lines for food were ridiculously long, and one edifice labeled "will call" was not, in fact, will call. The dust was Coachella-like, and after the boil ... More >>

Nosaj Thing Is Back

But the producer and Low End Theory stalwart is not in the mood to party

The Best Concerts in L.A. This Week

Monday, January 21 Baron von Luxxury, Yellow Alex, Yung Skeeter THE SATELLITE Electro-pop comes in splendiferous shapes and sizes. And Baron von Luxxury brings the wicked-wit version, in which DeBarge, ELO, Hall & Oates and other formerly uncool '80s soul stylists float through the disco in super-s ... More >>

Los Angeles Musicians Dominate Pazz and Jop

Pazz and Jop is here! The Village Voice's annual, venerated, logistically-nightmarish critics' poll has arrived, and there are shit tons of L.A. musicians who placed highly. Frank Ocean won the album poll, which was no big surprise; be sure to peep Eric Sunderman's quite-touching piece about him. ... More >>

The Ten Best Latin Alternative Albums of 2012

It has become difficult to define what Latin Alternative is these days. The genre seems to encompass everything from traditional roots band playing an accordion to a progressive hip-hop MCs to singer-songwriters crooning romantic ballads -- and can be sung in Spanish, English or Spanglish. It's a hy ... More >>

My Favorite Albums of the Second Half of 2012, in Haiku Form

[Editor's note: Weekly scribe Jeff Weiss's column, "Bizarre Ride," appears on West Coast Sound every Wednesday. His archives are available here.] Kendrick Lamar attributed L.A.'s primacy to the women, weed and weather. He was quoting Biggie, who consecrated the left coast via song, despite his long ... More >>

The Five Best Los Angeles Rap Albums of 2012

As Max Bell noted in his round-up of L.A. rap earlier this month, it was a very good year for hip-hop in our city, with all corners of the varied scene -- from Open Mike Eagle's smart 4NML HSPTL to Odd Future's rambunctious The OF Tape Vol. 2 to Ty$ and Joe Moses' raunchy Whoop! -- well represented ... More >>

The Ten Best EDM Singles of 2012

The term "electronic dance music" means so many things to so many people, and this year things only got more complicated. Dubstep continued its dance floor takeover, mainstream pop-oriented EDM ruled the radio, and the beat scene pushed on. Although divergent in style and ethos, here are the ten dan ... More >>

The Top 10 L.A. Albums of 2012

Los Angeles music was a big part of the national conversation this year, from Frank Ocean and Miguel's artisan R&B to Top Dawg Entertainment's hip-hop dominance to the electronic inspirations of Flying Lotus and Gaslamp Killer. Picking but ten albums from this crop as the West Coast Sound writers ha ... More >>

The Best Rap Singles of 2012

Let's be honest: It's been a great year for hip-hop. Mainstream and underground MCs made some of the most refreshing and innovative work in years. It's been a good year for albums, for sure, but also a dynamite one for singles. Here are our picks for the five best five, from artists around the count ... More >>

Power 106 Cali Christmas Concert - Gibson Amphitheatre - 12/14/12

Meek Mill, Rick Ross, Big Sean, 2 Chainz, Kendrick Lamar Power 106 Cali Christmas Gibson Amphitheatre 12/14/12 Ah, the holiday season in L.A. -- a crisp chill is in the air, every twinkly light installment and bit of tinsel available has been vomited onto that particular property on Los Feliz Blvd. ... More >>

The Best Beat Tapes From L.A. Producers This Year

Instrumental albums -- also known as beat tapes -- give hip-hop producers a direct connection with fans, without any of those annoying lyrics on top of them. These can often be a nice change of pace. But make no mistake, they aren't albums to zone out to, or to put on while you do a crossword puzz ... More >>

2012: A Landmark Year in L.A. Hip-Hop

L.A. hip-hop hasn't seen a year like this one since 1992, when the word G-Funk was (re)defined and art-rap was steadily making noise in and around Leimert Park. Twenty years ago saw, of course, the release of The Chronic, Bizarre Ride II the Pharcyde, The Predator, Spice 1, and Way 2 Fonky, among ot ... More >>

Jay Rock: Our Interview With Kendrick Lamar's About-to-Pop Crewmate

Kendrick Lamar's good kid, m.A.A.d city is the frontrunner for hip-hop album of the year, and one of its most discussed verses comes from his Black Hippy crewmate Jay Rock. Far from new to the game, Jay Rock has put out music both on major labels and independently, he's been in boardrooms and boarde ... More >>

Kendrick Lamar's Mood Music

The Compton rapper carries the expectations of his city on his shoulders. It's tiring

Kendrick Lamar Flash Mob Near Staples Draws LAPD Response (PHOTOS)

Updated at the bottom with some info from the LAPD. First posted at 6:06 a.m. See also: *Skateboard Riot in Hollywood ... Another youth gathering gone out of control in L.A? Not entirely. It looks like this one was behaved. But a Compton rapper named Kendrick Lamar did appear to attract hundreds ... More >>

Kendrick Lamar - Club Nokia - 10/17/12

Kendrick Lamar Club Nokia October 17, 2012 From a distance, it looked like a lazy protest was being staged at L.A. Live last night -- a handful of people dressed alike in baggy white t-shirts wandered the sidewalk or propped themselves up on fire hydrants, occasionally waving placards that announc ... More >>

The Five Upcoming L.A. Rap Albums We're Most Excited to Hear

Top Ten Rap Albums For People Who Don't Know Shit About Hip-Hop Top 60 Worst Lil Wayne Lines on Tha Carter IV Top 20 Greatest L.A. Rap Albums Of All Time The 20 Worst Hipster Bands Ah, the fourth quarter. The season of brown leaves, event records and holiday shopping -- also known as "the least bad ... 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 >>

The Best Of Coachella: Friday, April 13

See also: *Coachella: The Garbage Situation Is Out of Control *Coachella Preview 2012: Everything You Need to Know About the Performers Day one of The Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival brought something more unusual than ironic outfits or that poor guy who couldn't get his flip flops on ... More >>

Odd Future, Dipset, Ab-Soul - Paid Dues 2012 - 4/7/2012

Paid Dues 2012 NOS Events Center, San Bernardino 4/7/2012 Posted by the Paid Dues media check-in, the announcement, "ATTENTION: Photo Pit Closed for Odd Future Performance," seemed an ominous sign. Though it likely was just to ward off further lawsuits, it felt a little pretentious -- and Murs' ind ... More >>

Drake - USC Galen Center - 3/5/12

See also: *Our slideshow of Drake, Kendrick Lamar and A$AP Rocky at the USC Galen Center *Fuck Guilty Pleasures: Drake Is an Incredible Lyricist No current rapper is more divisive than Drake. Despite only recently relocating to L.A., he's been both championed and criticized on West Coast Sound. S ... More >>

Music Picks: Smokeout Festival, Mike Miller Group, Zola Jesus, Saul Williams

Also, New Multitudes, Cool Moms, Alpha & Omega, Cloud Nothings and others

Schoolboy Q's Questions and Answers

He didn't know what to do with his life. Rap was the last resort

Schoolboy Q on Kendrick Lamar, How Rappers Influence Kids to Gangbang and the One Question He Hates

See also: Schoolboy Q's Questions and Answers: He Didn't Know What to Do With His Life. Rap Was the Last Resort This week's music feature is on Schoolboy Q. Lounging on a couch in his manager's house in Carson, the rapper told us about transitioning from stuffing a baggie of crack in his cheek to s ... More >>

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 >>

The Top Ten Los Angeles Albums Of 2011

​The best albums of 2011 from Los Angeles artists came from a suitably diverse Angeleno cast of characters; there are rappers and singers, legends and transplants, folks with great careers in front of them, and those who may have peaked this year. One thing's clear: it was unquestionably a gre ... More >>

Iman Omari Isn't Ashamed To Be Emo

Iman Omari's uncle Josef Leimberg is scuttling around his Eagle Rock studio, working on improving its feng shui. He pauses by a door that's become unhinged. "A 400-pound dude busted through this, trying to get his rappers in to record." That wasn't going to fly, however, because Bootsy Collins was w ... More >>

Music Picks: Overdoz, The Cure, Lucinda Williams

Also, K. Flay, The Civil Wars, Bob Mould tribute

The Ettes, Sade, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Benefit for Nick Curran

Also, Kendrick Lamar, the Punk Rock BBQ, Katy B and others

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 >>

Music to Pick Up/Download

Music Picks: Prince, Amanda Jo Williams, Kendrick Lamar, Xzibit, Civet,

Also, Miguel, L.A. Bluegrass Situation, Heidecker and Wood, the Ditty Bops and others

The UnderDawg: Ab-Soul's "LongTerm Mentality" Starts Paying Off

​Back before ScHoolboy Q, the third artist to be fired like a cannonball from the TopDawg Entertainment camp, sold out his first solo show at the Key Club, we theorized that the local label was strategizing the rap game like a war. With two of its artists, Jay Rock and Kendrick Lamar, rising t ... More >>

Music Picks: Liz Phair, DeVotchKa, Peter Murphy, Fergus & Geronimo

Also Whitechapel, Motorhead, Juanes and others

Five Must-See L.A. Rappers at SXSW

Pac Div​ We know Odd Future's SXSW show will be swarming with ... everybody, and admittedly, we add to that mass media feeding frenzy with our special spread in this week's print issue, out tomorrow. But we like being able to breathe a little bit (which is why we live in this sprawling, sparkl ... More >>

SXSW Bands from A-Z: I - L

​ As SXSW gets ever closer, we figured we'd continue being servicey and give you a guide to some of the highlights of the official showcases, alphabet style. Yesterday we gave you E - H, today it's I - L. So here we go: five more awesome bands to see in SXSW's official lineup.

Music Picks: Breakestra, Slang Chickens, the Muffs, Miguel Atwood-Ferguson

Also Meth Leppard, Tennis With Lord Huron, Kid Infinity and others

Born and raised in Compton, Kendrick Lamar Hides a Poet's Soul Behind "Pussy & Patron"