Pete Rock

Adrian Younge: New Soul Legend

The composer and producer reimagines old-school hip-hop

Andrew Lojero Creates Timelessness on a Budget

[Editor's note: Weekly scribe Jeff Weiss's column, "Bizarre Ride," appears on West Coast Sound every Wednesday. His archives are available here.] You can't quite call Andrew Lojero a promoter. It does him a disservice to say that he "throws shows." What he does is closer to arranging love letters t ... More >>

Roc Marciano, In the Sunshine

[Editor's note: Weekly scribe Jeff Weiss's column, "Bizarre Ride," appears on West Coast Sound every Wednesday. His archives are available here.] The most cold-blooded and grimy New York rapper of the last decade lives by the Beverly Center. It's worlds removed from the drug-infested projects of hi ... More >>

Top Ten Rap Albums For People Who Don't Know Shit About Hip-Hop

Hip-hop is nearly 40, but many still find this slightly-disorienting world of beats, rhymes and oversize personalities a bit daunting. So consider this our hip-hop Cliff's notes; here are the albums you should know about if you don't want to look silly at cocktail parties. We're not saying these a ... More >>

The Best of SXSW Music: Saturday 3/17/2012

So, we come to it: the end of all things. Four days of madness, Doritos, Skrillex and finally, St. Patrick's Day. Before we bid SXSW 2012 farewell, allow us to share our favorite moments from SXSW day four. Later, we'll let you know which shows weren't so hot. Find our favorites below, and if there ... More >>

Is Syl Johnson Rich Off of Rap Samples? He Says So

The Grammy-nominated soul singer Syl Johnson is currently suing Jay-Z and Kanye West for an alleged illegal sample of his song "Different Strokes" on the Watch The Throne album track "The Joy." (No, not the theme song from the television show starring Gary Coleman.) If successful, it won't be the f ... More >>

Common - House of Blues - December 21, 2011

​Common House of Blues December 21, 2011 Attempting to get everyone in the mood last night, Power 106's DJ Reflex spun classics from folks like Souls of Mischief, A Tribe Called Quest, and Pete Rock & CL Smooth. He attempted to throw in some more recent, mainstream songs and played a few cuts ... More >>

Roy Ayers, J. Rocc, Thundercat - Exchange LA - 11/17/11

Max MeuleveldRoy Ayers​See Also:*Thundercat Emerges With His Debut, Co-produced by Flying Lotus Homage: Roy Ayers, J. Rocc, Thundercat Exchange LA 11/17/11 Better than...Organizing my vinyl collection. In the break between Roy Ayers' two sets at Exchange LA last night, KCRW DJ Garth Trinida ... More >>

Mary J. Blige, Larry Carlton, Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds

Also, Peanut Butter Wolf, Lucy Woodward, Chromeo and others

Stevie Wonder, Rickey Minor & Friends at Hollywood Bowl, 7/24/11

Jeff Cowan​Stevie Wonder, Sharon Jones, Janelle Monae, Charles Bradley, et al. The Hollywood Bowl Sunday, July 24, 2011 Better than: Episode 2 of "Breaking Bad." Celebrating the 40-year anniversary of Marvin Gaye's "What's Going On," Global Soul Night at the Hollywood Bowl wrangled Stevie W ... More >>

Music Picks: Alison Krauss, Flying Lotus, My Morning Jacket

Also, Jaga Jazzist, Kid Cudi, Baths and others

UPDATE: More Artists Added to Rock the Bells 2011 Lineup

​ Originally published May 24, 2011, 8:18 p.m. New artists were just announced on the Rock the Bells 2011 lineup:

L.A. Album of the Week

AWOL ONE's The Landmark

Pete Rock, Legendary Hip-Hop DJ and Producer, to Perform at Boombox's Anniversary

​Everybody loves to reminisce about the golden era of hip hop, those glory days of DJ Kool Herc MacGyvering power lines for his two-turntables-and-a-microphone and spinning breakbeats for all the b-boys and b-girls. Except, as then, hip hop's held in the fierce grip of the young, most of wh ... More >>

DANCE CLUB PICK: Two Words: Pete Rock

Greens Vs. Big Oil and Prop. 23

To save California's global-warming law, a 23-year-old finds his rage — and 60,000 friends

The Madlib Mystique

An exclusive interview with underground hip-hop's most elusive producer

On the Cover: The Elusive Madlib Gives His First U.S. Interview in Four Years

Star Foreman​For this week's L.A. Weekly cover story, writer Jeff Weiss pens an intimate piece on L.A.'s own oft-elusive living legend, Madlib. We visit the producer in his hallowed studio, "surrounded by samplers, CDs, cassette decks, 4- and 8-track recorders, keyboards and drum kits -- no c ... More >>

Music Picks: Evelyn Evelyn, Booker T. Jones, Kaki King, Pete Rock

Also, the National, Entrance Band, Noodles, Bunbury and others

Guest Blogger Jason Reitman on 14 Perfect Musical Moments

​Editor's note. This week director Jason Reitman is guest blogging at West Coast Sound. Reitman, whose new film, Up in the Air, was nominated for five Golden Globes this morning (including Best Director and Best Screenplay nominations for Reitman ... congrats!), is also a pretty big music head ... More >>

SXSW Day 3: On Rap's "Little Emperor" Phase and Showing and Proving

Maybe we ought to blame Kanye--even though this trend started well before him, and will likely persist long after he retires to pursue French anime interior spaceship design. Like it or not, 'Ye's massive success re-removed a lot of barriers into the major label rap game. No longer did you need st ... More >>

Grammy Week: Magical Music Moments All Over Town

On the Eve of the Grammys, Heavy D Discusses His Nomination, Reggae, Diddy and More

To hip-hop fans in the early-'90s, Heavy D was the original "Overweight Lover." A rap generation later, he was name-dropped more in the reciting of one of hip-hop's most beloved lines: the first bars from another heavy weight, Notorious B.I.G's "Juicy." Now? Without Notorious it'd be a wonder if t ... More >>

Psst: Grammy Week Parties with MGMT, Black Eyed Peas, New York Dolls, Chelsea Girls, DJ AM and (maybe) Whitney Houston

The Grammy telecast might be a snooze, but during awards week its host city is anything but. Surprise stage jams and DJ sets, official and unofficial shindigs and a overall anything-can- happen/anyone-might-show vibe and excitement takes over LA's clubs and events... You don't need to be Jay-Z and B ... More >>

Thursday Night Music Stuff in LA: The Monks film at Silent Movie Theater, DFA at the Roxy, Rootdown Soundclash at Little Temple

I love LA. Love it love it love it (except when Indie 103 gets tossed off the airwaves). One reason: nights like tonight, when the music offerings are so far-flung and wide-open that my proto-punk gene is being pulled one direction, my turntablist strand is being pulled another, and my disco-house b ... More >>

Weiss' 25 Best Hip-Hop Songs of 2008

25. Prafit-"Nice Weather" The nice weather is long gone--the ostensibly immutable Los Angeles sun blotted by kidney colored clouds and cold rain. So Prafit's ode to the sizzle of July feels like an antique postcard documenting endless light, chicken breasts smothered in BBQ sauce, and basement ... More >>

Weiss' 50 Best Hip-Hop Songs of 2008 (#50-26)

Over the next two weeks, myself and a very talented cadre of contributors will be emulating the book above. Unlike said tome, it won't cost money and you'll get free MP3s--which, presumably, serve a tangible purpose. Now go cry into your near-beer, Phillip Ardagh, you lovable rogue. 50. Redman ft ... More >>

Question in the Form of an Answer: An Interview with Chef Raekwon

No introduction necessary. Q: So what brings you out to LA? A: Just business brought me out here. I have an office set up out here and we’re just out here networking and keeping our minds at peace and just working on the album, staying in the studio. I’m doing a lot of things—dealing wit ... More >>

Don't Miss This Show: Oliver Wang on Q-Tip, the Cool Kids (MP3), the Knux and Pacific Division at H.O.B.

Saturday, November 15 Q-Tip, The Cool Kids at House of Blues It has been nine years since Q-Tip's last album yet strangely, it hasn't seemed so long. That says much about the enduring power of Q-Tip's old band, A Tribe Called Quest - guaranteed to be in heavy rotation on iPod playlists for any hi ... More >>

The B-Sides: Bishop Lamont Interview

Q: What was it like for you growing up in Los Angeles during the 80s? A: It was the LA of the Reagan administration. Drugs were really heavy in the streets at that time…more crack addicts…crack babies. It was a good time simultaneously because there was more creativity within the music and it ... More >>

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

Four on the floor

The 10 Best Hip-Hop Albums of the Half Year

Yes, I'm aware that this is a month late. I never said punctuality was my strong suit. (That would be rambling, stoned gibberish. ) Look for the best 10 non-rap albums sometime next week. 10 (tie). Nico the Beast-No Beast So Fierce Genre purists and anyone weaned on that mid-90s school of sav ... More >>

Elzhi's Europass: The Best Rap Album of the Year Thus Far

One of the more frustrating things about hip-hop heads*, specifically those old enough to remember the first two Golden Ages, is the general groupthink that no hip-hop album made today can possibly be as great as anything made during 88-96. This is just how it goes. Nostalgia is a motherfucker and ... More >>

An Interview With Pete Rock

Pete Rock needs no introduction. His new album NY's Finest drops on Tuesday. While it might not be a classic on the level of a Soul Survivors or Mecca & The Soul Brother, it's a strong record with occasionally great moments. But buyer beware: Jim Jones yells "floooosssssiiiin'" no less than fo ... More >>

Check the Technique: Notes from the Golden Age

Hip-hop scribe profiles 36 seminal rap albums. Let the arguments begin

The 25 Best Hip-Hop Songs of 2007 Pt. 4 (#9-6)

The film that ended the Cold War. 9. Hi-Tek Ft. Talib Kweli & Dion-"Time" "People get caught up in a time and what that song represents to them at the time they hear it. Nothing I'm gonna do after that is going to match up to that time period, because they can't get that back. So I have to real ... More >>

The 25 Best Hip-Hop Songs of 2007 Pt. 3 (#14-10)

Mental Note: Avoid guys with the nickname "Mad Dog." 14. Redman-"Blow Treez" Why did we have to wait until 2007 for Redman, the man who taught a generation of impressionable youths how to roll a blunt, to sample Bob Marley, the greatest blunt roller of them all? Flipping the halcyon palm-tree ... More >>

The 25 Best Hip-Hop Songs of 2007 Pt. 2 (#19-15)

This list has very little to do with Back to the Future II. However, I am writing it from the inside of a Delorean. 19. Pete Rock ft. Styles P & Sheek Louch-"914" Released by Nature Sounds in January as the single from Pete Rock' s still shelved New York's Finest record, "914" has inevitably bec ... More >>

Bishop Lamont-The Next Great West Coast Hope?

I...listened to all that Death Row stuff....and Lords Of The Underground, Busta Rhymes, Redman and Keith Murray, where your takes had to be so clean and ill to get off the phonetics that you were dropping. Your lines had to be crisp. Other cats don’t come from that school. It took me studying R ... More >>

Decision 2007: Kanye West vs. 50 Cent

A voter’s guide to the most important rap election in a generation

Killah on the Road

Ghostface returns to the streets — and his own inner weirdo — on Fish Scale

Roll With the New

L.A.’s hip-hop underground keeps it . . . “real”