Questlove

Five More Iconic Key Club Shows

The Key Club's last day is today! Ever since West Coast Sound broke the story of its impending closure, local music fans have been mourning the place. Personally, we've been to the venue hundreds of times, and worked there as a DJ during Metal Skool's heyday for about two years. We believe the venue ... More >>

Fuck Guilty Pleasures: In Defense of Common

[Editor's Note: Fuck Guilty Pleasures celebrates the over-produced, commercial, artless, lowbrow music that we believe is genuinely worthwhile. Like, among the best music ever.] Rap only exists in extremes. Don't let the polite reviews of Lil Wayne's Carter IV fool you, for instance. It got lots of ... 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 >>

DJ Douggpound Mines Pop Culture for Gold Nuggets

At gatherings with extended family, Doug Lussenhop has a hard time explaining what he does. They might be familiar with Portlandia, the show for which he's an editor. They may have even seen Tim & Eric's Billion Dollar Movie, which he edited and co-wrote, though he prefers if they haven't, if only f ... More >>

Justin Timberlake and Jessica Biel's Wedding Video Making Fun of L.A. Homeless, and Other Justin Huchel-Produced Videos

Justin Timberlake and Jessica Biel were married in a lavish ceremony at the Borgo Egnazia resort in Puglia, Italy, this weekend. In addition to a candlelit dinner, a Questlove DJ set and a week's worth of festivities, guests at the TimBielake wedding were treated to an original video making fun of ... More >>

The Best Concerts to See in L.A. This Week: Oct. 22-26

Monday, October 22 Kaki King EL REY THEATRE There are actually several versions of Kaki King. The Atlanta native first came to attention busking in the subways of New York City, but she wasn't panhandling for change by strumming creaky versions of "Free Bird" or "Sweet Child O' Mine." Instead, the ... More >>

The Best Concerts to See in L.A. This Weekend: Oct. 19-21

Friday, October 19 Nosaj Thing LURE PATIO Nosaj Thing's 2009 album, Drift, was arguably the first in the trio of holy-shit records that made Low End Theory regulars -- and by extension, Los Angeles electronic music -- a global phenomenon. (The other two? Gaslamp Killer and Gonjasufi's A Sufi and a ... More >>

Music Picks: Robert Glasper, Nick Waterhouse, Omar Rodriguez Lopez

Fuck Guilty Pleasures: John Mayer's Body of Work is a Wonderland

[Editor's Note: Fuck Guilty Pleasures celebrates the over-produced, commercial, artless, lowbrow music that we believe is genuinely worthwhile. Like, among the best music ever.] John Mayer has been persecuted for years. Way back in 2003, the Village Voice mocked his music in an article called "Phal ... More >>

Worst Hipster Bands: We Admit It, We Were Wrong

Upon its publication a couple weeks ago, our The 20 Worst Hipster Bands post was an immediately sensation, and quickly became the most-read post West Coast Sound has ever published. (Yes, even besting the interview with a raver who wears electrical tape on her boobs.) Even Questlove tweeted it, with ... More >>

Christian McBride: A Veteran at 40

​Since the late '80s Philly-bred bassist Christian McBride has been a low end powerhouse for artists including Milt Jackson, Diana Krall and Questlove. He spent the most time in our fair city between 2006 and 2010 when he was the "Creative Chair for Jazz" with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, and ... More >>

R.I.P. Jovan "J-1" Coleman, Drummer in Dam-Funk's Group Master Blazter

Jovan "J-1" Coleman, producer and drummer in Dam-Funk's band Master Blazter, passed away Sunday. He was 32 years old. The cause of death is unknown. Late yesterday afternoon Dam-Funk tweeted, "At this time we send our most deep condolences 2 family & friends of @THEDEER (aka J-1/Jovan Coleman) who ... More >>

If Bon Appétit's New BA Kitchen Isn't Exactly A Test Kitchen, What Is It?

Patrick McMullanQuestlove's Fried Chicken At the BA Kitchen Launch Party​Bon Appétit magazine announced this week the opening of "BA Kitchen" in New York City. The space is "a modern cooking and entertaining space," according to a press release, located across from the Frank Gehry café in th ... More >>

Ghostface Killah Changes Mind About Online Impersonator Ghostfase: 'Shout Out to My Mini Muse.... Funny Ass Ninja'

​Internet junkies earned a new respect for Ghostface Killah back in March, under the illusion it was he who had conjured the brilliant and hysterical (to the point of tears) "Top 10 Softest Rappers In The Game." But when West Coast darling Wiz Khalifa and the other teddy bears on the list sta ... More >>

KING: Heartwarming Soul From Bizarrely Nonsuperficial L.A. Trio

LinA in LA- DJ and Dance Club Picks for this Weekend

?uestlove spins Saturday​Forget about Christmas, June marks the jolliest time of the year, at least for gays. Yep, it's Gay Pride weekend folks, and if you happen to be anywhere near West Hollywood, you can expect pretty much non-stop revelry all day and night. Those looking for non-Pride par ... More >>

A Tale of Two Twitterers: Phonte and Questlove Anoint L.A. Songstresses KING

KING, touched by the almighty hand of Twitter ​Last night around 8:45, former Little Brother lyricist and current Foreign Exchange crooner Phonte's Twitter timeline showed that he'd just "liked" a song on iTunes by someone named KING. Then he left a review on iTunes. He then gave thanks to the ... More >>

Top 6 Controversial TV Appearances By Bands, in Honor of Odd Future Playing Fallon Tonight

​The ever controversial Odd Future (OFWGKTA) rap collective is set to perform tonight on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon. We're not sure what this means, but we imagine a certain amount of destruction, danger and disrespect will be involved. (At least, we hope.) Earlier today, Roots drummer Quest ... More >>

Grammy Party Report #3: Relentless Rhythms at Roots Jam and The Black Keys on Deck at Hemingways

Lina LecaroRoots' Capt. Kirk Douglas and Jimmy Fallon- less talkin,' more rockin.'​ You never know who might pop up on stage at the Roots Jam, which was, with the exception of Clive Davis' A(ss)-list kiss/croon-a-thon, the most buzzed about bash Saturday night. It was wishful thinking of cour ... More >>

It's J. Dilla's Birthday! Here's the Best Way to Celebrate It

​Only the good die young. J Dilla -- the Detroit producer who was a founding member of the Soulquarians collective (along with Questlove, D'Angelo and James Poyser) and is heralded as one of the most influential producers in hip-hop -- passed away five years ago this month. But House Shoes, Di ... More >>

A Cure for the Monday Funk

Top 5 Things to Do This Weekend in L.A.

Ween!​ "L.A. proved too much for the man," sang Gladys Knight, "So he's leavin' the life he's come to know, He said he's goin' back to find [Ooh, said the Pips] what's left of his world, The world he left behind, Not so long ago." Well, "the man" was kind of a wuss, right? You don't have to t ... More >>

'2 Girls 1 Cup' Meme Revived by Rappers Oh No and Alchemist (Watch)

Oh No: "It's all bad, dog." YouTube citizens react to horrific scat sex.​We're pretty sure that a couple of L.A. underground rap heavyweights like Oh No (Madlib's lil bro) and Alchemist (Eminem's DJ) could, given time, work their way up to a video cameo by the Roots for one of their songs. Bu ... More >>

NIGHTRANGER: Monster's Ball

Today's Mystery: Why Does Will Smith's 9-Year-Old Daughter Sound Like a Grown-Ass Woman?

Will Smith's 9-year-old daughter: what's with the grown-ass voice???​Ok, today the fickle world of pop can't talk about anything other than the just-released video for "Whip My Hair," the hyper-hyped single by one Willow Smith, best known as "the daughter of Will Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith" ... More >>

Over the Weekend: Dirty Projectors at the Wiltern

Cara RobbinsThe importance of being earnest: Dirty Projectors​It's very early in the morning, so please allow me to just blurt this out: hipsters are the dead end of Western civilization. They are anti-matter, devouring every counterculture before them, massacring idealism and installing lo-fi ... More >>

Dance Club Pick: Don't Stop Till You Get Enough Questlove

Top Ten Strangest Covers of Michael Jackson's "Billie Jean"

Michael Jackson had many hits from the time he was a little kid until his untimely death last year, and even after that. But for some reason there seems to be a certain agreement that "the" quintessential MJ hit is "Billie Jean," from the record-breaking 1982 Thriller album. The impossible-not-to-d ... More >>

Today in WTF: The Roots' Questlove Endorses Sting (against Lil' Wayne) for Hypothetical Political Office

Questlove & Sting in the studio last month (take our word for it: it's them)​Ah, Questlove, the Mayor of Twitter... Here's a little essay The Roots maestro just churned out. It needs a lot of editing to make all of its intended sense, but the gist of it is that he's upset critics like "shocki ... More >>

Day 2: The Dirty Projecters and Bowling With Angels

Endlessly talented and unaffected by the rubber stamp placed on them by the ILM elite, Dirty Projectors played precocious, innocent and brilliant. Leadman Dave Longstreth wields his guitar upside down and left-handed, a furious Jimi Hendrix play shackled only by boat shoes and effete charm. Plunging ... More >>

BOOM, BOOM, OW! SURVIVING GRAMMY WEEK IN L.A.

Nightranger Looks Back at '09 Fashion and Music

Grammy Week: Magical Music Moments All Over Town

The 50 Best Albums of the Year (#20-11) (Sponsored By Teen Wolf Too)

Some might say this was the finest work Jason Bateman would ever do. 20. Al Green-Lay It Down (Blue Note) What more did you want from Al Green? Did you want him to wear Levar Burton sunglasses and use auto-tune? Did you want him to do a ladies only tour? Did you want him to employ interplanet ... More >>

Nightranger: Maggie Barry, Box 8, Shin BBQ, Brian Lichtenberg, and Fashion Accessories by Cobrasnake

ROCK ’N’ WEAR CIRCUS EIGHT’S GREATS

OMG at Avalon

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

Four on the floor

Like Fresh Cream: Al Green Teams With the Roots

Reverend re-imagines the notion of smooth soul

Outside Lands Day 2-When Dinosaurs Attack

The crowd was older and tamer yesterday. No wholesale destruction of chain link fences, no claustrophobic clusterfucks trying to get across the endless expanse of festival ground, no scofflaws streaming into the VIP section to taunt the fools that squandered $700 a ticket for nicer bathrooms and a ... More >>

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 >>

Memorial Day Weekend in LA: Music galore (and MP3s)

Ah, Memorial Day Weekend, the perfect three-day break, tailor-made for chilling in the comfort of an abandoned LA. As long as you stay away from Hollywood Boulevard and the tourists imported from Hell, you can relax, go out to dinner, catch some music, sleep in, drive to the desert, take some LSD, c ... More >>

How Shit Be

Freestyle riffs & ruminations on black music and pop culture at the dawn of 2007

''Just Be Butt Naked. With Glitter.''

Before the Music Dies screened at Circus Theatricals, November 16

Music Picks

For the week of June 8 - 15

Music Picks

For the week of June 1 - 7

Of Mice and Gorillaz

Panoramic producer Danger Mouse orchestrated some of 2005’s most memorable moments. He’s just warming up

Snakebites

Songs, Songs, Songs

Black Steel

Common in commotion