[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 >>
A native of Hollis, Queens, NY and current resident of Los Feliz, producer Om'Mas Keith broke through with Ice-T signees Raw Breed in 1997, and has since accumulated production and mixing credits on Jay Z's Kingdom Come, Erykah Badu's New Amerykah, Pt. 1: 4th World War and Rick Ross' Rise To Power. ... More >>
On December 31, BET showed their Top 100 videos of the year. It was a block of television that ended at 10 p.m. and began, if I'm remembering accurately, around 48 BC. I'd planned on watching all of it, absorbing the videos and then using that information to reach some grand, great point about rap ... More >>
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 >>
But are their parties legal? Under-the-radar Hollywood dance venue Freak City tests the limits
[Editor's note: Why This Song Sucks determines why particular tracks blow using science. It appears on West Coast Sound every Wednesday.] Song: Rick Ross, "Hold Me Back" History: Rappers Meek Mill and Wale released a song called "Actin' Up." It was loud, boisterous and aggressively circular (the ... More >>
Earlier this week Nicki Minaj stepped in a fresh pile of political shit when she, in an attempt to stir the pot on a "Mercy" freestyle remix, rapped that she is voting for Mitt Romney. People stupid enough to think anything Minaj does or says matters were outraged, and some even sent her death threa ... More >>
See also: Popping That Ass: The Ladies Who Won Diplo's Contest Tonight rapper French Montana is hosting a party at a strip club, L.A.'s King of Diamonds Sin City. More specifically, it's a "'Pop That' Event," during which dancers will compete by twerking to Montana's wildly catchy summer anthem "Po ... More >>
[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.] Formerly known as "Tity Boy," Atlanta rapper 2 Chainz is best known as a member of Ludacris' Disturbing tha Peace crewand ... More >>
[Editor's note: Weekly scribe Jeff Weiss's column, "Bizarre Ride," appears on West Coast Sound every Wednesday. His archives are available here.] Forget phrenology, both the overrated Roots album and the 19th-century pseudo-science. Ignore palmistry, psychotherapy and Rick Warren. The best way to b ... More >>
I used to work out a lot. I never wanted to be super big -- like, I didn't care to look like an Olympic weightlifter, or even a sprinter, for that matter. I just wanted it to not hurt that much if someone punched me in the stomach. I wanted an Olympic diver build, which, in retrospect, is a semi-wei ... More >>
See also: Frank Ocean - The Wiltern - 7/17/12 Why Is Frank Ocean's Coming Out a Big Deal, But Not Syd the Kyd's? Depending on your political point of view, Chick-fil-A is either a patriotic chicken chain whose brass advocate "traditional" marriage or a homophobic gulag to be avoided. R&B singer F ... More >>
See also: KDAY, the Gangsta Rap Oldies Station, Breaks New Ground by Playing Music From the Bad Old Days Below are some illustrations of rappers. (The top is an example.) They also contain hints to help you guess who they are. There are 15 total. If you miss more than three, you lose and everyone ... More >>
See also: Cassette Tapes Are Awesome Until You Actually Have To Listen To Them The guy who sells CDs and DVDs in the corner store parking lot near my house? That guy is the tits. I mean, our relationship can only ever be that one way. I don't want to know him in any other context than The Guy Who ... More >>
By J. Pablo Top 20 Greatest L.A. Rap Albums Of All Time: The Complete List Over the last few years, hip-hop artists who grew up in the hood but wanted to go beyond clichéd gangsterisms have been on the rise; Kendrick Lamar, Curren$y, A$AP Rocky, Big K.R.I.T. Hailing from L.A.'s Leimert Park neig ... More >>
[Editor's note: Jeff Weiss's column, "Bizarre Ride," appears on West Coast Sound every Wednesday. Be sure to also check out the archives.] It's hard to pinpoint the date when the music industry stopped speaking like a shell-shocked trench poet, but the sky quietly quit falling. Last year, album sal ... More >>
Also, Barbara Lynn, Stalley, Active Child and others
Remember about a decade ago when every rapper had to have his own clothing line? And then remember about four years ago when every rapper had to have his own social networking site? Surprisingly, it turns out that artists from all across the musical spectrum have been impersonating Mark Zuckerberg f ... More >>
[Editor's note: Weekly scribe Jeff Weiss's column, "Bizarre Ride," appears on West Coast Sound every Wednesday. His archives are available here.] The plan was simple. Head to Venice Beach, sample the mixtapes hawked by the hucksters hovering near the paddle tennis courts, pick one rapper to profile ... More >>
See also: Battle of the Barbies: Who's Better, Lil' Kim or Nicki Minaj? [Editor's note: Deathmatch pairs two artists who have something in common, and determines who is better. It's a concept we sort-of ripped off from MTV, except that instead of claymation it's the printed word!] Rick Ross is a p ... More >>
See also: The Boss Vs. The Bawse: Who's Better, Bruce Springsteen or Rick Ross? [Editor's note: Deathmatch pairs two artists who have something in common, and determines who is better. It's a concept we sort-of ripped off from MTV, except that instead of claymation it's the printed word!] Lil' Kim ... More >>
Rick Ross feat. Busta Rhymes 1-13-12 Nokia Theatre See also: Fictional Cutting-Room Floor Outtakes From Rick Ross' Amazing GQ Profile Better than: Actually being Big Meech. Or Larry Hoover. At least in 2012. "Schindler and I are like peas in a pod! We're both factory owners, we both made shells f ... More >>
I Self DevineWhat a year it's been for rap music! None of us knew what to expect of 2012 way back on January 1, last Sunday, but it has panned out big time. This year's class is an inspired bunch, a crew of rappers who are really pushing things forward. While it's a little early to call this ... More >>
Sure, you have your cosplay and your Star Trek, but Rap Industry Fan Fiction takes the genre to a place that it isn't know for going -- hip-hop. The brainchild of UNC history major Kate Davis Jones and grad Drew Millard, the site makes good on titles like "Ice Cube Shows Ice-T His Model Train Set" a ... More >>
Pusha TSee Also: Pusha T and Tyler the Creator's "Trouble On My Mind" Video Shoot "I've had a good fucking year and it's pretty amazing!" Pusha T, one half of the Neptunes-endorsed rap group The Clipse, sounds relaxed and happy as he prepares to release his new solo project, Fear Of God II: ... More >>
Sam SlovickSee also: Freeway Rick Ross: From drug-trafficking and CIA connections, to a biopic directed by Nick Cassavetes, the former 'Donald Trump of crack' becomes the patron saint of South Central While Freeway Ricky Ross was spending 20 years in jail for dealing drugs, two rappers, Free ... More >>
In May, Live Nation and Groupon combined forces in a presumed effort to jumpstart the struggling concert ticket market. Indeed, in recent months you've been able to get Groupons for all sorts of big shows. The partnership has been a boon to musically-inclined bargain hunters, but it also gets ... More >>
David BallThe birthday girl Kreayshawn's Birthday Party Freak City September 25, 2011 Around 9:30 last night, just as I was settling in for the evening, I got a message from Freak City's Rick Ross. "Krea just decided to have her birthday party at Freak City tonight. Wanna come by?" Well, du ... More >>
Miami rapper Rick Ross is the subject of a lengthy and fucking amazing profile in Gentleman's Quarterly that makes the same point that Deeper Than Rap and Teflon Don did: Rick Ross is the greatest rapper alive. That's not the same thing as being the best rapper alive -- in fact, you get the i ... More >>
Christopher VictorioKreayshawnAfter Silver Lake saw its Sunset Junction hopes and dreams come crashing down last Wednesday, West Coast Sound examined the fallout this week. First question: Where's my damn refund? Well, it turns out that if you bought discounted tickets at the Silver Lake Farm ... More >>
Spaceghostpurrp and SpeakWhile you were running back Jay Z and Kanye's impossibly out-of-touch single "Otis" last weekend, Spaceghostpurrp and Speak were recording in Miami's Poe Boy studios. While you were recalling Jigga and 'Ye's humble roots, two of today's realest rising rappers were t ... More >>
"Freeway" Ricky Ross vs. Rapper Rick Ross: Who would you put money on? He thinks he's Big Meech! Larry Hoover! But Miami rapper Rick Ross might be blowing money fast in court, not in the club, soon if he keeps calling himself the moniker he adopted from "Freeway" Ricky Ross, the Los Angeles ... More >>
Rick Ross and Spaceghostpurrp are both from the Carol City community in Miami. Both are steeped in Uncle Luke's 2 Live Crew carnival of raunch--Ross' women wear panties that look like shoestrings, and Spaceghostpurrp's strippahs have already lost theirs. But Ricky Rozay has employed the J.U.S ... More >>
Sam SlovickRick Ross at Highways Performance Space in Santa MonicaThe wad of crumpled $20 bills stashed under Ollie North's pillow had Freeway Rick Ross' fingerprints all over it when the CIA got caught slanging rocks in South Central back in the '80s. Grimy, crumpled and smeared with ghetto ... More >>
"Hey bro, we hear you like bros, so we put some bros in your End of the Year Best Music Lists so you can bro while you bro!"Well, 'tis the time of year for lists and charts! Several mags and blogs attempted to answer the question you've been dying to ask: Who had the best album/"new music"? ... More >>
Antoine Dodson, bigger than Tay ZondayThe BET Hip-Hop Awards (broadcast last night) displayed the kind of charming surprises that the super-contrived MTV Awards have become too bloated to provide. We already told you about MC Hammer's appearance with closet Hammerhead Rick Ross, but later in ... More >>
Is a Rick Ross doll even available?Rick Ross had previously rehabilitated the tarnished name of MC Hammer with a boast track called, yes, "MC Hammer." Sample verse: Bitch I'm MC Hammer/ I'm about cream/ I got 30 cars, whole lot of dancers/ I take them everywhere/ I'm MC Hammer/ Started selli ... More >>
When in doubt, says the veteran rapper, heed the late Eazy-Es advice: Always stay about your money
Other than freshman Delta Sigma Theta rushes at Cal-State Chico, no substrata of the American population has worse taste in rock than rappers. Sure, your little brother likes Fall Out Boy, but eventually, he's going to grow up and discover The Clash, then weed, then hopefully Junior Murvin and Lee ... More >>
With a tip of the cap to Danny Boyle and A Way Between Voice and Presence, we take a deeper look at the alternately painful and joyous recollections that led to the construction of Rick Ross' verse on Ludacris' "Southern Gangsta." Little known fact: Ross' boss qualities are purported to be the in ... More >>
Image via Hip Hop is Read Unless you've been living in the Madagascan Rain Forest or are a cave-dwelling ignicolist in Outer Mongolia, you're well aware that today marks the inauguration of Barack Obama. To the delight of the rap world and the chagrin of the social security set, Obama has been bi ... More >>
By Ben Westhoff Hip-hop A-listers including Rick Ross, Akon and Plies were caught grossly exaggerating their gangster credentials this year. (Turns out they were painfully law-abiding. The horror!) But even if your favorite rapper wasn't caught in a lie, you can bet he or she put out a hilariously ... More >>
You don't need a half-wit music critic to tell you it's been a remarkable year for America, one historians will be discussing and researching for centuries to come. War, financial collapse, politics, technology: All have been dinner-table topics for many Americans. Racial barriers in 2008 were dem ... More >>
EXT. THE ARABIAN DESERT-DAY BUSTA RHYMES and jovial sidekick, SPLIFF STARR, stroll through a barren wasteland: famished, high and disoriented. Busta:Where are we, Spliff? Spliff Starr: Yemen. Busta Rhymes: Don't yeah man, me...I pay you for two things: carrying drugs and geographic know-how. ... More >>
Are you frequently fatigued? Do you lack the energy to assault major American film directors over the role of O-Dog? Do you find yourself drinking beverages, one part Alize, one part Cristal, and one part Suge Knight tear drop, while wondering why your particular brand of thug lacks passion? Well, ... More >>
Hip-hop's been in a lull. Meet the new torchbearers
1. Who made the decision to have an Asian Bjork clone perform a feather dance for one of the video's main plot threads? Okay fine, we all know the answer was Rza, but really, was Erykah Badu that busy taking trips to Israel with Jay Electronica that Bobby couldn't convince her to show up for a cou ... More >>
If there are any aspiring young rappers out there reading this, now is the time to rejoice. With his second album, Trilla, Rick Ross has proven that all you need to do to have a viable rap career is the foresight to rhyme "Ross" with "Boss." For those keeping score, that's two albums on Def Jam, t ... More >>
Last week, DJ Khaled announced the creation of his We the Best Music, a new vanity label that will be distributed and released under the Def Jam umbrella. In a press conference to promote the pact, Khaled repeatedly proclaimed "we the best" and that "we taking over internationally." As I find Kha ... More >>
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