Ruthless Records Company

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 >>

Funk Volume: Valley-Based Rap Label Builds an Independent Empire

Rapper Big Chan Lost All Her Money and Was Sleeping in an Attic. Then She Discovered a Sewing Machine...

The rapper formerly known as both Big Chan and Ghetto Cyndarella is sitting at a Hollywood Boulevard diner, contemplating fashion. We must, Chan Gaines believes, move away from the stripper look on the red carpet. Though she has learned not to judge. She is a seamstress and clothing designer now, ... 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 >>

Bud Bundy's Rap Career?! Hear David Faustino's Music

In this week's cover story, "Bud Bundy, Original Gangsta," I delve into the remarkable hip-hop trajectory of David Faustino, who, while playing Bud Bundy on Married...with Children, threw one of the most influential rap parties the west coast has ever seen. In the early '90s, along with three of h ... 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 >>

Legendary Ghostwriter D.O.C. Is Back, But Can He Save Detox?

DJ Quik: Trials and Tribulations of a West Coast Legend

Music Picks: Dum Dum Girls, Tricky, Leon Russell, OFF!

Also, Peaches, Killing Joke, Albert Lee and others

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

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 >>

Mack 10’s Hustler Handbook

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

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

Four on the floor

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

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)

Steve Aoki

Big kid

Julio G. Is for Real

After a three-year hiatus from radio, KDAY’s hardcore son comes home

Compton Rises Again

Lil’ E on the legacy of Eazy and being his own man

Honesty is the Holiest Disease

My Ruin's prayer under pressure

Rap and Revelation

Words to the wise from Blood of Abraham

Down for the Good Life

A Unified Revolution Called Jurassic 5