Max Bell

Last year Oakland rap paragons Souls of Mischief celebrated the 20th anniversary of their seminal 1993 debut, ’93 Til Infinity. Last week the group released the Adrian Younge produced There is Only Now, their sixth studio album and first in five years. Tonight, for their album release party at the......

When the members of a rap group go solo, the results can be disastrous, both when it comes to the music and the friendships. When there's, eventually, inevitably, a reunion tour or new album, it reeks of anticlimax. Not so for venerable L.A. hip-hop act Dilated Peoples, however. Since the release......

Miles Tackett has been a professional musician for over 20 years. The 45-year-old Highland Park resident plays guitar, bass, cello and more. He’s played around the globe founded several influential, long-running weekly parties in L.A. and possesses an encyclopedic knowledge of the city’s musical history. Tackett’s solo debut, the independently......

Tech N9ne always wanted his music on the radio. The 42-year-old independent rapper just didn't want to have to compromise to do it. Though even before his current hit "Fragile" he was one of underground hip-hop's biggest success stories - selling hundreds of thousands of records, moving mountains of merch,......

Stones Throw Records founder Peanut Butter Wolf famously dedicated his imprint to honoring his late friend and collaborator, the rapper Charizma. Growing up in San Jose the pair were a duo. Over Wolf's boom-bap inflected beats, Charizma had a delivery reminiscent of Big L, without any cursing. But Charizma was killed -......

Perpetually stoned, Saudi Arabia-born rapper Skinny is asked constantly about the political situation in his homeland. "That's when interviewers hear ignorant answers," explains the man whose name we'll spell Skinny, his thick dread-locks resting on his shoulders as he lounges in a Glendale recording studio. "I'm just not really into......

Dr. Dre's 1992 seminal solo debut The Chronic ushered in the G-Funk era, the first rise of West Coast rap on the radio. By 1994, the Angeleno slang and trunk-rattling bounce was national. Below are the West Coast rap songs that ranked on the year-end Billboard Hot 100 in 1994:......