PRIMER: The New L.A.
(Photo: Kendrick Lamar)
When West Coast hip-hop emerged like an uzi-laden storm in the late '80s and early '90s, it posed an interesting dichotomy for the genre. At once violent, hardcore and nihilistic, the actual musical elements produced by Dr. Dre and his brethren were slow, poppy and created a near-irresistible party element.
Then, you know the story. Artists got older. Hits got rarer. Leading lights like Dr. Dre continued to produce and A&R major artists like Eminem and 50 Cent, while his partner-in-crime Snoop Dogg became a multimedia sensation and expanded his musical world through relationships with The Neptunes and Master P.
Really, it took the Internet – with its flat distribution and rewarding attitude towards experimentation – to bring the West Coast back in full. Now, the Los Angeles area in particular is undergoing a major renaissance. New artists like Kendrick Lamar are master lyricists, while Tyler, The Creator and his Odd Future crew take a wide musical palate and shock value to refreshing heights. Tyga, a part of Young Money, brings ignorance and strip club swagger to the max, while Nipsey Hussle and Game take a more retro, weed-laden gangsta course that clearly carries-on the lineage of Dre, Snoop, Tupac and Death Row Records.
There's a lot to discover in The New L.A. It's a wide, disconnected (not quite) movement with many factions. But, put together, a panoramic view shows a refreshing musical landscape with lots of room to grow.
LISTEN: The New L.A. On Spotify
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Kendrick Lamar - Hol' Up
Tyler ,The Creator - She (feat. Frank Ocean)
Snoop Dogg - Gangsta's Life (feat. Nipsey Hussle)
Game - Good Girls Go Bad (feat. Drake)
Casey Veggies - Ridin' Roun Town
Domo Genesis - Rolling Papers (feat. Tyler, The Creator)
Nipsey Hussle - Kush & Haze
Tyga - Rack City
Frank Ocean - Novacane
Crooked I - Pac & Biggie
Gangrene - Chain Swinging (feat. The Alchemist & Oh No)
Dr. Dre - Imagine (feat. Snoop Dogg & D'Angelo)
