The Original West Coast Rydaz is back as WestCoastStyles.com. Covering all aspects of West Coast Culture through the eyes of the original West Coast Rydaz curators.
Erotic D, known for his work with pioneering and trailblazing artists like MC Breed, The D.O.C., Adina Howard and others, has partnered with famed Hollywood film composer Marcello De Francisci to create scores for upcoming films and video games.
The multi-faceted music producer, whose pseudonym was given to him by his former DJ partner because of the theatrical approach and the cinematic elements of his music productions, also recently released his 15th solo album entitled King Shit, and a collaborative project entitled Gun Shot Residue with his son Evry Day Tony.
Marcello De Francisci, whose work includes scoring Natalie Portman’s Jane Got A Gun, Ron Frickeand Mark Magidson’s feature documentary Samsara, Sony Computer Entertainment’s the God of War video games; as well as having his music licensed on an array of motion picture trailer advertising campaigns including the Russo Brother’s Avengers-Endgame of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Ridley Scott’s Exodus, James Cameron’s Avatar, Jerry Bruckheimer’s National Treasure and Guillermo Del Toro’s Hellboy.
Just as promised, native Riverside, CA, rapper-producer, Diar Lansky, unleashes his 365: Daily Operation campaign today. Starting off Day 1 of 365 days of pure, uncut Hip Hop, Lansky reflects back on the super crazy year that is known as 2020. Kick back, relax, and enjoy toasting to the New Year, as Diar instructs 2020 to take a seat.
Die4 Productions Presents Diar Lansky 365: Daily Operation. Lansky will be releasing a new song every day for the entire year of 2021. Sit back, stay tuned, and enjoy new #HipHop everyday for the next year!!!
In a new Instagram video to Snoop Dogg’s IG Story, the Doggfather boasted production from Dr. Dre, Ant Banks, Fredwreck, Battlecat, ProHoeZak, and others will be featured on the upcoming Mt. Westmore project from Too Short, Ice Cube, E-40, and Snoop.
Planning for a 2021 release, the Mt. Westmore group was formed during the 2020 Covid-19 quarantine during a simple conversation that the bay area icon had with E-40 and Ice Cube.
NHale, the son of the late legend Nate Dogg, continues to drop new music as he builds his career in the footsteps of his father. Today we bring you “Just Like That” featuring Kurupt and Maserati Jay and they even use the late Tiny Lister aka Deebo for their cover art. Kurupt’s verse is too funny!
Inglewood’s D Smoke scored a GRAMMY nod for his “Black Habits” album and one of the stand out tracks for that project was one he recorded with his brother SiR from Top Dawg Entertainment called “Closer To God”. With the GRAMMY Awards coming up, D Smoke and SiR released a new video for the song which should bolster his chances to win.
2Eleven, fresh off a trip to Egypt, checks in with our own Don Dubb for an exclusive new interview! The Inglewood rapper and our Compton native chat it up about the rapper’s career including the time he was signed to Jeezy’s CTE label to his viral hit “Blood Walk” and more.
Pimp, pimp, hooray! The Apex Digital Network released this 4 part interview series between two West Coast legends, Suga Free & Snoop Dogg, called “The Porch where they discuss a variety of topics. You can watch all 4 episodes below!
Lil Homie turns to Suga Free for relationship advice. It doesn’t take a genius to figure out what Suga Free is going to tell him but you should listen to the song anyway, well, because it’s Suga Free!
We love showcasing new talent here at WCS and this week we have a young talent out of Azusa, CA by the name of BELLA who has developed as an artist quite considerably for her age and independently on her own. As an emcee, BELLA has found that fine line between flow, lyrics and attitude. So many times an artist is a bit too much of one thing instead of being a balance of all. She keeps that flavor West Coast too. You can check out her YouTube channel HERE to see what I’m talking about. Meanwhile we took the time to interview her for an introductory spotlight.
Annimeanz is prepping his next release ‘Cudahy Dopeboy 3″ and he has a mini-documentary about the new album. Cudahy Dopeboy 3 will be the first release from ITSDA1ST Music Group as an official LLC, as the company is now official on the books. It’s just a testament to the grind and hustle of Annimeanz as his movement has been purely organic and independent.
The CaliZona connect is real! Specifically the great city of Phoenix. Rico a hot new single from up and coming Arizona artist Case Money which was produced by veteran CEO/Artist Yog Westwood, and features new artist Dash Money. I recently had a decent phone interview that will be posted soon with the whole camp, these guys are talented and hungry, and are being guided by a heavy weight industry veteran in Yog Westwood. As usual Yog has kept it solid in maintaining that, the spotlight should be on them and that’s what this record shows new talent coming out of Phoenix, and orchestrated by Da’ Factory Music Group. #Tapin
Billy Johnson Jr. is a veteran in this game going back to the days when JJ Fad was rocking the scene – which was over 30 years ago. Billy has worked for Rap Sheet, The Source, Vibe, XXL, Entertainment Weekly, Yahoo, and has interviewed just about every big name in the rap industry over the last 4 decades. In this new interview with myself and Shad Reed, Billy talks about it all. This was a real honor for me as Billy has been an inspiration for my own career and someone that I look up to.
Joey P’s new visual “Minimal” has potent bars and a cadence that is infectious.
When it comes to Boss talk on the WestCoast, Joey P is that guy. The Compton native has an independent record label, @concretemusicent that has signed a few talented artist.
They are giving the Compton music scene a fresh look and sound., check them out!
L.A.’s J. Stone is set to drop his album “The Definition of Pain” and for one of the tracks he links up with legendary Bay area rapper E-40 in a new track entitled “Hella Toasted”. What’s unique is that Stone got 40 to rap in a normal tone and style.
Rapper Too Short had his biggest hit thus far with 2006’s “Blow the Whistle.” However, conventional wisdom would suggest that’s damn near impossible. At the time of its release, Short Dog was 40 years old, and, historically, Hip-Hop was always a young man’s game; even Jay-Z stumbled a bit with his Kingdom Come album that same year and said on a song, “30’s the new 20,” insinuating age was more than just a number. Music is also about metrics – sales, spins, and streams (the last of which wasn’t a thing yet), and “Blow the Whistle” didn’t make it onto the Billboard Hot 100 chart. Trends define hits of a particular time as well, and “Blow the Whistle” was not the hyphy movement’s breakthrough song (see “Tell Me When to Go” instead). Yet, almost a decade and a half later, it is one of the era’s most well-respected and beloved songs that will forever hold a spot in Hip-Hop’s consciousness.
Like “Blow the Whistle,” Too Short is an anomaly in the best possible ways. What he lacks in mainstream popularity and exposure gets made up for in influence and longevity. Short pioneered the business savvy of modern Hip-Hop moguls who are household names; he kicked down the door so others could climb through the window. For example, after he started his career with a local label called 75 Girls, he started his Dangerous Music company, and with funding from an Oakland street hustler named Ted Monahan, he stepped his game up for his fourth album, Born to Mack. From that, he caught the attention of the majors. And so, when Jive rereleased it, the outcome was a national star, thanks in large part to the grassroots fanbase Too Short made on his own. While his contemporaries, such as N.W.A, Geto Boys, and the 2 Live Crew, faced public outrage for their lyrics and wrestled with internal conflicts, leading to peaks and valleys with popularity, Too Short continued to succeed at a steady pace. He never lost sight of what got him there. And from 1989 to 2007, he released fourteen LPs with Jive – six of them which went platinum and four of which went gold. Most Too Short fans own multiple albums of his, which’s not lost on him either. And that is why he has refused to compromise and has undoubtedly made him one of the most consistent artists in the history of rap.
In a 2018 interview on Vlad TV, Short said, “I remember the Reverend Calvin Butts steamrolling cassette tapes and shit. I remember 2 Live Crew and the Geto Boys in court. I remember the FBI contacting N.W.A. I don’t know why I wasn’t a part of any of that. [It must be] something that I did, either my nonchalant demeanor or the fact I didn’t have radio hits that were threatening. Somehow they missed me.”
That is odd because Too Short is most famous for his memorable raps about pimping and pussy, reflecting Oaktown’s subculture, which he saw all around him. There’s no denying that. However, it’s equally important to recognize that his social commentary is as, if not more so, noteworthy. Rather than merely glorify street life, he penned narratives that depicted it. Too Short has cited Melle Mel’s rhymes in “The Message” as a significant influence on him and how it painted a picture of New York, so he adopted that same approach for the California streets he called home. And so, if avoiding controversy helped his stories of struggle ultimately reach more people – all the power to him. Yes, the “negative” attention may have resulted in higher sales, but at least his socially conscious content wouldn’t get overshadowed or overlooked by his pimp persona more than it already had been. In his song, “The Ghetto,” he samples the Donny Hathaway record of the same name, and Hathaway’s wife and daughter both thanked him for what he did with their kin’s 1970 classic. “So just peep the game, and don’t call it crap / Cause to me, life is one hard rap / Even though my sister smoked crack cocaine / She was nine months pregnant, ain’t nothing changed / 600 million on a football team, and her baby died just like a dope fiend.” But that wasn’t the first time he’d addressed the issue of drugs in his community. In one of his earliest recordings, “Girl (Cocaine) That’s Your Life,” he talked about crack before it was even crack. And the timeless, “Life Is… Too Short” is a perfect “carpe diem” song if there ever was one.
Q-Tip, of A Tribe Called Quest, famously once rapped about Industry Rule 4080, meaning that record company people are shady. Fortunately, Too Short is an exception to it. He has even discussed how sometimes other rappers would write something for him, and he would make sure they got their props. While reflecting on his album, Short Dog’s in the House, a few years ago with Complex, he remarked, “If you wrote a song for Too Short, you’d get a lot of money. You’d make like five to ten grand just for the song, and you’d probably get checks later on. Dangerous Dame wrote me that song (“Short But Funky”). If you listen to the words and the flow, it’s not me.” He added, “Of all the songs I perform, I’ve probably had 15 written by other people… I’d just like randomly grab someone and be like, ‘Write one for me, man.'”
In my recent discussion with master musician Colin Wolfe, he shared the integrity of Too Short and how that’s all too rare. “For album number ten, I recorded a bunch of different basslines and beats. He must have called me up two months later, ‘Man, we’ve been looking for you. We got some money for you.’ So he tracked me down, paid me his money, gave me my credit. He’s one of those honest cats. There are not too many people like that.”
In 2020, rap music is hugely collaborative, even to the point where the primary artist sometimes feels like a guest on their projects. That was not always the case, though. And Too Short was one of the first to begin to work with other artists and broke new ground in many instances while doing so. Some of his collaborations include: when he rapped with Ice Cube on “Ain’t Nothin’ But a Word to Me” in 1990, it was the first time rappers from Northern and Southern California linked up. 1995’s Cocktails is the first solo rap album to feature all music performed by a live band (props to Ant Banks for that album’s stellar production as well). And besides being one of the few artists to record with Biggie and Pac while they were still alive, he also curated classics with southern icons Scarface and UGK.
Additionally, he jumped on the mic in 2001 with a then-unknown rapper named T.I. on the record “Hotel” from the Southern emcee’s debut album. He’s also collaborated with Lady Gaga, G-Eazy, Wiz Khalifa, and The Lonely Island. Most recently, Too Short announced getting into business with Snoop Dogg, E-40, and Ice Cube and forming a supergroup called Mount Westmore.
While speaking with WCS’ own Chad Kiser recently, Short Dog said, “It’s a business venture. We talked about this from the start, the potential of joining forces like Voltron and came together as one major giant. Call us when you want to give us that residency in Vegas. It means so much more in so many ways if we partner up.”
Too Short’s next solo album is called Sir Too Short. It is very fitting. “Sir” is defined as “used as a polite or respectful way of addressing a man, especially one in a position of authority.” And if anyone has earned such distinction, it is the man born Todd Shaw, who, as Too Short, said in 1983, “Don’t Stop Rapping.” Thirty-seven years later, he still hasn’t. This past Saturday, December 19, 2020, he even participated in a Verzuz battle with fellow Bay legend E-40. It was less of a competition and more of a celebration of an already cemented legacy. And it is a legacy that could even make St. Patrick green with envy. He succeeded and has always done things on his terms. He trailblazed as both an honorable businessman and an artist; he put real content in his music instead of just what captured listeners’ attention. And he provided outlets and avenues for up-and-coming and established talent alike to make connections that otherwise wouldn’t be possible. The worst thing someone who sold tapes out of their car’s trunk could do would be to sell out. He didn’t. Thank God.
And if you still can’t recognize all the good he does because you can’t get over the X-rated content in his catalog: don’t hate the player; hate the game. Biaaaaatch!
It’s been 16 long years since West Coast duo Chico & Coolwadda released a single. Their last one together was 2004’s “Fall Down” featuring Truth Hurts while signed to Carson Daly’s record label. Best known for their radio hit “High Come Down” featuring the late Nate Dogg, Chico & Coolwadda have been known for their unique signature flows and voices and so I am happy to see that today they have released their first single in a very long time. “Trippin Over You”. I hope this leads to more.
2020 proved to be a very trying year. Whether it was the vitriol in politics or the health concerns involving Covid, a lot of people chose to retreat to the comfort of themselves. Well, that’s at least what MC Random did on his latest project entitled Hibernation. When we caught up with him at the Flourish & Prosper headquarters, he expressed the motivation for his project.
“Well, because of the lock down, I had a lot of down time,” he began to explain. “I mean, me and Chop Lui are always banging out beats and songs but because of all the quarantine and stuff, I began to listen to music of my past with a different ear. I am the product of early boom bap and I felt something tugging at me to create something my idols would be proud of…I dunno, i just felt real nostalgic on this album.”
He goes on to say that he just decided to “hibernate” and do what he loves without any outside interference, and the product of that is an old school love letter to Hip Hop filled with the sounds and feels of yesteryear. He likes to say that he injected the project with 5100 cc’s of severe boom bappery but it’s not just the lyrics. The music…the mix…the feel. He tapped into his natural instinct to just let the project breathe life on its own, and with certain standout tracks such as the title track “Hibernation”, the collab tracks he has with Apakalips, Quaz, and Medusa the Gangsta Goddess, this project definitely LIVES.
Already thinking of is next project, MC Random does seem to feel a special bond with this one in particular. “I mean the year was not the best honestly…lots of people lost jobs and their lives…but in the end of the day, Hip Hop is gonna be there for me now the same way it was when I was younger. So, if a project like this inspires or reminds an old head how precious this thing of ours is then it was a positive exchange…plus the Lakers and the Dodgers got the chip! We gonna be alright!”
Hibernation is a Hip Hop experience that can be enjoyed by all and MC Random hopes it can cut through and be listened to. To listen to him play it and talk about it, you would swear you were in a Delorian car from Back to the Future…but are we going back or forward in time? Give Hibernation a listen and find out…
It sucks not being able to go see performances thanks to the covid virus, so while they are getting these vaccines in order we thought we would bring the concerts to you! Live performances will start to take place from our headquarters in late January but for now we were able to get the homies from Honor Flow Productions to tape a show for you all. Honor Flow is a good throwback to the California hip-hop groups of the 90’s like Pharcyde, Jurassic 5 and Souls of Mischief. A special thank you goes out to DJ Chuck the Old Soul, DJISLord, and Elimn8 for taking the time to film and edit this 30 + minute performance. Enough talk, let’s go!
2Eleven has a new album out, “Success Is The Best Revenge”, and he gets real in one of the songs off of it called “Chess”. He recently shot the video for it and released it the other day. It has a real message about his life and career.
The legends are in high gear right now! As he prepares the supergroup album with Too $hort, Ice Cube and Snoop Dogg, E-40 is also getting ready to drop his next project Terms and Conditions and “MOB” is the first song and video from that album. 2021 is going to be lit!
Too $hort is the living embodiment of longevity. After four-plus decades of rapping and macking, he’s showing absolutely no signs of slowing down.
In this Conversations With Chad exclusive podcast interview with Too Short, we discuss the upcoming face-off against fellow Bay Area icon E-40 in the VERZUZ battle, his upcoming and soon-to-be-released album Sir Too $hort, which will be produced by long-time producer Ant Banks; details on the supergroup formed with Ice Cube, Snoop Dogg, and E-40, and much more!
Check out what Too $hort had to say in this exclusive interview with Chad Kiser on Conversations With Chad podcast below:
Kxng Crooked is a lyrical god. The man has spit some of the illest rhymes and flows in this business. I remember first hearing his freestyles om Sway & Tech’s shows and it was baffling to me how a human being could flow like that. Years later I got to interview him for WestCoastRydaz and then other platforms down the road. And then I saw him turn into Kxng Crooked and rightfully so as he is the King in my book. There are artists of bigger stature but when we are talking about a pure lyricist, it doesn’t get any better than Crook in my opinion and that is no slight to anyone else but I am sure even they would agree that he is dopeness personified. In this new interview with our own Nick Hamilton, Kxng Crooked opens up and discusses things like lyricism, Eminem, Snoop Dogg and his impact on Long Beach, Dr. Dre respecting him for Crook’s refusal to diss him, Slaugherhouse giving closure to the fans and so much more.
Looks like the rumors were true! Eminem just released “Music To Be Murdered By B Sides” and the whole internet is going nuts now. Em didn’t disappoint especially when it was revealed he teamped up with Dr. Dre once again. Here is “Guns Blazing”.
LegendariMinds crew! , Anthony Gray and ALFPHA dropped a new video ” Stuck’ that sheds light on the feelings of most black males in inner cities like Compton.
Blxst is the future and that’s why we push him so much on this site – the skills are straight there. Check out this new vid “Got It All” featuring Dom Kennedy off of his No Love Lost Deluxe EP.
Murs has released a new album that is out now called “Love & Rockets Vol 2: The Declaration” and this song and video “The D.O.C. is the first single off of it.
The Godfather of Soul, the late great James Brown would approve of this. West Coast producer Fredwreck assembles a cast of musicians that includes himself on the Guitar and Moog and Uncle Chucc of 1500 or Nothin on the Bass. Snoop kind of comes off as a Scrooge in refusing a Christmas tree and gift giving participation. Despite that, this jam is Christmas Funky!
The Game took to to NBA2K style of animation for his latest video “A.I. With The Braids” featuring Lil Wayne that pays tribute to the great basketball star Allen Iverson. The song which includes the infamous “get money” vocal from the Junior Mafia hit also features some lines thrown at the Kardashians and longtime foe 50 Cent. Game is always going to be Game whether you love him or hate him.
We recently sat down with Eddie Patino of CrimeCityFilms to talk about all of the big things he has done in the past, present and what’s coming up in the future! Eddie has shot videos for some big names in the industry but he also shows love to new and underground talent. We talk about it all in this new interview.
Today Jamal relives times where he got bad Christmas presents as a kid. takes a nostalgic stroll down memory lane with the Ying Yang Twins, and talks about him getting snubbed from the family christmas card. Plus an interview with the “Spotlight Artist of the Week” featuring an artist from Liverpool, England Emily Callacher
Ahead of their upcoming VERZUZ “Battle of the Bay”, Bay Area icons, and west coast pioneers, Too Short and E-40 just released “Triple Gold Sox” from the forthcoming Ain’t Gone Do It / Terms & Conditions double album.
Available Friday, December 18, Ain’t Gone Do It / Terms & Comditions is a 20-track project featuring Mistah F.A.B., G-Eazy, Zyah Belle, Freddie Gibbs and more.
What’s many fans will find interesting about this track is that it’s produced by Ant Banks, the long-time producer for both Too Short and E-40. “Triple Gold Sox” finds $hortdog and Charlie Hustle spitting game over a funky-ass track that the Big Badass does so perfectly, as evidenced on previous productions done for the pair like 1996’s “Rapper’s Ball”, 1998’s “From The Ground Up”, T.W.D.Y.’s “Pervin’” in 1999, “Domestic Violence” in 2001, and “Cali-O” from Too Short’s 2002 What’s My favorite Word album.
Too Short leads “Triple Gold Sox” off with, “I said Bitch, get in the car / I’m gonna make you a famous movie star / Look at the camera when it’s time to pop / and smile, that’s the money shot / I’m in this muthafucka dipped in gold / king tut, from head to toe..”
E-40 comes in swinging, “Grew up in the hood playing with glocks and cigs / Long money, like the Golden Gate Bridge..” letting everyone know he’s all about his paper stack and flows flawlessly over this hard-hitting track.
The Too Short and E-40 VERZUZ takes place on December 19, 2020 at 8pm Eastern time.
E-A-Ski just dropped some new heat with former Aftermath artist Jon Connor. The two joined forces on “Reflect Music” to give us not only a dope song, but a video to go with it as well. E-A-Ski produced a monumental track to allow both artists to flow perfectly over. Jon Connor kicked things off with dope lines like, “Let me take you back to a time when rappers would pattern lines after they lives / and strategize how to move through these rooms with suit and ties / before computers intruded and started confusing truth and lies / before they be viewed as a coon they would rather lose they life..” The almighty E-A-Ski joins in on the second verse, and gets straight to the point spitting a verse aimed at rappers who use, “You’re favorite rapper’s a bitch, hiding behind subliminals and his content / don’t he know after them bars comes the violence? / Then come the silence, the funerals, then what happen? / mixing hip-hop with the streets is collateral damage / Is it worth getting a buzz and a few likes / and some followers, following you to your grave site?..” Check the video out below on the producer’s Instagram (@easki_), or go check it out on the E-A-Ski website. https://www.instagram.com/tv/CIyhjFuhnRG/?igshid=1gckxqtrjyp0w The multi-platinum producer for Ice Cube, E-40, Spice 1 and others has produced a slew of new music in recent years with Too Short & Tech N9ne (“Wake’em Up”), MC Ren (“Rebel Music”, “Burn Radio Burn”), Messy Marv (“That Ain’t No Heat”), and Reece Marie (“To The Next”, “Do Something”) to name a few. His most recent solo work has included songs like “If The Shoe Fit”, “Bite The Hand”, “The Nerve of Y’all”, and “EA”.
Hot on the heels of the latest announcement that Too Short and E-40 would appear on the Timbaland and Swizz Beatz webcast series VERZUZ in a “Battle of the Bay”, the two west coast icons were guests on Power 105‘s The Breakfast Club show on Monday morning.
During the discussion with Charlamagne The God and DJ Envy, Too Short and E-40 talked about their long-standing friendship and addressing the almost-beef between the two back in 1995, which sparked their first collaboration with “Rapper’s Ball” from E-40’s Hall of Game album.
In addition to talking about their history together and the successes both have achieved during their ullustrious careers, Too Short expanded a little bit on the west coast super group that he, E-40, Snoop Dogg, and Ice Cube have put together. Charlamagne The God asked if they had, “(Ant) Banks, (Dr.) Dre, Daz and popel like that on this project?” Too Short replied, “Everybody you just named is going to be on there. We tapped into the natural recources that we have access to..Battlecat.”
With production from Dr. Dre, Ant Banks, Battlecat and others, the Snoop Dogg, Ice Cube, Too Short, and E-40 super group seems to be an incredible project that’s being put together!
Over the weekend, a video showing Snoop Dogg and pioneering producer Ant Banks in studio popped up.
Bay Area producer/artist Big Zeke Tha Politician posted a video to his Instagram story of himself, Ant Banks, and Snoop Dogg supposedly working on something in the studio together.
The two Cali kings collaborated on the song “Snoopafella”, which Ant Banks produced, from the Doggfather’s 1999 album No Limit Top Dogg, the rapper’s 4th studio album and second release on No Limit Records.
Ant Banks has produced for several legends in hip-hop including Too Short, Ice Cube, E-40, and Snoop Dogg, all four of whom make up a recently announced west coast super group.
Could this video be proof that Ant Banks is working on that project, or possibly Snoop’s upcoming album Take It From A G?
The Dogg Pound meets Capone-N-Noreaga in this historic West and East collaboration called “Guidelines”. Daz and Capone are making music together and this appears to be the first single from their project which includes both members from their respective groups.
L.A.’s J.Stone is set to release his new album “The Definition of Pain” and this is the second single from the project which is currently available for pre-order on iTunes. This cut “I Came Up” is produced by Mike & Keys with co-production by MyGuyMars from the 1500orNothin camp. The new album has features from E-40, T.I., Dave East, Dom Kennedy, and the late Nipsey Hussle.
E-40 and Too Short, the two icons and pioneers of Bay Area hip-hop have signed on to do a “Battle of the Bay”, the Timbaland and Swizz Beatz webcast series VERZUZ.
E-40 and Too $hort released the collaborative double album The History Channel in 2012, and they are also teaming up again in 2021 as part of the new west coast super group along with Ice Cube and Snoop Dogg.
The Battle takes place on December 19, 2020 at 8pm Eastern time.
There is so much dope new talent on the West Coast and we want to make sure that we show them love on this site. We here at WCS we are dedicated to the legends, trailblazers, veterans, and the new acts coming up. So with that said we would like to introduce you to young Compton talent Holland Izz. Holland is an up-in-comer who has been doing his thing independently and making a nice little name for himself the past few years. You can watch his interview below where you can learn more about him and check out his latest single “Lil Soulja”.
Musician, Producer and close associate of WestCoastStyles, Terrace Martin has released his latest project via his Sounds of Crenshaw label entitled “Village Days”. Right in time for the holidays, Village Days is a collection of Hip-Hop, Soul, and Jazz tracks that will fill your soul with good music. The 7 track album can be streamed on all platforms and it includes a saxophone solo of Brandy’s “Always On My Mind”. Listen Here on YOUTUBE MUSIC.
Irvine, CA-born singer/songwriter/producer/multi-instrumentalist St. Panther has been having a breakthrough 2020. Her song “Infrastructure” was featured in the 4th season of HBO’s Insecure, she collaborated with producers Ricky Reed and Terrace Martin on the single “Real Magic,” and released her These Days EP back in September on Reed’s label Nice Life Recording Company and How So Records. With an eclectic sound weaving through several genres, it’s easy to see why St. Panther’s received such accolades as the Los Angeles Times recently naming her song “These Days” one of the 50 Best Songs of 2020.
To follow up on the release of These Days, St. Panther did a uniquely filmed set with her band, performing several songs off the These Days EP at Gold Diggers Sound in East Hollywood. Check it out, and see why St. Panther has become one of the most buzzworthy artists of 2020.
I’d like to welcome Jamal Bostick and his Tru 1 Hundred Radio start up to the WCS brand. Jamal, the son of publicist Octavia Bostick, runs his station out of Orange County in Southern California and it is a mix of talk and music content. There are various episodes uploaded to their Spotify page and we will be updating you whenever a new one gets added. You can take a listen here at THIS LINK.
Colin Wolfe is the man behind a lot of your favorite songs especially if you are a fan of Dr. Dre, NWA, and Death Row Records. As a musician and collaborator, he came up with the grooves heard on such songs as “Nuthin But A G Thang”, “Dre Day”, “Deez Nutz”, “Deep Cover” and so many more. I feel the man doesn’t get enough acknowledgement for his work so we reached out to him so we could talk about the making of these classics. Colin was cool enough to chat it up with Shad Reed and myself and we had a blast. This interview is something that that you should really take the time to watch!
E-A-Ski just dropped some new heat with former Aftermath artist Jon Connor. The two joined forces on “Reflect Music” to give us not only a dope song, but a video to go with it as well. E-A-Ski produced a monumental track to allow both artists to flow perfectly over. Jon Connor kicked things off with dope lines like, “Let me take you back to a time when rappers would pattern lines after they lives / and strategize how to move through these rooms with suit and ties / before computers intruded and started confusing truth and lies / before they be viewed as a coon they would rather lose they life..” The almighty E-A-Ski joins in on the second verse, and gets straight to the point spitting a verse aimed at rappers who use, “You’re favorite rapper’s a bitch, hiding behind subliminals and his content / don’t he know after them bars comes the violence? / Then come the silence, the funerals, then what happen? / mixing hip-hop with the streets is collateral damage / Is it worth getting a buzz and a few likes / and some followers, following you to your grave site?..” Check the video out below on the producer’s Instagram (@easki_), or go check it out on the E-A-Ski 
