NOISEY: This Writer Made a Book Ranking The Best Rap Song Every Year From 1979 to 2014
Noisey/VICE Oh, Shea Serrano. It seems like just yesterday the beloved music writer was an 8th grade science teacher, moonlighting some of his first writing gigs for Noisey and dropping sage hip-hop knowledge and witticisms in pieces like his review of a middle school...
COMPLEX: Gangsta Boo’s Guide to Soul Food in Los Angeles
The Memphis-bred Three 6 Mafia MC's got you covered when it comes to turkey chops, butter cake, and a taste of southern living. Complex It’s a Friday afternoon when rapper Gangsta Boo pulls into the parking lot of a soul food restaurant in Inglewood. The...
Lil Debbie’s New EP, Home Grown, Is An Ode To Weed
LA Weekly It’s Friday night, a little after 10:30, and I’m hoofing it through Hollywood to a spot called Las Palmas where Lil Debbie is premiering her new EP, Home Grown. There are stragglers hanging out front and they’re all young, definitely not over the age...
I Wore Pasties At EDC And It Wasn’t That Bad
LA Weekly It’s easy to make friends when you wear pasties at EDC. I would know. I did it last night. I didn’t plan for this to happen. When I packed for the festival, I chose regular clothes—shorts, tank tops, a sundress. You see, I’m not a raver and I’d never been to...
Tokimonsta Mixes Hip-Hop and EDM For The EDC Masses
LA Weekly It’s a little past 11 o’clock on Friday and the Las Vegas Motor Speedway is pulsing with sound, lights and bodies. Polyester jellyfish and gigantic LED mushrooms hover above the crowd; the smell of funnel cakes and body odor wafts through the 100-degree air...
How an L.A. block became analog alley, a destination for all things retro
LA Weekly Most of the time, when people talk about Sawtelle Boulevard, they mention the Japanophile stretch near Olympic, known as Little Osaka, where you can buy authentic red bean mochi, Sanrio knickknacks and mouthwatering ramen. (The general area around the...
Son Of A Cocaine Dealer, Rapper Bricc Baby Lives Up To His Name
LA Weekly It helps to have friends in high places. Just ask Bricc Baby, an underground L.A. rapper who came out with his second mixtape (Nasty Dealer) in April. Bricc grew up in South L.A., where he befriended a young Kid Ink and Casey Veggies. Later, he moved to...
L.A.’s Smallest Radio Station, 97.5 KBU, Broadcasts Out Of A Malibu Bedroom
LA Weekly The KBUU-FM radio studio is in a ranch-style tract house, on a cul de sac on one of Malibu's few suburban-style streets. In what used to be Emily Laetz's bedroom, the detritus of a recently moved-out kid is everywhere. Puka shell necklaces hang near the door...
OC WEEKLY: Dustin Lovelis Courts A New Sound After The Fling
OC Weekly When the Long Beach quintet, The Fling, took a hiatus in 2013, front man Dustin Lovelis kept working. He penned songs and produced demos. In time, he met producer and bassist for Everest, Elijah Thomson, and they began working on a record. Composer and...
MIAMI NEW TIMES: Miami’s Lil Champ FWAY Is Focused On The Music
Miami New Times On Sunday, Carol City rapper, Lil Champ FWAY, headed to the stinky and smoky trade show known as Cannabis Cup in Denver, Colorado, to usher in the unofficial stoner holiday, 4/20. Before surrendering himself to the hazy interiors of Denver Mart, he...
SF CHRONICLE: Booming Business Rooted in Oakland Pride
San Francisco Chronicle Running a business as large and varied as Oaklandish — ranked 33rd on Fortune’s list of the 100 fastest-growing inner-city companies in America last year — isn’t easy. On the eve of the brand’s recent yearly warehouse sale, with a website...
OC WEEKLY: The Label That Says ‘Yes’ To Everyone
OC Weekly Record labels are exclusive by nature. They are purveyors of taste, harbingers of new talent. Getting signed is a milestone in any artist's career. But what happens if anyone can join a label? Does it still mean something? What happens to a member's-only...