• » Name: Meka Soul
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Slap-Boxing With Jesus

How The West Was Lost

For all the talk that’s been going on in regards to how hard New York has fallen off, not too many people mention how nonexistent Left Coast hip-hop is nowadays. Biased asshole that I am, I could easily do without most of the shit that spews from here, but even I’m a little surprised that the last classic album from here came out way the fuck back in 1999 by a now-reclusive part-time producer, Dr. Dre.

But in all honesty, without Dre in the first place, there probably wouldn’t be any West Coast sound to begin with. Outside of no-name underground rappers, minstrel-style dances and ass-backward gangbanging, virtually every prominent rapper from California can be Kevin Baconed back to Andre Young. The only problem is that the shit has pigeonholed any and everybody into poorly duplicating his sound in order to achieve some form of recognition, with craptacular results almost every time.

It also doesn’t help that former protégées of Dre end up stinking to high Hell once they attempt to stand on their own two feet[1]. Daz has been demoted to a So So Def weed carrier while Kurupt hasn’t been the same since he ditched Foxy Brown for that fake-ass Left Eye on that ridiculously shitty “It’s Over” song, and Snoop Dogg seems more content with making bad albums and protecting a man’s right to call women nappy-headed hoes. But the one who took the hardest hit may have been The Game, who is beginning to sound more like a jilted lover (pause?) than the snarling, name-dropping emcee from before. I guess after Fiddy got him booted off Aftermath he had to return the battery in his back as well.

If anyone could be blamed for this shit, it could be Eazy-E himself. Think about it: if he hadn’t convinced Dr. Dre to drop the lipstick and eyeliner for some khakis and Chuck Taylors, the West probably wouldn’t be struggling to establish itself and remain relevant today. The worst part about it is that some genuinely good talent out here[2] may never get the shine they deserve because of this shit. Who could have known that someone who used to rock a sequin bodysuit with the World Class Wreckin’ Cru could have so much pull on an entire genre of music?

[1] In Warren G’s defense however, he sucked balls to begin with.

[2] You’ll have to ask my fellow West Coast affiliate Brillyance about them though, since I could give three-eighths of a shit about them nowadays.

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