Dom Kennedy recently released his direct-to-iTunes album From the Westside With Love 2, a move that he couldn’t have made with a major label. Speaking with 90.5 KSJS’ Unsa Suhail, Dom explained that he’s keeping it independent for the sake of putting out music on his own terms.

“For right now, I think it’s the best thing that works for me. At times of creative control, being able to put out what I want to and when I want to put it out. If I sign with a major label, you don’t get a From the Westside With Love, II,” he said. “Probably maybe not at all, and you definitely don’t get it with me being able to put it out on iTunes. They’d want to take control of that and try to get me to do other things. Just where I’m at is just so fun.”

He also touched on who he thinks are some of the hottest rappers out of California at the moment, naming Kendrick Lamar, Nipsey Hussle and YG as those with the biggest movements.

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“Kendrick is one of them, Nipsey Hussle is my favorite rapper. That’s pretty much it. YG is out of L.A., he doesn’t type of do the type of music that me and Kendrick, per se, would do, but to me it’s all the same thing. And for me, I feel like he’s a dope, talented young artist. Those is like the main four that I think are the most popular in the city right now.”

He left out Odd Future, whose leader Tyler, The Creator dropped his name a few times in his songs. Dom is confident that the shout-outs are just because they see each other all the time.  

“At first I never really heard too many Odd Future songs, and the first time I ever heard about a shout-out was the Jimmy Fallon show that they did, Tyler did the song,” he continued. “But I think that just happens from them seeing me a lot. My office, where I work out, is right on Fairfax and it’s where a lot of things happening, and they hang out a lot and skate and so I see them literally like if I’m here Monday through Friday, I’ll see them every day. Walk right by and say what’s up. I think it was one of those kinds of deals.”

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