Your thoughts On the Directions of West Coast

[Sir Hambone]

Hey all, I just finished reading the article on mtv.com with truth, dre and rakim being interviewed....Now i am not on here as much as some of ya'll are anymore cause i have a daughter to take care of, but  if this questions has been asked before I apologize...but..............give what you have heard in the past...and all the rumors....and all the albums suppose to be released this year.....


Where do you see the West Coast in say 5 years from now? meaning, who or what labels or artist do you feel will still be in it?   Snoop and his new home at MCA?  Cube ever coming back?  And what about the underated artist like C-bo, and Brotha Lynch that are not mainstream?   In 5 years or more, where do you See the direction the West Coast is headed?

[One_Way_Recordz]

personally i feel like the last 3-4 years in general have been very dissapointing compared to the mid 90s....but i feel like there will be a rebound happining really soon...1

[Sir Hambone]

I will elaborate on this more later, but i dont seee snoop and doggystyle on top in 5 years, unless snoop changes his direction up.  meaning, ignore the beef and focus on the music, and push his artist more.  come on now, if ja rule and push ashanti and help her move 500,000 off the bat, snoop can help latoya push some units with the right song and marketing.  shit makes me mad when I see only one single released from the bones soundtrack and there are numerous cuts on there that were good that could of pushed those sales, but maybe he didnt want that, i dont know.

and also, personally see the independent game moving more units and more and more people buying independent acts.  take what is going on here on the WCC forum.  there is a fuckin CD being made with the Lyrical Gang Masterminds on here....now tell me....for those of you that have been on this forum from the Beginning, and its early infant stages...........would you ever of thought WCC and its members would be spittin rhymes, and puttin it on WAX and sellin it?   In 5 years.......where do ya'll see things.

[HBKid_Jr]

Like OWR said,  rap in general has been shitty over tha past couple of years,  personally wit tha west,  they need to stop relying on dre an snoop to save there ass.  Its time 4 some new cats to step up,  thats where guys like crooked i,  knoc,  hittman,  an eastwood,  an supposdly e.white,  even though no1 has heard a thing from him ever.  People on tha east dont anything about tha west except dre an snoop.  They all think tha west is washed up,  those r tha guys that gotta step it up an show that tha west is more than dre an snoop

[Big_Loco_FME]

In 5 years I think the changing of the guard will have happened, at least i hope so. Dre will bow out gracefully next year after Detox. Snoop will probably drop an album a year for a few more years. Cube will probably come back for one more. Then the NWA tree's West Coast stranglehold should be over. I'm sure Quik will still be around, hopefully still finding new artists and making more classic music on his own label.

I think a lot of new talent will start to get props. Crooked I should be around, who knows who else. Xzibit will still be a major factor. Ras Kass might actually get his props, maybe.

Overall, I think West Coast rap acts will start to realize Gangsta shit is tired right now, and start doing more mature music. I hope Contraversy and FME can be a leader in this field, talking about real ish and appealing to a wide fan base. Thats definitely an example for others to follow.

Also the independent game should continue to thrive, although unless we have some sort of revolution those major labels will still be very much in control of the industry.

[S.G.V.]

i feel that the west coast will be elevating to a more street lyrical style.....it will be headed by xzibit and golden state, likwit and crooked i....production is gonna be more fredwreck, big hollis and other young producers....we will also begin to see the bay shine again....right now jt and them are poppin...but in about 3 or 4 years that indi scene will blow up....san quinn, jt the bigga figga, lunisicc, messy marv...they will be the new ambassadors of the bay....san daygo will be getting bigger in its scene too....people like lil cs, mitchy slick, damu and califa thugs will be at the forefront....dulow gang may be the next big crew in cali too....but u know what this is all speculation and hope...with rap u never know where it will go

[Big BpG]

Like OWR said,  rap in general has been shitty over tha past couple of years,  personally wit tha west,  they need to stop relying on dre an snoop to save there ass.  Its time 4 some new cats to step up,  thats where guys like crooked i,  knoc,  hittman,  an eastwood,  an supposdly e.white,  even though no1 has heard a thing from him ever.  People on tha east dont anything about tha west except dre an snoop.  They all think tha west is washed up,  those r tha guys that gotta step it up an show that tha west is more than dre an snoop

I agree with a lot you are saying, but dre and snoop are the most consistent... and if you want to see new artists jump up... its not dre and snoop who make that happen, the record labels make that decision... also, Snoop and Dre are bringing us new faces all the time...or shall I say, they try to put them out there... like suga free, kokane, knoc, hittman, tray dee goldie loc, kam, bad azz.... and many more... and no one really feels them... out here in the midwest... all we here is JayZ and Ja Rule and Nelly... they never play any snoop or westcoast music here... so its the industry...

-Big BpG

[Sir Hambone]

hey, thanks ya'll for your responses.  yeah the local radio station here, plays nothing but east coast music, or pop shit.  i have luvv for anybody anywhere, and i cant really blame the artist, if there shit isnt gettin played.  I guess i look at it from a old school standpoint.  the days when too short and eazy e, and e-40, master P, all of them would just sell the shit from there trunk......

for those of you that can remember........Do You Remember the First The Click album?    it had a Green type of cover...but i dont know about you, but i never heard them on the radiio, just word of mouth and it slowly tricked up here to the Northwest............they made tight ass music back in the day and sold well on the independent level, then they went major, and it hasnt been the same.    

what about RBL Possee?   come on now, do you guys remember A lesson to be learned?   No Bammer Weed?  Bitches on my Ding Dong?   Remind Me?   Blue Bird  <------tight song.....

How many of you that are not from the Bay Area Remember them or know of them from their first couple of CD's?  No airplay up here, but again word of mouth cause it was tight as music........

my point is that i havent heard any word of mouth, or word of internet nowadays about a artist or group that is good and you just have to have it.  Maybe Knoc, but even with him, it doenst seem the same.  Shit on the west coast is starting to sound the same.  Not the independent stuff but what the majors are releasing.  I was listening to Doggystle, the other day, then i was listenin to Eastsida's....snoop is waaaay too much on the Gfunk smoothed out beats...he needs some uptempo gfunk beats like on doggystyle, and The Next Episode, where he flows fast. that moves me at least.  

I myself have been dissappointed with west coast major releases lately.   the last good one i bought was Warren G, and The click.  I have been looking more and more at the independent labels, and i think they sound better cause they are all trying hard to get up to the major status.  I just bought a local artist yesterday by the name of Livio, and shit, its better than alot of major acts.  

with out snoop and dre pushin other artist, meaning performing on there Songs, or producin for them, I dont think any west coat artist would be represented today.  mack 10??  no..he is gone.....cube?  no he has moved on, which i think is a smart move, cause he has already done and said everything everybody is rappin about now.   and the fellow member was right, when He said the NWA Tree is coming to a end, that was one of the truest shit i have read.   Who is left? Just Snoop?  Bone thugs?  
I dont thing gangsta rhymes will ever die, cause muthafuckas are still gangbangin today.....but i think the listeners are just smarter....come one.....this has been told before, but how many times can you say i am gonna fuck a hoe? or pimp a hoe? or how many gunz you got....yawwwwnnnnn, anybody on this forum can bust a rap like that, its how you bring, it, how you say it, and how the production is put down.

just compare all the albums released back in the RBL,Too Short, Ant Banks, Ice cube days, on the west coast, and now.........


Peace Chicken Grease
SirHambone

[One_Way_Recordz]

yeah i feel ya hambone...i've grown up listinin to underground, indy, bay area rap, there has been numerous albums to come out in this breed, and i've heard many that blow alot of major release albums to dust, yet still even on that tip there has not been alot of good albums to drop lately, in any category...but i sense this year it will start pickin up again...i dont know, just call it a gut feeling....