Thoughts from a prodigal west coaster

[Tanjential]

I recently (thanks to MAC MUTHAFUCKIN' DRE) have gotten into west coast rap again and as a natural development I rediscovered thisn website and I have some thoughts to share with the rest of the Kali Kush Kitchen we got goin' on here....

1)You cats have done amazing shit with this website. I remember years ago this shit started as me Psycreate, Jake dogg, and a handul of other cats bein' rap geeks on dre2001.com forums and now you guys chat it up with Snoop and Kurupt and shit-Impressive.

2)I've been reading all the fantastic interviews to kinda catch up with what's been going on with west coast rap since I've been gone and I'd like to comment on some stuff, even if it's not immediately relevant anymore: Did anything that maybe Kurupt went back to death row because it was the honorable thing to do? Think of it like this:  Suge and Death Row are the whole reason The Dogg Pound and west coast rappers EAT.PERIOD. No matter what has happened since, any honorable cat would respect and be grateful for what DR did for their lives. it gave them a JOB during brutal Republican fucked economies, real talk. So when cats like Kurupt see the shithole DR goes in and looks at the better position that they personally are in, your fucking honor kicks in: "Suge fed me and my peeps, Daz served his time on tha row, just like snoop and dre did...it's not what i want to do but it's the honorable thing to help this dude suge who is earnestly asking for my help." EVERY DPG has owed, or owes something to the row and different people feel like they gotta pay their debts differently. I have always had MAD respect for Kurupt and I think he just was being honorable and helping people that were less fortunate than him when back in the day they were fortunate helping him when he was less fortunate. it ain't like he was doing what he wanted to be doing, but a man does the right thing.

3)I can't tell you how many rappers I've read interviews with who are just geting DICKED by the industry who talk like it's all gravy like they're not the only rappers talking like it's all gravy with a shit deal. And the commonality betwixt them all? Lack of education. It ain't coincidence that you hear Crooked I's otherwise brilliant ass say shit like "Yeah I dropped out of school when i was 11....and yeah my album will drop some day..." whereas I can guarantee you Defari's had less money around and behind him than crooked but he was a smart and savvy enough cat to drop some records, you dig? The hip-hop community needs to STOP glorifying ignorance. You know the one time I got offended at chappelle's show? When he asked that perfectly nice SOCIAL WORKING(RE: a person who helps disenfranchised minorities throughout the community) white woman what black people could do to rise and overcome and she said 'get out and vote' and Chappelle said 'WRONG!" Sure, in light of Florida 2000, it's a funny statement but that's 30 million MORE impressionable young blacks that think chappelle is tight and the cutting edge of black intellegentsia who aren't going to vote and in 2009 when they're bitching about another Repub fascist be talking shit like "oh the government won't listen to blacks" Nah homey, blacks ain't talking to the government...

4) Motherfuckers that don't even have ALBUMS out are trying to claim they're starting labels.....If all the WC rappers just focused on making two or three labels on the coast dope as shit instead of having to caress their ego with a label that's their own on the back of their CD (and that's all it is is a literal label....you think there's a dogghouse records building? it's just TVT with a doggy biscuit painted on the motherfucker) then we would have something CRACKKING out here.

But on the real this site is THE SHIT. So I've been reading about this dre protege, this Lamont cat but I've yet to hear anything...who is he? how'd he get discovered, what's he do? Where's he from? And how come if he's all over warren g's latest record and he's dre;s protege, dre acts like warren g doesn't exist?

I'm back, thanks for any time anyone puts into my thoughts and questions.peace-T

[Rud]

HOLY SHIT! TANJ!! DAMN! THIS IS A BLAST FROM THE PAST!! HOW ARE YOU!?!?

Jesus man, i aint even read the full message yet but the name alone = instant reply!

[Rud]

Now i've calmed down and read the thread

1) Thanks for the support and taking time to come back!

2) Possibly, i still think Kuupt went back out of neccessity for his family, dude was flat broke, had the IRS knocking at his door and Suge offered him hope...nothing more nothing less; what he got out of it i've no idea but it must've made financial sense...

3) Yup, ignorance is the key, not knowing the industry and the business from the start can kill you instantly and all that stems from not educating themselves from day one; it needs addressing and it needs to be easier to learn for those starting out who have massive talent but could get skipped over through sheer difficulty of learning and breaking through without help...

4) Great point well made there, i need say no more - on the west there needs to be a powerhouse of 3-4 strong labels pumping out music...


haha, bishops dope, you read our interviews from 2003/2004? dudes talented, check our 2006 media archives for some recent tracks (www.dubcnn.com/media/newaudio) and theres plenty more around!!

good to have you back man!

[Tanjential]

Oh I'm good man. I have stories for DAYS for you cats on what I've been up to since I ain't been around here.

So what's up with Lamont all over warren g's album? Did warren g discover him and then dre snatched him up(like snoop, if you think about it)? Or was dre kinda testing lamont by putting him all over his lil bro's indie release? 

damn, didn't know anyone would remember me besides seer. that's cool man, how you been?

-T

[Rud]

Haha, i can imagine, its been too long! yea of course i remember you, you went MIA as well as Cremdelacrem and a good few others!!

Lamont was bubbling away for a while with a few indie mixtapes; Who I Gotta Kill To Get a Record Deal and On My Way To Own Tha Biz and it was those that dre heard (after lamont gave it to dre at the "in the club" video shoot (can anyone confirm it was that video? - it was some aftermath video shoot anyway) and agreed to meet him, liked dudes approach and signed him...

i think warren just met bishop and decided to work with him aside from all that!

im good man, just working hard, trying to build an empire! dubcnn is 5 in september 07!

[Tanjential]

Heh I wonder how easy it is to just approach cats like that then cause I may have some attempts to make. I hang out on the Westside of Long Beach alot and I know rappers don't talk about the westside but the westside is home to alot of cats involved in the medical marijuana community. Hippies on the beach and such. I know alot of growers and glass blowers there and I hang out at this glass blowing studio with my friend Michael Say (or Bones as he goes by, he blew the trophy for the cannabis cup a couple years back, check your high times archives) by Pacific Coast Highway(PCH) and Santa Fe Street and Bizzle and Kurupt hang out there from time to time.

You stay in the UK man? That's crazy, when's the last time you made it out here? BTW is jake dogg still around?

-T

[Juronimo]

I want to address 3 and 4, because those are big reasons why the west coast isn't going anywhere.

On point 3, as you probably already know, it's not considered cool for a young black male to be intelligent and go to college to actually cultivate that intelligence as opposed to dropping out and running the streets. You get heat from your peers and no love from the ladies. Unfortunately this mentality is biting us in the ass big time as a people, and seeing artists getting dicked around in their contracts is proof positive of that. This isn't just a problem with rap music, it's a problem in society in general. If someone like XL Middleton can drop an album every 6 months with no money behind them, there's no reason why Crooked I can't do the same thing with a much bigger financial base and fan base, it makes no sense.

With point 4, what you used to have to do was pay your dues before you can start labels. You had to at least drop a couple of albums before trying to be a boss or whatever. Nowadays cats want their own lables but they have no idea of what to do, they don't know what they're doing. These guys need to just concentrate on their albums and then after they learn the industry for a few years, then start to get their own shit. You've heard the interviews,"I've got my own label, nahmsayin blah blah blah" but the average cat has never heard of them.

[BOX5 the best poster on this site yell]

On point 3, as you probably already know, it's not considered cool for a young black male to be intelligent and go to college to actually cultivate that intelligence as opposed to dropping out and running the streets. You get heat from your peers and no love from the ladies. Unfortunately this mentality is biting us in the ass big time as a people, and seeing artists getting dicked around in their contracts is proof positive of that. This isn't just a problem with rap music, it's a problem in society in general. If someone like XL Middleton can drop an album every 6 months with no money behind them, there's no reason why Crooked I can't do the same thing with a much bigger financial base and fan base, it makes no sense.
^^^^thats networth my equal,especially about xl dropping real joints and crooked has yet to drop even a indy,i don't get that yell

[Tanjential]

who's xl middleton?

-T

[BOX5 the best poster on this site yell]

a complete artist that produces and rhymes from pasadena, he does his thing and he stay's dropping hot material,checc em out yell

[No Compute]

(after lamont gave it to dre at the "in the club" video shoot (can anyone confirm it was that video? - it was some aftermath video shoot anyway)

I think it was the "Dreams" video.

[Tanjential]

who did the song dreams again? also IS Jake dogg around?

also, i keep reading about a beef that happened with xzibit in the old interviews, as someone who has been out of the scene since around 01/02 to now what happened with Xzibit that so many dpgs and g funkers were dissing him? and what happened since that allows x and snoop to rock the new game album?

-T

[Juronimo]

who did the song dreams again? also IS Jake dogg around?

also, i keep reading about a beef that happened with xzibit in the old interviews, as someone who has been out of the scene since around 01/02 to now what happened with Xzibit that so many dpgs and g funkers were dissing him? and what happened since that allows x and snoop to rock the new game album?

-T

Supposedly Suge Knight tested Xzibit regarding his relationship and Xzibit supposedly said "I just do business with him". That's where it started but it got squashed. Game and Xzibit had beef for a second when Game dissed him in a power 106 interview but that got squashed as well.

[Tanjential]

Suge Knight tested Xzibit's relationship with who? -T

[Lord Funk]

Suge Knight tested Xzibit's relationship with who? -T

From what I remember, Suge stepped to Xzibit in a club saying he didn't like the fact he rolled with Snoop. Xzibit, so the story goes, immediately denied any friendship with Snoop, saying their relationship was purely business and that he didn't want drama with Suge.

The story did the rounds and then when Snoop dissed Suge on his 'Pimp Slapped' song, he rapped something like "I'm not Xzibit - you can't pull my hoe card".