West Coast ain’t Hip Hop ?

Ignoré par de nombreux français qui restent persuadés que le hip hop n’a grandi qu’en son épicentre new-yorkais, le rôle de la west coast nécessite d’être réhabilité. Cette rubrique tentera d’y participer.

K Day, la première radio 100% rap de l’histoire :

Dès le milieu des années 80 jusqu’en 91 Los Angeles a eu sa radio 100% rap. K DAY diffusait du rap 24 heures sur 24, faisant parfois connaître un titre avec seulement deux diffusions. Des tubes comme « Rumors » du Timex Social Club ou les premiers maxis de World Class Wreckin Cru (le premier groupe de Dr Dre) sont nés grâce à elle. Dix ans après son changement de format, on ressent encore son influence chez les générations qui l’ont connue. Celles-ci ont développé une oreille mûre et indépendante, capable d’aller dénicher des titres boudés par les nouvelles radios de la mégapole. Ainsi, contrairement à d’autres marchés, le gangsta rap de Los Angeles réussit à vivre en auto suffisance depuis des années. Jerry Heller, le manager historique de NWA s’en est aperçu dès 1991 : avant même la sortie d’un single ou d’une vidéo, le deuxième album des Niggers With Attitude se place à la deuxième place au classement Billboard, et cela malgré la comptabilisation de Soundscan qui exclut les magasins des ghettos !

Ecrit en 2004 par DJ Gone CMP

Retour sur la période où le boycott a commencé

Trêve de la guerre des gangs et intérêts de la Corporate america :

Le rôle politique des autorités et de leurs alliés du Big Business américain dans la promotion d’un gangsta rap apolitique mais dans le combat d’un gangsta rap trop conscient, trop influent dans les rues ou trop pro-« gang truce » est mis en lumière par l’article suivant de Lee Ballinger. Retour au début des années 90, une période où des membres de gangs californiens se battaient au prix de leur liberté et de leur vie pour créer les conditions d’une trêve des gangs, seul moyen d’enrayer l’auto destruction des ghettos californiens. Retour à une période où Ice Cube représentait un danger pour certains intérêts démasqués par John Singleton dans « Boys N the Hood », loin de ses rôles dans le Hollywood des années 2000…

War & Peace

Article de Lee Ballinger éditeur associé de « Rock & Rap Confidential »

The national discussion of the LA rebellion remains incredibly one-sided because those who know the most are heard the least. For example, just a week after the National Guard occupied LA last spring, Ice Cube, Cypress Hill, and other rappers had completed a pro-rebellion single, "You Can Get the Fist." Yet Mercury didn't release it until the first week of November, six months after the rebellion, and even then refused to promote it.

But three weeks later, it hardly seemed to matter. Ice Cube's new album The Predator, became the first album to ever debut at #1 on both the pop and R&B charts. "Fuck Billboard and the editor!" Ice Cube exulted in a press release, recalling that Billboard and it's editor, Timothy White, had urged the music industry to boycott Death Certificate, Ice Cube's pre-rebellion album.

The video for Predator's first single, "Whicked," shows how important it is to ignore Tim White. "April 29 was power to the people," Ice Cube raps in a voice as commanding as Malcolm's or Martin's. He goes on to call out LA's new police chief Willie Williams as "a superslave" and uses Flea and Anthony Kiedis of the Red Hot Chili Peppers to symbolize the thousands of whites who joined the rebellion.

But even though Ice Cube's gone platinum again, his video is seldom seen and his records are still banned in thousands of stores. But at least some people are hearing him. Almost no one is hearing the urgent message of DeWayne Holmes, a 25 year old former member of the PJ Watts Crips in LA. With a handful of others, Holmes risked his life in the early months of 1992 to negotiate a truce among the gangs in Watts, specifically those at three housing projects: Imperial Courts, Jordan Downs, and Nickerson Gardens. On April 26, three days before the rebellion jumped off, a pact was signed guaranteeing "free passage" throughout Watts. Since then, drive-by shootings in LA have dropped dramatically.

DeWayne Holmes' reward was to see the LAPD use dogs and helicopters to break up the gang peace meetings that took place across the city in the wake of the rebellion. Then, on October 8, Holmes was sentenced to seven years in prison for a $10 robbery, even though witnesses say he could not possibly have been at the scene of the alleged crime.

The work of DeWayne Holmes lives on in a record, Straight Up Watts (Big Beat, 19 W. 21st St. #501, NY, NY 10010), that has been heard by almost as few people as "You Got the Fist." Recorded by rappers Operation From the Bottom (OFTB), who live in Nickerson Gardens, it's a celebration of Watts' history of rebellion and its current gang truce. Brilliantly produced by Greg Jesse somewhat in the style of Curtis Mayfield, it features a dense mix of live guitar, bass and horns, with a few expertly chosen samples and three highly skilled rappers.

The key song, "Blacks Divided by Tracks," tells how railroad tracks between Nickerson Gardens and Jordan Downs helped keep rival gangs at each others throats. "Tracks" is also featured in 112th and Central, a film by Jim Chambers which documents the reaction to the rebellion by a cross-section of Los Angelenos. Its key scenes are of gang members in Nickerson Gardens explaining why they made war and then peace. In a highly emotional moment, the tracks are crossed for a friendly visit to Jordan Downs that would have brought death a few months earlier.

The response of city and federal officials to the rebellion has been to dismiss it as a black riot, undermine the gang truce, and try to sell the public a shoddy bill of goods known as Rebuild LA (RLA). RLA is supposedly a coalition of corporations and organizations putting together $1 billion to rebuild LA. But a November 18 report by the LA Times revealed that 19 of 68 corporations supposedly part of RLA have no plans to help out. Meanwhile, RLA has refused to accept money from Priority Records because they don't want anything to do with that label's premier artist, Ice Cube.

What RLA really doesn't want anything to do with is the gang truce, because it threatens to eliminate the "black criminal" image which allows the city's power elite to easily manipulate public opinion. That's a powerful reason why the rest of us should embrace the truce. It's not just an LA thing, as the rebellion has helped the truce spread to San Francisco, Chicago, Hartford, and other cities. It's not just a black thing either, as a gang truce turns the tables on the cops who are rapidly turning America into a police state.

Yet, even though the truce process is now national, its heart and soul remains in Watts, an isolated community under siege by the FBI, LAPD, and the real estate interest behind RLA. "Watts is the foundation of the truce," DeWayne Holmes writes from prison, "and if it fails so shall every gang that stands with it. I'm asking you to do whatever you can so that this does not happen. Don't let everything we've worked for be all for nothing. PLEASE!!"

WHAT CAN YOU DO?

1) Arrange a screening of 112th and Central by calling Fieldhand Productions (310) 652-2974 / FAX: (310) 652-9276.

2) Communicate with DeWayne Holmes through Mothers Reclaiming Our Children, c/o ERC, 4167 S. Normandy, Los Angeles, CA 90037.

3) Popularize the gang truce by reprinting or xeroxing this article. (Lee Ballinger is the Associate Editor of ROCK & RAP CONFIDENTIAL.

For more information write: RRC, BOX 341305, Los Angeles, CA 90034, or call (310) 204-0827.)

Quand on laisse OJ Simpson en liberté mais qu’on enferme les Gangsta rappers

Ice CUBE n’a pas réellement été arrêté par ses ennemis de l’époque, mais un de ses plus proches partenaires de rimes de l’époque croupit en prison. Voici son cri, relayé par DubCNN :

press release:

This cry for freedom is one I pray that doesn't go un-heard. My name is DaSean "JDee" Cooper. I am an Original Member of DA LENCH MOB, a rap group founded by Ice Cube in the 1990's. I was the lead rapper in the group for our debut Platinum release titled, "Guerillas

In The Mist."

Upon our return home from Europe in the summer of 1993, I was falsely accused, tried and convicted of murder - a crime that I and 95% of Los Angeles (including the victim's family) know that I did not commit. My trial attorney had suffered a stroke prior to my trial

and subsequently he had a mild stroke. I was denied several constitutional rights and was tried and convicted based on rap lyrics and a 911 tape recording. There was no gun, no gun shot residue, no credible eyewitness and the only compelling witness

was instructed to stay hidden until the prosecution needed her. There was ineffective assistance of counsel, jury misconduct, prosecutorial misconduct and judicial misconduct. Hearsay evidence was illegally admitted and jurors were overheard in elevators

discussing the case before it was submitted for deliberation.

There is a retired L.A. Sheriff named Herb Giron who's known me for over two decades and he conducted his own investigation and knows that I'm not the real suspect shooter and culprit. My 14th,5th and 6th Amendment, Rights were violated. And I truly believe that "Music" was placed on trial and I was convicted of being black and a "gangsta rapper". I was denied any and all Black jurors...my jury consisted of 8 whites & 4 Asian-Americans. This was in 1994 - post L.A. uprising/Rodney King beating and during the O. J. Simpson pre-trial circus. I was denied bail in a non-capital case, which was a violation of my 8th Amendment Constitutional Right.

O'Shea "Ice Cube" Jackson left me for dead due to negative publicity. The record label, East-West/Time lawyers and law students to help me prevail in this fight for freedom. I've wrote several law firms who claim to do Pro-Bono work. But no one likes rappers; especially one who's as outspoken as myself. There are plenty of Federal & State violations and I am literally throwing myself at the mercy of this law school (and/or firm) to please get involved in my fight for my life.

I've been in touch with the retired sheriff (Giron), this past Feb.2003 and he's willing to help. I've tried everything in my power and I've even located 3 new eyewitnesses who were present the night the crime was committed.

As of this writing certain artists are expressing their concerns. However, talk is extremely cheap and I'm in need of serious help. Please feel free to write me at the address below with any help or suggestions. Comments are welcomed also.

May Our Creator Bless You All! Peace!

DaSean "JDee" Cooper J52728

C2-221UP PO BOX 921

CENTINELA STATE PRISON

Imperial, CA 92251

Réalités des ghettos contre campagne électorale :

Le gangsta rap en provenance de la west coast a rapidement disparu des radars médiatiques à partir de 1997. Pourquoi ?

Le rappeur Ray Luv apporte des éléments de réponse dans l’extrait d’interview du magazine Murderdog, (Vol 12, n°1) où il explique pourquoi il abandonna le label Young Black Brotha, s’apercevant que le succès croissant du label était bridé en haut lieu.

“j’étais allé à Atlantic à LA et à New York et aucun des deux bureaux n’était vraiment intéressé par l’explosion de nos ventes. Partiellement pour des raisons politiques. C’était une année politique. Bob Dole était candidat à la présidentielle. Tipper Gore, la femme de Al Gore avait entrepris une croisade contre le gangsta rap et contre Time Warner. Time Warner était aussi propriétaire de Interscope et de Death Row. Ils avaient Tupac et Death Row. Le vice président pris la parole et déclara que ces disques étaient mauvais et que Time Warner devrait être embarrassé de les sortir. Ils coupèrent les vivres à Interscope ce qui mis un frein à Tupac et Death row. Une fois ceci saboté cela nous atteignit dans le sens où ils voulaient éviter que nos disques aient du succès. Parce que si le moindre disque de rap de rue marchait, cela les freinait dans leur démarche de couler Interscope. »

Mc Eiht le rejoint dans une interview extraite du DVD « Eyes on the westside » à venir chez DGZ Records. Il témoigne :

« J’avais un deal de distribution avec Atlantic. Le boss de maintenant me donna un deal de production. C’était juste après Menace II Society, parce que le rap de rue était à la mode. Et puis il eu l’élection présidentielle : « On doit arrêter tout ça, tout ces bitch, hoe, gangsta, niggaz, on ne fait plus ça. »

Alors on peut trouver de nombreuses raisons idéologiques de ne pas écouter ou promouvoir du gangsta rap. Reste à savoir si on le fait en le connaissant (comme Paris, qui le fait sous certaines conditions, en effectuant un tri), si on le fait parce qu’on suit consciemment les conseils d’autorités clairement identifiées comme telles ou si on le fait parce que des intérêts puissants ont décidé de faire discrètement disparaître cette forme d’art de leurs médias et de leurs majors au profit d’autres musiques noires moins dérangeantes…

Le boycott de l’Ouest par The Source : droit de réponse.

Fustigé par la Westside Connection dès 1995 dans Bow Down, le dédain porté au rap du southwest par les grands médias Hip Hop Us (MTV, Vibe, The Source…) ne s’est pas démenti avec le nouveau millénaire. En 2003 les légendaire membres de Above the Law se sont adressé directement à the Source avec une précision, une méthode et un sens de la fierté qui honore toute leur famille musicale.

Above the Law's letter to the Source

Monday, August 11, 2003

"The Magazine of Hip-Hop music, Culture, and Politics," That is a very strong statement to make and apply to a magazine for and about the culture, in which we live, eat and breathe. With all the "beefing" in music and now in Hip-Hop publications, We think The Source has concentrated more so on "politics" then the actual music and cultural aspects of Hip-Hop. We are very disappointed in your recent issue (August 2003 #167) celebrating your 15-year coverage of "top 115 artists". Regarding your selection of "top" artists for clarification purposes, you stated that in making the final cut "we took into consideration QUALITY OF MUSIC, INFLUENCE, LONGEVITY and RECORD SALES. These are all-important aspects indeed, but we believe you have concentrated more on "record sales" and "hype" in regards to your selection of artists for this list.

We think you have done a disservice to a group who time and time again from 1989 on up to today may have not had gold or platinum sales straight out the box, but who has sold millions over their careers. That group who we feel you have omitted and overlooked is Above The Law.

In regards to "quality" of music, no one can disprove that this group has put out low quality music, Above The Law has always been their own production team, rarely going outside their production circles to record. Above The Law never needed Dr. Dre (or his camp) to solidify their importance in this industry or get substantial radio and video play. Above The Law were harmonizing over their records years before there was a Bone Thugs. Before there was "Gin and Juice" and "Pass The Courvoisier" there was "V.S.O.P." and "X.O Wit Me." No one was "187" undercover cops or wack MC’s before Above The Law popularized the police phrase. Before DJ Quik, Timberland, and Missy incorporated Indian Rhythms into their music, Above The Law did it back in 1998 on their Tommy Boy release "Legends" album. If songs like "Black Superman", "Murder Rap" "Another Execution" "Kalifornia" and many other songs they’ve created and/or contributed to lack quality, then what really is your standard of quality music? Past Above The Law album reviews in your magazine always had the group as "dope" (31/2 mics) to "slammin’-definite satisfaction" (4 mics) never received anything less. Isn’t that a standard of quality, coming from your own system of rating what is a quality album and what is not?

"Influence" is another key element to your selection process. Above The Law changed the entire musical sound of West Coast Hip-Hop in 1990-1991, yes even before Dr. Dre’s very influential "Chronic" album as the media has stated in the past and present. Above The Law created and are the originators of the "G-Funk" name and sound. Dr. Dre, Warren G, nor any other MC, group or producer, here on the west-coast can rightfully or truthfully claim that they’ve had anything to do with its creation, most of them just jumped on the bandwagon and used the name for their own benefit and well-being, including as of late incorporating the name into a line of speakers. The group is proud that others in this business have benefited from their creation of gangster-funk music and there is no hate or animosity involved, but we feel that it’s important that the public and many of these artists know and acknowledge the truth. The media including The Source, has attributed G-Funk to everyone but its creators. Above The Law influenced and oversaw the "humble" beginnings of Snoop Dogg, Warren G, Kokane, Bone Thugs, etc.. Above The Law’s "Black Mafia Life" was the instrumental blueprint that the good Doctor (Dre) used for his Death Row Records debut. Above The Law are the Fathers of Pomona California, long before Kokane, Suga Free, and even boxer Sugar Shane Mosley even came into the picture and made Pomona California a household name. Artists like UGK (who you’ve included in your list) have stated time and time again that Above The Law were very influential in their careers, they’ve done their own ATL cover of "Another Execution." Shaq did a remake of "Black Superman" and even a group on the "far-left" spectrum of Hip-Hop, The Insane Clown Posse, did an ATL cover of "Murder Rap" on their last album and in a recent interview, they have said that Above The Law are their heroes, so if that’s not influence, then what really is your standard of influence?

Longevity is another criteria that you’ve used. The group already recorded 90% (coming straight out of high-school, by the way) of their debut Ruthless Records album "Livin’ Like Hustlers" before Eazy signed them to his label, and before Dre "produced" the album. They released their first album in 1990 and are readying for their eighth album this year. They never have broken up or broken up and reunited and have been putting down work with other artists for the past 13 years. How many groups in Hip-Hop, especially from the West Coast are still around? Still putting out quality records? If that is not longevity, than what really is your standard of longevity?

We think you have done Above The Law and the West-Coast Hip-Hop scene in general a disservice by "omitting" a legendary group who meets and exceeds the criteria that your magazine have laid out. We find it hard to honestly believe that you can tell your entire readership that artists like Benzino, Shyne, Hot Boys, Trina, AZ, Mase and others have had more quality of music, influence, longevity, and record sales regarding this culture, then Above The Law? If so, you have absolutely lost your minds and really don’t have the staff capable of seriously evaluating the Hip-Hop scene for the past 15 years. It’s hype, hate, or plain ignorance, point blank.

In other words, you have said Above The Law have not contributed anything worth mentioning to Hip-Hop during this era of time. Again, we thank you for the coverage that you have given the group in the past, but we feel that not acknowledging their accomplishments within this "15 year" time-line, you have left the group totally out of the loop of things and basically said they are not a prominent mainstay in the culture.

In order to make this list, we have surmised that Above The Law should have sold millions of records the first week of their release dates, have beefs with other artists, shot up some fools in a popular club, been to jail a few dozen times, been shot up more times than 50, then possibly that way you would of granted them prime coverage, give them 5 mics, or "maybe" even grace your cover. Instead of calling your staff the "mind squad" we think the "odd" or "fraud squad" maybe more appropriate. It’s a shame that other publications of the same caliber representing Hip-Hop music and culture has acknowledged and praised Above The Law’s existence and contributions and not the so-called magazine "Dedicated to True Hip-Hop."

Sincerely,

WestWorld Records and Above The Law

Mac Dre, le personnage qui a intégré

la dérision au gangsta rap

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Ecrit en 2005 par DJ Gone CMP