CALIFORNIA GROWN
Words: N. Ali Early

When the West Coast ran the table on virtually every region in the country and abroad in the early ‘90s, Kurupt Young Gotti was among its most formidable players. A founding member of the Dogg Pound, he was in fact a young pup and became about the most loquacious rhyme spitter in the Death Row family. He wove the everyday rigmarole of the hood into complex rhyme patterns, building masterpieces such as “New York, New York” pretty much, whenever he felt like it.

For his trouble, Kurupt quickly assumed legendary status among his peers and fans alike.

Somewhere along the line though, he admits to having given in to the demands of the streets, over his own desires.

“I’m finally back at the stage where I’m liking what I’m doing,” he says. “I was at a point where I was making underground albums for people that I thought people wanted to hear, but you can’t satisfy everybody. I’m doin’ what I’m doin’ now for myself, my family, as well as the fans; but mainly me and my family. We got something to say.”

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Today myspace unleashed the official debut for the trailer of the long anticipated Malice ‘N Wonderland movie starring none other than Snoop Dogg.

Snoop tapped a few friends to complete his latest on screen effort, an extension of his 10th solo album bearing the same name.

Among them are Jamie Foxx, Xzibit, Soulja Boy, Murs, Diplo, Mayer Hawthorne, and MC Lyte, to name a few.

To view the trailer click this link and if you haven’t heard the album yet, Myspace is offering a free stream for an unspecified period of time.

West Coast Veteran Kokane recently dropped a bomb, more or less reprimanding his West Coast rap peers for their lack of individualism, kreativity and cojones.

Some kind of epidemic seems to have spread throughout the Golden State and all of its neighbors.

In effect, it’s developed somewhat of a “Twilight Zone” and Koka’s testimony is an attempt to bring the West back to its senses.

ATL, Cube and others check in for the visual.

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Slick sat down to drop some knowledge on how the West gets down. It ain’t no muthaf*ckin’ joke. But you already knew that right?

After a five year stint with Aftermath Records, West Coast rapper Bishop Lamont is now a free agent. Lamont went on air this weekend with The All Out Show with Rude Jude and Lord Sear on Shade 45 radio Saturday January 9th to break the news and seemed rather elated to do so.

Lamont drew parallels to Shawshank Redemption and offered that he was walking the yard every day, shaking gravel out of his pants… crawling through the sewers” and will now finally be able to realize his true star.

The split with Dre was an amicable one, as the LA lyricist walked away with over 700 mastered songs. Most importantly, he confirmed their relationship is intact.

“Dre is my big bro and that’s my family regardless,” he said. “I’ma support Aftermath and whatever he needs over there, it’s there. But after almost five years of just sittin’ there and working with every producer in the world, it’s kind of unfair to the fans and my family and myself.”

Lamont is currently shopping his debut album, The Reformation , and spoke to making rounds with numerous labels during his recent trip to NY.

He admitted that things got a little sketchy with Dre, but never bad enough to ruin their friendship. Bishop instead pointed to Interscope not striking while the iron was hot.

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