As any longtime listener can attest, Los Angeles’ hip-hop artists have long-boasted a storytelling acumen as compelling as anything generated out of Hollywood. The attention to detail that marked classic mid-’80s slice-of-street-life vignettes like Toddy Tee’s “Batteram” and Ice-T’s “6 In The Mornin” set the tone for a generation of gangsta rap yarns and reportage, as exemplified by the classic works of Ice Cube, DJ Quik, WC & the MAAD Circle, Compton’s Most Wanted, King Tee and many others. But equally beloved were the narratives crafted in reaction to the saturation of gang-related chronicles from the likes of The Pharcyde, Rass Kass, Tha Alkaholiks, and Southland underground heroes Freestyle Fellowship, The Nonce and others. On the latest episode of Across 135th Street, host Chairman Jefferson Mao pays homage to these LA story rapps, spanning the volatile, lewd, playful and fiercely personal.
