Hydreams 7/9/24 Hydreams 7/9/24

"NOT LIKE US"

The thing about US out here on the West is that we stick together. Right, wrong, or indifferent, we move as one when the odds are stacked against us. That camaraderie runs deep, generations deep. So much so, it seeps into the very fabric that makes Los Angeles, Los Angeles. It’s what makes us special, how we stick together in times of adversity and, most of all, at times of war. When the culture that we represent comes into question, it’s all gloves off and we all come out to fight for it.

I wish I could give you this feeling. Bottle it up, and put it on your top shelf for the days you felt you weren’t enough.
- Menyelek

“Sometimes you gotta pop out
& show niggas”.

The cultural shift happening in hip hop, hell, in the world right now, has been one of the most profound experiences of my human journey so far. To witness it all from the front row, as a child of the best coast, and as the eyes of the culture… all I can say is THEY are truly not like US.

It’s true, something changed in the city after Nip died. Then after Kobe, and losing Drakeo the Ruler, it felt like the LAnd just couldn’t catch a break. Like the city had lost those small intimate details that made LA, LA.

Our leaders kept getting cut down right when the world was beginning to take notice of them. I had no idea how impactful this moment would be when the first shots were fired via “Like That,” but I’ll never forget the feeling I had the first time I heard it. In bumper-to-bumper traffic on Highland as I received a text from my kinfolk with the track and four words attached: “The Bars are Back.

Born in ‘91 at California Medical Hospital, the first lyrics I learned from the age I can remember were “California Love.” There’s a pride about this side that separates other regions from the West. Perhaps it’s the generations spared the ridicule of the Jim Crow South due to their kinfolk migrating West.

The Black Panthers started right out here in Oakland, showing up at the courthouse with shotguns and machine rifles to stand on their amendment rights.

Black folks out West have always and will always be some of the boldest and baddest mothafuckas around.

“We might argue amongst each other, but I promise you this, we’ll burn this bitch down you get us pissed.” Pac said this in ‘96. Losing Nip the way we did broke us.

We let our King die at the hands of our own, in his own Kingdom. So for a while now, we’ve silently grieved and slowly whispered about the day we would have our moment once more…

“Psttt….I see dead people,” and that’s exactly what I thought the moment I heard “Taylor Made Freestyle.”

Yo, have you lost your fucking mind?, To have the audacity to use Tupac Shakur’s AI voice against the anointed “King Of the WestCoast” This was a fatal mistake by Aubrey, because that is a cardinal sin on this side, we do not take any disrespect toward Pac on any level, at all over here. And with the world looking at US, because it wasn’t just Kendrick. When he crossed that line and used OUR legends' voices, it became a coastal thing at that point.

“You think the Bay gonna let you disrespect Pac, nigga?”

The world put Drake on that pedestal as one of the best, as someone who represented US, and right when it seemed all hope was lost, our KING stepped in to let the world know what CULTURE really is, which is AUTHENTICITY and who sets the bar for it. This past week, I have got to witness firsthand, from the front floor of the Forum, the cultural shift that has happened on a global scale. Hip Hop has grown past the boroughs of the Bronx and stretched its arms out to the world. It doesn’t belong to US anymore, but still, it represents us. The world took our fashion, our style, imitated our lyrics, and re-rocked our cadences.

“Tell them run to America to imitate heritage, but they can’t imitate this violence.”

They could never be US, and let’s make it clear, when I say “THEY,” I don’t mean Drake fans. I mean the world that exists outside of everything that is authentic and true to the culture. The DJ Vlads, the Adam22s that pick at the good things and amplify the negative aspects of OUR culture.

Capanella Park Piru’s & FTB Nick
2022
Bompton, California

“You not a colleague, you a fucking colonizer.”

The status quo had prevailed long enough. A lot of the OGs I’ve spoken with over the past few days have all recalled special memories of the 90s when Pac rolled up and down Crenshaw Blvd., as "California Love" blasted out of every car radio. When it was new and the world wasn’t sure of how to love our expressions but not love US, we took care of US. We pushed the singles to the charts and packed out arenas. We never needed the rest of the world to validate us, we validated US.

“You better learn about that dress code, B’s & C’s. All them other cats is copycats, these is G’s.”

For a long time, we fought and killed each other in petty neighborhood wars; as the world classified us as “Gang Culture,” or as “too West Coast”….until “sometimes you gotta pop out and show niggas.” Kendrick Lamar popped out with an entire West Coast lineup at the Great Western Forum and put the world onto what it meant to be the KING of the West and to become the King of Hip Hop.

This is our culture, our legacy, and our time.

Kendrick didn’t just claim the crown for himself; he united the Bloods and Crips from different areas of the city, bringing them together at the Forum to usher in a new era in hip hop. This was a powerful statement, demonstrating that the divisions that once tore our communities apart could be healed through the universal language of music.

As the Forum buzzed with energy, a sense of solidarity and hope filled the air. The unity that Kendrick fostered marked a turning point, showcasing that the West Coast, under his reign, stands stronger and more united than ever.

The cultural shift we are witnessing is not just about music; it's about transformation, resilience, and the unbreakable bond that holds our communities together.

Kendrick Lamar, with the crown firmly upon his head, represents this new chapter where the West Coast leads with authenticity, unity, and an unwavering commitment to the true essence of hip hop.

“Not Like Us” Video Shoot
Bompton, California

The world may try to emulate our heritage, but they can never replicate the spirit and strength that define us.

“The unity we protect is above all.”

Hydreams 7/3/24 Hydreams 7/3/24

"US"

“US”
Juneteenth 2023
Leimert Park, California

While it’s still fresh in my mind, as the dusk begins to settle; just as I capture life's details through the lens of a camera, my voice and the written word become ever so prevalent in times like these. Where a thought is processed and exported out into the world as quickly as its existence to consciousness; where the lines between what’s real and what’s fake blur more and more every day.

One thing becomes certain, “The Culture” is here to stay, and it is a force and energetic field, amplified and expressed through Hip Hop music.

May 3-5, 2024, will be a weekend talked about in barbershops and over spades and dominoes tables for generations to come. It’s the weekend when the world became aware of what “this thing of ours” really means and represents at its core, and that’s “culture.” And that cannot be taught or bought.
It’s either in you or it’s not.

But what is “the culture”? Certainly, hip hop is a part of it, and at the forefront of it for sure. But on a deeper level, when Kendrick said, “when I say we, it’s not just me I’m what the culture feeling,” what is that “culture” he spoke of?

Hip Hop, originating in the Bronx in the 80s, brought forth a voice to a voiceless generation. The crack epidemic changed the dynamic of the Black American family and social system, and to put it quite frankly, brothers in the hood figured out how to grab Pops’ records and loop them. Just like Black folk, we’ll figure some shit out. And fifty years later, here we are.

This music grew deeper and wider roots than I think even Kool Moe Dee could imagine. Though it spread, what hip hop did to the inner cities around Black America was different than perhaps you’d say Canada. Hip Hop became the soundtrack to our lives, and myself being a ‘91 baby caught it mid-stride. What is the culture?

The culture is when I was 12 years old walking to the bus stop, listening to my CD Walkman, “Tupac's Greatest Hits,” screaming, “Now follow as we ride, Motherfuck the rest two of the best from the Westside.”

It’s remembering when Jay-Z retired, and I walked to Best Buy to grab that wack-ass Kingdom Come CD, but also remembering hearing The Blueprint for the first time on MP3. The culture is Saturday mornings waking up to hit the barbershops and push the latest Lil Wayne mixtape, then hearing the reviews the following Monday in school. Being 15 years old when Gucci Mane’s “Bricks” dropped. I take you down memory lane to say that “the culture” is engraved in us from the moment most of us had ears.

There was a foundation that was laid, and whether we like to admit it or not, there are rules to this thing of ours.

When you love something, you study it. You dig for it, and because Hip Hop continued to expand from its conception, there was always something there for the eclectic listener. Myself, it was always Pac from birth, but that led me to Mos Def, Common, Outkast, E-40; my hunger for music never stopped. I’ve always admired the lyrical aspect of being able to articulate a moment, a memory, a feeling so well that it resonated with millions of people. Saying something so powerful that you feel like the artist made the song just for you. “Aquemini” by Outkast, “Man on the Moon” by Kid Cudi, “Blessed” by Q and K. Dot—these specific tracks have all become engrained in who I am as an artist. That’s culture.

“You Are Not From Bompton”
Bompton, Balifornia
2024

The intriguing part about Hip Hop within our culture is that it is a SPORT. Who can use their words and intellect to bring you out of your own world and into theirs. It has to be potent to pierce that veil of life. The most potent bars and intricate brush strokes on the canvas of sound is who paints the better picture or worse. I’ve always felt that in hip hop, in the art of rapping itself the things that are written should mean something. Even if it’s to turn up or turn down, or whatever, they should come from a place of authenticity and sincerity. At least that’s what I look for in my hip hop albums. Lyrical content matters in hip hop. You want to be the best? Prove you can hold the people and the charts.

Prove you can lead the level of artistry into the right direction, and not conform to the chasing of trends. Prove that what you say actually matters.

Prove your the best.

We made the culture cool.

"NOT LIKE US"

“Sometimes you gotta pop out & show niggas”.

“The unity we protect is above all.”

"US"

“Sometimes you gotta pop out
& show niggas”.