Hip-hop artist Huey Briss pays homage to his North Long Beach upbringing
Huey Briss and his newest single, “Grace Park Legend,” are products of the old-as-time saying that Long Beach is a melting pot of cultures.
Huey Briss and his newest single, “Grace Park Legend,” are products of the old-as-time saying that Long Beach is a melting pot of cultures.
Donnie Waters was born and raised as a Mexican American in Long Beach, and aside from the obvious get-that-bag goal, his greatest intentions with his music is to inspire and, in a way, console other people with unavoidable traumas that spawn from poverty, “race wars,” death or obstacles of an immigrant life.
Deon played basketball at Poly High before donning the stage name of HeyDeon and dabbling in music production. His musical ambitions began in 2014 while messing around with friends, making beats, and tossing in vocals over the melodies.
“I like that I can call some of these artists my friends, and I feel like that makes them want to be a part of what I’m doing,” said RJ Strickland of Rise Long Beach.
Garon “Rocc” Harden evolved from rhyming in the passenger seat of his cousin’s car to releasing “Community Service”, one of the most raw and honest hip-hop records to come out of Long Beach in recent memory.
The reality with the places Vince Staples discusses is that they’re real. They’re not tourist spots, Instagram moments, or places to meander because you like hip hop. They’re the places that defined what was ultimately a complicated, violent, and confusing childhood for a talented MC.
For the first time in decades, visitors to the strip mall at the corner of Pacific Coast Highway and Martin Luther King Boulevard won’t experience the music and incense wafting out the door of the internationally famous music store VIP Records. VIP owner Kelvin Anderson has determined that his days as a record shop owner are done.
Legendary West Coast rapper Snoop Dogg released his latest single “I’m From Long Beach” on Monday, paying tribute to his hometown, where he is still an active philanthropist.
Today, Long Beach’s hip-hop potential is more rich and thriving than ever. Here are 10 Long Beach rappers who are currently out there promoting themselves and their new songs. Get to know them now before another mainstream invasion puts the most slept on city in music on the hip-hop map yet again.
For years, lyricist and emcee Nate “KnewBalance” Whitsell attended live hip hop shows in San Diego, picking up demos from local artists and connecting with other conscious music heads along the way. An English teacher by trade, Whitsell was always compelled to write about the mainstream-forgotten genre in which he was so entrenched, but it wasn’t until a local performance of acclaimed rapper AHMAD that Whitsell knew he had to share what he was listening to with the world.