Son Of A Cocaine Dealer, Rapper Bricc Baby Lives Up To His Name
LA Weekly It helps to have friends in high places. Just ask Bricc Baby, an underground L.A. rapper who came out with his second mixtape (Nasty Dealer) in April. Bricc grew up in South L.A., where he befriended a young Kid Ink and Casey Veggies. Later, he moved to...
L.A.’s Smallest Radio Station, 97.5 KBU, Broadcasts Out Of A Malibu Bedroom
LA Weekly The KBUU-FM radio studio is in a ranch-style tract house, on a cul de sac on one of Malibu's few suburban-style streets. In what used to be Emily Laetz's bedroom, the detritus of a recently moved-out kid is everywhere. Puka shell necklaces hang near the door...
OC WEEKLY: Dustin Lovelis Courts A New Sound After The Fling
OC Weekly When the Long Beach quintet, The Fling, took a hiatus in 2013, front man Dustin Lovelis kept working. He penned songs and produced demos. In time, he met producer and bassist for Everest, Elijah Thomson, and they began working on a record. Composer and...
MIAMI NEW TIMES: Miami’s Lil Champ FWAY Is Focused On The Music
Miami New Times On Sunday, Carol City rapper, Lil Champ FWAY, headed to the stinky and smoky trade show known as Cannabis Cup in Denver, Colorado, to usher in the unofficial stoner holiday, 4/20. Before surrendering himself to the hazy interiors of Denver Mart, he...
SF CHRONICLE: Booming Business Rooted in Oakland Pride
San Francisco Chronicle Running a business as large and varied as Oaklandish — ranked 33rd on Fortune’s list of the 100 fastest-growing inner-city companies in America last year — isn’t easy. On the eve of the brand’s recent yearly warehouse sale, with a website...
OC WEEKLY: The Label That Says ‘Yes’ To Everyone
OC Weekly Record labels are exclusive by nature. They are purveyors of taste, harbingers of new talent. Getting signed is a milestone in any artist's career. But what happens if anyone can join a label? Does it still mean something? What happens to a member's-only...
MIAMI NEW TIMES: Phillip Pessar Photographs Miami’s Rapidly Changing Landscape
Miami New Times Phillip Pessar's Flickr stream reads like a love letter to Miami. In roughly 9,600 photos, it tells the story of South Florida's ever-changing architectural landscape. "I'm trying to keep the memory of the few things that are left in South Florida."...
Goth Money Records’ ‘Trap Goth’ Is Taking Over The Internet
LA Weekly At a Denny’s on Wilshire Boulevard, four of the six members of Goth Money wait eagerly for their first meal of they day. Even though it's two o’clock in the afternoon, they all order breakfast plates. Unfortunately, the cook is behind on his orders; their...
OC WEEKLY: Wiener Mania Offers A Sweaty Appetizer To Burgerama
OC Weekly The Australian band Step Panther arrived in Fullerton a few hours before their show at The Continental Room, so they decided to head to Costco. "We thought maybe they had guns there," explained singer Stephen Bourke. "Yeah, we just wanted to see some guns,"...
MIAMI NEW TIMES: Chromeo’s Dave 1 Talks “White Women” and the “Kanye School” of Music
Miami New Times David Macklovitch is almost naked during our interview. Unfortunately, it's over the phone. "Yeah, I'm walking around in my underpants, trying to figure out what jeans I'm going to wear," says the 36-year-old musician, also known as Dave 1, who makes...
With His New Vibe Rap Sound, Mani Coolin’ Is Heating Up
LA Weekly On a dead end street bordering the Hollywood Freeway, Mani Coolin’ sits on a stool in a makeshift home recording studio. His dad is here, as well as his producer, Jay Kurzweil, who owns the studio and lives in the adjoining apartment. A hazy, piano-laced...
Should California’s state rock be stripped of its title because it contains asbestos?
--Published in The Los Angeles Times science section on July 2, 2010-- Imagine yourself in an Old West film, standing in the middle of a deserted street flanked with saloons, hotels and brothels, the soundtrack from "The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly" wailing strong. At...