1996 Hip-Hop Series: DJ Wally Sparks on Why Dr. Dre and Snoop Needed Each Other, Tupac's incredible rise | 03.17

Summary

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The Right Time with Bomani Jones – "1996 Hip-Hop Series: DJ Wally Sparks on Why Dr. Dre and Snoop Needed Each Other, Tupac's Incredible Rise"

Date: March 17, 2026
Host: Bomani Jones
Guest: DJ Wally Sparks

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Episode Overview

This episode is a deep dive into the pivotal year of 1996 in West Coast hip-hop, focusing on the unique dynamic between Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg, the monumental rise of Tupac, and the broader landscape of West Coast rap during a year of profound change. Bomani Jones and DJ Wally Sparks examine the influence of Death Row Records, the rise and challenges of legendary artists, shifts in regional power, and unsung classics—delivering sharp analysis, memorable stories, and classic rap wisdom with a blend of nostalgia and critical insight.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Setting the Scene: West Coast Dominance in 1996

• Tupac’s Ownership of 1996
  • Tupac's transition—from the universal appeal of "Me Against the World" to becoming the "ultimate patriot for California"—is highlighted as game-changing.
    "Even if we associated Tupac with Oakland, it did kind of feel in some ways like Tupac kind of belonged to everybody... Then he came out and he became the ultimate patriot for California." (Bomani, 03:00)
• Death Row's Influence
  • Death Row Records shaped the national sound, with its G-Funk style spreading far beyond California, even influencing artists in Memphis and beyond.
    "Everything was, was in death row’s orbit... There was some sort of G Funk influence going on, no matter where you were." (DJ Wally Sparks, 05:53)

2. The Dre & Snoop Dependency (08:13 – 10:00)

• Mutual Need and Creative Disarray
  • Both Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg released pivotal albums independently in 1996 (Dre's "Aftermath" and Snoop's "Tha Doggfather"), but neither resonated like their earlier collaborations. "Those two brothers were lost in the wilderness without each other, bro." (Wally Sparks, 08:43) "Both of them suffered because they were not working with each other." (Bomani, 08:57)

3. Dr. Dre's "Aftermath"—A Stumble and a Statement (09:18 – 14:00)

• Artistic Struggle Post-Death Row
  • The Aftermath album is critiqued for its mediocrity, lack of Dre’s signature minimalism, and confusing star turns. "I tried that with the Aftermath record... And the Aftermath record was exactly as mediocre as I thought it was." (Wally Sparks, 09:18) "He had to kind of sort of be the star...after ‘The Chronic’ comes out, he’s an actual factual star without being able to really rap." (Wally Sparks, 10:41)
• Misguided Attempts at Peacemaking
  • Dre’s peace offering “East Coast Killer, West Coast Killer” is discussed for its tone-deaf title and unbalanced superteam. "He names the song East Coast Killer, West Coast Killer." (Bomani, 14:05)

4. Snoop’s "Tha Doggfather" in Tupac’s Shadow (19:20 – 23:28)

• Left to carry Death Row after Tupac's death, Snoop faced high pressure; the album featured strong production but suffered from the absence of Dre’s vocal magic. "Dogfather, it’s a lot of dope producers... he just didn’t have it." (Wally Sparks, 21:48) "If Dre ain’t gonna be there...let's get the best of the best on the west coast and just throw them all at Snoop at one time and see what happens." (Bomani, 22:00)

5. The Importance of Producers & the "Dre Effect" (20:50 – 24:23)

• Dr. Dre’s unmatched ability to bring out the best vocal performances is thoroughly credited. "Dre as a vocal producer...gets the most out of every vocal performance that he ever, you know, puts his hands on." (Bomani, 20:50)
• Discussion of numerous artists (Devin the Dude, RBX, Hitman) who only truly shined under Dre's guidance.

6. Los Angeles Rap Beyond Death Row

• Westside Connection – "Bow Down" and New York’s Insularity (30:12 – 35:10)
  • The Westside Connection project (Ice Cube, Mack 10, Dub C) is hailed as a bold pushback against New York’s dominance. "That record...kind of saved Ice Cube the rapper...this happened, and it was like, okay, he's still there." (Bomani, 31:01) "Westside Connection album was a straight pushback on the idea that, you know, like, what we got to do, man..." (Wally Sparks, 31:28)
• Ice Cube’s Transition
  • The transition from ferocious MC to Hollywood actor prompted doubts about his rap fire, but Westside Connection rekindled that energy. "I hear bow down, I’m like, oh, he's still there." (Bomani, 34:16)

7. The Bay Area’s Underappreciated Surge

• Too Short’s “Getting it (Album Number Ten)” (39:44 – 41:33)
  • Too Short becomes the first rapper to reach ten albums—a milestone with high quality and cultural resonance. "That might be one of Short’s best albums." (Bomani, 41:33)
• E-40’s "Hall of Game" & Bay Influence
  • E-40’s unique style, influential slang, and the Bay Area’s distinct sound get their due. "E40 is the slang master, bro." (Bomani, 47:09)
• Bay Crossover with the South; Cross-regional Influence
  • The West’s sound became a blueprint across the South—many southern artists preferred West Coast sonics over East Coast ones. "I always say in rap, the west coast really started at like Birmingham, like in Houston..." (Wally Sparks, 48:51) "It wouldn’t be unlikely...they say, who’s your favorite rapper? And they say Too Short." (Bomani, 49:54)

8. The Shift Away From Knowledge Rap (51:57 – 55:13)

• Ras Kass’s “Nature of the Threat” is discussed as a daring, knowledge-rich outlier and relic of a soon-to-be-past era of rap scholarship. "He did a lot of reading before he wrote this song." (Wally Sparks, 53:19) "I miss Knowledge Kickers...I know that sometimes they was wrong. That wasn’t the point though." (Wally Sparks, 54:11)
• Bomani laments the decline of "knowledge kicking" in rap.
  "Ain’t nobody kicking knowledge like that no more...they’re not happening on rap songs no more." (55:07)

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Dre and Snoop’s Mutual Need:

  • "Those two brothers were lost in the wilderness without each other, bro." (Wally Sparks, 08:43)
  • "Both of them suffered because they were not working with each other." (Bomani, 08:57)

• On Tupac’s Rise:

  • "He became the spokesperson for Los Angeles when he went to Death Row. You know what I mean? Right?" (Bomani, 04:00)

• On Dre’s "Aftermath" Album:

  • "He was like, Phil Jackson with the Knicks." (Bomani, 11:54)
  • "He tried to figure out which way the wind was blowing...He was like, you know what? Gangster rap is over. And I am going to be the one to say that gangster rap is over." (Wally Sparks, 11:47)

• On Westside Connection and New York:

  • "Cube, Mac 10, and Dub C did the Westside Connection album because they, like, how is it we got the number one album in America and we still can't get no play in New York?" (Wally Sparks, 30:20)
  • "Westside Connection album was a straight pushback." (31:28)

• On Too Short's Milestone:

  • "Short getting to 10...In 1996, that seemed like an impossible feat." (Bomani, 40:49)

• On the Death of Knowledge Rap:

  • "Nature of the Threat...my friend was adamant that ensured the Rascals would never catch on, because he was spitting too much truth in that crazy ass record." (Wally Sparks, 51:57)

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Timestamps for Important Segments

| Time | Segment | |----------|-----------------------------------------------------| | 01:47 | Bomani welcomes Wally Sparks, kickoff of West Coast focus | | 03:00 | Tupac becomes the symbol of California | | 05:53 | Death Row’s overwhelming influence on hip-hop | | 08:13 | Dre and Snoop as creative dependents | | 09:18 | Dr. Dre's "Aftermath" discussed | | 14:05 | "East Coast Killer, West Coast Killer” – Dre’s misstep | | 19:20 | Snoop's struggle with "Tha Doggfather" after Tupac's death | | 21:47 | How Dre elevates artists as a vocal producer | | 30:12 | Westside Connection & tension with New York | | 34:16 | Cube’s return with "Bow Down" | | 39:44 | Too Short’s decade-long career and 10th album | | 41:33 | E-40 and Bay Area's moment in 1996 | | 48:51 | West Coast sound’s spread across the South | | 51:57 | Ras Kass, "Nature of the Threat," and the decline of knowledge rap |

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The Episode's Signature Tone

• Insightful, conversational, and nostalgic, with a blend of hard truths, humor, and candid recollections of hip-hop history. Wally and Bomani’s camaraderie creates a lively, barbershop feel while delivering serious cultural analysis.

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Final Thoughts

This episode is essential listening for anyone who wants to understand 1996 as a crossroad for West Coast hip-hop and the careers of Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg, Tupac, and others. It’s about more than just albums—it's about creative partnerships, regional beefs, industry politics, and cultural legacy. Bomani and Wally deliver a thoughtful, critical, and entertaining journey through one of the most consequential years in rap history.

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Transcript

[Bomani Jones]

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[Co-host/Guest (likely a hip hop expert or DJ)]

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[Bomani Jones]

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[Bomani Jones]

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[Co-host/Guest (likely a hip hop expert or DJ)]

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[Bomani Jones]

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[Co-host/Guest (likely a hip hop expert or DJ)]

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[Bomani Jones]

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[Co-host/Guest (likely a hip hop expert or DJ)]

and get your trip right. Kayak got that right. Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the Right Time A Wave original. My name is Bomani Jones. Thanks for listening wherever you get your podcast. Thanks for watching us on YouTube. Subscribe like, rate us, review us, give us five stars. You only give us four stars. I'm inclined to believe you are a hater. It is Time Machine Tuesday, our latest installment of of our series on the year 1996 in hip hop. We've gone through a lot, right? We went through the year of Tupac. We talked about what was going on down south. We got into a lot of different east coast stuff, talked about the singles of the year, and now we wrapped it up. Talk about the West Coast. Shout out to my man Jason England, who's helped us out with half of these. And my man now, DJ Wally Sparks.

[Bomani Jones]

What's that?

[Co-host/Guest (likely a hip hop expert or DJ)]

Wrapping this thing up, bringing it home. What's going on, dog?

[Bomani Jones]

I can't complain, big brother. I'm chilling, man. You know, happy to be here, you

[Co-host/Guest (likely a hip hop expert or DJ)]

know, putting off Chattanooga with all the time, man.

[Bomani Jones]

Four, two, three, baby. Let's go.

[Co-host/Guest (likely a hip hop expert or DJ)]

I tell you, and I have talked about this before, the cities that have minor league baseball teams have a real cheat code over their peers. Who don't? Because y' all got a hat.

[Bomani Jones]

Yep. We can represent everywhere we go.

[Co-host/Guest (likely a hip hop expert or DJ)]

Yeah, your little town ain't got no minor league baseball team, man. You just got to wear some shirt that makes some reference to the violence in your town, Right? Kill the city, fool.

[Bomani Jones]

Yeah, man, I remember. I remember one of when I was. When I was touring, probably like 10, 10 or 12 years ago, man, I was in. I was in Vancouver Canada. And I was walking some retail space or whatever, just, you know, doing what tourists do. And I looked up in there and I saw a lookouts hat. Man, I never. I had never felt such a large sense of pride in my. In my life, bro. I was like that. Like, we all over the world, baby.

[Co-host/Guest (likely a hip hop expert or DJ)]

It's so funny. Y' all all over, y'. All. The. What you call it?

[Bomani Jones]

Yeah, the emojis.

[Co-host/Guest (likely a hip hop expert or DJ)]

Big eye emojis. You know, the year 1996 in West coast rap, to me, is interesting, and I'm. I'm curious to know on a few levels what you think about this. But I think it's somewhat important, especially for, like, younger people who were not around at a time the time to kind of build to this, right? So on this series, we'd already talked a lot about Tupac, and we'll talk a little bit more about him, obviously, in this. And the year was his. But I feel like a big part of that with Tupac was we had associate. Like, even if we associated Tupac with Oakland, it did kind of feel in some ways like Tupac kind of belonged to Everybody. Because that 90, that. That me against the World album, right? With, like, the easy Mo B joints and everything else. Like, I don't feel like. I don't feel like that is an album that is particular to a place. And then he came out and he became the ultimate patriot for California, right? Like, he put on harder for that than anything else. But it's also worth noting that that run of time, the west coast was kind of running the game. Like, he went and jumped on the winning team.

[Bomani Jones]

It was like, so this. This is the way I look at Tupac. His discography. Like, you got, like, two pocalypse now strictly for my. And then me against the world. That's MC New York. You know what I'm saying? Yeah. And then when he got out of prison and he went to death row, that's when we got, like, the POC that we all know now. And, you know, it's like, I've never seen anybody decide that they were gonna be, you know, the spokesperson for a city. Like, he became the spokesperson for Los Angeles when he went to death row. You know what I mean? Right?

[Co-host/Guest (likely a hip hop expert or DJ)]

The spokesperson nobody asked for.

[Bomani Jones]

And he. And he. He would. He was adamant to live and die. LA baby. You know what I'm saying?

[Co-host/Guest (likely a hip hop expert or DJ)]

I tell you this, though. If I had just got let out of Clinton, Max. And then you take me out, you drop me off in LA with a pocket full of money as the hottest thing on the streets. I can't imagine how dope LA would be.

[Bomani Jones]

Yeah, yeah, I bet. I'm sure you had a little too much fun, right?

[Co-host/Guest (likely a hip hop expert or DJ)]

But like for him, because like Oakland with like the, the Panther tradition and all of that stuff, right, like it was a fit. His fit with Digital Underground, like all of that was there. But la, as much as Oakland hip hop and Bay Area hip hop obviously had a foothold. It was LA that for that mid part of the 90s with the death Row run, you know, and other things too, because I think it's easy to think about LA rap just being centered around like LA was big enough where you got the chronic and bizarre ride to the far side coming out in the same year, right? Like there, there was, there was a bit more range as to what was going on there, but they took over the game in a lot of ways. Like New York still had it, I think in a volume sense. But the top, top. Yeah, it was the LA cats.

[Bomani Jones]

Yeah. Death Row was kind of like the epicent of. Of. Of hip hop in. During that time. Like it was like everything, everything was, was in death rows orbit. Like, I mean, I'm just talking across the board. I'm just talking just about like California rap. I'm talking about like everything that was happening was, you know, there was some sort of G Funk influence going on, you know, no matter where you were, whether it was you making music in the Bay. That was a dude, that was a dude in Memphis, right, that had this indie record named Player G called. And this album is called Pimp. And it's basically just a straight up G funk record. Just a dude, just a dude in Memphis talking about murdering and killing and pimping, you know what I mean? But over some like super duper jamming beast that sound like, you know, a Dr. Dre impression. Yeah, I mean that's, that's, that's the type of. That's the type of influence and, and foothold that the music that was coming out of Death Row camp had on the entire country at the time.

[Co-host/Guest (likely a hip hop expert or DJ)]

Hey man, we talked about T Mix before, but T Mix did some incredible Dr. Dre impressions.

[Bomani Jones]

Yeah. Yeah. And you know, and that's not, that's not even a slight to him. You know what I'm saying?

[Co-host/Guest (likely a hip hop expert or DJ)]

Yeah, I was saying, I was about to say, and I wasn't no shade. But there are tracks that you come across where you like, like on that, on the Just Trying to Live Devin the Dude record. I feel like that there's a TMX Beat that. That I had thought was a Dre beat forever.

[Bomani Jones]

Yeah.

[Co-host/Guest (likely a hip hop expert or DJ)]

I think the sum of them joined.

[Bomani Jones]

That's probably. You know what? That's probably why Dre wanted to work with Devin.

[Co-host/Guest (likely a hip hop expert or DJ)]

Yes.

[Bomani Jones]

Hearing that. You know what I mean? Yeah.

[Co-host/Guest (likely a hip hop expert or DJ)]

Dre is Devin. Dre is like, ooh, I can do something with that voice.

[Bomani Jones]

Yeah.

[Co-host/Guest (likely a hip hop expert or DJ)]

Devin is one of the few people that Dr. Dre has heard and been like, oh, let me get that. Who also actually could make records. Dr. Dre was like the Bill Belichick a rap. I go get Jonas Gray, he run for 200 yards against me, and then we go release him and nobody else is ever going to play.

[Bomani Jones]

Yep.

[Co-host/Guest (likely a hip hop expert or DJ)]

I mean, I can get him 200 yards, right?

[Bomani Jones]

I mean, he turned. Bro. He turned Julia Edelman into a almost hall of Famer. I'm saying, think about that. Julia Element. Ain't that. Ain't that much taller than me.

[Co-host/Guest (likely a hip hop expert or DJ)]

You say Juliet Edelman is the hitman. The hitman of the. The rbx.

[Bomani Jones]

Yeah, man. Exactly. That's exactly what he is.

[Co-host/Guest (likely a hip hop expert or DJ)]

But we could actually start here with this and talking about it, because it is very interesting how many people, like, when this. When 96 comes around, we talk about with Tupac. Tupac is on top of everything. But the mainstays of Death Row were Dr. Dre and Snoop and 1996. What is interesting and somewhat defining about them is those two brothers were lost in the wilderness without each other, bro.

[Bomani Jones]

They need each other. You know what I'm saying? They want to each other because you know that both of that year, Dre made his first post Death Row album and Snoop made his first Death row album without Dr. Dre.

[Co-host/Guest (likely a hip hop expert or DJ)]

Yes.

[Bomani Jones]

And. And both of them suffered because they were not working with each other.

[Co-host/Guest (likely a hip hop expert or DJ)]

No, it's. It's a very, like, not working with each other type of thing. MC Ren, who I. I love Red. I think Red is like crazily underrated. Lost in the wilderness forever. After the Ruthless thing broke up, he put out a record in 96 too. Like, there are the scraps of what was popping, like, around Dr. Dre for the early part of the 90s in 96. It's like they're all out there and nobody knows what to do. And I do want to talk about that Aftermath record first, because I want to say it is both about Aftermath and when we get to the Dog Father, I try my best to go back and listen to records that I did not like when they came out, because it is entirely possible that what I didn't like about them was just Some shit I was feeling that day or whatever it was. Right. And so, you know, sometimes you go back and you're like, oh, that was a little better than I thought it was. And I tried that with the Aftermath record. And the Aftermath record was exactly as mediocre as I thought it was. He was. You know, we talked about this also when we get well, with me and Jason talking about some of the east coast stuff. It's also the year that Dre did. Nas is coming. And Nas is coming, which is. It's not. It's a well done beat. Right. It's kind of a. A little bit of like, post Sam Sneed Dre.

[Bomani Jones]

Yeah.

[Co-host/Guest (likely a hip hop expert or DJ)]

Because that's another thing, too, about Dre beats. Dre Beats are often about. So who were you working with at the time? Like, whose vibe did you take to the next level? Because that Sam Sneed run was incredible. Right? The Natural Boy Killers era. Dre was like, oh, I. I like what we're doing here.

[Bomani Jones]

Yeah, this could. This could. This could be something.

[Co-host/Guest (likely a hip hop expert or DJ)]

Right, right, right. Man, we ain't have none of that. And he had these kind of really big beats with a lot of different tracks. Right. Like, a lot of. There was a lot going on with them, which is kind of wild because Dre was. Minimalism was always the thing that really worked for him. Yeah, that's not how I felt about them Aftermath beats. And then on top of it, he had to kind of sort of be the star to carry it, because after the Chronic comes out, he's an. He's an actual, factual star without being able to really rap. And so what that means is, one day you look up this motherfucker out here doing the tango with Jennifer Lopez, and, like. And we didn't know that it was Jennifer Lopez. We just knew that it was Dr. Dre doing the tango over a song that was all about what Dr. Dre tried to become in 1996, because he tried to figure out which way the wind was blowing. And he was like, you know what? Gangster rap is over. And I am going to be the one to say the gangster rap is over. Like, it's almost like he's a precursor to. Not in terms of, like, the sound, but like Jay Z and them cats and Puffy try to go to the suits.

[Bomani Jones]

Yeah, right.

[Co-host/Guest (likely a hip hop expert or DJ)]

To be like, yo, no, we off the streets now. We on the suit kick. Dre tried that first, and it failed.

[Bomani Jones]

Dr. Dre In 19, during this period of time that we talking about, he was like, Phil Jackson with the Knicks, you know, What I'm saying, like, you, you've, you've had years of success. You know what I mean? Years and years and years of success. And, you know, now you kind of all along with this, you know, this island of misfit toys and trying to make some shake. And you, you, you believe in that. Your, your skill level and your expertise is going to, is going to get you over the hump. And I ain't going to do nothing to get you to the hump and have you stand at it, buddy. Know what I'm saying?

[Co-host/Guest (likely a hip hop expert or DJ)]

It's. It's like, what. But what if Phil Jackson went to the Knicks in between the Bulls and the Lakers?

[Bomani Jones]

Right? Right? Yeah.

[Co-host/Guest (likely a hip hop expert or DJ)]

Right?

[Bomani Jones]

Yeah.

[Co-host/Guest (likely a hip hop expert or DJ)]

Like, what, what if he. Or what if in that, in the beginning of Phil Jackson's second stint with the Lakers, there was no Kobe? Like, all he had was Smush Parker in them. Because you go back through and we. And look at the people who were on this record, which is also in large part an attempt at being an R and B record. But to be fair to Dr. Dre, Dr. Dre's produced some cold ass R and B records. Like.

[Bomani Jones]

Yeah, he has.

[Co-host/Guest (likely a hip hop expert or DJ)]

Yeah, that. That was not him. Yeah, the beach record, right? Like this. This was not him stepping out of himself. No. However, you read through the credits and it's like, I don't know who any of these people are that are on here. Like, what, what are, what are we doing? Whose idea with this? And why did you only produce like half the beats? How lost are you right now?

[Bomani Jones]

He was trying to. He was definitely trying to figure something out. Yeah. You know what I mean?

[Co-host/Guest (likely a hip hop expert or DJ)]

So I bet you it is, though. I bet you he made mo record off that aftermath record that he made off of everything he had done combined before that.

[Bomani Jones]

I believe that. I definitely believe that. You know. You know, what's a good indicator of how, of how lost in the sauce Dre might have been when he was making this record was his kind of his peaceful salvo to kind of like quash the East Coast, west coast beef. And he just, he's like, all right, I'm gonna make a record with some east coast cats and some. And some west coast cats. This is supposed to be like a peace offering, right?

[Sponsor Voice]

Yes.

[Bomani Jones]

But he names the song East Coast Killer. West Coast Killer.

[Co-host/Guest (likely a hip hop expert or DJ)]

Yes.

[Bomani Jones]

And, bro, what a comment. What a. What a combination of MCs, man. You got what Be Real and RBX representing The west and KS1 and NAS representing the East. That seems imbalanced a little bit, don't you? Think.

[Co-host/Guest (likely a hip hop expert or DJ)]

Yeah. I was about to say, if it

[Bomani Jones]

was a fight, it was gonna be no contest.

[Co-host/Guest (likely a hip hop expert or DJ)]

It was gonna take a long time. You know what I'm saying?

[Bomani Jones]

It was gonna be no contest at all, bro.

[Co-host/Guest (likely a hip hop expert or DJ)]

On. On. On one side, we got arguably two of the five best rappers ever of all time, Right? Depending on who you are. That's who we got. On one side, we. On the other side, we got draw bombs like Hiroshima.

[Bomani Jones]

And you got, you know. You know, one of the. The. The greatest potheads of all time, Mr.

[Co-host/Guest (likely a hip hop expert or DJ)]

Who called him Mr. Nasal. I can't remember who. Who that was that called him Mr. Dasel. Cypress Hill. I wish they had put a record out this year, because they are kind of fascinating to me, like, as an act to discuss whose first album. Classic.

[Bomani Jones]

Yeah.

[Co-host/Guest (likely a hip hop expert or DJ)]

No way around it. It sounds a little like. It's hard to appreciate what was going on at the time if you try to go back and listen to it now, because the sound quality is not super high or anything else, but they sold a gazillion records, and they never change. But white folks jumped on it so hard, their brothers was kind of like, yeah, yeah.

[Bomani Jones]

When we. Y' all got that.

[Co-host/Guest (likely a hip hop expert or DJ)]

And it's not. It's not like what they. What happened really changed. And it's not like it sounded that much different than the first record that we were all about.

[Bomani Jones]

Yeah. I mean, they. Cypress Hill, to their credit. They never really. The. Their fans. Their. You know, their fans changed. They didn't really change at all.

[Co-host/Guest (likely a hip hop expert or DJ)]

Right.

[Bomani Jones]

They're like. I kind of see them as like our. The. The. The Hip hop jam band. Like, they're our Grateful Dead or our Fish or whatever. You know what I mean? That's kind of how. That's kind of how I see Cypress Hill in totality. Yeah.

[Co-host/Guest (likely a hip hop expert or DJ)]

And Be Real is one of those rappers that reminds you that producers really just care how your voice sounds. Like, oh, I could do something with that. It's like a drum sound in a pack.

[Bomani Jones]

Yeah.

[Co-host/Guest (likely a hip hop expert or DJ)]

They're like, oh, it's like that mob deep snare on the infamous. Like, yo, we could use this everywhere.

[Bomani Jones]

Everywhere, right?

[Co-host/Guest (likely a hip hop expert or DJ)]

Kanye with the explosive drums.

[Bomani Jones]

Yeah. Knife Wonder had. You know, when he first jumped on the scene, he had that snare that. It was the Knife Wonder snare that everybody was, you know, almost every record. Yep.

[Co-host/Guest (likely a hip hop expert or DJ)]

And that is Be Real.

[Bomani Jones]

Yeah, There you go. You know what I mean?

[Co-host/Guest (likely a hip hop expert or DJ)]

But Dre was so lost. Like, people would not know. We thought it was over.

[Bomani Jones]

Yeah. I think.

[Co-host/Guest (likely a hip hop expert or DJ)]

And it's so wild. Cause California Love had just come out early in the year. So it wasn't like we hadn't heard him drop any heat no time soon.

[Bomani Jones]

He wasn't that far removed from actual hit records, which he did the mix, you know, that makes it even way more fascinating that the. The. The space between Super Duper Jam and this. What's happening right here was. It was. It just didn't seem. It didn't seem. It seemed like such an immediate. I don't even want to call it a fall off, because I think that'd be a little bit disrespectful. But it was. It was a step back in a. In a. In a direction that he hadn't been going, especially coming off. You know, Dre had, like. He. He just. He just had a three peat, right? The Chronic. Doggy style, Dog food, brother.

[Co-host/Guest (likely a hip hop expert or DJ)]

You say a three peat. This is what I think gets lost with Dre the entire run between Straight Outta Compton and the Chronic. It's a lot of classics in there.

[Bomani Jones]

Yep.

[Co-host/Guest (likely a hip hop expert or DJ)]

Like, not just some, now that you look back on it. The above the Law joint. Yeah, the doc yeah, yeah. Easy does it, niggas for life.

[Bomani Jones]

100 miles of running.

[Co-host/Guest (likely a hip hop expert or DJ)]

100 miles of running. I feel like there's a few other things that just kind of pop, you know, Like. Like a handful of things that pop up in there. The deep cover joint, right? Like that. That was the introduction to Death Row, was the deep cover single. Like, his run from 88 to 95 is actually somehow underrated because we don't actually act like stuff matters until, like, night. Like, till Tupac and BE come around. Yeah, yeah, he had it all. And then he put this out,

[Bomani Jones]

Bro. It's like. It's Emma Smith for the corners, baby. You know what I'm saying? It's like, what is. What is happening here?

[Co-host/Guest (likely a hip hop expert or DJ)]

But it's like, what if Em Smith went to the Cardinals and he was 27. Right? Like, by the time Evan Smith went to the Cardinals, it had been a bit of a decline, you know, like. Or put it like this. The Source Awards were just the year before.

[Bomani Jones]

Yeah, man, it was. That was a strange time for Dre, bro.

[Co-host/Guest (likely a hip hop expert or DJ)]

Yeah. But imagine this, though. Imagine that. You have to try to separate yourself from the hottest thing going.

[Bomani Jones]

Yep. You gotta. You gotta. You gotta completely isolate yourself from it.

[Co-host/Guest (likely a hip hop expert or DJ)]

Yeah. Like, that's not good for business.

[Bomani Jones]

No.

[Co-host/Guest (likely a hip hop expert or DJ)]

And that's what he was asked to do. Meanwhile, Snoop is over there. Death Row was a crazy house right now. And imagine you put out the biggest debut record anybody can think of or anybody can remember. Right. And you not Even a man at your own label, no more.

[Bomani Jones]

But they. But they also expect you to be the. The. The franchise players still.

[Co-host/Guest (likely a hip hop expert or DJ)]

Yes, yes. But imagine how that feels, right? Like, and by saying, again, it's crazy town over there right now. Like, it's full on chaos. Like, it's. It's easy to forget this. Tupac dies in September of 96. Machiavelli comes out right after this. The Dog Father comes out in November. Right? Like. Like. Like, this is everything that's going on. And the Dog Father is another one where what I think Dre never gets enough credit for. And a buddy of mine made this point to me. He is the best vocal producer there has ever been. There are so many cats. Like, we talked about this with all these. These guys here and there. There's so many cats that have only really sounded like that or been that dope with Trey. Right? As much as I say that about Ren, I think Ren is kind of an example of that. Right? Like, we don't give Ren credit that, like, he's the only dude on Niggas for Life that wrote his own raps and was killing it on every track, right? But it's all these guys.

[Bomani Jones]

But, yeah, man, I. I agree. Especially for rap music as Dre as a. As a vocal producer, because he. He gets. He gets the most out of every vocal performance that he ever, you know, puts his hands on.

[Co-host/Guest (likely a hip hop expert or DJ)]

Like.

[Bomani Jones]

Like. Like, we had just referenced Six Two. You know what I mean? And Devin, the dude, like, he had. You know, Devin was Devin, and Six Two is Six Two. But you got. You got other cats, you know, rbx, you know, we know. We know RBX because of his voice, but we know RBX's voice because of how Dre produced his voice.

[Co-host/Guest (likely a hip hop expert or DJ)]

Right?

[Bomani Jones]

You know?

[Sponsor Voice]

Right?

[Co-host/Guest (likely a hip hop expert or DJ)]

Hitman.

[Bomani Jones]

Yeah. Yeah, There you go.

[Co-host/Guest (likely a hip hop expert or DJ)]

There's no reason after 2001, the hitman ain't next. Hitman is all over that record in dope, everywhere on that record.

[Bomani Jones]

Yeah.

[Co-host/Guest (likely a hip hop expert or DJ)]

But also, when you hit your wagon to Dr. Dre, your shit might never come out. But Dogfather, it's a lot of dope producers on Dogfather. Like, it is the bedrock of the west coast sound that is there. Like, you can't say it wasn't because he had production. He had production.

[Bomani Jones]

He did.

[Co-host/Guest (likely a hip hop expert or DJ)]

He just didn't have it.

[Bomani Jones]

I like the first single, the snooze outside your head. Yeah. So I like that first single. And I was like, okay, this is a smart direction to go if Dre ain't gonna be there. Right? And then I started, you know, getting to the album. And, you know, what you said about the Aftermath album, I kinda did the same with this album, but I landed a little differently. I was like, okay, this is not as bad as I thought it was. You know what I mean? But that's in due part to what you're saying, the breadth of producers that were working on this record. Cause, I mean. I mean, I think that's kind of the way you had to do it. You kind of had to. You kind of had to illmatic that album because, you know, as I said, Snoop, especially post Tupac's death, he was already the franchise player to begin with. Then you got this, you know, this supernova that is Tupac that comes in and then kind of, you know, steals his thunder a little bit. And now Tupac's gone, and now you got to be the man again, you know? So they, you know, let's get. Let's get. Let's get the best of the best on the west coast and just throw them all as Snoop at one time and see what happens.

[Co-host/Guest (likely a hip hop expert or DJ)]

Yeah, and the thing is, if you're going. You have to build the. You have to build a record around Snoop.

[Bomani Jones]

Yep.

[Co-host/Guest (likely a hip hop expert or DJ)]

Right? You can't just be like. You can't just be like, all right, we got Snoop.

[Bomani Jones]

Yep.

[Co-host/Guest (likely a hip hop expert or DJ)]

You know, it don't really matter what the beats are. Yeah, it does.

[Bomani Jones]

And, you know, Snoop's like that. Snoop is not one of those. He's not one of those people that will not let you produce him. He actually, I've seen clips of him in studios like, bro, tell me what. Tell me what to do so I can get. I can give you the best version of the record that you need.

[Co-host/Guest (likely a hip hop expert or DJ)]

Yeah, no, he has a. I mean, I think that's. If you come up with Dre. Right. He know what them. Like, you know, you and I have talked about this a lot. The idea of who produced Doggy Style, and you'll have the people who make the argument, the Daz really produced it, and Dre just came in at the

[Bomani Jones]

end and cleaned it up.

[Co-host/Guest (likely a hip hop expert or DJ)]

Yeah. No, but you and I, like, what was that? The. The original version, Ain't no Fun. You listen to that, and then you listen to the. The finished version of Ain't no Fun, and you understand what's going on here.

[Bomani Jones]

Yep.

[Co-host/Guest (likely a hip hop expert or DJ)]

Right. Like. Like, Dad's made some beats. Drake was like, yeah. Very good ones, in fact.

[Bomani Jones]

Yeah.

[Co-host/Guest (likely a hip hop expert or DJ)]

Dre came in and was like, yeah, but like, you. You're on the way. And so if you Snoop and you've seen what that change is. Then you're like, hell, yeah. What. What y' all need me to do, partner? What y' all need? But, yeah, the LA orbit was interesting that year. RIM put out the Villain in Black. Nobody really likes it, but it's not bad. MCA put out a record that is not my. Not my cup of tea. But people love mca. People.

[Bomani Jones]

I'm a big CFW fan, man. Like, Music to Drive by is one of my favorite Contest Most Wanted albums. That album's really good. You know, it's got a really dope song with Scarface on it. Like, really good.

[Co-host/Guest (likely a hip hop expert or DJ)]

He's another dude where it's like, I'm sure people are just out there like, yo, voice.

[Bomani Jones]

Yeah, chill.

[Co-host/Guest (likely a hip hop expert or DJ)]

You know? And I'm just like, yeah. Or gia. You're right. I kind of guess super slow rappers.

[Bomani Jones]

Yeah. I'm a Project Pat guy, so I like people that speak slow and syrupy, you know, so it's interesting.

[Co-host/Guest (likely a hip hop expert or DJ)]

I like Project Pat, you know? Right. I like project Pat. Is MC8 in particular that I'm just kind of like, yeah, dog, if you insist. Right. But I will say this, though. MC8 was not showing up if the beats weren't there.

[Bomani Jones]

No, that's. Oh, yeah. That's one of the reasons I enjoy. I think I enjoy Kanji's Most Wanted, their discography. Because, man, man, oh, man, do they ever have some. Some fantastic music that 8 is rapping over. You know what I mean?

[Sponsor Voice]

Yes, yes.

[Co-host/Guest (likely a hip hop expert or DJ)]

By the way, also interesting about this year we're talking about Dr. Dre is this is also the year where Suge was just being spiteful and put out all those other joints.

[Bomani Jones]

Yeah.

[Co-host/Guest (likely a hip hop expert or DJ)]

Like the Dr. Dre back in the day. I think there's like a second round, like first round knockout or something like that. He was just like, yeah, man, we just gonna flood the streets. Nobody has ever really hated Harder on somebody, even though you the one that stole from him. Quite like Suge was with Dre at the end.

[Bomani Jones]

That's how bullies get down, man. And say, like, I'm gonna take for you. And then be like, I'm mad that you left because I took from you. Yeah, man.

[Co-host/Guest (likely a hip hop expert or DJ)]

But look, coming up next, I don't want people to think I'll be doing to talk about what wasn't cracking on the west because there was another album that came out out of LA that it was a statement. It's interesting to look back on coming up next. Ever wanted to go to the NBA Finals? Well, now's your chance, courtesy of FanDuel. All you have to do is use your profit boost on an NBA future and you'll be entered for a shot to win an NBA finals trip for two NBA futures let you lock in your pick for for who you think will go all the way. Whether it's a team to win the championship or a conference title. Visit FanDuel.com Bomani to get started, play your game with FanDuel, official sports betting partner of the NBA 21 plus and

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[Co-host/Guest (likely a hip hop expert or DJ)]

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[Co-host/Guest (likely a hip hop expert or DJ)]

All right, we are back with DJ Wally Sparks. By the way, I was thinking about wearing that shirt put all for the homie, but the homie put all for himself. Check that [e-mail] if you can't see it. Antoine and Andre and Bernard and Chad and Primro and Marlon. You know what I'm saying?

[Bomani Jones]

If you know, you know, baby.

[Co-host/Guest (likely a hip hop expert or DJ)]

That's right. That's right. 96 is the year the. The. The west side Connection record came out.

[Bomani Jones]

Oh, yeah.

[Co-host/Guest (likely a hip hop expert or DJ)]

And it's so. It's. It's interesting to me to think about the fact that even after all the success, especially of the NWA Cats, right? All of them went platinum solo, including Ren, who went platinum with a record called Kiss My Black Ass. It was an ep. Yeah, yeah. Still sold a million copies of it. But Cube, Mac 10, and Dub C did the west side Connection album because they, like, how is it we got the number one album in America and we still can't get no play in New York? And. And look, New York got 8 million people. Like, not getting play in New York is a big deal in terms of your money. Now, getting play in Houston might have made you more money because we bought records, but it was still a thing. And that west side Connection record banged.

[Bomani Jones]

Yeah, man. That. That record, in my opinion, kind of saved Ice Cube the rapper. Ice Cube the Ice Cube the rapper had kind of almost faded away at this point, right? The way. The way we remember Ice Cube the rapper. But then this happened, and it was like, okay, he's still there. You know, He's. He's still there. You know what I mean?

[Co-host/Guest (likely a hip hop expert or DJ)]

The East coast, west coast, Beef Tupac thing, that wasn't that was a one man beef, right? Like that wasn't that. That wasn't really quite the thing, though. It became a thing because he said it was a thing. But this was the thing that really caused people issues in the industry was the insularity of New York City. And it's like the idea of, like, for those of you who are familiar with the no Fly Zone thing with Detroit, where trick tricks insistence that you got to put somebody local on the bill if you gonna play a show here, it's born of stuff like this. The idea that New York could show up to your show, to your city and put on a show and do everything else, and then you would get love, but they had nothing for you when you came up there. How true it was is its own discussion. The perception, however, was undeniable. And so the Westside Connection album was a straight pushback on the idea that, you know, like, what we got to do, man, that's what they saying, what we got to do. And I feel like they should have called that group two and A possible because it was too. I mean, Dub C is dope as. Right. Cube is now somehow strangely very underrated. But Cube has. Cube, to me, is the best rapper from the west coast ever. Yeah, like, like I understand now. Kendrick is the guy we all talk about now. No, no, no, no, no. Kendrick does not have the. The first three. The first three and change of the Ice Cube catalog. Right? The America's Most Wanted, Death Certificate, Kill at Will and the Predator.

[Bomani Jones]

Hey, and then. And all the NWA stuff.

[Co-host/Guest (likely a hip hop expert or DJ)]

That's right. That's right. And then I think Dre got Cube lost because Cube went from the bomb squad beats to again, that Death certificate is kind of like bedrock west coast stuff.

[Bomani Jones]

But.

[Co-host/Guest (likely a hip hop expert or DJ)]

But it sounded very different than the G Funk.

[Bomani Jones]

Yes, it did.

[Co-host/Guest (likely a hip hop expert or DJ)]

Right. And so then by the time he comes around Lethal Injection, which is a G Funk record, it's kind of like, I don't know about this one, but he came back out swinging with Bow Down.

[Bomani Jones]

Yeah. And. And you know, at, at that point in time, Cube had, you know, Friday had come out, had been successful and you know, he was in Trespass and all these other movies and Cube was doing other. He was, he was, he was doing the stuff. Yeah. You know, I'm acting in Higher Learning doing all these other things. He was doing all this non rapper stuff.

[Co-host/Guest (likely a hip hop expert or DJ)]

Right.

[Bomani Jones]

And I think people seeing Cube in that sort of light made people think like, what? I don't even say made people think. I'll say, I'll just Bring it to me made me think like, is Cube gonna rap again? Right. Or rap the way I remember Cube rapping. But you know, I hear bow down, I'm like, oh, he's still there.

[Co-host/Guest (likely a hip hop expert or DJ)]

Yes.

[Bomani Jones]

You know what I'm saying? He's still there. And I think, I don't know, I think, you know, him being in a group dynamic and not having to shoulder the load of being a full on solo album probably is what helped bring that fire back out of him. You know what I mean? Like, you know, you got dub, you got Mac 10 and you know, you got somebody that's sort of appear and then you got a guy that's a little younger and you like the, you know, you like the OG wisdom in the, in the middle or you know, the, the voice of reason of sorts. And now you can just, you can just be Ice Cube the rapper and not have to worry about shouldering the load like that. I think that was real beneficial to him when that west side, you know, Q was talking that on that album. You know what I'm saying? You know what I mean?

[Co-host/Guest (likely a hip hop expert or DJ)]

He had also been in like eight beefs around then.

[Bomani Jones]

Like I got, I got back up now, man. I, you know, you think about that, man. Q was. He was taking on a lot pause but, you know, but he was, you know, eight. Who was it? Common. Who else he had to beef with Common.

[Co-host/Guest (likely a hip hop expert or DJ)]

Remember King of the Hill is all west side connection. Cause he had the beef with. Be real. He had to beef with King's son.

[Bomani Jones]

Yep.

[Co-host/Guest (likely a hip hop expert or DJ)]

From way back whenever when they was, you know, having to keep Cube safe. There was. He had the beef with the Woo Woo cat.

[Bomani Jones]

Oh, Cam.

[Co-host/Guest (likely a hip hop expert or DJ)]

Yeah, yeah.

[Bomani Jones]

Yep. Yeah.

[Co-host/Guest (likely a hip hop expert or DJ)]

Like with a video where they just got the dude like inspecting out of dude that's clearly Ice Cube.

[Bomani Jones]

Yep.

[Co-host/Guest (likely a hip hop expert or DJ)]

In the video I feel like this. But he had, I mean he. No Vaseline was earlier but the first like five or six years of the 90s, he was in beef with somebody. Somebody all the time. All the. He had a beef with Ice Tea at some point, man.

[Bomani Jones]

They were, they were in the film together.

[Co-host/Guest (likely a hip hop expert or DJ)]

Yeah, he just, he. He had a beef with everybody. So I think it is lost in there. Like it was. This was necessary for him.

[Bomani Jones]

Yeah.

[Co-host/Guest (likely a hip hop expert or DJ)]

To have this album come back swinging. And then Dub C is interesting because Coolio rest in peace. Coolio's solo career not at all indicative of the reason Coolio gets a shout out on Doggy Style is cause WC in the mad circle is a completely different situation.

[Bomani Jones]

Yeah, Coolio. Coolio. Coolio is like a Predecessor to Flo Rider where people, they have a perception of Coolio.

[Co-host/Guest (likely a hip hop expert or DJ)]

Right.

[Bomani Jones]

Because they think fantastic voyage and gangster's Paradise. It's a little bit more to Coolio than that, buddy. And same with Flo Rider. Like Flo, a lot of people don't realize Flo Rider, when he jumped off the porch, he was doing like him and Pitbull. Actually. They were kind of like a little bit more gangstified than what their current situation is now. Yeah. But yeah, Coolio was definitely a predecessor to both of them in that same sort of way where it would be wise not to run up on Coolio.

[Co-host/Guest (likely a hip hop expert or DJ)]

That is correct. That is the. That is. That is the best LI list in rap to put together. Is those cats, right? Red, Bad, FC Hammer, Black thought.

[Bomani Jones]

Yeah.

[Co-host/Guest (likely a hip hop expert or DJ)]

Series of gentlemen that. Oh boy. He think he got jokes, huh?

[Bomani Jones]

Yep. Yeah. Be careful what you say. Be careful how you move.

[Co-host/Guest (likely a hip hop expert or DJ)]

Yes. The all time great big boy, big boy line. Run up on Hammer.

[Bomani Jones]

Yeah.

[Co-host/Guest (likely a hip hop expert or DJ)]

Run up on Hammer. Hammer. Whoop your monkey.

[Bomani Jones]

Beat the br off you, bro. Yeah.

[Co-host/Guest (likely a hip hop expert or DJ)]

But Dub C also, Dub C is the crippest rapid crip there has ever been. Right. He's. Well, you know, between him and Snoop. Snoop. I don't think anybody crypt in our faces harder than Snoop with all the Pittsburgh stuff, bro.

[Bomani Jones]

He took it mainstream.

[Co-host/Guest (likely a hip hop expert or DJ)]

Yo. People really think he a Steelers fed. He carried. He carried that all. Oh yeah, yeah, yeah. I love the Steelers.

[Bomani Jones]

Woo, bro. It's. It's a. It's amazing. It's amazing what Snoop has been able to accomplish as a career because there. So it's so many things like, like these, like what we talk about now, like, like inside baseball type things that if, like if you know, you know what's happening. But on the surface it looks like a completely different thing.

[Co-host/Guest (likely a hip hop expert or DJ)]

Look, man, I wrote an article in 03, 10 years after doggy Style, right. And it was just how crazy it was that at that time he was doing like the. What commercial is that? Wait one. Minizzle. Right? Like he was doing that. That was now almost 25 years ago. And it hasn't gotten any less crazy. Like the role that he has taken in this after being the most terrifying rapper that anybody thought was. And I granted that was always overblown. Like nobody thought he killed that dude.

[Bomani Jones]

Yeah.

[Co-host/Guest (likely a hip hop expert or DJ)]

But even still, the fact that he got to the place that he could, where he hangs with Martha Stewart and all of this.

[Bomani Jones]

Snoop Dogg might be the safest rapper in rap right now.

[Co-host/Guest (likely a hip hop expert or DJ)]

Yes.

[Bomani Jones]

Which is crazy to say yes. Considering where he began. If you were here yeah, if you, if you live through Snoop's whole career, saw his, you know, his start to where he is now, it's. It's like night and day. Yep, yep.

[Co-host/Guest (likely a hip hop expert or DJ)]

But I tell you, this a West coast record. We get to the Bay on this because I think it's two really dope and like, necessary Bay records to talk about in particular. Not that they're the only two, but one too. Short getting it album number 10 that he told us was the last record that he always knew was a lie, but it still felt like it was the last record and it was jamming,

[Bomani Jones]

you know, Especially the first single. Bro, that's the title track. Getting it.

[Co-host/Guest (likely a hip hop expert or DJ)]

Oh, dude. But the title track. And then behind it is Bayou Sub.

[Bomani Jones]

Oh, bro. So good, so good. You know, the thing about that album, I think the reason it's celebrated in the. In the history of rap the way it is is because I think Short might have been the first rapper to get to 10 albums. Cause I, you know, thinking. Thinking back at that time, I remember there was a time where people were celebrating Big Daddy Kane. Cause he made it to five. Cause no rapper had ever made five albums before. And short getting to 10, like that was that. Was that at. In 1996, that seemed like an impossible feat.

[Co-host/Guest (likely a hip hop expert or DJ)]

Yes.

[Bomani Jones]

You know what I mean? Considering, as I mentioned in previous conversations, the way records got made back then was completely different the way they get made now. Like, you know, 10 albums ain't nothing. Y' all can make 10 albums in 10 days if I want to now. But. But back then, you know, especially somebody like Short who was on a major label, you know what I mean? Like all. All his records came out on a major. And, and for him to. And for him to reach 10 albums, you know, starting from what, 80? 80, you know, in the mid-80s. And always, you know, that's a decade. A rapper that lasted a decade was unheard of back then. And on top of that, it was. That's probably. That might be one of Short's best albums.

[Co-host/Guest (likely a hip hop expert or DJ)]

It is, it is. And the. And the arc is the arc of Short and the catalog like from Born to Mac all the way around. Cuz let's be honest, they ain't all good, but they are all jamming. Right? You know, a lot of it is like sophomoric and ridiculous, like teenage type sex songs and like the pimping thing or whatever. But when that dude is on and that, he's in a pocket.

[Bomani Jones]

Yeah, man, ain't nobody better.

[Co-host/Guest (likely a hip hop expert or DJ)]

Yeah, yeah, he's one of those. He is Not. He ain't gonna win no battle. Right. Not like the all time great mc, but really good at making records. Like again, the type of rapper that a producer is like, yeah, come on over here. I got something for you.

[Bomani Jones]

Too Short is like the ultimate versus artist. Like he. He. He won a versus every time just because he got. He got jams for days.

[Co-host/Guest (likely a hip hop expert or DJ)]

Yes, yes. You know what I mean? It's jams for days. And it's jams for people who drive cars and have knock in the trunk of those cars.

[Bomani Jones]

Or I guess we should say slaps in this context. You know what I mean? Yeah.

[Co-host/Guest (likely a hip hop expert or DJ)]

Like, that's the thing. Too Short is you better tighten up that license plate on the back of your car. All right. Too Short. Too short. Gonna test that.

[Bomani Jones]

Yeah, that's gonna be rattling.

[Co-host/Guest (likely a hip hop expert or DJ)]

Yeah. Like, we talk about bayou some, which I didn't realize. I thought that Eric Sermon had done the beat just because Sermon was rapping on it. But, you know, I guess this is. This is also two shorts Atlanta era. Right? Like, this is right around when he moved down the street from. My parents represent money buy you some with a super dude mc. Breed. Breed is like, I feel like Bree's the MC to everybody if you bring it up. Everybody likes Breeding, but like, we don't Breed does not have an album that people think about across the board. Whatever he got. He has a. Yeah, he has an absolute unequivocal classic single.

[Bomani Jones]

Yep.

[Co-host/Guest (likely a hip hop expert or DJ)]

Ain't no future in your front. He's from a place that even now never really. I mean, this is from Michigan, right?

[Bomani Jones]

Flint. Yeah. He from Flint, Michigan.

[Co-host/Guest (likely a hip hop expert or DJ)]

Yeah. So, like, he. At a time where you. There was no, like, geographical mooring for him at the time, but he jumps on this one. Oh, boy.

[Bomani Jones]

Goes crazy. And. And. And he had a record. He had a record with Pac.

[Co-host/Guest (likely a hip hop expert or DJ)]

He did. And another banger.

[Bomani Jones]

A banger, you know, Gotta get mine. Gotta get yours.

[Co-host/Guest (likely a hip hop expert or DJ)]

Yeah, yeah.

[Bomani Jones]

But yeah, Bree. Brie was definitely. Bree's definitely somebody that. That should be spoken of a lot more.

[Co-host/Guest (likely a hip hop expert or DJ)]

Yeah. Where are you on the E40 hall of Game record?

[Bomani Jones]

I am a big, Big. That's. I. I love that record. I mean, you know, back to short, like, that's Rappers Ball is from that. You know what I'm saying?

[Co-host/Guest (likely a hip hop expert or DJ)]

Yeah.

[Bomani Jones]

You got Casey and Jojo. You know that. You know, that was the. That was the. The. The Bay version of how do you want it? You know what I'm saying?

[Co-host/Guest (likely a hip hop expert or DJ)]

Don't want to freestyle, man. Don't rap for free, man.

[Bomani Jones]

Yeah, man, like, 96 was a. There was A that was. I think there was a bit of a transition where the rap from that was coming out of la. You know, we spoke intensively about the Dre and Death Row of it all and how things were changing. I think in 96, the same thing was happening in the inverse for Bay Area rap music. Because you got E40. You had the too short 10 album thing. You also got the loonies with I got five on it making, you know, making. And then you had other cast like Sally Sale had that big single that had the key sweat sample in it.

[Co-host/Guest (likely a hip hop expert or DJ)]

Yep. And he came out this year too.

[Bomani Jones]

Yeah. You know what I mean? So. And then you had even like a. Like a underground rapper like Mac Mall. He. He had signed to a major that year. He assigned a Relativity Records and put out that Intoxable album. You know, like, there was a lot happening in the Bay Area at that time that I don't want to say gets glossed over, but because of the sheer dominance and like I mentioned before how everything was in the Death Row orbit, I think kind of gets maybe a little lost in translation. And people don't think about all the things that were happening in the Bay back at that time.

[Co-host/Guest (likely a hip hop expert or DJ)]

Right. Let us also not forget about the Holler Gang. The homie dissing the homie. The record starts with a Rasheed Wallace diss. Cause Rashid is a super hip hop head from Philly and this is the mid-90s. And I think he was on Rap City and Joe Claire was asking him about what he was into and he was like, I don't fool with the Goody Mob. I don't fool with them E40s. And E40 took that incredibly personally.

[Bomani Jones]

Yeah, you know. You know, E40 is. Is another one of those, you know, watch what you say. Don't. You know what I'm saying? Don't run up on him. Yeah, everybody knows the story about how he. He got. He got Biggie isolated, you know, Biggie.

[Co-host/Guest (likely a hip hop expert or DJ)]

Apparently Biggie apologized.

[Bomani Jones]

You know what I'm saying?

[Co-host/Guest (likely a hip hop expert or DJ)]

My bad, dog. Hey, and I shot props to Biggie on that one too.

[Bomani Jones]

Y.

[Co-host/Guest (likely a hip hop expert or DJ)]

Hey, man, sometimes you wrong, right?

[Bomani Jones]

Just.

[Co-host/Guest (likely a hip hop expert or DJ)]

Just. Hey, man, you got it, big dog. You got it. Now 40 as an MC is interesting to me because I prefer later late stage 40 over that era of 40. Because at that era of 40, I would have loved to heard like an E40 record with Dre to be like, hey, chill out a little bit, dog. Right? Like in the Buster RS camp of. You're doing a lot right now, man.

[Bomani Jones]

Yeah, I think that's I think that's what is endearing about E40 is that he does, he does, he really, really does a lot. Yeah, he does a whole lot. And that, that, that definitely lends to his uniqueness, you know? Like he, he is the, he is the slang master, bro. You know?

[Co-host/Guest (likely a hip hop expert or DJ)]

Yeah. You know, but it's just that, you know, but it's, it's not just a sl. Like it's a lot of syllables. It's a lot of up, down. It's a lot of like, hey, the beat, it's right there. It's right there. Come on back. Come on back, big dog. Come on back. I mean, you didn't leave it. I'm not saying you left, but you got a little close there. Come on back. Come on back. He also had all time ear for beats.

[Bomani Jones]

Yes, he did shout out to studio Tone though. You know, that was kind of like the sick witted records in house producer, you know?

[Co-host/Guest (likely a hip hop expert or DJ)]

Yeah.

[Bomani Jones]

Even. Even Pimp Steve referenced him in Murder. Like I was, I was at the studio with Tone, man, I wish I could stay.

[Co-host/Guest (likely a hip hop expert or DJ)]

Oh, that's. Oh, that's the Tone Capone.

[Bomani Jones]

Yeah. Yep.

[Co-host/Guest (likely a hip hop expert or DJ)]

Yeah, that's. That's Scarface loves to Capone.

[Bomani Jones]

Yeah. You know what I mean? Like he was, he was making all, you know, all Those records, those click and E40 and be legit and D shot records. He was all over all that stuff, man.

[Co-host/Guest (likely a hip hop expert or DJ)]

Yeah, Scarface, I think it was in his book. He said he had Tone Capone is like top five producer ever.

[Bomani Jones]

I can see that.

[Co-host/Guest (likely a hip hop expert or DJ)]

I could totally also not mistaken. He also has Scarface on that list. Scarface got beats. I will note. But just to give a measure of context on what Scarface's taste in beats are, first of all, me.

[Bomani Jones]

Yeah, there you go.

[Co-host/Guest (likely a hip hop expert or DJ)]

But no, this was, this was, this was also. I forgot the year that the Crips of the Bloods put out banging on wax.

[Bomani Jones]

Oh, man. Pyro love, man. Pyro love got that, that kind of jumped off here in. Well, in Chattanooga rather where I was at. But. But yeah, that was, that was an interesting time.

[Co-host/Guest (likely a hip hop expert or DJ)]

But I think what you just, what you just said though, I think gets to something else interesting that could be if you weren't around for people to understand. I always say in rap, the west coast really started at like Birmingham, like if you. And like in Houston, definitely if you ask people which. Which way they were going. Not even in a beef, just in terms of sonically what they was about. It was that west coast sound with the live instrumentation like leaning on you Know, leaning on a different sample. Not just. It's not simply the records they were sampling. Right. Because like, De La Soul was sampling P. Falk. Right. It's not as though the west coast. But it was the way that they were doing this. Like that, that sound of the West Coast, I always felt like the reason it also caught on so big and with white people, which is its own discussion. But sonically, what people were about west of the east coast. Look, the east coast is just the coast. The rest of the nation, I felt like, was really rocking west coast music in a way, but it didn't really feel like that after 96.

[Bomani Jones]

Yeah, things change. Things definitely change. Like, but to your point, like, all that stuff that was being made from the late 80s, early into the mid-90s, from the west coast, it would, like, especially down south, it was getting serious, serious love. Like, you know, it wouldn't be unlikely to find somebody that lived in Tennessee or Georgia for that matter, or Mississippi or Alabama to, you know, they say, who's your favorite rapper? And they say, too short. You know what I mean? I mean, you even had the homie in Dallas that sounded like, too short. Ron C. You remember him?

[Co-host/Guest (likely a hip hop expert or DJ)]

Yes.

[Bomani Jones]

You know, like, that's just an example of the type of influence that west coast music had on the. The rest of the country that was not the Eastern seaboard, you know, so. But yeah, I mean, yeah, man, west coast music, west coast rap music in particular, had a real stranglehold on

[Co-host/Guest (likely a hip hop expert or DJ)]

the

[Bomani Jones]

hip hop populace for a really, really, really, really long time. And, you know, it's evidenced in some of the longevity, like, you know, the 40s and the PACs and dreams. Dre making the dud of his career and then coming back with one of his best records. You know what I'm saying? Yeah, all of that's possible. Like Snoop having his issues with Death Row, leaving Death Row, going to no limit, and then coming back to Dre and starting to make Snoop and Dre records again, you know what I mean? All of that is a. Is a testament to how deep rooted the influence of west coast hip hop had on the nation.

[Co-host/Guest (likely a hip hop expert or DJ)]

By the way, I almost forgot one record. And actually thinking about this record, man, made a remind shout out to the homies, X. You're probably out there listening because I forgot to mention Wild Cowboys when we did the episode on east coast rap. And that's on me. But that was a good one, too. But I thought of that because this is the year the Rascals put out Soul on Ice. And I'm not really here to talk about the entire Soul on Ice album. I have a good friend who was adamant that nature of the threat ensured the Rascals would never catch on and rap because they was never going to let him because he was spitting too much truth in that crazy ass record. It's not even really. It didn't seem that crazy at the time because it was in line with a certain sensibility. But you go back and you're like, yeah, they was never going to let you on after this.

[Bomani Jones]

No, not after this. You know what I'm saying? Nah, man, you tell, you tell. You talking too much, like, right, we got leave you right where you at, buddy.

[Co-host/Guest (likely a hip hop expert or DJ)]

No, like, I'm just like, nature of the threat. Like it like, I do miss the days again. I miss the days that we had rappers that was hanging out, you know, Shrine of the Black Madonna, you know what I'm saying? Getting them books and coming to kick us. Knowledge.

[Bomani Jones]

Yeah, man. Shout out to Rascaz's twin sons, man. The group Coast Contra, they really, really dope. So if you looking for some new hip hop that's actually good. And if you, you know, you like people that can rhyme, I would suggest that you give Colt's Contra a listen. They're pretty good.

[Co-host/Guest (likely a hip hop expert or DJ)]

You know, I am looking at these records because I've not listened to this record in a really long time. Hey, he did a lot of reading before he wrote this song.

[Bomani Jones]

I can. I bet he did.

[Co-host/Guest (likely a hip hop expert or DJ)]

He had. Well, actually, I would. I'm not. At the very least, he did a lot of note taking, right? Like, this is a serious amount of information about the history of the world that he is. That he has put forth in. Let me get the time, the time right on this. 7 minutes and 43 seconds.

[Bomani Jones]

That's a whole lot of words, bro.

[Co-host/Guest (likely a hip hop expert or DJ)]

Yo, and the idea that you could get that on a record at that point and then everybody would be like, yeah, let's do that. Can you imagine what would happen right now if like one of the Migos showed up? It was like, yo, this is what I'm trying to do.

[Bomani Jones]

Yeah. I'm about to kick a near eight minute knowledge session.

[Co-host/Guest (likely a hip hop expert or DJ)]

Yeah, the knowledge again, that's another one. I think Jay Z, who used to be a very knowledge inclined sort of rapping dude, Jay Z. Jay Z was down with the technology, you know what I'm saying? He was down with the. Down with the mathematics. Shit is garbage. But you try to kick knowledge. Knowledge kicking was over, turned around at that point. There was no more room. I missed Knowledge Kickers. I know that sometimes they was wrong. That wasn't the point to listen to, though. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I'm riding this out, right? Like, you know, maybe. Yeah, like, kick some knowledge, dog. Nobody kicking no knowledge.

[Bomani Jones]

Not no more, ain't, you know what I mean?

[Co-host/Guest (likely a hip hop expert or DJ)]

Like, even a cat like Kendrick, who is definitely speaking from a position of knowledge. Yeah, he kicking.

[Bomani Jones]

Ain't nobody kicking knowledge like that no more. You got the knowledge, you know what I'm saying? Ain't nobody, you know, talking about the supreme mathematics and none of that no more, you know.

[Co-host/Guest (likely a hip hop expert or DJ)]

They still out here, though, boy.

[Bomani Jones]

100 are still out here.

[Co-host/Guest (likely a hip hop expert or DJ)]

Yeah, they out here. They still got.

[Bomani Jones]

They're not happening on rap songs no more.

[Co-host/Guest (likely a hip hop expert or DJ)]

Nah, nah. They still got their little. Little storefronts, right? Little churches out here. You still. You walk. Walk up and down. I think it's on Lennox. You run up on one of Those, like, around 126, 7 or something like that. It's like, oh, y' all still over here?

[Bomani Jones]

I believe it, man.

[Co-host/Guest (likely a hip hop expert or DJ)]

Hey, man, but speaking of kicking knowledge, the boy Wally Sparks been on here Kicking Knowledge with us for the last month and change, brother. I appreciate it. I want to make sure people know Twitch tv, DJ Wally Sparks. Wally be over there cutting up. Catch him in Atlanta, dj, Catch him with the arts, beats and lyrics that comes to your city. Go check it out. Wally's going to be there spinning. You was just up there with KLC and Manny Fresh over the weekend, man,

[Bomani Jones]

that was fun, bro. I. Bro, I would. Oh, man, it was so much fun. Like. Yeah, and Mia X was on stage with us, too. So. Yeah, I was. This past. This past weekend here in Atlanta, the Art Beats and Lyrics show, Pardon Me, took place, and it's probably like 4,000 people in there, bro. And KLC from Beats by the Pound and drum majors, Medicine Men, et cetera, and Manny Fresh, they kind of. They kind of did like, a dueling DJ set where, you know, KO would be playing stuff that he made, like no Limit records he made and other stuff that he produced, you know, Ludicrous Move Bitch, that kind of stuff, you know what I mean? And Manny was playing, obviously, the cash money stuff, and they just going back and forth, you know, kicking this banter or whatever. And it was. Bro, it was so good. So good. And. And I appreciate. I really, really, really appreciate that. They just didn't stick to the hits, and they went. They went and played the shit, you know what I'm saying? Like, Ko played the fiend, Mr. One One. And I was like, yes, yeah. And then Manny, Manny played Dragon Mineral River. I was like yes. You know what I mean? Yeah. It was a good time man. So you know shout out to shout out to the whole Arbeast and lyrics team, man. It is a great event if it does come to your city. We'll actually be in New York soon. So I definitely holl at you when we when I get up there.

[Co-host/Guest (likely a hip hop expert or DJ)]

Hey, let me know brother. And ladies and gentlemen, thanks so much for joining us here on the Right Time. We do this four days a week. Ryan Brumley handles everything behind the scenes. Thank you sir. Hit the voicemail line 323-59-67767 remember, follow the right time. Subscribe like rate us, review us, Give us five stars. You only give us four stars. I'm inclined to believe you are a hater. We'll talk to you guys in a couple of days. Take it easy.

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