I have a knack for catching Diddy when he's intronising the new generation of hip-hop. Last time we were at The Music Box where he came on stage two nights in a row to show his support for Wiz. This time it was  more unnanounced. I stayed to watch Lil B's performance at the Fader Fort and all afternoon I could see Diddy on the side chilling and watching the acts (including Machine Gun Kelly from Ohio who hanged from the speakers, to be a Bad boy soon?). When it was finally Lil B's turn to perform and close the Fader Fort series of concerts, Diddy introduced him on stage and started cooking. I already knew Diddy was a master chef so no surprise there.... But Diddy returned to emphasize the positivity of LilB's movement (everyone commented though on how the crowd really went wild when Lil B finally became his rowdy self and performed hits like "Wonton Soup" or "H*es on My D*ck" as opposed to "The Age of Information") and treated the crowd to some Biggy stuff, just a few days after the anniversary of his death. Now say what you want but Diddy has swag, and the same crowd that brought spatulas to cook at the concert was hyping and asking him to come back.

As the line for Talib Kweli's free, pre-Thanksgiving Charity Drive/Gutter Rainbows album release show at The Roxy stretched for blocks, the "Man of the People" sat down with LA Stereo.TV to discuss Bow Wow, the hunt for his "My Chain Heavy" verse , and his particular affinity for Cali's underground artists.

Three days after the official closing of Fat Beats LA the LA Stereo team went to interview Joe Abajian, its founder. We throught it was important to reflect on the closing of this physical landmark in the hip hop community. The end of the retail store encapsulates how the industry is changing and the story of Fat Beats is intertwined with the story of independent hip hop.

We wanted to know why the store had closed, what could have been done to save it (part 2 coming up). We also reflected on some of Fat Beats' strong legacy and in Part 1 above Joe describes the beginnings of the retail.

Shout out to Randy Nkonoki for helping us set up the interview. And visit the online store to carry on supporting GOOD MUSIC.

Photography: Kasey Stokes

Rebecca and M Boogie go to Kokane's album release party... Rebecca forgets she has her roscoe on her, M Boogie is trying to identify all those hand signs...

Seriously it was exactly four months ago, as a follow up to Rebecca's great profile on OG veteran Kokane (Can Kokane Get An Amen), we headed to Burgundy House. Here's the most featured ever rap artist - Kokane - with Suga Free.

If you wanna know what the West Coast sounds like, here's a legend. Shot at the Crewest Galley, Downtown at the procuders' showcase event in July put on by Daeone & Sketch the Specialist.

With-for the first time on stage all together-Black Milk, Bishop Lamont & Elzhi. Check out Bishop Lamont asking about a reunion at the end of the performance.

Interview with Black Milk coming up soon...

Interview on the way

-photo by kasey stokes

In Xzibit's final words "Fat Beats you ain't never going anywhere cause you are right here with us." The legacy of hip hop carries on.

West Coast in da house...for the final days of L.A. hip hop institution Fat Beats that helped launch so many careers.

A BIG thank you to Randy, Joe, HouseShoes, Rhettmatic from Fat Beats for accomodating people like me who were here to document some of it. Thanks to the cops for not shutting the house down... they waited until Sunday night. It was an insane evening that left us wanting for more.

These last few days at Fat Beats have been epic - I'm still on a high- and here's a classic moment of West Coast hip hop that went down on Friday. Ft. Prince Po, Planet Asia, Ras Kass, Xzibit, Mykill Miers, Phil Da Agony. Come through today LAST DAY at Fat Beats, with some of the finest DJs the city has to offer.

Photo courtesy of Kiwamu Omae

Watch out for the killer footage as well.

Taken from a LIVE performance at Rock The Bells 2010. San Bernardino, Ca

-photo by kasey stokes

A brief photo slide show of the WU taking over San Bernardino, Ca August 21st, 2010 @ Rock The Bells

- photo by Kasey Stokes.

Lauryn Hill blessed the stage with her presence, Live from San Berardino, Ca 2010 Rock The Bells. Putting on a great show for all her fans to enjoy.

That's right! This Sat in San Bernadino. 

Find out more on the Guerilla Union's website. Also let us know what questions you would like us to ask.

No need to introduce  Fab 5 Freddy here. I was fortunate enough to spend a lttle time with him in his studio during my short stay in NYC.

It's hard to resume Fab's fundamental contribution to hip hop culture. In a few words, Fab talks us through his relationship with Basquiat and Warhol, his vision as a producer on "Wild Style", his role in the birth of hip hop as an international movement, Yo! MTV Raps, and hip hop the culture vs its more mainstream appeal.

A big shoutout to my friend J Kevin Swain for setting up the interview.

I can’t find Kokane.  Knocking on the door of his room at the Best Western on Franklin in Hollywood once more than I’m comfortable with, I resign myself to the lobby with not just a little relief. 

After all, Jerry Long, aka “Kokane,” aka “Mr. Kane,” is a West Coast OG. Unlike, say, Snoop Dogg, whose early bite has been defanged by things like E!’s “Snoop Dogg’s Father Hood,” Kokane’s still something of a mystery.  Early association with N.W.A. Close friend and colleague of Eazy-E. Heavy involvement in the porn industry.  Internet research leaves a lot to the imagination. And his new album, “Gimme All Mine,” a shuffle of odes to both his spiritual awakening and his baser proclivities, leaves a lot to the imagination. 

He appears downstairs shortly after I, pacing while on the phone, running behind on interviews.  But if he’s feeling rushed, it doesn’t show. He shakes my hand and stares intently at me, serene as still water, a gentle giant.  He speaks, and occasionally gets lost, in parables, but like a pastor who’s traveled far beyond doubt, he’s confidently convicted. The conversation usually circles back to his faith, his blessings, what he’s learned from God.  He’s humble and likable, even when complimenting himself: “Eazy recognized God blessed me with a gift”; “I’m a West Coast pioneer, one of the chief architects.”   

Re-entering a game you’ve studied and played for 20 years must do that to you.  A part of the West Coast’s revolutionary rush of the hip-hop stage, Kokane signed to Jerry Heller and Eric “Eazy-E” Wright’s Ruthless Records label and released “Addictive Hip Hop Muzick” in 1991. 

“It [the beginning] was bananas. Out here you can create your own lane…Eazy-E created his own lane.  Dr. Dre created his own lane.  Learn how the older cats…created this prosperity.  There will never be another Eazy-E. Eazy showed that you can come from that suppressed environment, and you don’t have to be held by the guidelines of that system that’s purposely set up to fail…you can have freedom of speech, you can break outta that…It was rewarding- here’s a dude that had on a Compton hat, saggin’ in his little pants, with the Chuck Taylors on, but he knew how to break down points.  He knew structure. When you heard him talk, there was a certain eloquence.  It was chaotic too, at the same time; [but] Eazy allowed me to be me.” 

Clearly he’s comfortable in his skin.  In retracing his steps, he comes to 1995, the year Eazy-E died.  “We was at House of Blues, having a meeting, like, two weeks [before he passed], like, TWO WEEKS…he was fine.  He got to the meetin’ and started coughing. I was like, ‘Man, why you coughin’ like that?? What’s goin’ on witchu?’  You could see something was wrong…but he always kept it G; he didn’t want nobody to get worried about him.  And he looked at me and said, ‘You know what, Jerry?’  He always called me Kokane, but he ain’t never called me Jerry. And I’m like, oh shit, why he call me Jerry?  He was like, ‘Man, you gonna do some big things- you gonna be on a lot of records.’  And I wasn’t on hardly no records then!  And he said, ‘You know, I love ya.’”  Kokane’s eyes get bluer, watery, and he drops my gaze for the first time since we started talking.  Shivering, he says, “Oooeee even sometimes talking ‘bout it [I get] chills….and like a week later, he passed.  That put us in a deep, dark type of situation.” 

He started gathering spots on records, beginning to earn his tagline, “the most featured artist in the world.”  In 1999, he reconnected with Snoop Dogg, who was starting to work on his last No Limit record, 2000’s “Tha Last Meal.”  The two ended up collaborating on 20 songs, and just shy of half of those made the album. 

But the music industry wasn’t prepared for the internet, Snoop “had a situation” over at MCA, and Kokane found himself back on the block. “I had to go back to the streets, I had to hustle again, and I got in a little bit of trouble and I had to go to jail.  After I got out of jail, I moved the family [he and his wife have been together 20 years, and have eight children] up to Seattle.” 

He only briefly mentions his gangbanging, drug using, adult filmmaking past, and I don’t press.  Instead, I ask about the contradictions on the album, and how he reconciles his nature and his faith. “God puts you in boot camp for life just for you to be trained to be a Navy Seal for whatever profession you’re in…your misery is your ministry...when I say, ‘gimme all mine back,’ [I mean] gimme all that you took from me, Devil, all I gave away…I got my stuff I’m still attached to, because I am a work-in-progress- aren’t we all?” 

His voice takes on a different timbre, and I’m suddenly a congregant.  He leans forward, preaching about being in church, and then being in a strip club, but I’m not confused; I see the light. “If you believe in something, and you really believe in it, do you know you can move mountains? Do you know you can hypnotize people and actually move mountains?” 

Can this thug get to heaven? Oh, amen.

"Gimme All Mine" is in stores June 1, 2010.  Find Kokane online on Twitter @kokaneofficial or MySpace www.myspace.com/kokane360.