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 | 03.17

Episode Date: March 17, 2026

Bomani Jones is joined by DJ Wally Sparks for another Time Machine Tuesday, this time breaking down the state of West Coast rap in 1996. They dive into Tupac’s transformation into the ultimate California rap star, Dr. Dre and Snoop struggling without each other, the rise of The Doggfather and Aftermath, and why Ice Cube’s Westside Connection run mattered so much. Plus, they show love to Too Short, E-40, Ras Kass, the Bay Area movement, and explain how the West Coast sound had the whole country in its grip. Subscribe to The Right Time with Bomani Jones for new episodes, sharp takes, and deep dives into sports, culture, and music history. #BomaniJones #TheRightTime #2Pac #DrDre #SnoopDogg #IceCube #WestCoastRap #HipHopHistory #WallySparks #E40 #TooShort Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the right time, a wave original. My name is Beaumani 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 our series on the year 1996 in hip hop. We've gone through a lot, right? We went through the year of Tupac. and 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 wrap 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. What was that now? Wrapping this thing up, bringing it home. What's going on, though? I can't complain, big brother. I'm chilling, man. You know, happy to be here.

You know, putting off a Chattanooga with the... All time, man. Four, two, three. 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. Yep.

Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. We can represent everywhere we go. 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. Exactly.

Kill a city, fool. Yeah, man. I remember when I was touring probably like 10 or 12 years ago, man. 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 lookout hat, man. I had never felt such a large sense of pride in my life, bro. I was like, like, that.

Like, we all over the world, baby. It's so funny. Y'all, y'all all over iOS, y'all, the, what you call it, emoji. Oh, yeah, the emojis. The big eye emoji. Yep. You know. Yeah.

The year 1996 in West Coast rap to me is interesting and 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 associated 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, uh, me against the world album, right? With like the easy moby joints and everything else. Like, I don't feel like, I don't feel like that is a 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. on the winning team. It was.

Like, so this is the way I look at Tupac, uh, his discography. Like, you got like, uh,

two pocketlers now, strictly for my, and then me against the world. That's, that's MC New York. You know what I'm saying? Yeah. And then,

uh, and then when he, when he got out of prison and he went to death row, that's where we got like the, the, the, the, the pocket we all know now.

And, you know, it's like, I've never seen anybody decide that they were going to be, you know, the, the spokesperson for a city like he became a spokesperson for Los Angeles when he went to death row. You know what I mean? The spokesperson nobody asked for. And he was adamant to live and die L.A. baby. You know what I'm saying?

I tell you this, though, if I had just got let out of Clinton, Max, and then you take me out, and you drop me out. you drop me off in L.A. with a pocket full of money. That's the hottest thing on the streets. I can't imagine how dope L.A. would be. Yeah. Yeah, I better. I'm sure you had a little too much fun.

Right. 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 L.A., as much as Oakland hip hop and Bay Area hip hop

obviously had a foothold, it was L.A. their foot at 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, L.A. was big enough where you got the chronic and bizarre ride to the far side coming out in the same year, right?

Like 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, it was the M.A. Cats. Yeah, death row was kind of like the epicenter of hip hop. and during that time. Like, it was like everything,

everything was in death row's orbit. Like, I mean, I'm just talking across the board. I'm not 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 make your music in the bay. That was a dude that was a dude of Memphis, right, that had this indie record named Player G called in the,

his album's called Pimp Shit. And it's basically just a straight-up G-funk record. 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. So, I mean, that's the type of, that's the type of influence and foothole that the music that was coming out of death row camp had on the entire country at the time. Hey, man, we talked about T-Mix before. teammates did some incredible Dr. Dre impressions. Yeah, yeah.

And then, you know, and that's not, that's not even a slight to him. You know what I'm saying? Yeah, I was about saying. And I wasn't no shade, but there are tracks that you come across where you're like, like on that, on the just trying to live Devon the Do record,

I feel like that there's a Team Mix beat that I had thought was a Dre beat forever. I think the sum of them joined. That's probably, you know what? That's probably why Dre wanted to work with Devin. Yes. Hearing that. You know what I mean?

Yeah, Dre. No, Dre here's Devin's. Jay is like, ooh, I can do something with that voice. Yeah. 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 to Bill Belichick, a rap. I go get Jonas Gray and he wrote for 200 yards against me,

and then we're going to release them and nobody else is ever going to play. Yep. I can get him 200 yards. Right. I mean, he turned, bro, he turned Julie Ellman into a, of, of almost Hall of Famer. I'm saying? Think about that.

Julie Elliman ain't that most taller to me. You know what I'm saying? You say Julian Edelman is the hip man, the hitman of the RBX? Yeah, man, exactly. He has exactly what he is. 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 and 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.

Without each other. You know what I'm saying? They 100% need each other. Because, you know, both of that year, Dre made his first post-Deft Roe album and Snoop. made his first death row album without Dr. Dre. Yes. And both of them suffered because they were not working with each other.

No, it's a very, like not working with each other type of thing. MC Wren, who 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's both about aftermath and when we get to the

dogfather. 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, me and Jason talking about some of the East Coast stuff.

It's also the year that Dre did, Nause is coming. And Nause is coming, which is, it's not, it's a well done beat, right? It's kind of a little bit of like post-SAMS Sneed, Dre. Yeah. Because that's another thing too about Dre Beets. 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 Killer's era Dre was like, ooh, I like what we're doing here. Yeah, this could be something. 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 with him. 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 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 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 to 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. Yeah. Right? To be like, yo, no, we off the streets now. We're on the suit kick. Drey tried that first and it failed. Dr. Drey at night, and during this period of time that we're talking about, he was like Phil Jackson with the Knicks.

You know what I'm saying? Like 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 believe in that your skill level, and your expertise 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. It's like, but what if Phil Jackson went to the Knicks in between the Bulls and the Lakers? Right, right, yeah. Right, yeah. Like, what if he, or what if 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 look at the people who were on this record, which is also in large part an attempt at being an R&B record. But to be fair to Dr. Dr. Dr. Dr. Drey's produce some cold-ass R&B records. Yeah, yes. Yeah, that was not him. Yeah, the B. Chalet record, right? Like, 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 are we doing whose idea with this? And why did you only produce like half the beats? How lost are you right now? He was trying to,

he was definitely trying to figure something out. Yeah. I mean, so. I bet you this though. I bet you he made more record off that aftermath record that he made off of everything he had done combined before that.

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 his 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 going to make a record with with some east coast cats and some uh and some west coast catch this is supposed to be like a peace offering right yes but he names a song east coast killer west coast killer yes you know what i'm saying and bro what a what a what a combination of emcees man you got what be real and rbx representing the west and carrieff one in Nause representing the East. Yeah.

Which I have to say. A little bit, don't you think? Yeah, I have to I was about to say, if it was a fight. If it wasn't going to be no contest, dog. It wasn't going to take a long time. It wasn't going to be no contests at all, bro. On one side, we got arguably two of the five best rappers ever. Of all time.

That right, depending on who you are. That's who we got on one side. On the other side, we got a drop bombs like Hiroshima. And you got, you know, one of the greatest potheads all the time. Who called him Mr. Nasal? I can't remember who that was they called him Mr. Nasal. Cybersil, 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. Yeah. 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, the sound quality is not super high or anything else. But they sold a gozillion records and they never changed.

But white folks jumped on it so hard. Their brothers was kind of like, yeah. Yeah, when we, y'all got that. And it's not like what happened really changed. And it's not like it sounded that much different than the first record that we were all about. Yeah. I mean, they, to their credit, they never really, their fans, their, you know, their fans changed. They didn't really change at all.

Right. they're like uh i kind of see them as like our uh the the the hip hop jam band like there are our grateful dead or our our fish or whatever you know what i mean that's kind of how that's kind of how i see um cypress hill um in totality yeah and be real is one of those rappers that reminds you that producers really just care how your voice sounds mm-hmm like oh i can do something with that like they like it's like a drum sound and a pack yeah They're like, oh. It was like that mob, that mob deep snare on the infamous.

Like, yeah, we could use this everywhere. Everywhere. Right, Kanye with the explosive drums. Yeah, the knife wonder had, you know, when he first jumped on the scene, he had that, that snare that it was the knife wonder snare that everybody was, you know, you're using almost every record. Yep, and that is be real. Yeah, there you go.

Yeah. You know what I mean? But Drey was so lost, like, people would not know. We thought it was over. Yeah. And it's so wild because 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. He wasn't that far removed from actual hit records. He did the mix of the dog floor's joint. You know, that makes it even way more fascinating that the space between super duper jam

and this, what's happening right here was, it just didn't see, it didn't see, 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 a step back in a, in a, in a, in a direction that he had been going, especially coming off, you know, Dre had like, he had, he just, he just had a three-peat, right? The chronic, doggy style, dog food.

Brother, you say a three-peat. This is what I think is lost with Dre. The entire run between straight out of Compton and the chronic. Mm-hmm. It's a lot of classics in there. Yep. Like, not just some, now that you look back on it, the above the law joint, the DOC, Yeah, yeah. Easy does it. Mm-hmm. Niggas for life.

Mm-hmm. 100 miles are running. 100 miles are running. I feel like there's a few other things that just kind of pop, you know, like a handful of things that pop up in there. The deep cover joint, right? Like 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, like, until Tupac and Big come around. Yeah, yeah. He had it all. And then he put this shit out. Bro, it's like, it's in the Smith for the corners, baby. You know what I'm saying? It's like, what is happening here?

But it's like, what if Emma Smith went to the Cardinals and he was 27? Right? Like by the time Emma 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. Yeah, man, that was a strange time for Drake, bro. Yeah. But imagine this, though.

Imagine that you have to try to separate yourself from the hottest thing going. Yep. You got to, you got to completely isolate your. or so from it. Yeah, like, that's not good for business. No. 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're not even a man at your own label no more. But they also expect you to be the franchise player.

still. Yes, yes. But imagine how that feels, right? Mm-hmm. Like, and I'd say, again, it's crazy town over there right now. Like, it's full-on chaos. Like, it's easy to forget this. Tupac dies in September of 96.

McAvelli comes out right after this. The dogfather comes out in November. Right? Like, this is everything that's going on and the dogfather 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 cast, let me talk about this with all these guys here and there. There's so many casts that have only really sounded like that or been that dope with Drake, right? As much as I say that about Wren,

I think Wren is kind of an example of that, right? Like, we don't give Rhin 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. No. But yeah, man, I agree. Especially for rap music as Dre as a vocal producer because he gets he gets the most out of every vocal performance that he ever, you know, puts his hands on. Like we just referenced of 6-2, you know what I mean?

And Devin the dude, like he had, you know, Devin was Devin and 6-2 and 662, but you got you got other cats, you know, RBS. You know, we know RBSX because of his voice, but we know RBS's voice because of how Dre produced his voice. Right. You know? Right. Hitman. Yeah.

Yeah. There you go. There's no reason after 2001 the hitman ain't next. Hitman is all over that record and dope everywhere on that record. Yeah. But also, when you hit your wagon of 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. because he had production. He had production. He did. He just didn't have it. I like the first single, the snoo subside of head. Yeah, so I liked that first single. And I was like, okay, this is a smart direction to go if Dre ain't going to be there, right?

And then I started, I started, you know, getting to the album. And, you know, what you said about the aftermath album, I kind of did the same with this album, but I landed a little different way. It's 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, you know, the breath of producers that were working on this record. Because, 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 Ilmatic that album. Because, you know, as I said, Snoop, especially post-Tupac's death, he was all ready to 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 the best of the best on the West Coast and just throw them all the snoop at one time and see what happens. Yeah, and the thing is, if you go,

you have to build a, you have to build a record around Snoop. Yep. Right, you can't just be like, you can't just be like, all right, we got Snoop. Yep. You know, it don't really matter what the beats are.

Yeah, it does. And, you know, Snoop's like that. Snoop's not one of those people that will not let you produce him. He actually, I've seen clips in him in the studio, like, bro, tell me what to do. So I can give you the best version of the record that you need. Yeah, no, he has a, I mean, I think that's if you come up with Dre, right? He knows what them, like, you know, you and I've talked about this a lot, the idea of who produced doggy style.

And you'll have the people who make the argument that Dad's really produced it, and Dre just came in at the end. And cleaned it up. Yeah, no, but you and I've, Like, what was that? The original version, ain't no fun? Mm-hmm.

You listen to that, and then you listen to the finished version and ain't no fun, and you understand what's going all here. Yep. Right? Like, like, Dad's made some beats. Drake came in and was like,

yeah, very good ones, in fact. Yeah. Drake came in and was like, yeah, but, like, 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 y'all need me to do, partner? Mm-hmm.

What y'all need? But, yeah, the L.A. Orbit was interested in that year. put out the villain in black. Nobody really likes it, but it's not bad. MC8 put out a record. That is not my, not my cup of tea,

but people love MCA. People break up. I was a big DMW fan, man. Like, music and drive by is one of my favorite Conch's most wanted albums. That album's really good. You know,

it's got a really dope song with Scarface on it, like really good. He's another dude where it's like, I'm sure people are just out there like, yo, voice. Yeah. Gia.

You know? And I'm just like, yeah. All right. Gia. You're right. I kind of guess super slow rappers. Yeah, I'm a project Pat guy.

So I like, I like people that speak slow in serapy. You know, I like Project Pat. You know, right? I like Project Pat. Is FC8 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. No, that's, oh, yeah, That's one of the reasons I enjoy. I think I enjoy conscious most wanted their discography because man,

man, oh man, do they ever have some fantastic music that their eight is rapping over? You know what I mean? Yes. By the way, also interesting about this year

we're talking about Dr. Dre is this is also a year where Sugg was just being spiteful and put out all those other joints. Yeah. Like the Dr. Dre back in the day, I think there's like,

a second round, like first round knockout or something like that. Oh, he was just like, yeah, man, we just going to flood the streets. Nobody has ever really hated harder on somebody even though you're the one that stole from him. Quite like Shug was with Drake at the end.

That's how bullies get down, man. 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, 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

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Check that out at DJWallelysparks.com. If you can't see it, Antoine and Andre and Bernard and Chad and Primro and Marlin, know what I'm saying? If you know, you know, baby. That's right. That's right. 96 is the year the West Side Connection record came out. Oh, yeah. And 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 As, it was an EP. Yeah, I remember that. Yeah, he still sold a million copies of it. But Cube, Mac 10, Dub C did the West Side Connection album

because they're like, how is it? We got the number one album in America, and we still can't get no play in New York. 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, bang. Yeah, man. That record, in my opinion, kind of save Ice Cube, the rapper. Ice Cube, the Ice Cube, the rapper had kind of almost faded away at this point. Right. 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 still there. You know what I mean? The East Coast, West Coast beef, Tupac thing, that wasn't, that was a one-man beef, right? Like, that wasn't really quite the thing, though it became a thing because he said it was the 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 you who are familiar with the no-fly zone thing with Detroit, where Trick-Trix insistence that you got to put somebody

local on the bill if you're going to play a show here. It's born of stuff like this, the idea that New York could show up to your city and put on a show and do everything else. And you would get loved, 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 West Side Connection album was a straight pushback on the idea that, you know, like what we got to do, man. That's what they're saying, what we got to do.

And I feel like they should have called that group two in a possible because it was too, I mean, D.C is dope as fuck, right? Cube is now somehow strangely very underrated. But Cube has a, 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, no. Kendrick does not have 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. And then, and all the NBA stuff. That's right. That's right. And then, I think, DRA. got Cube lost because Cube went from the bomb squad beats to again that death certificate is kind of like bedrock west coast stuff but it sounded very different than the GFunk. Yes it did right and so then by the time he comes around lethal injection which is a GFunk record it's kind of like I don't know about this one but he

came back out swinging with Boudout out yeah and you know at that point in time cube had you know Friday had come out, it had been successful. And, you know, he was in trespass and all these other movies. And Q was doing other, he was, he was doing the media mogul stuff. Yeah. You know, I'm acting in higher learning, doing all, all these other things. He was doing all this non-wrapper stuff, right? And I think people seeing Q 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 Q's gonna rap again? Right. Or rap the way I remember Qube rapping. But, you know, I hear bow down. I'm like, oh, he's still there. Yes.

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 the shoulder to 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, you got Dub, you got Mac 10, and, you know, you got somebody that 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 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 shit on that album.

You know what I'm saying? You know what I mean? He had also been in like eight beefs. Mm-hmm. Around then. I got backup now, man. I, you know, think about that, man. He was taking on a lot, pause, but, you know,

but he was, you know, eight. Who was it? Common? Who else would he be? He had to beef with common? Remember, King of the Hill is all west side connection because he had the beef would be real. I don't forget about that.

He had the beef with King's son. Yep. From way back whenever when they was, you know, having to keep cube safe. There was the, he had the beef with the woo-whoop cat. Oh, Cam. Yeah. Yep. Yeah, like people, in Woo-Wooping with a video where they just got the dude, like,

smack the shit out of the dude that's clearly Ice Cube. Yep. 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 iced tea at some point. Man, they were in the film together. Yeah, he just, he had a beef with everybody. So I think it is lost in there. Like, it was, this was necessary for him.

Yeah. To have this album to come back swinging. And then Dub C is interesting because Culeo, rest in peace. Coolio's solo career, not at all indicative of the reason Coolio gets a shout out

on Doggie style is because WC in the Mad Circle is a completely different situation. Yeah. Mm-hmm. Yeah, Coolio is like a predecessor to Flo Rider where people, people, they have a perception of Culeo. Right. Because they think Fantastic

and Voyage and Gangsus Paradise. It's a little bit more to Culeo than that, buddy. Yeah. And same with Flowrider. A lot of people don't realize Floor rider when he jumped off the porch. He was doing like him and Pitbull actually. They would kind of like a little bit more gangstified and what their current, you know, situation is now. Yeah.

But yeah, Coolio was definitely a predecessor to both of them in that same sort of way where, you know, it would be wise not to run up on Coolio. That is correct. That is the best lip list in a wrap to put together is those. those cats, right? Red Man, M.C. Hammer, Black Thought. Yeah. Series of gentlemen that, oh, boy, he think he got jokes, huh? Yeah. Yeah,

be careful what you say. Be careful how you move. Yes, the all-time great big boy, big boy line run up on Hammer. Yeah. Run up on Hammer. Humber. Humber, whoop your monkey.

You know what I'm good? That'd be the break by me, bro. But Dubsey also, Dubcy is the crippinous rapid Crip there has ever been, right? Mm-hmm. He's to be, well, you know, between him and Snoop.

Mm-hmm. Snoop, I don't think anybody crypted in our faces harder than Snoop with all the Pittsburgh stuff. Bro, he took it mainstream. Yo, people really think he a Steelers fan. He carried, ain't carried that all. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, I love the Steelers.

Woo. Mm-hmm. Bro. It's amazing. It's amazing. what Snoop has been able to accomplish as a career. Because there's so many things like these, like what we talk about now, like, like, like inside baseball type things that if, like, if you know, you know what's happening,

but it on the surface it looks like a completely different thing. 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 with 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 it. Now, granted, that was always overblown. Like, nobody thought he killed that dude. Yeah. But even still, the fact that he got to the place that he could where he hangs on Martha Stewart

and all of this. Snooddoll might be the safest rapper in rap right now. Yes. Which is crazy to say. considering where he began. If you were here. Yeah. If you lived through a whole career, saw his, you know, his start to where he is now,

it's like night and day. Yep, yep. 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 the 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 Chad. You know, especially the first single, bro. That's the title track, getting it. Oh, dude, but the title track and then behind it is by you son. Oh, bro. So good.

So good. You know, the thing about that album, I think the reason it's celebrated 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. because I, you know, thinking back at that time, I remember there was a time where people were celebrating Big Daddy Cane because he made it to five

because no real rapper had ever made five albums before. And short, getting to 10, like that was, that was, that, at 1996, that seemed like an impossible feat. Yes. You know what I mean? Considering, as I mentioned in our 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 and 10 albums. days if I want to now. But back then, you know, especially somebody like Short who was on a major label. You know what I mean? Like all his records came out on a major. 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. It was unheard of back then. And on top of that, it was that's probably that might be one of short's best albums it is it is and the and the arc is short

and the catalog like from born to mac all the way around because let's be honest they ain't all good but they are all jamming right and 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 yeah man ain't nobody better Yeah, yeah, he's one of those. He is not, he ain't going to 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. Too short is like the ultimate versus artist. Like, he won a versus every time. Just because he got jams for days. 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. Or I guess we should say slaps in this context. Yeah, 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, going to test that. Yeah, that's trunk will be rattling. Yeah, like we talk about Bayou's son, which I didn't realize. I thought that Eric Sermon had done the beat, Jessica Sermon was rapping on it.

But, you know, I guess this is, This is also two sorts 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 Breeze is an emcee to everybody, if you bring it up, everybody likes Bree, but like,

we don't, Breed does not have an album that people think about across the board, whatever. He got, he has an absolute unequivocal classic single.

Yep. Ain't no future in your front. He's from a place. that even now never really blood. I mean, this is from Michigan, right? Flint, yeah, he's from Flint, Michigan. Yeah, so, like, he was at a time where you didn't, there was no, like, geographical mooring for him at the time.

But he jumps on this one. Ooh, boy. Goes crazy. And, and, and he had a record with Pock. He did. And it's another bang. A banger. Got to get mine.

Got to get chores. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, Bree, was definitely, uh, Bree is definitely somebody that that should be spoken of a lot more. Yeah, where are you on the E40 Hall of Game record? I am a big, big, that's, I love that record. I mean, you know, back to short, like, that's a rapper's ball is from that.

You know what I'm saying? Yeah. You got, you got Casey and Jojo. You know, that was the, that was the, that was the, the, the, the Bay version of how do you want it? You know what I'm saying? Don't want a freestyle, man. Don't rap for free, man. Yeah, man, like 96 was a, there was a, that was a, that was a, I think there was a bit of a transition where, uh, the, the rap from that was coming out of LA, you know, we, you know, we, we, we spoke, uh, intensively about the Dre, the Dre and Def Roative at all and how things were changing.

Oh, I think in 96, the same thing was happening in the inverse for Bay Area, uh, rap music. Because you had, you got E40, you had the two short. 10 album thing. You also got the loonies. I got five on it, making, you know, making, and then you had other cats like, Sally Cell had that big single that had the key sweat sample in it. Yep. And he came out this year too. Yeah. You know what I mean? So, and then you had, um, uh, even like a, like a, underground rapper like Mac Mall. He, he had signed to a major that year. He had signed a relatively records and put out that intouchable album, you know, like,

there was a lot happening in the Bay Area at that time that that I don't want to say gets glossed over but because of the you know the sheer dominance and like I mentioned before how everything was in the death row orbit I think kind of gets maybe a little loss in translation and people don't think about all the things that would happen in the Bay back at that time right let us also not forget about the Hall of Gang the homie diss in the homie. The record starts

with a Rashid Wallace diss. Because 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'm fool with the goody mob I'm full with them E-40s and E-40 took that incredibly personally.

Yeah. You know, you know, E-40s 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 got Biggie isolated. You know what I'm saying?

Biggie. Apparently, Biggie apologized. You know what I'm saying? My bad dog. Hey, and I shout props to Biggie on that one too. Hey, man, sometimes you're wrong, right? Just, hey, man, you got a 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 Drey to be like, hey, shall I love the dog, right? Like in the Buster Rob's camp of, you're doing a lot right now, man. Yeah, I think that's, I think that's what is endearing about E40 is that he does, he does a lot. Yeah. He does a whole lot. And that, that, that, that definitely lends to his uniqueness, you know, like, he is the, he is the slaying master, bro, you know. Yeah. But it's just a, you know, but it's not just a slagely, 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. 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. Um, but he also had all time ear for beats. Yes, he did. Shout out of studio tone, though. You know, that was kind of studio tone, though. You know, that was kind of studio, Tom. Oh, that's the tone. Tone. Yeah. Yep. Yep. Even. Even Pemcee referenced him in murder. Like, I was at studio with tone, man. I wish I could stay. Oh, that's a tone Capone. Yeah. Yep. Yep. Yeah, that Scarface loves Toad Capone. Yeah, you know what I mean?

Like, he was, he was making all those records, those Click and E40 and Beelagin D-Shite records. He was all over, all that stuff, man. Yeah, Scarface, I think it was in his book. He said he had Tom Capone as like top five producer ever. I can see that. I can tell you. If I'm 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? what what, what, uh, what scar faces taste and beats are, first of all, me. Yeah, there you go. But, uh, this was, this was, this was, this was also, I forgot the year that the Crips of the Bloods put out banging on wax. Oh, man, Pai Rue Love, man, Pairoo Love got that, that, that kind of jumped off here in, uh, in, well, in Chattanooga, rather, uh, where I was that, but, but, but yeah, that was, uh, that was an interesting time. But I think what you just, what you just said, though, I think is to something else, Andrew.

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, like in Houston definitely, if you ask people 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. It's not simply the records they were sampling, right? Because like they, they I sold was sampling Pfam, 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've 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. Yeah, things changed. Things definitely change. Like, um, but to your point, like,

all that stuff that was being made from the late 80s early and, and to the mid-90s from the West Coast, it would like, especially, especially down south. Yeah. It was getting serious, serious love.

Like, you know, oh, it, it, it wouldn't be, uh, unlikely to find somebody that,

that lived in Tennessee. or Georgia for that matter or Mississippi, 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? Yes. You know, like that's just an example of the type of influence that West Coast music had on the rest of the country that was not

the Eastern Seaboard, you know? So, but yeah, I mean, yeah, man, West Coast music, what's Coast rap music in particular, had a real stranglehold on the hip-hop populace for a really, really, really, really long time. And, you know, it's evidenced him in some of the longevity, like, you know, the 40s and the pox and Dre making the dud of his career and then coming back with one of his records.

You know what I'm saying? Yeah. of that's possible. Like, Snoop, Snoop, uh, having his issues of, with Def Roe leaving Def Roe going to no limit. And then, and then, and, and then, uh, coming back to Dre and, and starting to make Snoop and Dre records again. You know what I mean? Like all, all of that is a, is a, uh, is a testament to how, how deep rooted the influence of West Coast hip

I've had on the nation. By the way, I almost forgot one record. And actually thinking about this record, meant me to remind, shout out to the homies. Dot 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 all me.

But that was a good one, too. But I thought of that because this is the year the Razzca's 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 is adamant that nature of the threat and sure DeRaz-Caz would never catch all in a 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. No, not after this. I was sad.

Nah, man, you tell you, you're talking too much, like, right? We got to leave you wrote right where you at, buddy. No, like, I'm just like, nature of the threat. Like, I do miss the days, again, I miss the days that we had rappers that was hanging out, you know, the Shrine of the Black Madonna, you know what I'm saying? Getting them books that coming to kick us knowledge.

Yeah, man. Shout out to Rasker's twin sons, man, the group Coast Contra, they really, really dope. So if you know, if you, if you're 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 Coast Contra a listen. They're pretty good.

Yeah, 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. I bet he did. He had, well, actually, I would just, 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 put forth in, let me get the time, the time right on this, seven minutes and 43 seconds. That's a whole lot of words, bro. No, and the idea that you can,

get down 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 Migo showed up? It was like, yo, this is what I'm trying to do. Yeah, I'm about to kick a near eight minute knowledge session. 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 trick-knowledge. 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. Turn around. At that point, there was no more room. I miss knowledge kickers. I know that sometimes they was wrong. That wasn't the point.

I was going to listen to, though. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I'll ride this out, right? Like, you know, maybe. Yeah, like, kick some knowledge, dog. Nobody kicking no knowledge. Not no motor ain't. You know what I mean?

Like even a kind of like Kendrick, who is definitely speaking from a position of knowledge. Yeah, he didn't kick. Ain't nobody kicking knowledge like that no more. You know what I'm saying? You got the knowledge. You know what I'm saying? Ain't anybody, you know, talking about the Supreme Mathematics and none that no more.

They still out here, though, boy. They're 100% still out here. Yeah, they're out here. They're not happening on rap songs no more. No, no, they still got their little storefronts, right? Little churches out here, you still, you walk up and down. I think it's on Linux. You run up on one of those, like around one.

27 or something like that. It's like, oh, y'all still over here. I believe it, man. Hey, man. But speaking of kicking knowledge, the boy, Wiley Sparks has been all here, kicking knowledge with us for the last month and change. Brother, I appreciate it. I want to make sure people know, Twitch.combe slash DJ Wally Sparks. Wally will be over there cutting up, catch him in Atlanta, DJ, catching him with the arts, beats, and lyrics. If that comes to your city, go check it out. Wally's going to be there spinning. You was just up there with KLC and Mani fresh over weekend.

Yeah, man, that was fun, bro. I was oh man it was so much fun like yeah and me or 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 man it's probably like

4,000 people in there bro and KLC from Beats by the Pound and drum majors drum majors medicine men et cetera

and Mannie Fresh they kind of they kind of did like a dueling DJ set where, you know, KL 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 Mani was playing, obviously, the cash money stuff. And they're just going back and forth, you know, kicking this banter or whatever. And it was, bro, it was so good. So good. And I appreciate, I really, really, really appreciate that they just didn't stick to the hits and they went and played the shit. You know what I'm saying? Like, KL played the theme, Mr. Wawant, and I was like, yes.

And then Mani played Dragon in the River. I was like, yes, you know what I mean? Yeah. It was a good time, man. So, you know, shout out to the whole R.B. 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 highlight when I get up there. 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 3-2-3-9-6-7-67-67. 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. Hater, what's out you guys in a couple of days? Take it easy.