If you have any knowledge of San Diego CA. & the 2 things its lost in the past few years, and that’s is NFL franchise The San Diego Chargers & it’s authenticity and signature sound in hip hop.
At one time you could hear artists with the likes of Mitchy Slick, Big June, Ecay Uno & many more defined the gritty stories of South East San Diego CA. over heavy bass driven tracks that weren’t really “G Funk”, but more melodic, musical, it’s own. At that time producers like, Cricet, Slick Rick, Trellie Duce, Steve Vicious, Dave Moss, were responsible for some of the most memorable records to come outta that city. Mitchy Slick’s “Triggeration Station” kinda set the tone for classic albums hands down, as well as countless others from that era.
Fast forward 6–7 years… Then came the sporadic sound of the city. So much music is being consumed from every market, and your an artist, and your favorite record could be by an artist from Memphis. So in attempt to get noticed in this industry who will you immulate? Those artists who you see and hear are successful in their market and markets across the country. So with that embedded in the brains of indie artists everywhere, the whole country began to sound like one city, one genre of hip hop. Sadly, artists like Kendrick, J Cole, Nipsey Hussle, Dave East refused to bend for popularity, and what everybody else is doing.
A ton of talent has come outta San Diego since, artists like Hardini, Demi Dago, 12 Gauge Shotie, are just to name a few that gained great populatity and a local buzz, but not off the strength of the S.D. sound. Let me be clear… I’m not saying these cats should mimic Slick, June, or I Rocc. But as hip hop evolved so would this classic sound… or so you would think. As auto tune forced it’s stamp on “music” today, it’s now apart of hip hop. Not that it’s a bad thing, because some unknown artist have found a way to use it, and create this sound San Diego artists have accidentally stumbled up on.
Today we welcome that new sound, Hardini displays it on a record titled, Backwards, produced by Nick Noxx, Lil Who with Where We From is another that falls right in that category. Even the vets are testin a lil change an its working, Big June’s, Love Me is a very hot record from the O.G. So, yall check those out, past & present. San Diego keeps this up, they’ll be where they been destined to be years ago.
Guest Blogger: Indie Writer