The Tortoise and The Crow

It is rather surprising I haven’t covered the Living Legends yet since they were a very influential group in the CA underground hip hop scene in the 90’s. Consisting of emcees/producers Murs, Scarub, Eligh, Grouch, Bicasso, Luckyiam, Aesop, and Sunspot Jonz, they hustled to sell their tapes on the streets of the Bay Area and LA. They had raw raps and gritty beats, mixing party anthems, with conscious raps, and many of the members displayed dope rhyme patterns and lyrical skills. The collective spawned many offshoot groups and the individual members have all had varying solo success and have stayed consistent through the 2000’s but the Living Legends have since disbanded.

 

I would say Murs is the most successful of the group, but the Grouch and Eligh are up there too. They have an extensive catalog between the two of them, both with solo albums and as a duo, and they just released a triple album The Tortoise and The Crow earlier this year. It consists of a G&E album 333, an Eligh album Nomads, and a Grouch album Lighthouses. I haven’t liked much of what the Grouch and Eligh have put out recently, as they have moved towards a more poppy, corny but there are definitely some gems between these three albums. Check out some of my favorites below.

Cop the album here CD Digital

Cool World

I covered Chuuwee in this post a little while ago but he just put out his first “official” release, Cool World which is a ten track EP. His previous releases have pretty much been mixtapes so this is a step in the right direction, and he’s claiming it’s a precursor to his long overdue debut album 3rd Coastin.

In Cool World Chuuwee sticks to the formula that has made him successful; golden era raps dripping with west coast flavor. He gets beats from a variety of underground producers and lays down great, smooth lyrics on each. My favorite track is Cool Grove while Propose a Toast is a very different and imaginative song for the emcee. Chuuwee uses the concept from the 1992 movie Cool World starring Brad Pitt, that the world is filled with fake cartoons. Chuuwee proclaims he is the only genuine one in the cool world and delivers a solid album to prove it. Check some of out below and keep lookin out for this talented young rapper.

Cop the album here Chuuwee

Crown City Rockers

I figured I’d stick with the theme of West Coast hip hop bands and focus on Crown City Rockers; I’ve covered them a bit in my Raashan Ahmad post here. They are a dope 5 piece band based out of Oakland, CA but they got their start in Boston, where they were known as Mission and Moe Pope was the second emcee.

The band currently consists of Max MacVeety on drums, Woodstock on samples and percussion, Headnodic on bass, Kat Ouano on keys, and Raashan Ahmad holding it down on the mic. They mix old school hip hop, funk, jazz, and r&b through live instrumentation and Raashan Ahmad’s diversity compliments the band perfectly. The songs vary from infectious upbeat tracks, to spaced out moody songs, and plenty of braggadocio and deep concepts courtesy of the emcee.

They’ve released three albums since 2001 with 2009’s The Day After Forever being the most recent release. Since then, each member has pursued solo work with varying success. They all still frequently collaborate and do shows together so I’m sure they will have another album for us before too long. Until then, enjoy some of the tracks below and make sure to get all the albums.

Digital Physical