Since the "Day of the Locust," Hollywood Boulevard has been the metaphor of choice for dreams deferred. TiRon was raised in Kankakee, Ill., but has been based in Los Angeles since junior high school. His new video for "Down" finds the Cafeteria Line leader posted up on a bench, watching a blur of bodies and buses on a baking Southern California day.

Spitting over a wistful sample from the Wings' "Band on the Run," TiRon spins a story familiar to those in a state with an unemployment rate approaching 13%. The inexorable desire to realize one's dreams and the economic realities that bar their fulfillment. Lost love serves as a central theme, with Ronnie lamenting the days when he and an unseen girl used to play Mash in class, but "now she's dating doctors and you live in a shack."In the background, a handbill offering stars tours looms saliently.