Definitive Jux Inc.

15 Weird Years of Anticon Records

[Editor's note: Weekly scribe Jeff Weiss's column, "Bizarre Ride," appears on West Coast Sound every Wednesday. His archives are available here.] Anticon turns 15 this month but it has been imbued with a teenage spirit since its inception. The artists are frequently mercurial, rebellious, idealisti ... More >>

The Best Concerts to See In L.A. This Week

Don't forget to check our constantly-updated Los Angeles Concert Calendar Monday, July 29 System of a Down HOLLYWOOD BOWL The Monty Python of heavy metal, System of a Down's irreverent and sometimes downright Dadaist take on its chosen medium achieves an unlikely yet enduring resonance thanks to s ... More >>

Hip-Hop Albums We're Excited For in 2013

The world didn't end, the new year is upon us, and it's time to get pumped about 2013. While we've all but given up hope that 2013 will be the year we see Detox, there's still plenty of releases either officially announced or highly likely to land that have us excited. It's with the boom-bap baby ne ... More >>

Music Picks: Culture Collide, Nick Lowe, Screaming Females

Comedian Eric Andre Trained at Berklee and Had a Band Called Blarf

[Editor's note: Weekly scribe Jeff Weiss's column, "Bizarre Ride," appears on West Coast Sound every Wednesday. His archives are available here.] Shortly after Eric Andre enrolled at the Berklee School of Music, he formed the band Blarf. The goal was to be the gonzo zygote of Frank Zappa and the Be ... More >>

Killer Mike - Echoplex - February 21, 2012

Ben Westhoff​Killer Mike w/ Busdriver, Nocando, and Open Mike Eagle Echoplex February 21, 2012 Better than: John Rocker Killer Mike is conscious without being boring, a street preacher rapper who knows that no one will listen to your message if your beats aren't dope. He's an obvious heir to ... More >>

The Hip-Hop World's Bizarre Co-Sign Of Justin Bieber

Hip-hop fanatic Justin Bieber​See also: What Will Be The Most Popular Music-Related Halloween Costumes This Year? And How Can They Be Made Slutty? Rivaling his teenie fans' feelings for him, Justin Bieber has a big case of hip-hop fever. Despite being known for unabashedly poppy tunes, the Bi ... More >>

How Many Adult Swim Musical Tie-Ins Can You Name?

MC Pee Pants​Adult Swim is integrating all sorts of hip music folks into its late-night shows: Odd Future shot a pilot for the cable channel, and word is that Major Lazer has something in the works. But the cutting-edge programmers have long been musically inclined. MC Chris came to prominen ... More >>

We Are All Going to Burn in Hell: El-P Throttles Low End Theory for 'Megamixxx3' Release Party, Talks Life After Def Jux and Remembering Camu Tao

El-P gives big ups to L.A.​The bass starts in your eardrums, a deafening but not piercing rumble that then travels down your throat and slowly coils itself around your vocal chords, thick like dubstep molasses. Next it sinks into your chest, heavy like regret on prom night. It speeds up, rever ... More >>

Music Picks: Circa Survive, Joanna Newsom, El-P, Roots Roadhouse

Also, Scorpions, Viza, the Park and others

Exclusive: 'Simple Severin,' by Echo Park Bedroom Pop Stars Superhumanoids

Echo Park's Superhumanoids​We here at West Coast Sound do our best not to "hotly tip" lightly, so it's with utmost seriousness that we advise you completely lose yourself in the music of Superhumanoids. This Echo Park-based bedroom pop outfit has been kicking around in one form or another for ... More >>

Music Picks: Baaba Maal, Snuffaluffagus & Rats, Carlene Carter and Friends, Country Throwdown

Also, Freestyle Fellowship, Bebe Buell, Billy Joe Shaver and others

L.A.'s Answer to Cannibal Ox? Download the Free LP from K-The-I and Michael Nhat

1000 Apes in a Room, in a room.​Well, probably not, but their brand new, completely free album sounds plucked from art-rap's golden age. The just-launched 1000 Apes in a Room project finds longtime L.A. left-field rapper K-The-I??? (his 2008 LP Yesterday, Today & Tomorrow was produced by Low ... More >>

Exclusive: Sole Discusses Leaving Anticon Records

Sole, ready for life as an independent​Two weeks ago, West Coast Sound brought you the inside scoop on a major development in the world of indie rap. Only days after El-P announced that he is stepping down from his label duties at Def Jux, his onetime contra costa rival Sole announced that he ... More >>

Anticon's Sole Leaves The Label He Founded, Label Manager Shaun Koplow Responds

Sole goes it alone.​Indie hip-hop has been taking a beating of late. Last Tuesday, Brooklyn-based rapper, producer and label head El-P announced that he'd be stepping down from the small empire he'd built at Def Jux, and that the label itself was on hiatus (read Erin Broadley's report here). W ... More >>

Hip-Hop Label Def Jux Goes on Hiatus: EL-P Steps Down as Artistic Director, Releases Statement

definitivejux.net​It's a sad day for hip-hop. After months of speculation amongst fans, Definitive Jux founder EL-P released a statement today announcing his plans to officially put the independent label on hiatus in 2010, and step down from his role as artistic director in order to concentrat ... More >>

Beyond the Stage: Def Jux Rapper Cage Talks New Kid Cudi Collaboration at House of Blues

View more photos in the "Beyond the Stage: Cage at House of Blues" slideshow. Erin BroadleyCage at House of Blues​It's another Friday night in Hollywood and the Sunset Strip looks like a war zone. Cars inch forward and break hard, some get stuck merging and block traffic, everyone is honking, ... More >>

Tonight: Ninjatune Night @ the Echo with Blockhead and Yppah

Ninjatune Night at the Echo with Blockhead and Yppah

Last Night: Alex Pardee Can't Hide from the Normals, Gallery 1988 Show a Success

DetailLast night at Gallery 1988 it was hard to tell which there were more of: empty PBR cans or people. The turnout for Cardboard City artist Alex Pardee's all-ages opening, "Hiding from the Normals," resembled that of a flashmob and the heat of bodies pressed up against art, up against more bodies ... More >>

Over the Weekend: Cage and Yak Ballz at El Rey, Also I Like to Rock, VIP Sneak Peek at Bigfoot Lodge West

This weekend was about one thing and one thing only: live music. While our sister papers Riverfront Times and Village Voice rocked out at Pitchfork Music Festival '09 and Siren Festival '09, respectively, the L.A. Weekly opted for more intimate club and theater fare. Dios, part of our current cover ... More >>

Cardboard City West: Cage and Yak Ballz Live at the El Rey

View more photos in the "Cardboard City West: Cage and Yak Ballz @ El Rey" slideshow. The demographic of fans lined up outside the El Rey for Definitive Jux rapper Cage's show on July 18 betrayed little of the artistry and showmanship that would eventually transpire inside. Comprised mostly of a h ... More >>

This Weekend in Los Angeles Music: So Many Dynamos, Sleepy Brown, Amadou & Miriam, Cage

This weekend in LA: music. FRIDAY Three Mile Pilot was one of the oddest avant-punk bands of the 1990s, a San Diego outift whose members went on to gig with Pinback and the Black Heart Procession. They've reunited, and are performing at the Echoplex with Optigonally Yours, which features Rob Cr ... More >>

Cage Goes Hollywood: "I Never Knew You" Video Shot in L.A. Spotlighted on YouTube

In February L.A. Weekly was on set for the making of the music video for Definitive Jux rapper Chris "Cage" Palko's newest single, "I Never Knew You," shot in downtown Los Angeles and directed by actor Shia LaBeouf. Today you can find "I Never Knew You" as the top spotlighted video on YouTube Music ... More >>

The Actor Becomes a Director: With Shia LaBeouf and Chris “Cage” Palko, Making the "I Never Knew You" Video

"This shit is better than riding unicorns"

Video Extras: Behind the Scenes with Cage and Shia LaBeouf for "I Never Knew You" Shoot

Todd WestphalCage and LaBeouf on the "I Never Knew You" setL.A. Weekly recently joined theCardboard City crew, Definitive Jux rapper Chris "Cage" Palko and actor Shia LaBeouf on the downtown L.A. set of the music video "I Never Knew You," the first single of Cage's upcoming album Depart From Me, and ... More >>

If the Lakers Were Rappers: A Study in Similitude

Prediction: If Kobe doesn't grow a mullet, the Lakers will take it in June. Kobe Bryant = Kanye West Raised in more affluent circumstances than their peers, Kobe and Kanye are not only among the best in their respective fields, they share a severe lack of humility and empathy. Mutually ol ... More >>

Attention Cage/Def Jux Fans: Music Video Shoot This Sunday, Call for Extras

It's been nearly four years since Def Jux rapper Cage (a.k.a Chris Palko) released Hell's Winter in 2005 and bowled over audiences and critics alike with his loved or hated (but never ignored) rhymes. After a long and loyal wait, Cage fans can look forward to the highly anticipated followup LP, Depa ... More >>

Weiss' 50 Best Albums of the Year (#40-31) (Sponsored By Crystal Pepsi)

If you're going to drink one clear cola this year, make it Crystal Pepsi. Please.40. No Age-Nouns (Sub Pop) Face it, *Nouns* is this decade's *Let it Be* (The Replacements, not The Beatles): A ragtag posse of scruffy dudes sonically illustrating their homes with spectacular tunes and pure passi ... More >>

Beyond the Stage: From the Troubadour to Medieval Times with Aesop Rock, Rob Sonic and DJ Big Wiz

Typically, the idea of Medieval Times conjures images of wide-eyed girls dressed in bedazzled cone hats, waving scepters, at their princess party… that, or of a berserk Jim Carrey dragging Matthew Broderick onto the sandy tournament floor for some overly competitive, Cable Guy axe wielding. Mediev ... More >>

The Many Moods of Rock the Bells

Hip-hop's been in a lull. Meet the new torchbearers

The 10 Best Hip-Hop Albums of the Half Year

Yes, I'm aware that this is a month late. I never said punctuality was my strong suit. (That would be rambling, stoned gibberish. ) Look for the best 10 non-rap albums sometime next week. 10 (tie). Nico the Beast-No Beast So Fierce Genre purists and anyone weaned on that mid-90s school of sav ... More >>

The Who's Who of L.A.'s Living Legends Crew

Eight men out

Elzhi's Europass: The Best Rap Album of the Year Thus Far

One of the more frustrating things about hip-hop heads*, specifically those old enough to remember the first two Golden Ages, is the general groupthink that no hip-hop album made today can possibly be as great as anything made during 88-96. This is just how it goes. Nostalgia is a motherfucker and ... More >>

El-P, Dizzee Rascal, El Rey, 5/22

El-P, Dizzee Rascal The El Rey, May 22, 2008 By Jonah Flicker Last night’s double billing at the El Rey, the final stop of the “No Chiefs Allowed” tour, was an indie rap nerd’s match made in heaven. But don’t get it twisted, son; this was also synergy, as Def Jux label head/flagship artis ... More >>

Shiny, Happy People: El-P's Weareall goingtoburninhell megamixx 2

In truth, part of me wants to be like, "Yo, El, why don't you just chill out, smoke a blunt, take a deep breath, even if it's not going to be okay, why don't you just pretend that it will." I'm sure by now the guy's been told this one or two or 34,566 times. Yeah, the oeuvre might be a razor's-edg ... More >>

SXSW Flashback: Interview With Del Tha Funky Homosapien

It was my third night in Austin. Devin had just blazed through an epic set that had been celebrated in the appropriate fashion , El-P was currently on-stage and I was wandering around the Def Jux party with four cups of Jack in my stomach, a head full of smoke and the strange desire to approach p ... More >>

SXSW Day 3-The Unifying Power of Devin the Dude

"When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro."-Hunter S. Thompson "What you gonna do when the people go home/ and you wanna smoke weed but the reefer's all gone/ And somebody had the nerve to take the herb up out the doobie ashtray/Why they do me that way?"-Devin the Dude If the going hasn't g ... More >>

Del tha Funkee Homosapien Returns From Outer Space

God knows what Del's been doing since the millennium. The guy practically retired around then, after dropping the rightfully canonized Deltron 3030 record and appearing on "Clint Eastwood." It was a weird move considering that with all that Gorillaz exposure, Del could've probably signed with a ma ... More >>

Weiss' Top 50 Albums of 2007 (#5-1)

5. Dungen-Tio Bitar [Kemado] Dungen did not tour this record in America. This is because the band's mastermind, Gustav Estjes was rumored to be alone in the snowy Swedish hinterlands, ingesting enough hallucinogens to give Hunter S. Thompson pause, and trying to untangle the beautiful mess of sou ... More >>

2007’s Best Untethered (Unprotected) MP3s

Singles streaming steady

Rock Picks: Puffy AmiYumi, the Dickies, the B-52's, Fear, Van Halen

For the week of November 16 - 22

Rock Picks

For the week of Nov. 30 � Dec. 7

Rock PIcks

For the week of Nov. 24 - 30

Music Picks

For the week of July 20 - 27

Young / Gifted / Beautiful / Black

L.A.�s Murs just wants to be your favorite rapper. Is that so wrong?

Music Picks

For Feb. 17 - 23

Effed Up and Emotional

Atmosphere, Aesop Rock

Club Fight

Resurrection and ascension at the Wake Up Show hip-hop battle

Dandyland

Polaroids from Silver Lake

Troubleshooters