Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
SoCal rock stars of the new millennium include the approachable hip-hop of LA's Black
Eyed Peas, anchored by Fergie and will.i.am., San Diego-based pop-punksters Blink 182,
Orange County's punk band the Offspring, and for better or for worse, whoever wins the
finals of this year's
American Idol
, staged at Downtown LA's Nokia Theatre.
Tune into the 'Morning Becomes Eclectic' show on Southern California's KCRW radio sta-
tion (
www.kcrw.com
)
for live in-studio performances and musician interviews.
Rap & Hip-Hop Rhythms
Since the 1980s, LA has been a hotbed for West Coast rap and hip-hop. Eazy E, Ice Cube
and Dr Dre released the seminal NWA (Niggaz With Attitude) album,
Straight Outta
Compton
, in 1989. Death Row Records, cofounded by Dr Dre, has launched megawatt rap
talents including Long Beach bad boys Snoop Dogg, Warren G and the late Tupac Shakur,
who began his rap career in Marin County of all places and was fatally shot in 1996 in Las
Vegas in a suspected East Coast/West Coast rap feud. Feuds also once checkered the mu-
sical career of LA rapper Game, whose 2009
R.E.D Album
featured an all-star line-up of
Diddy, Dr Dre, Snoop Dogg and more.
Throughout the 1980s and '90s, California maintained a grassroots hip-hop scene closer
to the streets in LA and in the heart of the Black Power movement in Oakland. In the late
1990s, the Bay Area birthed 'hyphy' (short for hyperactive), a reaction against the increas-
ing commercialization of hip-hop, and underground artists like E-40. Oakland-based Mi-
chael Franti & Spearhead blend hip-hop with funk, reggae, folk, jazz and rock stylings into
messages for social justice and peace. Elsewhere, Korn from Bakersfield and Linkin Park
from LA County combined hip-hop with rap and metal to popularize 'nu metal.'
Architecture
There's more to California than beach houses and boardwalks. Californians have adapted
imported styles to the climate and available materials, building cool, adobe-inspired
houses in San Diego and fog-resistant redwood-shingle houses in Mendocino. After a cen-
tury and a half of Californians grafting on inspired influences and eccentric details as the
mood strikes them, the element of the unexpected is everywhere: tiled Maya deco facades
in Oakland, Shinto-inspired archways in LA, English thatched roofs in Carmel and
