>>since the got damn Chronic. And I'll fight and defend it,
>>prove it, whatever.
>
>So more important than Doggystyle, Westside Connection, The
>emergence of The Game, etc? I don't see how you could possibly
>make that argument but I'm all ears.

In the long run, it's having more impact in other ways. It was one of those things that jump started more than people realize, and it came from out of nowhere. And once again, I said it was the "Best thing"...mainly about what came after, not about the music, or even how important it is when you look through the years and say "what were the most important songs, artists, albums"...just the change in gears from the Gangsta shit we were known for, which became cliche and even negative...to a COMPLETELY new attitude and change in culture.

Even with Chronic, people were already paying attention to L.A. Rap, at least halfway....so that made them say "OH......." and Doggystyle followed that as to solidify that we were here. But the eyes were already on us, if that makes since. In 2007, 2008, commercial heads were paying zero attention to anything L.A. aside from The Game, Snoop, basically a few big names and that was it.

With Westside Connection, they made great music that we loved, but that actually started dividing fans of West Coast music and East Coast...even The South. It was the blatant, in your face, "This is the West, fuck who don't like it, fuck what you think is dope" and that for sure didn't get love everywhere, even though folks respected the attitude.

>>
>>For most people outside of L.A., they saw the whole decade
>as
>>a dark period, while some even say we fell off for good
>after
>>96. I'll argue that we had a great year in 2001, but the
>>nationwide impact wasn't as big as I thought back then.
>>
>>The Game came in 2005, and I'd say he was a top 25 Rapper
>for
>>the decade...but he didn't bring the West or L.A. back in
>any
>>way...he was just big on his own. Did anything follow that?
>>Nope...even folks in his camp like G. Malone left and had to
>>do it on their own, and never got close.
>
>I disagree that Game didn't have a huge impact..he did. He was
>one of the most buzzed about rappers during that time. Some of
>it was due to his constant name dropping and then ultimately
>his falling out with G Unit but either way he was one of the
>most talked about rappers around at that time. G Malone was
>never really a member of Game's camp though. I mean he flirted
>with Dre for a minute and ultimately went with Mack and the
>Cash Money dudes and then he couldn't deliver when it came
>time for Beach Cruiser to come out. Instead of making a
>hardcore street record, which is what everyone expected from
>him, i.e. making uber pop songs with Cataracs.

He had huge impact for HIMSELF...but what did it do for L.A. and L.A's rappers? That's the point of it. And G. Malone was originally BWS, not to name drop but I was part of the camp then, and thought it had potential between Malone, Black Friday, Billboard before his death..and then Techniec, Eastwood, etc. BWS was supposed to literally be the West Coast G-Unit, and absolutely NOTHING came from it. And no other L.A. artists were put on. So fans outside here loved Game, and may have heard a few tracks from the other artists via mixtapes, but none of them even had the chance to flop by dropping an album.

>>
>>What Jerkin did was get the youth on L.A's side, because
>most
>>folks who are like 26-32 or so now have the lowest
>perception
>>on L.A. and West Coast Rap...folks who are 35+ were there to
>>see Chronic, Doggystyle, etc. With Jerkin, we followed the
>>whole Snap and "Crank dat" YouTube type stuff, and put our
>own
>>twist to it that youngsters nationwide loved.
>
>And you think the "jerk movement" provided a positive
>perception of LA Hip Hop? I'd argue that most people who were
>into that scene were more pop/dance fans than actual Hip Hop
>fans anyway so they weren't paying attention to artist like
>Murs, Jay Rock, etc because that's not what they were into.
>They just wanted to dance and look fly.

Jerkin itself didn't create a positive perception exactly, it's all about what it lead to, which sounds wild but I see how it did..I don't think it was just a coincidence that right after Jerkin died, people outside of L.A. were paying attention to Dom Kennedy, TDE/Kendrick, Odd Future, and everyone else. What it did was told L.A. rappers, "f'k being local...whether you're dancing like us making BS records or rapping...there's a whole WORLD out there that is available to us!" Even though the internet has helped rappers become big since the early 2000's...it had never worked for L.A. artists until this point.

I agree that "Hip Hop" fans weren't into Jerkin, but as said, it was an age thing...there aren't many "Hip Hop" fans under the age of 25, if you ask me....BUT, what I realized is that these 15-25 year old kids tend to enjoy a bit of everything, and aren't as divided on some commercial/underground because technically, most of what they listen to is "Underground" in a sense that it's not just pushed by major labels, and is heard online before on local radio.

>>
>>I'll even go as far as to say that it busted the door wide
>>open for Kendrick, Dom Kennedy, even Odd Future..because it
>>was like "Yeah, we Jerk (ha..), we dance, BUT....check this
>>out too!" and people were willing to listen. It's no
>>coincidence that all these different styles here came out
>>within the same few years...it was all connected.
>
>The city's too spread out to just lump everything into one big
>pot of gumbo like that and say that Jerkin did anything for
>people like Kendrick and Dom. LA has always had it's different
>divisions that didn't necessarily intersect. From the Electro
>Pop Rap days of World Class Wrecking Crew, Egyptian Lover,
>Arabian Prince and the LA Dream team going on at the same time
>as Ice T was jumping off those were for the most part
>different fan bases. Then when NWA and Ruthless blew up you
>had the Pharcyde, Freestyle Fellowship and the Good Life,
>Project Blowed style MC's and then you also had Tone Loc and
>Young MC (who was from NY but blew up while out here) in their
>own little pop bubble. Cali Swag movement and Kendrick (K Dot
>at the time) were just too different to really have much to do
>with each other. That to me is like arguing that Mims had
>something to do with the emergence of Joey Bada$$ which it
>didn't.

I kind of answered this in the previous response. And yeah, I know L.A. has always, always been way more diverse than people realize (part of what I showed on The Timeline)...but we became EXTREMELY stagnant. In the 2000's, everyone here and outside had the attitude that "to blow up from L.A., you HAVE TO go through Dr. Dre." We mention Game, but think about the failed L.A. artists who were supposed to come through Dre btwn Snoop and The Game...and how many of them even got ONE album out?

So as said before...the Jerkin era didn't directly lead to Kendrick and all of them blowing up, but it did help break doors down...and let folks know that L.A. still had A Hip Hop scene. And I've even argued that Jerkin was as "true" to "Old School Hip Hop" than a lot of the more Underground or "Real Hip Hop" type music was...because it was dancing, and it's own culture, and high energy. Even if most of the music was horrid, cheap, made in bedrooms...it was a "do it yourself" attitude that was for once absorbed by a large number of people.

Mims to Joey Badass is a huge huge huge stretch, and you know that. Mims was ONE artist with a South sounding hit in 2007. What would make a bit more sense is saying the Get Lite/Toe Wop style NY music lead to Joey Badass...which it didn't, but that was a whole style and culture, and I think that was slept on as well..it had potential.


>>
>>I don't want to say it had a bigger impact than Hyphy,
>because
>>you it's clear that Hyphy is Jerkin's Dad...and Jerkin was a
>>completely stripped down, more basic, and wacker version of
>>Hyphy, to be real. But what is true, is that Hyphy's biggest
>>hits came from Lil Jon, not because they were better than
>the
>>Rick Rock/Mac Dre/Keak songs, but because he was Lil Jon and
>>was the Luke of the decade. With Jerkin, ALL the songs were
>>produced and put out by lil young L.A. kids who had no
>>direction or even major connects, and they got big from
>being
>>viral on YouTube.
>
>But that's the thing...they didn't really get "Big". They all
>had very short moments in the sun and now barely 3 or 4 years
>later no one can really even remember most of the names of the
>guys affiliated with that so called movement. In the end I put
>Jerkin right next to other gimmick moments in Hip Hop like the
>Pee Wee Dance, The Fly & Laffy Taffy. Pretty harmless in the
>big scheme of things but ultimately one hit wonders that you
>hoped saved their money because as big as they seemed when you
>look at the actual numbers didn't truly blow up. LA isn't some
>small town that was in desperate need of attention. Sure there
>weren't a ton of artists doing things nationally but the
>underground was building and if anyone truly makes a
>significant impact from LA they will always get a look just
>based on the fact that they are from LA, Compton, etc and all
>of the history that comes with that. To me that "any attention
>is good attention" mentality would be understandable from like
>Montgomery Alabama or something but not from LA.

Having the President's wife doing a dance that you made big (yeah, Texas created it, but CSD MADE that dance big) is pretty huge to me. Yeah, they were all one hit wonders, but as said, it's about the impact that it had. You can't compare it to individual songs...it's about what it grew into.

L.A. for sure isn't a small town...but I lived in Florida from 2002-2008, and believe me, the perception of anything we made was LOW, low, very low. Even when The Game came, it was basically, "All y''all got is The Game." Even Hyphy and The Bay got some love in 05-06. So it felt like L.A. was even less important than places like Tampa Bay.

DJ Mustard is now one of the top club producers out, Top 5 I'd say...and the West Coast sound is actually in the clubs now, which hasn't happened since the mid 90's, when artists like Adina Howard, Da Brat, and Biggie had songs with a West Coast influence. And his sound is a direct, 100% descendant of Jerkin.

Before Jerkin...you would go to L.A. clubs, and could literally go 2-3 hours without hearing but 1-2 L.A. songs, IF that! After Jerkin, you may got 30 min, even a hour, ONLY hearing L.A. songs. That's a HUGE difference. And outside of L.A., you used to never, ever ever hear anything that wasn't 90's Snoop/Dre/Pac in the club...now you may actually hear a YG, Problem, for sure Tyga, Ty Dolla Sign, maybe even a Joe Moses.

So as a whole, on top of everything already said...I think it finally represented a change in L.A. culture. Think about how The Game came in 2005, but was wearing shit that nobody in L.A. was REALLY wearing since the early 90's...even bangers weren't all chucks and khakis by 98. Kids here were more into dancing than banging for once, and it was represented. In 2001-2004, the Clown/Krump culture was HUGE, and luckily we had Rize to document it...but there was ZERO music to go along with it that really got play, aside from J-Squad's tracks and those that you would hear in like "Stomp the yard." All of it was done to Just Blaze, Timbaland, Neptunes, and Lil Jon type beats...never to our own music, because that was only about bangin, and never about having fun.

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