Watch Episode 3 and 4 of Vice’s Noisey Bompton Series.
Compton is full of up-and-coming rap talent, some of which can be seen on the cover of Kendrick Lamar’s ‘To Pimp a Butterfly’. Artists like Boogie, Jay Worthy, Hitta J3 and Kalifornia King Special are busy building their music careers— while also trying to get by day to day.
After delving into Kendrick’s early life in ‘NOISEY Bompton: Growing Up With Kendrick Lamar (Pt.1)’, and exploring Kendrick’s Compton in ‘NOISEY Bompton: Kendrick’s Compton & Dinner with Lil L (Pt.2)’, part three of this episode sees Snoop call in to a radio show hosting several Compton rappers.
Zach talks to one of them, Kalifornia King Special, who has found a way to make some extra money on the side. The team then spend some time on Rosecrans Avenue with Hitta J3, whose song “Do Yo Gudda” has become Compton’s latest dance craze. Surrounded by four generations of family, J3 and his mother share stories of the effects gang life has had on their family and neighbourhood.
Ep 3.
https://youtu.be/LGubEOzzpZg
Ep. 4 of this episode takes it to Church, with the Noisey team talking religion, gang violence and gangster rap with a local Pastor and one of Kendrick Lamar’s friends.
“I know a lot of people are saying that it’s getting better, but I’m the one that’s doing the funerals.”
Religion plays an important role alongside stories of Compton gang life in the music of Kendrick Lamar. In the fourth of six segments of Noisey Bompton, the team pay a visit to the Greater Zion Family Church and talk to Pastor Michael Fisher about what he thinks the role of gangster rap is in the community and whether crime in Compton is actually receding. The team then head to Campanella Park, the heart of Piru gang territory, to talk to Kendrick’s friend G. Weed about his experiences growing up Piru and becoming involved in the ongoing back-and-forth with the neighboring Crips. “Can’t nobody make this place safe,” he tells us.
Ep. 4
https://youtu.be/eba7KwKuNyY
Watch previous episode here
