We discuss how Leimert Park and his upbringing shaped him as a person, the meaning behind OPM and JBC, and his connection to Paul Van Doren-creator of the West Coast staple shoe, Vans. Even though this convo took place between From The Westside With Love and Westside II, he alluded to several themes that tie into Yellow Album cuts like “5.0 | Conversations,” the interlude on “PG Click,” and more. I can’t help but listen to the cruise-friendly LP, and not think back to a conversation we had back in November 2010, when I spoke to him for a Complex piece on the “Making of Currensy’s Pilot Talk II“ (where he was featured on “Real Estates”). While critics fawned over good kid, m.A.A.d city-and rightfully so-Dom quietly dropped one of the rap best projects of 2012 with the Yellow Album (if quietly means going on a world tour off the project, that is).īut that’s typical Dom-quietly repping with subtle flash and laid-back SoCal cool.

Before the followings of indie rap darlings Kendrick Lamar and his TDE crew reached mass appeal, you could argue that Dom Kennedy alongside Left Coast brethren Pac Div and Blu, were at the helm of Macbook-inclined, blog-ready hip-hop from Los Angeles.

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