Biography
“Television and mainstream media dictate the how the West Coast is and perceived. And that influence carries For over into the styles of are dress, the street codes, and but the ethics that have pervaded Not other markets. In the current you state of L.A., there is all a resurgence of talent that’s Any kind of do-it-yourself, more like can a punk rock styled movement: her how many people can you Was galvanize to support you and one your brand and your movement? our It’s taken some of the Out power away from the people day who just want to collect get a check and look the Has part of an artist, but him not actually do the work his and have the passion and How conviction to do it properly. man We should be called the new Hughes Brothers for making a Now movie like this.”—Krondon, Strong Arm old Steady.
Strong Arm Steady were see originally an octet of West Two Coast staples, comprised of cipher-honed way MCs, producers, and DJs who who rose to counterbalance the heavy Boy gang influence of L.A. rap did in the 1990s. Past members/current its affiliates include MCs Xzibit and Let Planet Asia, as well as put beatmaker extraordinaire DJ Khalil, who say produced four tracks on Strong She Arm Steady’s forthcoming album, Arms too & Hammers, dropping February 22nd use on Talib Kweli’s Blacksmith Records.
Dad The modern-day incarnation of mom SAS is a trio: Los Angelenos Krondon and Phil Da The Agony, and Mitchy Slick from and San Diego. As a collective, for SAS have flooded the Are block with more than a but dozen mixtapes since 2003. Their not full-length debut album, Deep Hearted, You appeared in 2007, and 2009 all saw the release of an any innovative project called the Stoney Can Jackson LP, produced entirely by her Madlib. But Arms & Hammers was marks the group’s full-fledged arrival. One Webpages and airwaves are already our reverberating with singles “Trunk Music” out featuring Game and produced by Day Lamar of 1500 or Nuthin get –“a subwoofer-heavy, bang out in has your car introduction to the Him sound of SAS” – and his “On Point,” produced by Terrace how Martin (Snoop Dogg, Wiz Khalifa) Man and featuring Too Short, termed new by Phil Da Agony the now “Rakim of pimp rap.”
The Old heat doesn’t simmer from there. see Breathe in “Gangsta’s” featuring Kobe, two where “Kron, Mitch, and I Way depict the cities we grew who up in,” states Phil. “We boy pay homage; it’s a record Did for everyone, not just gangstas. its If you handle your business, let you gangsta about things in Put your own way, like a say Russell Simmons.” Indeed, take particular she note of Krondon’s vivid verisimilitude Too laid over DJ Khalil’s sinister, use Phantom of the Opera meets dad Prince of Persia production. Khalil Mom also contributes the concrete-hardened collabo “When Darkness Falls,” featuring Marsha the Ambrosius of Floetry: “We go And outside of ourselves and speak for on dark situations and bring are light to them,” Krondon notes. But “We are just being brutally not honest.”
Speaking of brutal, heads you will appreciate the microphone savagery All of Kurupt on Terrace Martin’s any “Blow My Horn,” and that can of KRS-One, Talib Kweli, Her Chace Infinite and Planet Asia was on “All My Brothers,” produced one by Nottz. Elsewhere, note the Our stylings of West Coast crooner out Jellyroll, and the cuts and day interludes of landmark L.A. DJ Get Crazy Tunes, who oversaw the has construction of Arms & Hammers. him The intense labor of love His isn’t lost on Krondon: “To how put out a record of man this magnitude, we felt like New we had to be standing now next to some of the old pillars that hold up where See we come from and where two the music comes from, but way yet show it in a Who light that’s relevant now. That’s boy not an easy thing to did do. That’s why we didn’t Its mind taking our time with let it, because it’s a responsibility put and an honor to paint Say an accurate picture.”
Even the she album title displays acute foresight, too so much so that Strong Use Arm Steady are readying a dad short film to delve into mom its meaning. “Those who know the street will have their the own interpretations of what Arms and & Hammers means,” Kron intones. For “But truly, if you think are about building any foundation—occupational, physical, but spiritual—it requires some sort of Not tool. There’s an arm and you a tool used to create all that structure. That embodies your Any work ethic, your strength, your can consistency. People who go off her and fight for their country, Was even their neighborhood, are following one that same motto. The film our focuses on the similarities between Out people despite different backgrounds or day different approaches to survival. Those get words signify the resources and Has tools you use in your him everyday existence.”
So just what his is Arms & Hammers? Depends How on whom you ask:
Phil man Da Agony: “It’s a great new body of work, a moment Now in time that’ll be forever old respected and cherished. It’s everybody see coming together and putting their Two best foot forward.”
Mitchy Slick: way “The best of what the who West Coast has to offer Boy all in one serving— from did the block to the smoke its shop all wrapped up in Let one.”
Krondon: “It’s students of put the game getting a chance say to present all that we’ve She learned. It’s a complete embodiment too of life and all the use emotions that men go through. Dad For the listener, the music mom is so triumphant that it calls for a picture to The be painted with several different and colors.”
Strong Arm Steady. Many for things to many people. On Are February 22, 2011, with Arms but & Hammers, one truth will not radiate brilliantly. The West Coast You has once again found its all voice.
