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The rap canon is rife with gang affiliates writing soundtracks to their lives. Clipped memoirs spit in members-only slang, gun-tucked avowals of set/neighborhood pride, chronicles of days spent corners that might lead to the coroner. In short, locally grown and supported reportage.

SlumpBoyz are from the Southside of Oxnard and affiliated with the Sons of Samoa Crips. If you didn’t know from the “S” on their Mariners hats, they tell you in nearly every song. “Walk Em Down” is their greatest contribution to the gangster rap canon to date. It’s joyous yet serious G-funk that’s reverent not rehashed, part of a tradition. The hook is as smoothly crooned as the content is grim, somewhere between Nate Dogg and Bone Thugs. Each member raps with varying degrees of skill about firing on rivals and riding with the clique, but their personalities make up for lack of polish.

This is rag top back, running red lights on the way to BBQ music that slaps and feels like sunshine. “Walk Em Down” dropped at the end of July and has over one million views on YouTube and SoundCloud, respectively. No press releases or press. You can’t manufacture street hits like this. — MAX BELL

Before his untimely death at the age of 28 in December 2021, Drakeo the Ruler was unequivocally the voice of Los Angeles street rap. Born Darrell Caldwell, Drakeo earned his first round of buzz from 2015's I Am Mr. Mosely tape, but established himself as a force whose impact would be felt far beyond Los Angeles city limits with 2017's Cold Devil. Drakeo's rap style was both menacing and conversational, the MC rarely emoting beyond a
sort of ransom-call Whisper. His reign as the voice of LA was marked by intervals of incarceration, Cold Devil having been recorded in 10 days of freedom that followed a nearly year-long stint in jail. Another bout of incarceration, ending in November 2020, sparked a remarkably consistent creative tear for the MC, with Drakeo releasing We Know the Truth, Because Y'all Asked, The Truth Hurts, A Cold Day in Hell, Ain't That the Truth, and So Cold I Do Em 2 in the span of a year. Drakeo the Ruler's voice could be found alongside any number of his LA contemporaries (Ralfy The Plug, 03 Greedo, Bino Rideaux, Blxst), but he also counted some of the biggest names in hip-hop among his fans-like Drake, who, in learning of The Ruler's
fatal stabbing, posted a picture from the MC's time modeling for his OVO
clothing label, writing that his "Talk to Me" collaborator had "always picked
my spirit up with your energy. RIP Drakeo."

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