Wednesday, January 2, 2008

Viva La Coka Nostra?

We need your help on something...WTF is La Coka Nostra? At first glance, they are hardcore mostly West Coast rappers. At second glance, they are still hardcore but they are pretty much all white and wear the La Coka Nostra t-shirts (complete with skull and gun crossbones). I wrote a couple of the emcees for an interview and got no response. You've got the House of Pain alumni at the forefront and some other white rappers, all rhyming about a thugged out, gun clappin' good time. Wikipedia says:

The group's name is derived from the notorious criminal organization (La) Cosa Nostra, which means "This Thing Of Ours", with the Italian word Cosa ( "thing" meaning "business") being replaced by the Spanish word Coka which stands for Cocaine. Slaine has noted the idea for the name was to incorporate some slang with the gangster theme, so the name would mean "This Dope Thing Of Ours", with "dope" being slang for something cool, and not actual drugs[1]

Not actual drugs? Then what is all the fuss about? Why do they rhyme about shooting everyone? I know in "Jump Around" they were coming "to battle with a shotgun" and all but those were different times and gangster rap was hip then so the white boys had something to prove. I don't find it all that necessary or practical anymore. What do y'all think?
PS. The group's debut album "A Brand You Can Trust" (with DVD) is now set to be released in early 2008

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

I just know of Ill Bill of Non Phixion fame. They had a lot of buzz like last year, but now I hear nothing of them. They were even on that White Rapper show haha

Anonymous said...

yeah just an attempt for the whites to create their supergroup.
are you serious? you didn't hear the buzz last year? 06-07?
it seems that the old famous heads (h.o.p.) and some semi-famous kids (ill bill, slain, etc.) and many many more have been hanging out a lot and helping each other out and providing good vibes and energy for each other, so they decided to put a project out.

Anonymous said...

yeah so again we are out of the loop because we don't have TV and didn't really pay much attention to the internet until we started this blog. We have never seen the White Rapper show! Maybe I am afraid that a little part of my caucasian heart will die inside to see my cousins acting so blatantly foolish and making a mockery of my beloved hip hop

Anonymous said...

If you ask me, they're essentially Everlast's attempt to cross back into hip-hop now that his cowboy-hat-and-guitar-by-the-trailer thing has worn out. Along you get Ill Bill, who I'd assume is the second important corner stone in this. I gotta admit I didn't know Slaine before, and since I haven't got my hands on the album yet, I can't tell how much each of them adds to the group.
I did however catch them live in concert here in Switzerland (I know, isn't that ironic?) And judging by the handful of finished tracks they'd performed, alongside some Non Phixion and old HOP shit, we might be in for something big, bad and harrd. (They did cut their show short by about a good hour, though, which stank, but maybe they'd just forgotten their lines and figured they might as well head back to the hotel to take a shower for a change.

Anonymous said...

Want to know the lowdown on La Coka? The who, how and why? Read next month's issue of YRB magazine. I conducted the interviews with all members, and wrote the article. Should give you all a fairly good idea of what to expect from them, and how they arrived at the name, etc.