Los Angeles Times

Rap's Main Street: the music of Rosecrans Avenue

Since the rise of rap in the 1980s, Rosecrans Avenue has served as the music's West Coast spiritual home. Extending 27 miles from Fullerton to its end at Pacific Coast Highway in Manhattan Beach, the street, named after a Union soldier, has been an actor in songs by Kendrick Lamar, YG, Problem, DJ Quik, 2Pac and dozens of others. Here's an overview of addresses and locations that have served as backdrops for rhymed drama.

1. McDonald's. The earliest known mention of Rosecrans in a rap song arrived in 1987 via the rapper King

You’re reading a preview, subscribe to read more.

More from Los Angeles Times

Los Angeles Times4 min readCrime & Violence
Robin Abcarian: Criminalizing Homelessness Is Unconscionable, But Is It Unconstitutional?
On Monday, the U.S. Supreme Court heard arguments about whether a small Oregon city can cite and prosecute homeless people for sleeping in public places when they have nowhere else to lay their heads. If the case reveals nothing else about the state
Los Angeles Times8 min read
Bit By A Billionaire's Dog? Or A Case Of Extortion? A Legal Saga From An LA Dog Park
LOS ANGELES -- A dog-bites-woman story usually isn't much of a story at all. But an incident in one of L.A.'s wealthiest enclaves has become something else entirely. What began in a Brentwood park on a summer day in 2022, when a dog owned by billiona
Los Angeles Times5 min read
Kevin Baxter: How Former Galaxy Player Eddie Lewis Became A Soccer Training Tech Innovator
LOS ANGELES — Eddie Lewis played his final soccer game at the age of 36, old for a midfielder but young for just about everybody else. So with more than half a lifetime ahead of him, he had plenty of time to build a new career. Yet like many former p

Related Books & Audiobooks