Midnight Records
2867 S. Robertson Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90034
Myspace Page

I recently sat down with Midnight Records owner and Hip-Hop guru Sam Fuston to talk about the state of Hip Hop. Midnight Records is the #1 independent Hip-Hop retailer in LA, mostly because Sam carries a lot of stuff you can’t find anywhere else, like exclusive mixtapes. If there’s a mixtape in the streets, chances are it came from Midnight Records. Freshly signed artists will often ship mixtapes to Sam so they can get an understanding of how the product will sell before their first record comes out. For example, just before Young Jeezy blew up with Thug Motivation 101, he flew Sam down South on an all-expenses paid V.I.P vacation. Sam met with Jeezy and saw how much of a celebrity he was in his own hood. He watched Jeezy perform in front of thousands of fans that were singing Jeezy’s lyrics back to him. And this was all before anyone really knew who Jeezy was. When Sam got back to LA, Jeezy shipped a box of mixtapes exclusively to him so the West could discover Jeezy.

Sam is on a first name basis with any popular rapper you can think of.

Midnight Records is also a barbershop.
»continue reading A West Coast Conversation About Hip-Hop

Los Angeles is a melting pot, so it’s no surprise that there are foreign-owned small businesses whose storefront signs are sometimes lost in translation.

There’re also the businesses that disregard conventional rules of advertising and make up their own.

Then there are businesses with storefronts that are so out there, you can’t even speculate on what the fuck they were thinking.

My best guess? It’s an all-age dance club where the bouncer won’t let you in unless you’re dressed as a deranged serial killer. That’s a real shitty guess. So I have no clue.
»continue reading Signs You’re In Los Angeles

Hangovers suck. They can ruin your entire day. There are a million coping methods, most of them involving something passive, like lying on the couch watching 90’s movies on USA for a few hours. Another method is to eat a Mexican breakfast. This is something I’ve never tried because food is the last thing on my mind when I’m hungover. I asked a friend of mine who swears by the Mexican breakfast remedy and he said, “I don’t know how it works, it just does. I don’t question God’s ways.”

It’s Saturday morning and I wake up drunk from the night before. The hangover hasn’t even kicked in yet. I call my buddy Pablo, who is also hungover, and tell him we’re going to Los Tacos in Pasadena. Los Tacos is one of my favorite restaurants in LA; it’s cheap, they have great food, and the portions are big enough for lunch and dinner.
»continue reading A Mexican Breakfast: The Hangover Remedy

This is not a competition for the all-around best hot dog in LA. You can find a hot dog served in any conceivable manner in this city, there’s a dog for everyone. Is a Chicago-style hot dog better than any other hot dog you can find or make? Even though it all comes down to personal preference, the answer is still yes. It’s so good that every time I eat one with a newbie, they all say the exact same thing, “Damn, homey just smashed it.” It’s so good that it puts your life in perspective.

The Chicago-style hot dog has strict criteria. It’s a Vienna Beef Hot Dog with mustard, chopped onion, relish (neon green in color), tomatoes, sport peppers, celery salt, and a pickle all served on a poppy seed bun. Eating one will keep you going, eating two will take you out, eating three is suicide, but at least you’ll go out with a smile.

To have a solid basis of comparison for the competition, I ate at some of Chicago’s finest hot dog stands such as Portillo’s, Wrigleyville Dogs, Hot Doug’s, and Wiener’s Circle. Wiener’s Circle had the best looking dog, so we’ll use it as the standard.

There are so many toppings that you can barely see the hot dog.

I excluded Oki Dog, Skooby’s, and Papoo’s because they don’t serve a Chicago-Style. I also left out Portillo’s in Buena Park because it’s in Buena Park.

The competitors are: QT’s Chicago Dogs, Carney’s, Rubin’s Red Hot, Weiner Factory, Pink’s, The Stand, and Taste Chicago. They’ll be ranked on authenticity, price, and overall taste.
»continue reading The Best Chicago-Style Hot Dog in LA

You can get Thai Food anywhere in LA, but Palms Thai is the only place where you can watch Thai Elvis perform while eating your Pad See Ew Noodles. I recently sat down with Kevee Thongprecha a.k.a Thai Elvis for a Q&A after his nightly performance at Palms Thai.

Losanjealous: How long have you been singing at The Palms?

Thai Elvis: Six years. But I’ve been singing since 1957. I used to sing when I was in Bangkok.

LA: Did you do shows over there?

TE: Yes. I used to go back every ten years to do shows in August. It was always sold out. But I haven’t been back since 1991.

LA:What was the biggest audience you ever had?

TE: Silver Dollar, Las Vegas 1978.

LA: How many people were there?
»continue reading Five Minutes With Thai Elvis

India Sweets & Spices is known for two things. Cheap food and curt service. Some people confuse curt service for bad service. Curt just means they don’t smile or joke around, they simply feed you. Bad service means they are rude and inattentive. Bad service is unforgivable, but curt service is, as long as the food can back it up. India Sweets & Spices backs it up.
»continue reading On Curtness: India Sweets & Spices

Via StonesThrow:

For the week of June 10 to June 16, DJ/Stones Throw Records founder Peanut Butter Wolf will be spinning 7 different genres of music in 7 different clubs over the course of 7 consecutive nights, all in Los Angeles.

…This 7-day tour will be a vinyl-only affair, with no record played twice.

I reminded myself about the Peanut Butter Wolf vs. LA event with an email. June 10th came out of nowhere and I had told myself I was going to shoot PB Wolf every night of the week for fun. Besides needing sufficient sleep for my day job, the biggest problem was money. After two back-to-back vacations and a couple substantial investments, I was living very light. $60 a week light. And we’re talking about going out every night in LA, which means parking, show charges, gas, maybe a brewski. Even in a best-case scenario, the odds were that I would go bust by Friday night. Here’s what happened.

Sunday, June 10th
Day 1

The first night was at Crane’s Tavern. I left around 9:00pm and street parking added another twenty minutes to my commute. I was hoping I didn’t miss the start of PB Wolf’s set, so I was relieved when I saw Diplo and Hollatronix spinning.
»continue reading Peanut Butter Wolf vs LA vs $60