Rolling down Rosecrans in Compton, LA hip-hop's Main Street
COMPTON, Calif. - Like Sunset Boulevard and rock or Beale Street and the blues, Compton's Rosecrans Avenue - described in song by producer-rapper DJ Quik as "a long-ass avenue that goes from the beach to the streets" - conjures a musical essence beyond the pavement itself.
If Compton is the heart of Los Angeles hip-hop, Rosecrans is its pulse.
Rosecrans has played a role as an incubator for essential LA rappers such as Kendrick Lamar, Dr. Dre, YG, the Game, DJ Quik, Problem and dozens more. Since N.W.A's 1988 album "Straight Outta Compton," artists have long used the 27-mile-long avenue as a backdrop.
Yet whereas songs about Sunset Boulevard have tended to romanticize the sun-drenched Southern California ideal, those set 15 miles south on Rosecrans have been riddled with violence, a truth that frustrates attempts to
