Glasses Malone

Despite the fact he doesn't glorify the gangbanging lifestyle he once led, rejecting the common archetype of hardcore West Coast rappers, Watts/L.A. native Glasses Malone's explosive mixtape run placed him far ahead of the crop of "New West" MCs who emerged in the mid- to late 2000s. Malone actually grew up between the Watts and Compton neighborhoods in Los Angeles. His whole family was very deep in the illegal drug trade (his mother was convicted and sentenced to prison for 25 years). He eventually abandoned hustling drugs and gangbanging to pursue music fully. He immediately...