Kokane

Real talk, big homie: this is Pomona folklore coming full circle. Two sons of the same city, sharpened on opposite edges of the West Coast sound, finally pulling up to the Fox Theater for a proper homecoming. Fo' sho, that's poetry with a bassline. Kokane, you've always been the secret ingredient. Your cousin Cold 187um put the name on you, Eazy brought you onto Ruthless in '89, and you were in the lab with Above the Law while G-funk was still being invented, on through Black Mafia Life. You wrote Eazy's verse on N.W.A's "Appetite for Destruction," dropped Addictive Hip Hop Muzick under "Who Am I?" when the labels were too nervous to print your name, then got even funkier on Funk Upon a Rhyme. When the West needed a second wind, you were on the posse cut on Dre's 2001, then all over Tha Eastsidaz and eight tracks of Snoop's Tha Last Meal. That voice, half preacher and half P-Funk mothership, is why folks call you the most featured artist in the game. And Suga Free is the other half of the equation, loc. Street Gospel, built entirely with DJ Quik, turned slick talk into jazz phrasing, and "If U Stay Ready" is still a whole philosophy on the westside. Pitchfork finally put it on their all-time list, but Pomona knew in '97. Put those two together and the math just works: Free brings the cadence that skids and swerves like a lowrider on three wheels, while Kane lays down the gospel-funk harmony underneath. "Suga Cane" on Just Add Water planted the seed, the 2023 album proved the chemistry was no fluke, and this relaunch tells me the story ain't finished, it's just getting remastered. Respect for keeping the original G-funk blueprint breathing in an era of algorithm-made music. Been rockin' with you for years from across the ocean, OG, and I'm still on the set. Wishing you and Suga Free a packed house on November 22nd, homie, keep pushin' that West Coast legacy forward. 👁👌RESPECT!!!🤟