Check <i> Dis</i> Out! L.A. Rap Is Coming Into Its Own

Tired of hearing New York rappers dissing (bad-mouthing) L.A.’s rap scene?

Don’t worry--times are a-changing. Rap is coming of age in the City of Angels, thanks to KDAY-AM programmer Greg Mack, Macola Records and rap star Ice-T (who has his own label deal coming soon).

Now you can add Delicious Vinyl to the L.A. rap honor roll. Started nearly a year ago by local club deejays Matt Dike and Mike Ross (founders of the Power Tool), the independent record company has struck such a chord with rap fanatics that it has landed a distribution deal with Island Records.

“The essence of the record business is finding people with new ideas and fresh approaches,” said Island chief Chris Blackwell. “Sometimes it comes in the form of an artist, but in this case we found these two producer-deejays who have lots of ideas and inspiration, so we were really keen to have Island associated with them.

“L.A.-based rappers have often had a tough time selling records in the rest of the country because of certain prejudices against the scene here. But I think by having our distribution network involved--we often break records first in England--we may able to give L.A. rap a more international geography.”

Even the Beastie Boys seem to think the L.A. scene is pretty dope (hip). They’ve moved out here--at least temporarily--to make a new album, with Dike and a pair of his hip-hop deejay pals co-producing. (Dike and Ross are also running a new dance club, Enter the Dragon, which goes to the wee hours each Thursday night in Silver Lake).

So far Dike and Ross have released five singles on Delicious Vinyl, relying on their club-deejay ears and expertise. “I just figured that since we’ve been successful as deejays, we probably know what people want to hear,” said Dike, 26. “So we’re going to function as our own A&R; guys. That way we won’t have to release anything we don’t like--there won’t be all the politics that you see at bigger companies.”

So far the duo have releases scheduled from Young MC (a rapper Ross found attending USC), Tone Luc (a hard-core rapper), Def Jeff (an old-school rapper) Body & Soul (a pair of rap gals) and Trouble Funk, one of the original Washington go-go bands.

“We’re definitely a rap label, but we’re trying to appeal to a broader audience of black and white fans,” said Dike, who was recruited by Island exec Marty Schwartz. “With a group like Trouble Funk, we’re not going to try to make them something they’re not. We like go-go so much, we just want to get them back to the go-go thing they did so well.”

So don’t expect Delicious to provoke any major New York-vs.-L.A. cutting contests. “We don’t look at it as East Coast or West Coast music,” Ross, 26, said. “At our clubs we’ve played all kinds of music, from rap to go-go to P-funk to Steve Miller. We’re into really kickin’ new music--we’re into grooves. And when you find that, you’ve found the right music.”