Where’s Joog? It’s a layered question. In the literal sense, the producer/rapper JoogSZN currently lounges outside of a coffee shop near the Beverly Center on a Saturday evening at twilight, wearing gold-rimmed designer glasses and a Ben Davis work shirt. In about an hour, the Crenshaw District native will meet for a nearby dinner with his long-time collaborator and Hit Mob co-founder, RONRONTHEPRODUCER. Most customers at the upscale Japanese-Latin fusion restaurant in West Hollywood won’t be aware that the chief sonic architects of the last half-decade of Los Angeles street rap are hiding in plain sight: cerebral, bespectacled, and feasting on wagyu.
In some respects, this is regular. Producers behind the boards rarely achieve the center stage notoriety of rappers. In the ‘90s and ‘00s LA, the G-funk of Dr. Dre and his Aftermath third act received such international worship that it overshadowed transformative contributions from DJ Quik, Daz, Warren G, Battlecat, DJ Pooh, and Sir Jinx. In the early years of the last decade, DJ Mustard’s sleazy minimalist ratchet reigned as the de facto soundtrack for pistols-and-palm trees party slaps. But as the cultural zeitgeist darkened, and many of the best rappers of a generation were either murdered or incarcerated, “traffic music” has defined the modern Angeleno mood.
A sub-genre pioneered by the Hit Mob (which includes Joog, RONRON, and the similarly era-defining AceTheFace and Low The Great), traffic music supplies an anxious West Coast glide. It’s a slinking mutation of LA noir, music for being stuck in teeth-grinding stasis surrounded by paradise. Traffic music exists in a familial bloodline with Drakeo The Ruler’s nervous music and 03 Greedo’s creep music. The ascriptions of all three capture a paranoid, violent, hydraulic funk.
Joog knows how to reconcile opposites. His beats capture the empty negative spaces of an abandoned freeway and the claustrophobia of being stalled at a red light in the wrong part of town. Occasionally, his beats sound like they’ve been chopped, screwed, and buried in the sand. It’s the psychic accompaniment to when naive dreams have been laid to rest, and the only recourse is to get money by any means. It’s no accident that Joog was the sole producer and co-conspirator behind Drakeo’s jailhouse masterpiece.
Where’s Joog is the formal solo debut from JoogSZN, a 20-song anthology that codifies traffic music. It’s the product of a four-year recording process that Joog describes as “collecting Infinity Stones.” The guest list reads like the credits of a rap Marvel film. There are legends young and old (Earl Sweatshirt, E-40), Southern rap superstars (Gunna), and regional linchpins from Detroit (Baby Smoove, BandGang Lonnie), Texas (Sauce Walka), Chicago (Z Money), Oakland (ALLBLACK), and Sacramento (Mozzy).
Stay connected with JoogSZN via the links below:
http://joogworld.com
http://create.ffm.to/wheresjoog
https://youtube.com/c/JoogSZN
http://twitter.com/joogszn
http://instagram.com/joogszn
https://open.spotify.com/artist/3sQcHDk4dv5aUVBtmXOMVo?si=ZhnWskx5T6iM0298qQslbQ
https://music.apple.com/us/artist/joogszn/1515587525
