The Bay is a playground. These days, rappers in Oakland, Vallejo, and Sacramento are working together and winning buzz—regional, national—in a crazy way.
Oakland rapper Philthy Rich assembles a murder's row of such local talent on his new track, "Statue of Libery," which features the Magazine Street veteran E-40, fellow young gunners Nef the Pharaoh and Ezale, and the gifted producer June Onna Beat. You'll also recognize Philthy Rich from his many collaborations with the Sacramento rapper Mozzy, whom we covered in depth a couple months ago.
"Statue of Liberty" loops a couple of E-40's bars from Big Sean's "I Don't Fuck With You" for the hook, and is an all-star scrimmage of lyrical skills from the rappers involved. "E-40 reached out to me when I was in jail through my video director who had done videos for 40," Philthy Rich tells Complex. "When I came home and I ended up acting in one of his videos 'Me and My Bitch' and then he jumped on 'Feel’n Like Pac,' off my Trip’n 4 Life album."
"After Nef reached out to me to get on his song 'Say Daaat,' I had him jump not this record for me," Rich adds. "Ezale and I ran across each other in Las Vegas, and being from East Oakland, we bond on that level.”
Listen to Philthy Rich's "Statue of Liberty" below, and pre-order his forthcoming album, Real Niggas Back In Style, due out next week.
