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Rudy Pardee, a Cleveland native, and Los Angeles' Chris Wilson formed the L.A. Dream Team in the early '80s. The times were rife with experimentation and the dance-rap hybrid of electro was still a new form -- not yet firmly aligned with dance, with dance itself still capable of embracing hip-hop. Enterprising and resourceful, the duo formed their own label, Dream Team Records, that would go on to issue not only Dream Team records, but other early California rap as well, including the first single from J.J. Fad. The group's electro classics include "The Dream Team Is in the House"and "Rockberry Jam." More...

From its Beginning in 1984 till 2007 Egyptian Empire Records keeped his unique Style and it is the longest Existing Label of a West Coast Pioneer. It was founded in 1984 by Egyptian Lover a former member of Uncle Jamms Army which is well known for West Coast Classics like "Egypt, Egypt" and "Girls". Since 23 years it deserves us with uptempo Electro Beats pressed on Wax. Several Releases made to the Billboard Charts and it was the Home of Rodney O and Joe Cooley. Also it has political Background because Egyptian Lover was the first Afroamerican Label Owner. More...

The Electrobeat Label was founded by DJ Pepo and Dave Storrs back in 1984. Pepo introduced Dave Storrs to the Radio Club, where Ice T, Chris "the Glove" Taylor and Egyptian Lover did their legendary shows. Pepo who worked also for JDC Records and has a good contact to the street scene brought artists like Kid Frost or Ice T to Dave Storrs "Garage Studio". Dave Storrs was the musical mastermind and Pepo was the guy who knew where and how to sell records back in the days. Dave Storrs created all the music for the Electrobeat productions like Kid Frost - Terminator or Ice T - Body Rock. More...

The label set the changing point for West Coast Rap. There is a Pre-Freak-Beat time with releases based on the NY sound and the After-Freak-Beat Time when the typical LA Electro Sound came up and ended in the late 80s. The name Freak Beat was inspired by the song "Free Beats" from Nairobi and Awesome Foursome. Only 5 cuts were made on Freak Beat. Egyptian Lover`s first 2 Solo 12"s "Egypt Egypt" and "And my beat goes boom" originally released on the "Freak Beat" Label. The lyrics of both tracks you find here. "Naughty Boy/Whats your sign" was mostly done by Egyptian Lover, but he got no credits on the Label, because of several disputes with Roger Clayton. More...

JDC Records, founded by Jim Callon, released & retailed many early West Coast Cuts. In the 80s JDC was the biggest Record Distributor in the L.A. Area. Well kown for their Disco releases JDC also issued some West Coast Rap Classics like "Techno Scratch" and "Fresh Mess" by the Knights of the Turntables. Uncle Jamms Army released "Dial-a-Freak Remix" on the the JDC Sublabel Dunk Yer Funk. Fresh Town Records and House Jam Records were also distributed by JDC. Till today Jim Callon provides DJs from all over the world with Classic West Coast Raps from the Wreckin Cru, Unknown DJ, Professor X and many others re-released on Electro Eternal Records. More...

K.M.A. Records, which stands for "Kiss my Ass Records" was founded 1985 by R. Vann and M. Rochelle which already run Jam Power Records. The first release West Coast Crew "We are the crew" is typical for the mid 80s Rap. An uptempo song with vocoder and 808 Beats. Followed by several 12inch records like "D.O.A.", "Put the Pipe Down" and "Jailbait" the West Coast Crew released their album "In the Mix" in 1985. Other famous releases on the K.M.A. label are "Velocity", "Time to say goodbye" and "Purple Passion" by Kopper. After only two years in business the label disappeared in 1986. More... 

Kru-Cut started back in 1984 by Alonzo "Lonzo" Williams. Lonzo also hired someone by the name of Swamp Dog to help run the label. The early Kru-Cut production were recorded in a small studio located in the back of "Eve after Dark" a famous nightclub owned by Williams. The first single World Class Wreckin Cru "Slice bw. Kru Groove" on the Label was sold 5.000 times which was "Getto Gold" back in those days. Followed by the 12inch records "Surgery" and "Juice" the World Class Wreckin Cru released their album "World Class" in 1985. First Kru-Cut was a sub-label of Macola Records but the distribution was low and the owner was very pessimistic with taking gambles on the hip-hop acts. So Lonzo was able to get in touch with Epic and pushed to get a record deal. More...

Macola Records, founded 1984 by Don McMillian was a LA-based pressing plant where up and coming artists could have 500 records pressed for $1,000. You only have to bring your mastertapes and Macola did the production and distribution. Many well known West Coast Artists distri- buted their songs over Macola Records like World Class Wreckin Cru, Unknown DJ, Bobby Jimmy and L.A. Dream Team. But there are also numerous small unknown releases only pressed 500 times that made their way to vinyl with the help of Macola Records. In the 80s Macola Record was the place to go if you want to get your songs on wax. More ...

Many Artists distributed their own labels under the wings of Macola Records. Byron Davis and the Two Live Crew made their debut under Macola Sub-Labels way before they became famous in the Miami Rap Scene. Jay King and his smash hit "Rumors" by Timex Social Club was first issued on Jay Records which was distributed by Macola. The list goes on and on. So in the years 1984 to 1990 almost every West Coast Pioneer was down with Don McMillian and his pressing plant located at 6209 Santa Monica Blvd. More...

The On the Spot label was founded 1984 by William J. Walker who owned a record store called Norwalk Records. The first production "Tha Swami Scratch" by Juan Gibson is a mainly instrumental song with a lot of scratches and a short rap part from K-Rock G on the flip side. After that Sugar Style released their deput record "Check it out" and "909 The Beat is mine" which can be found on many West Coast Compilations. In 1985 On the Spot released the succesfull song "Shy Girl" by Stacey Q. More ...

Here you can find everything else that made it to vinyl. Big labels like Polydor which released "Reckless" performed by Ice T and Chris "The Glove" Taylor or Epic with the late Wreckin Cru productions. But also small independent labels like Galleon Records where Rodney O made his first steps or Flash Records which was the label for the famous Future Mcs. Some of them left the scene after only one release. Discover mysterious records like the "Breakin and Entering" Ep with only 25 copies made or the first cut from the West Coast Crew "We really like to rock" only done as a test- pressing on Jam Power records. More ...

Players Only Records was founded by Byron Davis and Darrel Carbullido in 1984. The first release "Im just a player", a uptempo songs with a hard bassline was only released in a limited amount. In 1985 Byron Davis and his Fresh Crew puplished the song "Wanna bes" followed by the Electro West Coast Classic "My Hands are quicker than the eye". After "The Drunk", the last pro- duction on Player Only in 1986, Byron Davis and his Fresh Crew moved to Miami and continued their success on the Four Sight label. More...

The Rappers Rapp Disco Record Co., also known as Rappers Rapp Records, was based in Hollywood, California and founded in 1981 by New York Transplant Duffy Hooks III.Rap label. After the labels first releases "The Gigolo Groove"  by Captain Crunch & the Funky Bunch and "The Gigolo Rapp" by Disco Daddy & Captain Rapp. Duffy held auditions in Hollywood Ca. for a 6 member act modeled after New York's Grandmaster Flash & The Furious Five. After an open casting call in Los Angeles, Duffy had narrowed it down to the six finalest's. The Rappers Rap Group consisted of five of L.A's top rappers and one white DJ / rapper from Taft California.  More...

Russ Parr found success when he wrote the lyrics to "We Like Ugly Women", a comic rap song produced by Egyptian Lover that sold 50,000 copies.The hit led to the founding of his own record label, Rapsur Records, in the mid-1980s. Parr recorded under the name Bobby Jimmy, a character based on a childhood friend, and used the persona to rap his way through songs like "Big Butt", "Hair or Weave", and "Roaches". Arabian Prince who was one of "The Critters" was the musical mastermind behind a lot of Parrs productions. He also had some solocuts on Rapsur like "Strange Live", "It aint tough" and "Innovator".  More ...

The first production from Saturn Records "Coldest Rap" in 1983 was also the first apperance from Ice "T". Ice layed a rap over "Cold Wind Madness" by Terry Lewis and Jimmy Jam. The song was produced by Willy Strong. After this release the production side from Saturn changed to Cletus Anderson and Duffy Hooks. Duffy and his father Jerry Hooks also were the main producers behind the Rappers Rapp Label. This connections leads to the reason that titles like Rich Casons "Year 2001 Boogie" were released on Saturn and Rappers Rapp. For the success single "Bad Times" by Captain Rapp, produced in 1983 Terry Lewis and Jimmy Jam had a helping hand from Daniel Sofer who programmed the beats.  More...

Street Talk was founded by the brothers Len and Ben Weisman in 1985. On the first release "Girls of L.A." the Fresh Kid Crew were assisted by Jammin Gemini who did the scratching part. The third production "We cant be held back" by the Brothers Surpreme, an uptempo songs with rap and vocoder was also issued on the Rappers Rapp label one year later. This track was a mayor success and with K-Rock G, Kool Cito "Bee" rappin and Antron doin the beats it became a West Coast Classic. In 1986 Street Talk released "What have I done for you lately" by King MC which was coverversion to the popular Janet Jackson song. The records reached the top of several charts in America and Europe. After the song "Vanity, I wanna be your bodyguard" in 1986 the label closed its doors.  More...

Unknown DJs first own Label Techno Hop founded in 1984 is well known for typical West Coast Electro Raps like "808 Beat", "Lets Jam", "Sweat" by the Mechanic or "2030" by Cli-N-Tel. In 1986 Ice T started with "Ya dont quit" and "Dogn the wax bw. 6 in the morning" released on Techno Hop the beginning of Gangsta Rap. This was one year before NWA and Eazy E came out and marked the End of the West Coast Pioneers Era. Similar to Grandmaster Lonzos Kru Cut Label Darryl "Lyrrad" Davis created the Logo and the Coverart of several releases. After Unknown DJ closed Techno Hop, he started his second Label Techno Kut toghether with Grandmaster Lonzo founder of the World Class Wreckin Cru. For more infos bout Techno Hop check the Lyrrad Interview. More...

Techno Kut was founded as a cooperation from West Coast Legends Unknown DJ and Grandmaster Lonzo in 1988. The label released more Edited and Sampled Techno Style Tracks like "X-Men", "Revenge of the X-Men" and "Professor X Saga" with a touch of the typical Detroit Sound. On a few releases Techno Kut put Dance or Instrumental Mixes as B-Side Versions, these were ahead of their time and in Y2K this music Style reached commercial success known as Technoelectro and Electroclash. Techno Kut followed a different, more technoid way then the other West Coast Labels with mainly Gangsta Rap. More...