"ITS BIGGER THAN A MAGAZINE,
ITS A LIFESTYLE"
It takes some special kind of divine intervention to survive Southern California’s concrete jungle of Crips, Bloods, Hoovers, 18th Street, MS 13 and all types of people associated for criminal activity and deviant behavior.
Just last year alone, the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department reported 105 gang-related deaths and more than 1,200 aggravated assaults and robberies. Compton saw the largest number of homicides. And while the numbers are staggering, the City of Angeles’ gang-related death toll dropped significantly from the 587 reported in 2001 and a staggering 807 persons murdered in 1995.
With so many youth losing their lives to senseless killings, one can only wonder if the kids growing up in Los Angeles dodge more drive-by bullets than play dodge ball.
Bompton-born former gang banger-turned-rapper Michael Joseph Taylor knows firsthand the violence that has plagued his city for his entire life. He survived this backdrop of money, murder and mayhem. As a member of the Fruit Town Pirus, Compton Menace served on the front lines of this tribal war that has been ongoing for almost 40 years.
Without some sort of angelic force hovering over his back, Menace feels for certain that he would have been just another number adding to the death toll. He is surprised to make it out alive. “I can‘t believe it,” says Menace, “but it’s all on God.”
No one else but the Creator could have rescued him from certain death that lurked around every corner. But instead of having his face plastered on homies’ t-shirts and obituaries, Compton Menace gained street fame with his classic street tape Menace to Society last year.
Duffle bag chasing is the reason why VH-1 reality television star La Namee Webb is two hours late for a phone interview. Maneuvering through busy Chicago traffic, she balances the telephone, juggles the stirring wheel and still manages to keep her lip gloss poppin’ without a hair out of place.
One can clearly see that the “Mixin’ Vixen” better known as DJ Dimepiece is hard on her Oprah Winfrey-like grind. Although she was birthed in the state of women, weed and weather, California native DJ Dimepiece isn’t pulling on grams of Cali bud. She is about her money, mayne.
“Can you hold on for one minute?” she rhetorically asks the speakerphone. “I’m pulling up at the bank.”
Once back on the phone, she promptly apologizes, then back to swerving through the Windy City’s relentless
traffic. She is en-route to a “Stop the Violence Campaign” to inform the “murder capital of the world” that there are alternatives other than killing.
Last year, Chicago coroners zipped up 532 body bags to violent crimes. During the Fourth of July holiday weekend, at least nine people were killed and several dozen wounded.
Over the months of June and July during the duration of the George Zimmerman trial, who was acquitted in the shooting death of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin, more than 50 people's lives came to an end in shootings in Chicago. Many of them were black and many were teenagers, just like Trayvon.
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Now, O-Dog was the craziest nigga alive. America's nightmare- young, black and didn't give a fuck.” –Caine, Menace II Society
Twenty years ago, the world was introduced to Larenz Tate’s serial felonious character O-Dog in cult classic coming-of-age tale “Menace II Society.” From the opening scene, you were well aware that Dog was a very unstable homicidal maniac.
Without batting an eyelash, he guns down the Asian storeowner, his wife and takes the time to rob the man of all the cash he had on his person. He even steals the store’s surveillance tape and shows it off to his friends as if they were watching a wrestling match.
If he wasn’t mowing down crack heads in the alley or gladly peeling enemies’ caps back on a payback mission, he instigated violence like a set of hot booster cables- making him one of the standout characters in the film.
A little known fact is that this anti-villain’s character is based loosely on the real-life attributes of rap legend Spice 1- one of the realest rappers to ever touch a microphone.
“I am O-Dog. Before I actually started making money off rap music, I was out there in the streets,” says Spice. “It was kind of a reflection of myself watching that movie.”
Known for his lyrical word play, hardcore gangsta rap lyrics and commitment to the gangsta lifestyle, Spice has quietly had a successful rap career that has spanned more than two decades.
The rapper whose moniker is an acronym for “Sex, Pistols, Indo, Cash and Entertainment” was born Robert L. Green, Jr. in Corsicana, Texas and has been consistently dropping solo and group albums since he was discovered by fellow Bay Area rapper Too $hort.
It just doesn’t get any better than a candy-painted old school donk sitting on a set of blinding chrome rims bigger than Shaq’s feet beating down the block with music loud enough to knock pictures off the wall.
And there’s nothing like riding down the strip in a Cadillac Escalade with top-dollar rims so tall that you need a parachute just to get out the car. Or there’s nothing more charming than a sandy pink or powder blue Volkswagen or Honda Civic sitting on the cutest set of 15-inch rims.
As a matter of fact, a shiny set of chrome feet, a trunk rattling stereo system and the latest electronic gaskets can convert any old, ordinary work car into the playground of any man, woman or teen driver. And WTW Car Accessories (also known as WTW Customs) has just what you need.
Owned and operated by brothers William and Joel Castillo, WTW Customs have two South Florida locations in the city of Miami and Broward County to turn any hum-drum hooptie into a certified chick magnet.
“Rims make the car stand out,” explains William. “Everybody wants to look good. It’s not like a pair of shoes or something. This is something that you ride in, something that you spend most of your time in. And when you add the rims and the accessories to your car, everybody is going to know who you are.”
Making neighborhood superstars with the illest whips out of everyday people like you and me is exactly what the Castillo brothers have been doing since they opened the first shop in Miami in 2005 and then opening the second location in Broward six years later.
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