Gothic Theatre
Latyrx
The True Hollywood Story:
Those unfortunate enough to not have been in California in 1997 missed out on a crazy thing. Independent powerhouse Solesides Records (that’s us) put out this single called “Balcony Beach,” which was basically Lyrics Born muttering introspectively over this loping beat, backed by our very own Joyo Velarde. A pretty amazing song, but it seemed like an unlikely hit, this tiny label and an MC that few outside Indie circles knew, but it ended up being a big smash and was played on the radio in Cali all the time. It was one of our biggest records ever.
Lyrics Born, with partner in crime Lateef The Truth Speaker, released their seminal album “Latryx” shortly thereafter, which received critical accolades up the yin-yang, and sold a whole mess of copies. When we switched distributors, it fell out of print and fools have been paying insane amounts of money on Ebay for copies. Then some losers in England bootlegged it.
At any rate, this record’s insanely good, as summer-bumpable in the convertible as it is conducive to chin-scratching and informed debate. Five years down the line, and hip-hop records this advanced are still few and far between. Buy a bunch while you still can, because they’ll be classics.
