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Grand Theft Auto V’s Official release date..
View of Hollywood…From Runyon Canyon
Davie West. Traveled to Venice Beach about a week ago to snap photos, shake hands & meet people. Always an excellent photo op down there. As I walked back towards the beach from the pier someone tapped my shoulder. I stopped & the guy asked if I listened to Hip-Hop, I shook my head, he slipped me a paper with all his info on it. As I was about to turn around & keep it moving I asked him if I could shoot his photo. Slid back to the house, edited my work from earlier & checked out the guy’s links. I emailed him the photo you see here, he immediately gave thanks & made it his display photo on all networks, that was dope. Decided to reach out & book a photo shoot & interview with him (which was done a few days ago) that went as planned. The photos came out dope. They can be viewed here www.fb.com/smoothphotography (Tumblr will get them soon) Check his links out when you have time Bandcamp: http://daviewest.bandcamp.com/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/daviewestmusic Twitter: www.twitter.com/DavieWest @DavieWest
Just another random shot… Venice Beach, CA
The Sand. Venice Beach, CA
I <3 Los Angeles. Venice Beach, CA
Allie Keezy.
Treez.
Zee Will.
“Feel.”
Yesterday would’ve marked the 25th birthday of my favorite rapper Roderick “Dolla” Burton II. I was away from the computer yesterday so I was unable to create a Tumblr post. Dolla was so far ahead of his time it’s sad that people are just now starting to realize that & recognize his talent. I remember sitting back watching BET one day & his video to “Who the fuck is that” came on, that was during the one hit wonder era so I figured would have wack lyrics & a catchy chorus like most people in ‘08-‘09. Time went on… I was browsing through my favorite mixtape sites while looking for new music to add to the ZUNE & I came across his “Another Day, Another Dolla” tape, I downloaded it & sat on it for a few weeks.  May 18th, 2009 comes around & I believe I was either watching BET or reading articles on a hiphop site, but somehow I found out Dolla had been shot & killed earlier that day…By that time I still hadn’t listened to his mixtape so I decided to put it on in order to honor his memory & to see what type of talent he had if any. Little did I know…. I don’t even remember the feelings I had while listening to the tape other than feeling like a hypocrite or bandwagon jumper because I didn’t play the tape until after he died. Dude was dope though, better than any rappers I was currently listening too. The way he could hop on any beat & just flow to it was something I hadn’t seen done before, the confidence that came with every bar, every lyric, every word on every track was something I hadn’t seen before & this was just on his first mixtape…Storytellin is the track that actually made me start the tape over & fully pay attention to it, it’s the track that made me a fan. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z588YCrpB3U) Link to it is here: http://www.datpiff.com/Dolla-Another-Day-Another-Dolla-mixtape.15279.html More time went on, of course he’s dead & gone by now so I’m not expecting to see any new mixtape or song releases by him but one day I was browsing the same website I found his first mixtape on & I happen to come across “The Miseducation Of Dolla: The final mixtape by Roderick Anthony Burton II.” Link: http://www.datpiff.com/Dolla-The-Miseducation-Of-Dolla-mixtape.126389.html I downloaded this tape with the utmost quickness, put it in rotation & soaked up the message…This is the tape where he fully opened himself up & let us find out who Roderick Burton was, what he’d been through, how far he came, & where he was headed… (He speaks lightly about the tape in this link https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hXcioXlCx-4) “The Miseducation Of Dolla” is what I consider his album, it was the gift he left with us that let him know if he had more time he would’ve changed the world, He ‘s the only rapper since Tupac who had actually been in the struggle & made songs about uplifting people & getting ourselves together as Black folks so we can get on the right path & leave all the bullshit & negativity alone because we’re better than that. Cry on my shoulder - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zy7zQBeCGwE Role Model - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XSOfn1UhKhI&feature=related Ghetto Prayer - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NRW1h0lZgMo&feature=related Statistic - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PaucBhf9WFo&feature=related I can’t put a huge enough emphasis on how great The Miseducation is you’ll just have to trust me & download it. The message in the tracks as well as the style he had is something everyone should witness. Mind you these tracks were recorded in ‘08-‘09 so when you listen compare him to the style of rappers you listen too nowadays then you’ll realize where I’m coming from. Dolla was a humble man, he was honest, he really appreciated life & where his music took him, he reminded us in most of his interviews how happy he was. It’s sad that we’ll never another rapper like this, he truly was the closest we had & will ever have to Tupac. But it’s all good though because he’s upstairs chilling with Tupac… “I Speak Life.” - Dolla “A Dream Of Dolla” is an unofficial mixtape, here’s the link - http://www.datpiff.com/Dolla-A-Dream-Of-Dollas-mixtape.70826.html “Dolla & A Dream” is another unofficial mixtape, but it’s worth having because it has a lot of Dolla’s tracks that aren’t on mixtapes. The first track on the tape is “Georgia Nights” a track recorded 3 days before Dolla was killed, some people say he predicted his own death on the track, you be the judge… - http://www.datpiff.com/Dolla-Dolla-And-A-Dream-mixtape.80551.html “Sextapes: Art of seduction” was his 2nd official mixtape - http://www.datpiff.com/Dolla-Sextapes-The-Art-Of-Seduction-mixtape.23402.html Here’s a link to my favorite interview of his, it showed you what type of person he was…I watch this every time I need a reality check or just some motivation. - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wVohETgtAVM I found this dope Dolla Fan page on Facebook recently, whoever runs it keeps it updated - https://www.facebook.com/BuckLyteDolla Rest In Peace Roderick Anthony Burton II, thank you for everything you’ve left with us, every interview, every song, every impression, thank you for all the hard times your gift has gotten me through…Your music kept my mind sharp, grounded, focused & humble. The world truly needs people like you & it sucks that you aren’t here anymore. But I’ll do everything in my power to keep your memory alive. - SMOOTH Follow me on twitter if you’d like (@FingerStinger)
Hotdamnirock (Taken with Cinemagram)
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