Artist: Bless 619
Song: “Diego Rivera” (from the CD Diego Rivera)
Heard By: Anthony Lukens, Golden Hill

The beats are pretty good, but I didn’t really dig on the emcee until he said, “There’s so much drama in the big S.D./ It’s kind of hard being optimistic…shit.” It was straight back to ’92, man. It was like The Chronic — it had a little bit of that Dr. Dre flavor. I don’t see 91X picking up that song, but maybe 98.9. It’s a little lackluster. It sounded like he was on ketamine or some new drug I’m not hip to. It sounded pretty awesome, but he sounded a little fucked up. Maybe it was just some good old-fashioned glue-huffing. He wasn’t nearly as sparkling as Tupac or somebody that was really articulate. The imagery conjures up a Sherman Heights barbeque…maybe even a lowrider cruisin’ around.

Artist: Avitia
Song: “The Idea” (from the CD Oceanside Boulevard)
Heard By: Jamie Tollefson, South Park

I think the composition was good. I didn’t hear any riffs or runs that belong to other music, so in that sense it was pretty original. The lyrics in his song were about a perfect woman, person, guy — whoever the hell it is. It’s kind of contradictory because he says, “I’m not going to give you my point of view,” but he’s giving you his point of view in the song. Other than that, I thought it was pretty cool. It’s the type of song that could make the Top 40 charts. The chorus at the end kind of dragged on and, to me, that’s not how you make a song longer. It’s like a mellow rock, closer to the “metal” side, but not quite there. I could skate or work to that song. I wouldn’t just turn it on to relax.

Artist: Writer
Song: “Don’t Wake the Sun” (from the CD Blood Drops)
Heard By: Kimberly Knowles, Golden Hill

I thought that it was interesting. It could definitely be a pop hit. It’s very user-friendly, and a lot of common folk would like it. I couldn’t really pin down an artist to compare it to, but as an era, I would say it sounded like late-’90s popular rock music. I think that he was singing, “Don’t you wake up the sun tonight.” That was the chorus. I would say he was with a girl and they were enjoying a date they were on and they were having so much fun that night that he didn’t want the sun to come up because that would mean it was over. I actually really liked the music — it was well thought out and catchy. I would give it an eight out of ten.