03 Greedo

Shortly before 03 Greedo turned himself in to Texas authorities in 2018 to serve a 20-year sentence on gun and drug charges, the Watts prophet found sanctuary in the recording studio. Greedo’s name still rings throughout L.A. because of these marathon sessions, in which he committed enough material to tape to keep enthusiasts entertained while the rapper sat in a cell. Born Jason Jamal Jackson in 1987, Greedo spent his formative years in the notoriously dangerous Jordan Downs Housing Projects in Watts, where the MC fell in with the Grape Street Watts Crips and first began to find his voice as a rapper. Despite those ties to L.A., though, Greedo’s style is deeply informed by early-2000s Southern rap: He’s a self-proclaimed expert on Baton Rouge legend Lil Boosie, and his Auto-Tune-heavy singsong flow betrays the molasses-thick drawl of Atlanta and Louisiana luminaries. In Greedo’s groundbreaking 2018 releases, The Wolf of Grape Street and God Level, his narcotised voice woozily floats above bass-heavy beats, while his knack for anthemic choruses feels unparalleled. He followed up these albums with collaborative records produced by Kenny Beats and Travis Barker, which found the MC scaling back his maximalist approach in favour of something more succinct and contemplative. The prime years of Greedo's life may be spent in a Texas prison, but with more than 3,000 songs banked before his sentence, the king of Grape Street will still lord over the ‘hood that made him.