My man Sean Deez has been holding down Kevin Nottingham this week while Kev is away on vacation something serious with an ode to the West Coast and his infamous Top 10 lists that spark a ton of debate, love, and ofcourse hate.  Himself and fellow site contributor, Freddie C, initially did their Top 10 West Coast MCs and thereafter reached out to our peoples Shad and Addi (aka Mindbender), our man Arcee, as well as up-and-coming artists Donny Goines and DJ K.O.  Hit the jump for Arcee’s Top 10, then head over to K Notts for the others!

Arcee’s Top 10

When he isn’t digging in crates or dropping rhymes, Arcee runs the most successful (and legit) radio show in the country. You might’ve seen their names around the site, The Real Freaks aka The Real Frequency on Flow 93.5 alongside Musiklee Inzane and DJ P Plus and their web content pimp Keezy. A wealth of knowledge and sample-nut, Arcee is one of most known and well respects cats out of the city. Not only is he a fan of the site, but the radio show has recently teamed up with K Nots for a variety of projects they are dropping on their blog. Be on the lookout for a project Arcee has on the rise with KevinNottingham.com favourite, Jake One.

1. Ice Cube
2. Snoop Dogg
3. 2Pac
4. Ras Kass
5. Too Short
6. Ice-T
7. Tash (Tha Liks)
8. Kurupt
9. E-40
10. King Tee

The homie Jake One really put me on to a lot of random ass west coast shit back in the days like RBL Posse, Totally Insane, The Click, 415, Above the Law and others. So I feel like I’ve been reasonably exposed to enough dope west coast shit over the years to feel confident about my list. I’ve taken into account both skills and impact. For many, Pac at #1 would be a no-brainer.  But for me, when you look at Ice Cube’s catalog from N.W.A. through Lethal Injection, his impact is pretty much undeniable.  And Snoop – well, Snoop is a pop culture phenomenon with a one of a kind style unique to his California roots.

Leaving B-Real off was kind of tough, since I was such a heavy Cypress head around their first album, but E-40’s impact was ultimately far larger. And the first 3 King Tee albums are all classics – especially Tha Triflin’ Album.  I’ve always felt that cats slept on Tash from Tha Liks, who has consistently delivered some of the most original, entertaining shit as an MC. And how could leave Too Short off knowing that I had “I Ain’t Trippin” blasting the minute my parents left the crib? West coast music has always been more about creating a ‘vibe’ than strictly about lyrics or beats individually.  And I think all the MC’s on my list are representative of that.”

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- (Man Like)Keezy