From Paradigm Winter 2021, Issue 6.4

Discourses From the Backyard

1. WATCH OUT

Trucha

@watchout.213

“It’s about interactions you go through living in a certain area.
People who grew up in the streets think the streets fuck with them cause they rep a certain set, but enemies don’t care. They’ll murder you if they ever catch you slipping.
Also, that there’s too much talking shit through social media when you have a problem with someone and people don’t really confront face to face anymore. People forget you get smacked up for talking shit.” -Jorge, vocals

2. JACK-KNIFE

LA Mobbin’

@jackknifelahc

“This song is a tribute to where we grew up and spent a lot of time with other homies from the 562 and 323 area. Rosecrans is where we’d link up before shows, after shows and a lot of other dumb hood shit in between. It’s basically just a huge shoutout to all the L.A. homies from different hoods who’d always kick it with us.” -Chris Torres
“It’s our, ‘I just wanna do hoodrat shit with my friends’ anthem.” -Moises, guitar

3. YŌKAI

Room Temperature Pruno

@yokaihc

“The song is about being young, living with my mom’s family when my parents split up. Most of the album is that; highs and lows from the late 90s and early 2000s.
My mom’s family would rotate us between their homes week to week. Really grateful for them, but every house we stayed at we eventually ran into problems because of me.
My cousins at each house were in their teens and definitely going though it, and I was super in the way. Things were ugly for a while. Some would get aggressive, take my shit etc., but others would be fucked up verbally. Getting called a bastard and hit and all that shit is kind of a wack thing to swallow from people you look up to. I wanted to be like them. I’d wear their clothes, listen to their music. And my pop’s family, knowing all this, would shit on me for putting up with it.
Eventually, I made my own way and kind of left the nest. Years passed and I made peace with as many as I could. Some got locked up, some passed away. Regardless of all that, I still celebrate that time.
As far as how we ended up making [the album], most of the album’s lyrics were written or at least fleshed out a week or two before we went to record, but “Pruno” I wrote the night before I went to track vocals.
I snagged a rough recording while they were laying down guitars and went to work on the car ride home coming up with a vocal pattern
Eventually, It just came out; easiest thing I’ve ever had to write.
The morning of, I was still mixing and matching parts together on the drive over. So we all heard the jam for the first time together in the studio, myself included - which is true for a lot of stuff we do. I appreciate that they trust me and I’m grateful for Taylor and all his feedback.”
—Daniel, vocals

4. RACIAL PROFILE

Educate/Liberate

@racialprofile_lahc

5. DEVIATED STATE

No Sleep

@xdeviatedstatex

“For years growing up I would always see and hear things in the middle of the night. One day Caveman, our drummer, told me to write about being haunted because I guess he was sick of hearing me talk about it all the time. So I wrote a song about being haunted in the middle of the night. This song also pushed me lyrically speaking to show not tell in my songwriting.” -Joe, vocals

6. XTOMMY LASORDAX

Boys in Blue

“The struggle of growing up in the streets of Elysian Park, not knowing what’s outside of the city. No one can hold us down. We are the boys in blue. RIP Tommy Lasorda.” -The Band

7. BIG TECH

Burn the Whole World

“Burn the Whole World is a track about anger and reflection; anger towards the people who think they know us based on internet shit. The reflection part is about how much influence we have and knowing where that power can lead us or take us down.” -Livan Gomez

8. CATACOMB ROCKERS

Sometimes

@catacomb_rockers