Word by Alex “Dweezy” Dwyer

Thorough branding is the most evident indicator of successful marketing. Selling thousands of tees years before even releasing a drop of music, La Coka Nostra has been on top of their brand building from the jump. The rap collective of Everlast, DJ Lethal, Danny Boy, Ill Bill and Slaine recently reaped the fruits of their boisterous branding while performing at Rock The Bells main stages across the country. Seeking refuge from a sweltering rap festival day in the Inland Empire, Vapors spoke about the group’s ethos, drugs and the debut album “A Brand You Can Trust,” with LCN’s Ill Bill after a performance.

What did you think of your set and the crowd today?
It was dope. It’s been the same. We’ve been on the main stage and it’s just cool to get out there. This is our first time ever really touring. We’ve never really toured. Just this year we started touring now that we got the record out. That’s the way it kind works. You gotta drop that record and its full speed ahead.

In comparison to your Non-Phixon work, were you a different MC on this project?
I’m not any different on anything I do really. What I bring to the table in anything I do is me. It’s not different. Obviously the group is a different group but what I bring to the table is what I bring to the table. I got my own flavor and my own brand.

“Brand.” That seems to be theme with this album. What does that word mean to you?
It’s not gonna fail you. We show and prove. We could tell you that we’re the shit, that we’re a movement. We could talk about all that shit all day long about creating our own lane or whatever but we’re creating our own highway. It goes back to smoking PCP and that branding of the drugs, the purple rain. You could get the envelopes with that Crazy Eddie symbol on them. You could go to Harlem and buy PCP and they would brand those little envelopes. Our logo is one of those logos that you could see being on a drug bag. Overall it’s just us doing what we love and connecting with a lot of kids without trying to connect. Just putting the music out there and having them gravitate towards it.

You guys don’t seem to be going with Hip-Hop’s usual drug associations, as pushers, you go at it with a different angle…
Drugs are a part of Hip-Hop. For us, we’re not talking about selling kilos, we’re not drug dealers. It’s a metaphor really for the name of the group, which is a play off of La Cosa Nostra. That means “this thing of ours,” but we’re La Coka Nostra, “this drug of ours.” So that’s music as a drug. It’s a way of life. It’s addictive. Love is a drug. Anything that you can become addicted to is. We’re addicted to music, It’s more than an addiction it’s part of our lives.

What about the nationalism in your music, the American spirit, “the blowjob and a pizza?”
I wouldn’t call it nationalism, sarcastic nationalism if anything. (Laughs)

How do you feel about being American right now?
I’m a proud American. At the same time, a major reason that I am proud is because of the fact that we can pull cards. We do have that freedom of speech to say what we wanna say and help spark change, influence change and be a part of that change in whatever direction we want to change. There are a lot of intangibles that are whack, a lot of criticism that we could throw at America. To me it’s one-dimensional to be like, “fuck the government, kill the police.” There has to be some kind of balance. That’s what we’re about, trying to have that balance and that contradiction in music because life is contradictory. I don’t think contradiction is a bad word. Life is ever changing, constantly evolving and I think La Coka Nostra represents that.

Photos by: Ace Knuckles

At Rock the Bells in San Bernadino, it was a great day to be in California. Backdropped by a characteristically Californian 86-degree sun,  hip-hop enthusiasts were blessed with performances from some of Cali’s best: La Coka Nostra, Cypress Hill, Evidence, Alchemist, and Ice Cube.  They shared stages with Nas, Damien Marley, The Roots, Reflection Eternal, Slum Village, Busta Rhymes, Big Boi, Murs, Pete Rock, Raekwon, RZA, and GZA among others who rocked both stages for almost 11 hours straight.

Main stage performer Tech N9ne, who is releasing his 10th studio album K.O.D. this Fall, shared what keeps his stage show kinetic. “[You have to] keep the energy up…it has to be ‘out of this world’ because ‘out of this world’ will never depreciate.”  The energy from this Rock the Bells tour has already led to a Slaughterhouse + Tech N9ne tour this October.

Ice Cube closed the show and summoned up enough West Coast love to resurrect Tupac. I knew he struck a cord when our photographer started crip-walking (no lie!). If you missed the festival, you can live vicariously through the photos after the jump