Dom Kennedy is a major part of the L.A.'s new rap movement, and he wears his influences on his sleeve. His most recent release,The Yellow Album, is essentially a soundtrack to the feel-good vibes of California. There are elements of 2Pac’s storytelling, Dogg Pound's carefree raps, and the cohesive style perfected by artists like DJ Quik.
It’s because Dom has paid careful attention to each of them, picking bits and pieces of their music to study, that he's been able to succeed. His balancing act of West Coast nostalgia and today’s rap landscape is the formula that has kept him winning.
While fans wait for a follow-up to his last project, the 28-year-old is staying busy. Dom is finishing up the Yellow Album World Tour. When rolled through NYC, we chopped it up with the “My Type of Party” rapper about his favorite albums.
He chose a heavy set of '90s albums that he remembers playing as a child, ones that inspired the The Yellow Album, and some choice R&B classics.Read on for the stories behind each.
As told to Eric Diep (@E_Diep)
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Bob Marley & the Wailers, Exodus (1977)
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Label:Island
Dom Kennedy: "If my dad put me up on anybody, it was Bob Marley. The Exodus album. I buy that all the time when I don’t have it or I need it. Every so often, you are gonna find a way to re-love Bob Marley. That’s definitely one of my favorite albums of all time. The Exodus album."
Michael Jackson, Off the Wall (1979)
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Label:Epic
Dom Kennedy: "Thriller is probably a good album, but I like Off The Wall. I like the songwriting more. I think Off The Wallis going to be how the Yellow Album will be for me. It’s not going to be my biggest thing for sure, but it shows like the start of something. I feel like that’s what it shows with Michael Jackson. Quincy Jones. All that sh*t. It was the start of what they was about to do. How big they was about to get.
"You could see in the quickness and the innocence of the album cover with the socks. And the smile and the woo-woo. He wasn’t the leather jacket with all the zippers. Crazy. The world didn’t make him crazy yet. It had real dope sh*t and I like the spirit of the songs. “Rock With You” and sh*t like that. The spirit of those records will make you feel good about your own life. Like, 'I’m alive.' You was alive when you heard some sh*t like that with other people. It’s tight."
Anita Baker, Rapture (1986)
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Label:Elektra
Dom Kennedy: "Anita Baker, Rapture album. That’s one of my favorite artists, too. I keep that Anita Baker album. Yeah, I love Anita Baker, just the style of it. It's just some ghetto classical music. [Laughs.] That’s all it reminds me of a little bit.
"Man, you know what, when I was a kid, I probably wasn’t paying attention to it too much like Luther Vandross and Anita Baker. Things like that. Because you know, you are a kid. You getting sold rap and you like rap and all of this sh*t. But I just love it now more so before the time. You know, seeing how long it’s lasted.
"I remember my mom’s reactions to the singing songs. We would just be in the car. That’s moreso the memories. When I hear the song, I am thinking about being a kid and it made me feel good. And that’s what music should do. You listen to it, but if it don’t make you feel nothing, it don’t really matter. That’s what those songs and artists like that they teach you. There’s a reason why all those songs sound just as good today because of the things they are talking about. The passion. The lyrics. The delivery."
Digital Underground, Sex Packets (1990)
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Label:Tommy Boy
Dom Kennedy: "I used to play that when I was kid. I don’t know how I had it on tape, but I remember my dad had it I think. I used to love that tape. Probably maybe for just a couple of songs. I just loved it. It was different. It was dope. I loved that Digital Underground tape.
"Their videos. That was when videos was real important because they used to come on TV. My cousin used to have this VHS. We used to watch it and it had a lot of iconic videos. At the time, they were just regular videos. But now, they are like classics. Back then, we watched them because it was all on MTV. We used to watch it on the weekends nonstop. They used to have that "Doowutchyalike," all that sh*t. When they were in the water. It just looked fun. Their music matched their personality and their lifestyles. Again, it wasn’t for everything. But if you were trying to have fun, it was accurate by my point of view. They really made music for how they live. And that’s how it supposed to be. They made songs to have a good time."
LL Cool J, Mama Said Knock You Out (1990)
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Label:Def Jam,Columbia,CBS Records
Dom Kennedy: "I didn’t really get into that many LL albums. It’s not like one LL album you can say that made me an L fan because he has so many songs. He’s one of those people. He’s got like 10 albums, so it’s kind of like you could just pick two-three songs off of everything and make your own LL CD. But, I know that song was just a big song for me. You know, growing up, “Around the Way Girl.”
"It was funny because I never knew that it had a artwork for a single until I started studying thinking about Yellow Album sh*t. One day, I came across it and I was like it was real tight to me. So I was like, you know, I f*cked with it. I am just going to use this and just go forward. I am going to have this as my inspiration."
Ice Cube, Death Certificate (1991)
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Dom Kennedy: "I don’t think there’s nobody better. Just in terms of like believing in something. He was a young dude. He was a real young dude. Visionary to stand on his own like he did. To do N.W.A. and still sell because you knew what he had. You know, that’s what people wanted at the end of the day. The real storyteller.
"That’s what he knew. He knew that sitting among five nigg*s. He knew that Eazy-E was a drug dealer, but that don’t really count when you gotta get on the mic. He knew Dr. Dre was mixing and sh*t and that and other nigg*s. But he was looking at these other nigg*s like, 'nigg*, I’m the nigg* talking. I’m the one writing all sh*t. And saying all this sh*t.' You know what I am saying? His voice had all the power.
"That’s why he wasn’t afraid to just be like, 'f*ck that. I could make my own sh*t. I just gotta find some beats.' That’s why it worked for him because he knew the one in front of the microphone controlled the crowd. sh*t, everybody else, is just everybody else. In terms of that, Cube one of the best for sure to ever do it."
Jodeci, Forever My Lady (1991)
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Label:Uptown/MCA
Dom Kennedy: "If I was in a R&B group, that was what I would do. If I didn’t rap, I would definitely be in Jodeci or have my own Jodeci group for sure. It’s just fly music. Fly music. That’s what the world be listening to. A lot of times people would be hearing my sh*t and I be having rap sh*t. But then I have intermissions and things like that. That’s where I get a lot of that from. It’s a lost art to have music that girls love and you can play and dudes will feel it. It’s just a lost art."
Snoop Dogg, Doggystyle (1993)
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Label:Death Row/Interscope/Atlantic
Dom Kennedy: "Doggystyle was like a movie. All of them singles. Being from L.A. Man, I remember the first time hearing somebody say, 'One, two, three and to the four.' Before I heard the song. I was like, 'Damn what the f*ck?' He was just kid at the park. He was just like really rapping that sh*t. I was like, 'Man.'
"Then I see the video and it just blew up. Even people’s mommas were talking about Snoop Doggy Dogg. [Laughs.] It was that big. He was saying exactly what people was doing how people were feeling over beats that nigg*s were riding to. nigg*s could really ride too. People was like, 'Finally, somebody did it right.' Talking about the sh*t that we was talking about and doing the things that we were doing. It was perfect."
A Tribe Called Quest, Midnight Marauders (1993)
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Label:Jive,BMG
Dom Kennedy: "One of my older cousins used to put me on. He used to love A Tribe Called Quest when I was a kid. That’s kind of how I got put on to them. I recently started studying that again more and more. Just for the vibe of it. That’s what A Tribe Called Quest was good at.
"I had a couple of cousins. That’s a different cousin. He was a little older than me, but he put me on the Tribe. He was a heavy Tribe [fan], De La Soul. You know that East Coast. Brand Nubian."
Too $hort, Get In Where You Fit In (1993)
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Label:Jive Records
Dom Kennedy: "Get In Where You Fit In. That’s probably the best one if I had to pick one in the end. Short Dog. Man, I love all of his albums, but Too $hort’s sh*t is just again. It’s funny because it is like that with every great artist. There’s no compromise. You feel me? It is what it is. You f*cking with it or you not.
You either listening to what he’s saying and you are enjoying it or you not. There ain’t like in between. Nowadays, everybody want to have something for everybody. You gotta do the this. But it’s like, f*ck that. Too $hort, that sh*t ain’t about that. It’s just straight game. All the time. Fly California. Oakland beats and just Oakland raps. You either f*ck with it or you don’t. Sorry. If it’s not for you, then it’s not for you. That’s what I love about it."
The Notorious B.I.G., Ready to Die (1994)
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Label:Bad Boy
Dom Kennedy:"Ready to Die is probably the album that I bought the most honestly in my life. I bought that album at least five times. But Ready to Die, just because at the time, I didn’t know he was listening to Doggystyle and stuff like that. It is kind of like a New York version of a Doggystyle type of album. As a fan of music—first and foremost—you just love to hear that. I just love to put on a tape and be able to hear everything that’s going on in Brooklyn.
"Everything that’s really poppin’. Who you kicking with? Where you hanging out with? What are y’all driving? What kind of clothes y’all wearing? What’s the cologne? What are y’all drinking? You know what I am saying? I know people don’t think about it in detail like that but that’s really how I listen to it. If I don’t really hear none of that, then it don’t really mean sh*t to me. You just talking. It was probably a lot of sh*t that you don’t even really do because it’s all in the details.
"You bought a car? Everybody got a car. What kind of car is it? Where the chicks is at? That’s what Junior Mafia did the best of. Every Lil Kim song, she told you how much the sh*t cost and where she got it from down there. [Laughs.] You could see that sh*t. You could damn near put the whole outfit together. Biggie outfit, every song, you could see what he looking like. Who was chilling with him. If Lil Cease was there and what they were drinking. That’s the type of sh*t I like. I keep it real. That’s why I love that album."
DJ Quik, Safe + Sound (1995)
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Label:Profile Records
Dom Kennedy:"Just like the continuity of it I would say. The sound of it is real cohesive. It’s kind of like unapologetic and it's well-balanced. It’s well-balanced in terms of it's a Compton [album]—that sh*t was in his early 20s when he made that. It’s a young Compton kid. The album has a lot of details to it. It’s straight hard sh*t and it’s like musical and stuff which is one of my favorite things about DJ Quik. He really plays instruments, but that one he didn’t go as hard because he was younger so it wasn’t rhythms. It was more open. More like street but it still had the perfect elements to it.
"I listened to it as a kid a lot and I loved the packaging. Packaging and everything is real big to me. On Westside With Love II, I used kind of like the format [of Safe + Sound.] My actual CD is a silhouette and that was because I used to look at his all the time. The red one. It was like a profile of his head. It was a profile, silhouette. Red and black. I just used to always look at it. So I always wanted to do something like that.
"To have a perfect album, your artwork gotta be tight too. The music. Everything. It gotta stand out. You should be able to see it from down the street and know exactly what it is. You know, anywhere. I feel like that was one of those ones. His look at the time matched the music. It was perfect."
Tha Dogg Pound, Dogg Food (1995)
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Label:Death Row/Interscope
Dom Kennedy: "It’s a nonstop party. Not like party like 2 Live Crew, but just like life. Life. Smoke. Make some money. Chill with your homies. Whatever. House party. You could live your life. You could live your real Thursday life, Friday life with that album. That’s what is important. Music just sound good in the background. You don’t have to paying attention. You could just play it and have it on the tour bus and just talking. It just sounds good living your life with it."
2Pac, All Eyez on Me (1996)
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Label:Death Row,Interscope
Dom Kennedy: "That All Eyez On Me was big just because it’s the biggest selling West Coast album of all time. I remember the impact of it when it dropped. I remember being in Leimertand the older guys I looked up to and they were rappers. I remember—the day that album came out—it was a real meeting like this. Going into the homie room. Everybody smoking. People just sitting in there listening to the CD. It was that important. I remember the album cover being on the floor. The radio right there and everybody is just listening. It was like school or something just to see what it was talking about. And in that moment always stood in my mind. It’s just important. "This rap sh*t. When it is done right and when you do what you supposed to do than it’s really important. People really pay attention. And it’s your job to really give them something and to say something. I just feel like Tupac was the best at that. A lot of other things could be debated, but in terms of significance and impact. It’s really a no-brainer. It’s for people who really listen to and whose word who travels the furthest. Tupac is just the guy. So that All Eyes On Me is the staple, the standard for what I’m trying to surpass for a West Coast album."
Lil' Kim, Hard Core (1996)
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Label:Undeas,Big Beat
Dom Kennedy: "Just being a big Biggie fan, it was just a no-brainer to like that Kim. Again, from the first time the artwork came up, posters was big back then. When she got the poster with the album cover and just everything. I remember a big thing for me back then with having that one was letting my mom hear it. [Laughs.]
"When you was a kid and your parents hear like, ‘Oh, Lil Kim this or rapper this and that.’ I was just like in the car and I wanted to listen to her. I was like, ‘You want to know why you say what you think? You can judge for yourself.’ She never heard it, she just knows what the media says. I was just like playing. She was just listening to it. She laughed. It was just funny more than anything. I think only stupid people take it to the extra, over-the-top, extreme.
"Most of the time, your parents just really hear what they talking about and really understand it, it shouldn’t be like dope or funny. My dad loved Biggie and Tupac. He don’t like everybody, but people understand good music if it is really tight."
Makaveli, The Don Killuminati: The 7 Day Theory (1996)
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Label:Death Row,Interscope
Dom Kennedy: "It was interesting because that taught me about being able to have different plans. Nobody seen that coming. Most of these motherf*ckers out here, everybody really, nigg*s just you know, they one person. That nigg*s had albums and things for sh*t that nigg*s didn’t even see coming. It was talking about stuff that he knew was going to happen on the album and put it out. Not even that long ago after All Eyez on Me. That taught me you gotta be prepared for anything. That was a big moment in the rap game. Because really after that it kind of has been down hill. [Laughs.] For music period.
"Makavelitaught me that you gotta be prepared. You gotta have a plan. Everything ain’t just all “California Love” videos and sh*t like that. He knew. He knew what was coming and he had to be ready.
"I used to sell that on cassette tape in school. [Laughs.] You know, get them from Sam Goody, sell them for $8 or whatever nigg*s had. $6, $7 at school just spreading the word."
Ma$e, Harlem World (1997)
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Label:Bad Boy Records
Dom Kennedy: "That was a great album. When it came out, I was a big Bad Boy fan. Biggie had died. It was just like, you know, it didn’t really seem that bad. That album was so tight. They didn’t really drop off. They were probably doing just as good with that Ma$e album. I just remember listening to it over and over.
"The type of music I like to make and the person that I was, being the kid I was back then. It was just about all the sh*t I was about. Money, hoes, and clothes. It wasn’t really too much else. [Laughs.] 7th to 10th grade that was important. It was like perfect music for me."
Missy Elliott, Supa Dupa Fly (1997)
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Label:The Goldmind,Elektra
Dom Kennedy: "The music. The creativity. That was when she was coming up. All that Timbaland sh*t. They had a little bit of Jodeci swing in there. Missy and Timbaland were a match in terms of creativity. The style [is] like nobody else’s. It allows you to see things and do things different than everybody else does. Still be able to make it cool and tight. So that’s what I loved about that. That’s my favorite one from Missy."
DMX, It's Dark and Hell Is Hot (1998)
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Label:Ruff Ryders,Def Jam
Dom Kennedy: "Big. Big. Big. Everything. Singles. Videos. I remember seeing him on tour when Jay-Z was so big. Showing his belts and sh*t. And had the mock turtlenecks. It was like the alternative, you know what I am saying? [Laughs.] The nigg* with the Timbs and the boxers showing with no shirt on. Barking like a dog. It was perfect. You needed that because hip-hop should always have a balance. It should never get too one-sided to where it’s too soft. You know what I am saying?
"That’s what the beauty of it of them going on tour and doing that sh*t because everybody in there loved them both equally, but just for what they represented. Some people might understand DMX a little more and the have not story. The ballers, of course, will rock with Jay-Z but you still f*cked with everything for the saying because you understood exactly who they was. You felt the music and you never contested that. So that’s what was dope about that time, For sure, that album was huge.It's Dark and Hell is Hot."
Reflection Eternal, Train of Thought (2000)
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Label:Rawkus/UMVD
Dom Kennedy: "I love that album. Reflection Eternal was a great album for me. I used to listen to that a lot. I remember putting my dad up on it by listening to it so much. And he actually started loving it. That’s just one of those albums that’s like again in the same way T.I. could stand for what he stood for. They did the same thing over just great music. Great f*cking music with a great message. It was all well put together."
Luther Vandross, Live Radio City Music Hall (2003)
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Label:J
Dom Kennedy: "My mom, she [was] big on Luther Vandross. Anita Baker. That’s where I get that stuff from. I can’t really say what album in particular because I don’t really remember. There’s just so many songs. Definitely Luther Vandross. I don’t know, even the greatest hits. I remember when I was older, the live at Radio City. It’s called Live at Radio City. Luther Vandross. That’s where he does all the songs I know, but he does them live. It’s amazing."
Nipsey Hussle, Bullets Ain't Got No Name Vol. 2 (2008)
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Label:Direct Connect
Dom Kennedy: "That’s a classic. That was big in the streets. I think it came out in ‘09. Christmas time. It was just big. That was when L.A. was turning back over. It was that pivotal time and he was the first people to really kick it off.
"I remember when that mixtape came out. Literally, I was still living in Leimert in South Central, nigg* that’s all cars played. Every morning I was by the window and people was driving by playing the song off of it. Like true life. People came out with albums. We all done come out with sh*t, but having the love of the inner city like that album. Straight up. Including my sh*t, everything. Everybody sh*t. That one had everybody’s attention and the love of the streets. So it was what it was. That was one of my favorites. In terms if you put all the new people, that’s like a street classic for sure. That Vol. 2."
