Jay Worthy's "Westside Party" is the Soundtrack to Ice Cube's "Good Day"

Following recent collaborative efforts with fellow West Coast talents like G Perico, Jay Worthy — the rap game’s grittiest Canada to California dot-connector and Compton mainstay — is planning to drop a joint project with Bay Area DJ and producer King Most. A four-part release under the Westside Party banner, the collaboration is aimed at showcasing Jay Worthy’s versatility, King Most’s style as a seasoned student of hip-hop and its influences, and what happens when contemporary street sounds collide with the classics of past eras.

To introduce the Westside Party project, the pairing has unleashed its title track as the lead single. Brought to life with a Jay Worthy-directed, Will Azcona-shot visual, the “Westside Party” vignette was filmed at Compton’s Gonzales Park and shines the spotlight on an especially-celebratory day for Jay Worthy and company. The synthesis of old-classics-meets-streets vibes and southern California summer hangouts creates a picturesque canvas for delivering Jay Worthy and King Most’s collective mission statement. This is the most Californian music you’ll hear this season: it’s the sound of rows of Shaka and Pro Club blank tees at swap meets, late-night oldies radio shout-outs to Kern County, Chicano rap album displays at gas station checkouts, sunny park cookouts with meat from the local Mexican market, Gap Band-soundtracked car meets and cruise sessions, warm-weather traffic-jams alongside cadres of bikers with “1%” patches on the back of their leather jackets and blunted get-togethers that turn into lost days thanks to repeated Snoop Dogg, DJ Quik & Dr. Dre listening sessions.

You can check out the official video for Jay Worthy and King Most‘s “Westside Party” above, and check out an in-depth interview with the pairing below.

“Westside Party” has a real heavy G-Funk, old-school West Coast vibe. What were your intentions with putting the project together and that sound?

King Most: For me, I’m a DJ full-time in San Francisco and I make a lot of different type of music, but I always had a lot of love for funk music, Cali music and California vibes. I just found Jay Worthy’s music via LNDN DRGS and I loved it. I felt this was something we could do together where it was natural. We had mutual friends in common, and I was like, “f*ck it, let me randomly shout this dude out and see what happens.” It was really just about having similar vibes and similar taste.

Jay Worthy: He reached out to let me know he was f*cking with my music, and he sent me “Westside Party” with a package of beats. I made that song first, and right from there I knew once I had made that song that I had to lock in and do a mini-project on the same type of vibe. He definitely has his own sound and I rock with it. I’m pretty specific about who I work with, and he had some sh*t, so we put it together.

King Most: I’m the same way too. I don’t really like to reach out to just anybody, especially rappers because they’re just not kind of inconsistent and not cool to work with. When I heard Jay’s music, I knew there was something special about it. You could say it has a “G-Funk, West Coast flavor” to it, but it’s still super modern and his voice and flow sound like what’s happening today.

That’s one thing I noticed: it has that old-school Roger Troutman, Zapp and G-Funk stuff but I also hear that modern Bay sound; SOB x RBE, Yase, Yatta.

King Most: Oh yeah! Exactly. I’m born and raised and I’m also a club DJ. Being a club DJ, I have to be up on what’s slapping and what’s known. That’s another thing that’s cool: there’s a little bit of Bay-ness to it as well. I know Jay f*cks with the Bay heavy too. If you really are a real listener of music, you’ll pick that up.

I heard a big mix of what you would find on Thizzler on the Roof, A1-Yola and all the modern California stuff.

King Most: That’s all in there. Jay f*cks with Larry June heavy and he has Bay roots too. It’s there if you know what’s up — if you’re a head.

I see Big Fase and Boogie in the video, and I heard the Kendrick Lamar line. So, basically, you guys all roll with the same circles?

Jay Worthy: Yeah. I’m from the Westside of Compton — I lived with Big Fase for a period of my life. Kendrick is from my neighborhood, Boogie is from my neighborhood. These are all my peers, so it only made sense to have those guys in there.

You came up with G-Weeder and all of them?

Jay Worthy: G-Weeder, that’s one of my best friends. If you go on G-Weed’s Instagram, it says one of his artists is me. Me and him kind of helped each other get into the game together, more or less. That was my big bro, that’s my dog. Free G-Weed.

Even going back to the A$AP Yams days, you were with G Perico, Earl Swavey and them right?

Jay Worthy: Oh yeah — those are my bros. Earl Swavey, he’s from my section too. G Perico, he’s damn near up the street. They’re real street dudes, so that’s how we’re all friends. Not from no rap sh*t.

The verses, sound and video all have that classic outdoors park barbecue vibe. Was that a conscious choice or did it just happen organically?

Jay Worthy: It’s more of an everyday lifestyle type of thing. That day specifically, homies were barbecuing at the park — it was our Hood Day. Every gang in LA or Compton or whatever, if you’re from a neighborhood, you have a specific day that’s like the birthday for your neighborhood. So, that day when we were at the park barbecuing, that was our Hood Day. I’m from the Westside, so it made sense to do “Westside Party” at the Westside Hood Day.

King Most: That was a party (laughs).

Jay Worthy: Every day is like that in the hood though. Don’t get it twisted: just because it was Hood Day, it doesn’t make a difference. Every day is low-key like that.

I think that visual really pairs perfectly with the song. There’s a lot of history that a lot of people don’t realize with California, that you see in that video.

King Most: I always tell everyone this: as much as people hype up California, there’s still so much that doesn’t get exposed. It’s [California] is its own globe, it could be its own world. I’ve traveled the world, and culturally, it all comes back to Cali. You see the influence all over the world. It’s important people see that and it’s represented the right way by the right people.

You guys have your own sound. With this project, how do you feel it stands out among the new wave of rap and current LA renaissance — guys like 03 Greedo, Drakeo the Ruler, the Stinc Team — coming out of the west coast?

King Most: Doing this project makes you think about it. With this project, it’s Jay’s background and lifestyle and my lifestyle and background — as the record guy and club DJ — combined, and that’s what makes it special. I don’t really know of a lot of projects where there are those two backgrounds put together. Knowing the history of music, it’s just two people from a similar background. Our two talents, coming together from different worlds, gives it that edge to stand out differently. I’m not familiar with too much hip-hop where there are live instruments and samples and street rap; it’s either one or the other.

Jay Worthy: Greedo, that’s my boy — I love what he’s doing. All those guys you mentioned, I like all their music. I love this new LA — personally, I listen to all of that sh*t. I don’t really throw myself in that category. A lot of people are like, “Jay Worthy sounds straight from the West Coast.” Sure, but I feel like I have many different sounds and I feel like I keep showing that as I work with different producers.

I work with Alchemist, you get a different sound; I work with Cardo, you get a different sound; when I work with LNDN DRGS, you get a different sound; when I work with King Most, you get a different sound. To each his own, I just like to make good music.

Going back to that sort of California, oldies, funk sound, are you guys familiar with Art Laboe and stuff like that?

Jay Worthy: Art Laboe is the reason that I even started LNDN DRGS, low-key. I would always be in my car listening to oldies, and then my homie used to have, on the corner of Avalon and El Segundo, he would sell dollar CDs and I would always get a good oldies mix. Between Mark — rest in peace — and Art Laboe, they really created LNDN DRGS. I really got to give it to them.

King Most: I’m in the Bay, and that lineage still connects. Up here, we also have our own wave and a connection to that music as well. That’s the DNA: Art Laboe and oldies.

Jay Worthy: You just gave me an idea. I’m going to call my next project, A Tribute to Art Laboe or something. He’s the man!

King Most: He was the OG viral dude. Before Apple Music, before Spotify, it was him. He was the Pied Piper. From people in the Bay to people all over the world they know who he is. That doesn’t just “happen.”

The style of records like “Westside Party” is worldwide. Even the old gangster rap is big in Japan.

King Most: Yeah. I’ve been all around the world — I’ve been to Japan three times — and you see that. I’ve been to France as well, and they all f*ck with it. It’s not just obvious stuff, but really deep stuff. That says something: you have to go to other parts of the world to see how important your culture is and how it shaped other cultures. The first time I saw that was definitely eye-opening.

For both of you, after the release of this project, what are both of your plans for collaborations and solo efforts?

Jay Worthy: I got, like, ten projects I’m dropping this year. I got one with Currensy, I got one with Freddie Gibbs, I got one with MellowHype, I got one with Larry June, I got one with Dam-Funk, I got one with 808 Mafia. It is just not stopping. That’s half of them, and they’re all done and ready to come out. We’re going strong with EMPIRE — we did this distribution deal with EMPIRE and that’s how I’m coming this year. All independent.

King Most: It’s kind of hard to follow up on what Jay said (laughs). I’m always working on music, and I’m going to be living life and see what happens next. I know me and Jay will always work on more music down the line. I’m just going to live life and keep my head down.