A hotbed of activity, spawning the likes of NWA, Easy E, Dr. Dre, Ice Cube and most recently the Game, the chart topping contributions from the west once dominated the hip hop scene.  The west once ruled.

There is a story behind every story, however, and Lonzo Williams, long recognized as the Godfather of West Coast Rap is now, for the first time revealing his.

As the creator of the World Class Wreckin’ Crew, the group that directly preceded the birth of N.W.A., and gave us such eternal hits as “Turn Off The Lights,” “Cabbage Patch” and “Dr. Dre to Surgery,” Lonzo unveils his storehouse of flyers, photos, and original VHS footage,  in the Dub-Kris Media DVD release, “Once Upon A Time In Compton.”

“Once Upon A Time In Compton” proves to be the ultimate rapper’s delight, chock full of historical anecdotes’, unforgettable vintage footage and throwback rap classics as Lonzo recaps his own version of the ‘wild, wild, west.’  In true Godfather fashion, he spins an often humorous tale that holds the audience spellbound.  Forget what you heard or read, he admonishes, as he takes us back, way back, to the very beginning of it all, when he  first got his start as a DJ in high school. Parlaying that experience into promoting, Lonzo eventually created the group that launched the careers of hip hop’s most famous emcees, Easy E, Dr. Dre and Ice Cube.

Hip hip heads and trivia buffs will revel in the highlights that include:

-never before scene footage of a young Dr. Dre, draped in purple satin, when he first rocked the turntables, magically mixing “Planet Rock” with  “Mr. Postman.”  Lonzo acknowledges, “I don’t know how he got on the turntables, but we all knew then, he had something special.”

-a live performance of the Wreckin’ Cru covering Morris Day and the Time’s hit single, “The Bird.”

-a young Dr. Dre on lead vocals as the group performs their club hit, “Housecalls”

Reminiscing down hip hop memory lane, Lonzo drops gems detailing what the pioneers of hip hop had to endure and how the foundation was really laid for a genre that now sets trends around the globe.  “Hip hop is an urban musical tree that has spawned branches from grafiti to gangsta rap and is still growing,” Lonzo asserts, “and it is not only important, but also relevant, that its beginnings be truthfully documented.  When I realized what I had in my vaults, I knew I had to share it.”

“Once Upon a Time in Compton” is  Lonzo’s  autobiographical account of himself as a determined young man overcoming the odds to succeed in the predator-laden music business.  It is also the story of the personalities, the players, the haters and the beat that emerged from the threadbare streets of Compton to explode across the globe.

From his nightclub, the Eve After Dark, that became the nexus of this burgeoning hip hop scene where seminal rap figures Dr. Dre (Andre Young), Eazy E (Eric Wright),  and Ice Cube (Oshay Jackson), would congregate to putting together the World Class Wreckin’ Cru, Lonzo weaves a story that is compelling and captivating.  He shares how Eazy E used profits from his drug sales to do his first rap tapes in the studio that Lonzo built and how he and others, not recognized in hip hop’s history, were there when Dre, Eazy and Cube began N.W.A., the group that was a prairie fire introducing the hardcore, blistering sound and lyrics now known as gansta’ rap.

Lonzo shocks the house in this unflinching portrait of his life and times and continuing presence and influence in the hip hop game. A genuine survivor and Godfather of the game, Lonzo Williams’ “Once Upon A Time in Compton” will become a true underground classic of the west coast story that was never told.

“Once Upon A Time in Compton” can be purchased at www.Amazon.com and www.FilmBaby.com.

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Talib Kweli-”Definition”

Maybe sales are down because nobody wants to hear what you have to say…

“I think I chose to become a rapper because I had alot of things I wanted to say and I wanted to make sure it reached the people. I didn’t want it to go over the heads of people, and at that point R&B music wasn’t really being used to make any statements. It was Hip-Hop…it was message music. I was inspired to have a conscious statement, a conscious message in my lyrics….That’s why I started rhyming, that’s why I started rappin.” Lauryn Hill

Hip-Hop is NOT dead. (Just wanted to get that out the way.)

But it is missing something.

We still have rappers talking about their paper chase. We still have the gun-toting, drug narratives being rapped about. Videos still have cars, jewelry, and (of course) the video girl(s). There’s a bit more dancing, a little less head-nodding. And there’s no decline in rappers who “put on” for they city (or at least think they are); reppin your block, hood, or city is still mandatory.

But where are the rappers who want to do more than that? Where are the rapper who see themselves as more than rappers?

What made Hip-Hop grow beyond a “fade” or another form of artistic expression, was it’s ability to produce social commentary. Rappers were literally the Master of Ceremonies: they were in charge of telling the greater public about the reality of urban American life, particularly the daily reality for people of color in this society.

And that is why stories of drugs, guns, and the sort came forth. It is not the entire reality, but it is certainly a part of it. Rapping was an exercise in truth-telling, not fantasy.

This isn’t to box Rap music into one category. Of course it could more than that. Of course it could be different than that. Music can be whatever the musicians decide it to be. Culture can be produced by a variety of experiences, opinions, and expressions.

What made Rap music so special was that is could provide social commentary. Delivering a message is at the root of being a MC. A conscious message about the social condition of a people; a people who historically have been underrepresented and faced political, economic, and racial injustice. It is that power that made rapping more than just music; it is what made Hip-Hop a movement.

This is the core of what made America stand up and pay attention to Hip-Hop. This is what legitimized it.

Today we see less acknowledgment and engagement of Hip-Hop’s social consciousness. A large part of it is that now the culture is big business. The beauty of the artform is that it allowed those who have financial difficulty access to MONEY. Money that would address many of the struggles chronicled in their music. You can’t blame rappers for protecting their economic interest.

And you can’t blame consumers for not buying it.

The height of Hip-Hop records sales came when the music was at it’s most diverse, most introspective, and most creative. You have MC’s who could construct stories as good as any novelist. Rappers who could craft narratives and string words together like a poet laureate. They could bring alive vivid images and detailed storylines just like a skilled film director or a gifted storyteller. They could speak about violence, murder, hope, and family all in the same breath; and that is a gift indeed. The music was art because the musicians respected its artistry and its skill.

People wanted to hear that. Masses wanted to share in the cultural, musical, and artistic excellence Hip-Hop provided.

But it is undeniable that we have lost that strive for excellence. Perhaps it is because music doesn’t share a message anymore.

Maybe people want to hear about how gentrification is affecting the residents of inner-city communities. Maybe people want to hear how South Bronx, Brooklyn, and Harlem residents feel about condos being built in their neighborhoods. Maybe they want to know how young Black and Latino women feel about HIV/AIDS and why they are the disease’s number one victims. Maybe people want to hear how Obama’s Presidential run in influencing Black youth. Maybe people want to hear about how these hard economic times is affecting the hood. Maybe people want to hear what a generation of wealthy rappers plan to do to provide economic opportunity to a community of people who still struggle financially. Maybe listeners want to hear about what is going on in our society.

Perhaps MC’s, rappers, and Hip-Hop need to remember it’s roots as message music.

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Spalding’s debut album might be best described as picking up where the jazz fusion of the 1970s left off. The songs pulsate with complex arrangements, Spalding’s uniquely expressive vocals and fat-bottomed bass playing, and challenging melodies and harmonies. “I love fusion music,” she said. “There was this wonderful arc that started 40 years ago where people kept incorporating modern sounds into their music. What you hear is a natural outgrowth of what I was exposed to.”

Spalding, who played violin for the Chamber Music Society of Oregon from ages 5 to 15, exploded into adolescence by switching to the stand-up bass and playing blues, funk and hip-hop. Two years later, she was studying at Berklee College of Music in Boston, where she eventually became the youngest faculty member in the history of the school at age 20

“Most people know me as a bass player for various other people,” said Spalding, who has worked with jazz standouts Michel Camilo, Pat Metheny and Joe Lovano. “But I’d begun performing my own music with a pop band called Noise for Pretend. They’d say, ‘Esperanza, can you just do some lyrics for this?’”

Spalding’s contemporary fusion includes strong Latin and Brazilian influences. She was inspired by Milton Nascimento’s vocals to record “Ponta de Areia,” the Brazilian classic made famous by Wayne Shorter. She also sings a Spanish-language version of the jazz standard “Body and Soul” and returns to Portuguese on Baden Powell’s “Samba em Preludio.”

“I have Hispanic roots,” she explained. “My mother was from Southern California and had some Hispanic background; my nanny was Cuban and I picked up a lot of Spanish from her.”

But one of the most impressive quirks to Spalding’s act is her improvisatory melodic scatting, influenced by hip-hop MCs. She flaunts it on “She Got to You,” which she recently performed on “Late Show With David Letterman.”

“I want to get people excited even if they don’t know me or anything about jazz,” Spalding said. “I’d love to sit in with people like Herbie Hancock or Pat Metheny, but I would love to collaborate with Questlove of the Roots or Andre 3000,” she said, still refusing to be categorized.

Spalding will appear at the New York Society for Ethical Culture (877-655-4849) Wednesday.

CRUCIAL SONIDOS. João Gilberto plays Carnegie Hall (212-247-7800) Sunday. … Poncho Sanchez plays Le Poisson Rouge (212-796-0741) Monday. … Gilberto Gil plays the Nokia Theatre Times Square (212-930-1950) Tuesday. … Babasónicos plays the HighLine Ballroom (212-414-5994) Thursday. … Larry Harlow plays B.B. King Blues Club & Grill (212-997-4144) Friday.

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