A-Wax

First time I ever heard of A-Wax was when someone at the infamous cocaineblunts forum posted a mixtape he did, called Rat Poison or something like that. His music got some props from some of the frequent users, which basicly meant it was worth checking. So I did. I don't regret it. He immeditley became on of my absolute favourite artists from the bay.
His story in short, you can read more on his website http://www.a-wax.com/. Born Aaron Scott July 17, 1980. He's originally from the San Francisco suburb Pittsburg. As a teen he was sent to Seattle, WA to avoid further running ins with the law. Gang banging and such had spread from LA all the way to Pittsburg, or something. So he headed north. Bad choice, it turned out to be gangs in Seattle too. Young Aaron got involved. 16 years old he was sent to prison five years for manslaughter (according to http://www.answers.com/).
In 2001 he was finally released. Some years earlier he had started writing raps and he more or less immidetley recorded his debut album, Savage Timez. Which is, arguably, his best release so far. Since his prison release he has recorded four solo albums and has appered on over 80 albums and compilations and he has also recieved some latin rap award for a guest appearance on a Baby Bash album. He has had some buzz on the streets in the bay but is yet to have his big break commercialy, 2 gangsta 4 the motherfucking radio huh?
Anyhoo. This album is da shiet. True ghetto/prison storys. He spent five years in the penitentiary so he's got plenty of street cred, which means he can say anything gangsta and we can with good heart believe it's true and not just some sell-more-records-tactic.
A-Wax got swagger, which combined with his raspy voice, realistic gangster storys and good beats - it's a great album. Not a classic or anything, most classics you already heard or have been posted on other blogs so I'm not gonna go there. It's an underrated gangster rap album. He also raps about a couple of more or less deep topics like who's going to be the one that kills him or how do you deal with the moral issues surronding crime (money outweights morals).
As you can see on the album cover below. There's a couple of guest rappers on this record, I havn't been succesfull in finding a proper tracklist mentioning on which track which rapper is on or even who produced any of the songs. So I'll just won't bother writing about it, more then this.