Kokane - Career

Career

His musical career in 1989 under the name "Kokkaine". His first release, Addictive Hip Hop Muzick in 1991 was credited as "Who Am I?". "Who Am I?" was used for that album because of particular laws forbidding using his common artist name. Kokane's life has always included music, though it is the old school funk of the 1970s that most influences his style. His eccentric vocal approach is half fluid rapping and half weird P-funk-influenced singing. He began his career as a vocalist in the mid-1980s as rap was first appearing in his native Los Angeles before eventually signing to Eazy-E's Ruthless Records label in 1991. His first solo single, "Nickel Slick Nigga," appeared on the Deep Cover soundtrack. In addition to co-writing "Appetite for Destruction" for N.W.A.'s Niggaz4life, Kokane also contributed to other West Coast gangsta rap albums such as Above The Law's Black Mafia Life. In his second album, Funk Upon a Rhyme, he completely changed his style, incorporating a great deal of singing and packin' it with G Funk. Two years later, Kokane was a free agent. He left Ruthless right after Eazy-E death. He reappeared in late 1999 with a solo album on Eureka Records, They Call Me Mr. Kane, yet this album never escaped the underground. Ironically, it was on the L.A. posse track found on Dr. Dre's 2001 album, "Some L.A. Niggaz," that Kokane scored big; this encounter with Dre's camp led to his relationship with Snoop Dogg. Though Kokane had been involved with the West Coast rap scene since the dawn of gangsta rap, he was never able to secure any substantial success for himself until 2000 when he played a major role in the success of Snoop's Tha Last Meal. He has worked with artists such as Above The Law, N.W.A., Eazy-E, Snoop Dogg, Dr. Dre, Tha Eastsidaz, Cypress Hill, Ice Cube, E-40, Kurupt, Nipsey Hussle, among others. He continues to make music today and still contributes to the West Coast rap scene.