Los Angeles in Popular Culture - in Music

In Music

(Alphabetized by artist)

• The David Guetta/Flo Rida/Nicki Minaj song, "Where Them Girls At" takes place at various places around Downtown Los Angeles.
• Settings in Madonna's music video for her song, "La Isla Bonita", were clearly filmed around Downtown Los Angeles.
• In the song "I Love L.A.", Randy Newman mentions places where the richest and the poorest live, and some famous boulevards in Los Angeles.
• Straight Outta Compton is the debut studio album by American hip hop group N.W.A, released August 8, 1988 on group member Eazy-E's record label Ruthless Records. Its title refers to the group's native Compton, California.
  • "Straight Outta Compton (song)" (1988) is the award-winning lead single from N.W.A's eponymous second album with the same name. It also appears on N.W.A's Greatest Hits with an extended mix, and The Best of N.W.A.: The Strength of Street Knowledge.
• English group Massive Attack filmed the music video for the song Unfinished Sympathy in January 1991 on West Pico Boulevard, L.A.
• The Los Angeles band Red Hot Chili Peppers have referenced the city in their songs many times over the years, most notably in their 1992 hit single "Under the Bridge", which contains lyrics about the singers' relationship with the city.
• The East Coast – West Coast hip hop rivalry was a feud in the early to mid-1990s between artists and fans of the East Coast and West Coast hip-hop scenes. Seeming focal points of the feud were East Coast-based rapper The Notorious B.I.G. (and his New York-based label, Bad Boy Records), and West Coast-based rapper 2Pac (and his Lost Angeles-based label, Death Row Records), both of whom were murdered.