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How Hip Hop and Jazz Are Chronicling Los Angeles’ Changing Culture: 80 Empire and Doodlebug’s Tribute
A Galactic Love Supreme unites hip hop and jazz to honour LA’s black communities as musicians chronicle gentrification, protest and cultural resilience
The streets of Los Angeles simmer with tension this June as protesters clash with National Guard troops and ICE agents over the latest immigration raids. President Trump deployed 2,000 National Guard personnel to the city despite Governor Newsom’s objections, creating the most significant federal-state conflict since 1992. Amid this charged atmosphere, two musicians from different corners of North America have created ‘Nothing Lasts Forever’, a musical homage that captures both the beauty and fragility of LA’s evolving black communities.
The collaboration between Toronto brothers Adrian and Lucas Rezza of 80 Empire and Philadelphia’s Craig ‘Doodlebug’ Irving from Grammy-winning Digable Planets represents more than just another hip hop project. It’s a cross-border artistic alliance that mirrors the multicultural threads woven through LA’s soundscape, particularly as the city’s black population faces unprecedented pressures.
The Artists Behind the Tribute
The partnership between 80 Empire and Doodlebug began in 2011 when the Rezza brothers met Irving after a Digable Planets show. The Toronto-bred siblings, who grew up in a musically rich household with strong Italian roots, found common ground with Irving’s jazz-influenced Philadelphia background.
Lucas Rezza, who studied jazz at York University, handles piano and drum programming while Adrian focuses on writing and rapping. Irving, known for his work with the pioneering jazz rap trio that won a Grammy for ‘Rebirth of Slick (Cool Like Dat)’, brought his deep understanding of how jazz and hip hop could document social change.
These multicultural and cross-border alliances have become a recurring motif in shaping LA’s contemporary soundscape. The city’s Beat Scene in South LA’s Leimert Park has long served as a hub where hip hop, jazz, soul and electronic music fuse to address community experiences and social issues.
Musical Snapshot of a Community Under Pressure
‘Nothing Lasts Forever’ comes from their album ‘A Galactic Love Supreme’, an 11-track fusion of jazz, soul, reggae and hip hop with what they describe as ‘an unapologetic Italian base’. The video, they explain, ‘pays homage to the rich, soulful culture of LA’ while acknowledging ‘an area where the black population, once beaming with Hollywood glamour, is fading from the chokehold of wildfires and socio-political economics’.
The album’s collaborative nature mirrors LA’s diversity, featuring Bone Crusher, KXNG Crooked, DJ Skillspinz, Saladin Allah, actress Michole White from ‘The Wonder Years’ and ‘Family Matters’, and The Brass-A-Holics. This mix of urgent beats and jazz harmonies conveys both celebration and protest, a duality that reflects the current moment in Los Angeles.
The project’s lead single, ‘Mother Earth Is Dying’, highlights environmental anxiety as part of the larger story affecting LA’s communities. Wildfires have become a recurring crisis, disproportionately affecting working-class neighbourhoods and contributing to displacement alongside rising housing costs.
Context of Crisis and Cultural Change
The timing of this musical tribute coincides with dramatic demographic changes across Los Angeles. The city’s black population has declined to between 7.3% and 8.3%, down from higher percentages in previous decades. Gentrification in historically black neighbourhoods like South Los Angeles, Crenshaw and Inglewood has driven displacement, with property prices tripling since the 1960s while wages for black residents decreased.
This demographic change occurs against a backdrop of political tensions that erupted into the streets this month. The June 2025 protests against federal immigration enforcement spread across downtown LA, Paramount and Compton, resulting in arrests and injuries as federal authorities used tear gas and rubber bullets against demonstrators.
Jazz Rap as Social Documentation
The fusion of jazz and hip hop has historically served as a vehicle for documenting African American experiences and struggles. Jazz rap developed in the late 1980s and early 1990s with the explicit aim of elevating hip hop’s cultural status while providing a platform for social and political commentary.
Los Angeles groups incorporated complex jazz rhythms and vocals to address community challenges, particularly in South LA’s African American and Latino neighbourhoods. The approach taken by 80 Empire and Doodlebug follows this lineage, using Southern California hip hop’s roots in bluesy funk, soul and jazz as a narrative tool for documenting social change.
Nostalgia as Healing
The nostalgic elements in ‘A Galactic Love Supreme’ offer something beyond mere documentation – they provide what the artists describe as ‘the healing balm that the world needs right now’. This focus on healing through collaboration and cross-genre music suggests how artists are responding to communities under pressure.
The album title itself, referencing John Coltrane’s spiritual jazz masterpiece, positions the work as both homage and contemporary statement. For Angelenos navigating gentrification, environmental disasters and political upheaval, this kind of musical collaboration offers a sense of connection that transcends immediate tensions.
As Los Angeles continues to grapple with demographic change and political conflicts, ‘A Galactic Love Supreme’ captures the city’s enduring creative spirit. The collaboration between Toronto’s 80 Empire and Philadelphia’s Doodlebug demonstrates how music can bridge geographic and cultural divides while documenting the experiences of communities in transition. Available now through Fat Beats on all digital platforms, the album leaves its final statement to the music itself rather than political rhetoric – a space where jazz, hip hop and cross-cultural collaboration continue to chronicle LA’s evolving story.
Follow @80empire and @officialdoodlebug on Instagram.
