About Me
The Frontline first gained major recognition when the duo appeared on the inaugural MTV Battle (May 2003), but their road to respect was one of sacrifice and hard work. Left and Locksmith are two cats who believed in their own talent and what could become of it.
Two sides of the same coin- different Either way, they win- you lose. Their multi-dimensional personalities are reflected in their music. They display rhyming ability as both high art and street diatribe, serving a completeness as both MCs and recording aartists. This ability to fashion personal experience and insight through music make both Left and Locksmith - architect and sculptor when it comes to structuring rhyme.
'I write rhymes that paint pain/I don't rap for the 'ooohs' and 'ahhhs', booze or broads/I'm trying to express my views and cause/A new shift in the paradigm, y'all niggas is scared to rhyme/Your flow don't compare to mine.' Locksmith- from Workout
The wordplay of Locksmith can be humorous to a listener or crippling to rival MC. He can design rhymes in simplistic prose to capture crowd attention, or produce complex constructs that border on poetry and journalism. In freestyle mode Locksmith's mind can easily turn current events or obscure references into witty punchlines (KMEL Battle 1 on The Bootleg II).
Musically, Left has developed a sound combing hard driving basslines and an sense uncanny sense of percussion, which all began with a simple first worked keyboard and computer program he purchased from a local producer.
Adding different to his equipment to his repertoire enhanced his mastery of sound and rhythm. 'I was moved by percussion first. My first 100 beats didn't have a bassline,' he muses.
'I didn't know my way around at the time. My next layer came as strings- with bass and guitar, then came pianos, then samples. Now it's to the point where I can create anything and understand music in different frequencies.'To fully understand The Frontline and how Hip Hop has shaped these two balanced MC, one need look no further than their hometown Richmond, California.
'I was born in the hood and that's where I'll die, from the Southside of Richmond where the bullets fly/Where you gotta by bars for your windows at night and the fiends trade their kids for a hit of the pipe/I live where killers come in all shapes, sizes and sexes/Gangsta bitches putting bullet holes all in your Lexus/Hell yeah it's crazy, but fuck it- it's home to me.'
Left- from the song "Backdown" Richmond, much like Watts and Oakland, became a bustling haven for Black Americans after World War II. During the mid-1950s through the 1960s the city bustled with work in the industries of railroads, fishing, shipping, manufacturing, and small businesses.
Much of the city's cultural infrastructure began to deteriorate in the 1980s with Reaganomics, loss of industry and an increasing narcotics trade. The Frontline has seen the rise and fall of the city of Richmond first hand. "All we want to do is speak the truth in our music...as a man, that's all you can do".
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