West Coast Hip-Hop has shaped an entire generation and is an important chapter in the history of music.
With acts such as N.W.A, Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg, E-40, Mac Dre, and many more, the West Coast sound is very distinct with its use of funk samples and hard-hitting drums and synths. It is also what inspired David Jarrett, who goes by his rapper name Kidvika, and Reed Lequerica, who goes by his producer name LeQ, with the creation of their new album, “The West Yet”.
Kidvika and LeQ are Reno Hip-Hop artists who have been collaborating with one another for four years. Kidvika got his stage name from his middle name, Kawika, and LeQ got his producer name from shortening his last name. They met over Instagram and an immediate chemistry and friendship was formed. They had never met each other even though they went to the same high school.
The dynamic duo started working together endlessly and have continued that connection over the years, and now it’s as strong and tight as a fitted t-shirt on a bodybuilder.
“I think people will be surprised,” Kidvika said. “I always wanted to be diverse. I’ve always wanted to be different. Getting into West Coast [music] was foreign to me.”
“Finally, for four years now we have been talking about dropping a project,” LeQ said. “We’ve come a long way from where we started and how we sounded. It’s just crazy. The first album I produced, I wanted to make sure it was complete.”
In September 2021 is when the new album was identified as something the two wanted to tackle together. From that drive, the album’s only single, “Find That” was born. It was the very first song made for the eight-track album. There were many different versions of the song made until Kidvika finally found his new sound and new direction with the delivery of his voice.
“After Find That that’s when we were like yeah we’re putting together something here,” LeQ said.
“We locked in for like a month straight, every weekend,” Kidvika said. “I changed my voice for the first time, I used to be higher pitched,” Kidvika said. “I started to use my regular voice.” Kidvika and LeQ have made many songs together and even dropped a three-song EP in 2020 titled Push Me. However, they knew that was only the beginning.
“Compared to what we have now, that’s not it,” LeQ said.
In April 2021, the artists spent time in L.A. and worked at Saticoy and Omar’s Room which have housed some of Hip-Hop’s biggest musicians. The atmosphere of being in the sunny skies and the land of opportunity is what drove LeQ and Kidvika to step their game up.
They gave high praise to Blxst for the inspiration of this album. Both of them loved his music and his sound. LeQ really found a love for the production that Blxst made since he’s both a rapper and producer.
Kidvika mixed and mastered the entire album. He revised the mixes multiple times on each song on the album.
“Mixing this … was hard,” Kidvika said. “It was hard for me because we were working on the time limit, but at the same time, I’ve never mixed this well before. I wanted this to sound perfect, perfect.
The intro song Bring It Up was the one that Kidvika felt the best about recording. LeQ and Kidvika were on Facetime while LeQ was making the beat and everything just flowed so naturally. It was the second song made for the album. To counter, the hardest song for Kidvika to make was, “Baby” the final song recorded for the album. It took him over a month to finetune and get the first verse to sound exactly how he wanted it. The album was finally finished recording Jan 22.
At a recent Holland Project performance in Reno.
After planning out months in advance of how they wanted to promote and market the album, it’s finally here. The guys are very excited about the reception the album is going to receive.
“For me it’s to showcase, one, how good we’ve gotten,” Kidvika said. “It’s a whole new sound, and it doesn’t sound bad… I want people to respond well with every song, but honestly, I just want to people at least like one song. I want someone to relate to one of the songs off the album to where they will download it and put it on their playlist.”
“A lot of people here in Reno don’t make that West Coast sound,” LeQ said. “We want to touch as many ears as we can.” The album is available here, and is accessible on all platforms.