NOISEY BOMPTON: VIOLENCE TOUCHES US ALL (PART 4) [VIDEO]

“I know a lot of people are saying that it’s getting better, but I’m the one that’s doing the funerals.”

Religion plays an important role alongside stories of Compton gang life in the music of Kendrick Lamar. In the fourth of six segments of Noisey Bompton, we pay a visit to the Greater Zion Family Church and talk to Pastor Michael Fisher about what he thinks the role of gangster rap is in the community and whether crime in Compton is actually receding. Then, we head to Campanella Park, the heart of Piru gang territory, to talk to Kendrick’s friend G. Weed about his experiences growing up Piru and becoming involved in the ongoing back-and-forth with the neighboring Crips. “Can’t nobody make this place safe,” he tells us.

NOISEY BOMPTON: LIVE FROM ROSECRANS (PART 3) [VIDEO]

Compton is full of up-and-coming rap talent, some of which can be seen on the cover of Kendrick Lamar’s ‘To Pimp a Butterfly.’ Artists like Boogie, Jay Worthy, Hitta J3, and Kalifornia King Special are busy building their music careers—while also trying to get by day to day.