Welcome to the Land: G Perico Gives A Tour of South Central
The city of Los Angeles is multi dimensional with the people that live on the land. There is the Studio City, Beverly Hills, and Hollywood side where you can find the greatest and weirdest influencers and social media stars. They post their Tik-Tok’s in the comfortability of their neighborhoods and live next to the biggest of actors of Sherman Oaks.
‘Welcome to the Land’ is Perico’s tour guide on where he grew up, an honest portrayal of the life he was living. The intro and title-track details the lifestyle the area provided; gang violence, crime and people hating on the fame. Despite that, Perico refuses to leave LA, “I swear I love it here, I ain’t leaving until they bury me deep up under here.”
The South Central native is bossed up, sounding like the head-honcho on tracks “Solid Gold.” The flexes go beyond the fashion, it’s about status in his land. Perico demands to know where you’re from, or if you want to make money moves “come to Perico Innerprizes.” It becomes clear he thrives in this environment, with tracks like “Sunday Night" and “Hoes" where Perico is in his element of driving Corvette’s and bikes and getting million-dollar coochie.
Perico tries to process whether every single person he comes across is a homie or an enemy on “Street Paranoia.” He expressed the possibility of having PTSD from bangin' his entire life. The somber west-coast track defines where his mental space is at. The solemn sound continued on “Turn Around” where he contemplated retiring last year and thugged it out. The stress is apparent on this track with everything rising like murder rate, real estate and prison rate. Still, with all of that looming him, he doesn’t let that hinder the movement. Perico’s only option is to push forward.
Perico gives us his best performance on the backend of this album, starting with “In Vain.” His lyrical prowess on reminiscing over the street life with the soothing west-coast beat puts you at ease while he speaks on his story. The lessons he’s learned from the streets, he’s applied to real life such as becoming an entrepreneur and comparing rapping to the movin’ bricks.
“Every tape I drop is like a raw brick of cocaine…”
Followed up by the sentimental song “Welcome Home" dedicated to his homie who was just released from prison, “Welcome back to the land, you just in time for this million-dollar plan.”
Perico is just happy that people like him still exist; sticking to the code and deciding not to snitch. “Go Getter" is that progressive street music claiming he’s the king of that genre.
“He’s a… dope dealer scammin ass go getta" continues to replay in my head on a constant loop. But Perico focused on maintaining the millions for himself and his people.
Those reflections on his days in the trenches of South Central have given him reason to continue to go harder. It’s beyond clear that his area brought him to greater heights as a man and artist and sees the sky as the limit for his brand.
Deeper than that, the music stayed authentic to who he is and what he stands for.
Gangster shit.
That classic funky sound that’s shaped and engraved in his soul. He just wanted to show us.
