Video: J Stalin (@JStalinLivewire) » Stay Strapped [Prod. @aka1Frank & Dir. @DamonJamal]

Southern Hospitality premieres the new video for J Stalin’s new single “Stay Strapped” from his forthcoming album ‘SID (Shining In Darkness)‘. As the owner of Livewire Records & president of Town Thizzness Entertainment, a subdivision of the late Mac Dre’s label Thizz Entertainment, J Stalin is on the road to becoming a Bay Area legend. ‘SID (Shining In Darkness)‘ will mark his 14th album in 8 years, a considerable feat for such a young artist. The album is due on April 22 via Livewire Records.

“N*gga this Oakland, where n*ggas raising that murder rate,” raps J Stalin. Staying strapped 24/7 is a habit that’s a product of being born & raised in West Oakland. Even though the city, home of many revolutionaries including the Black Panthers, has a reputation as being a beautiful, picturesque place, it’s also adversely known for having one of the highest murder rates in the nation. “The city is so small. If you have problems with someone it’s easy to run into them,” says J Stalin. “Also, it’s the culture of violence. It’s the only way the youth has learned to settle their problems. On top of a bad school system, they’re put in an all-around losing situation.”

Southern Hospitality had this to say about J Stalin: “As anyone who has frequented these pages since the heady, digitally adolescent days of 2009 will know, Southern Hospitality have been zealots for J. Stalin & his Livewire camp’s raw but fantastically melodic brand of Oakland mob music for many years. And even in 2014, there’s just nothing quite like the feeling you get when Stalin emotes on record.”