Grandmaster Lonzo

Grandmaster Lonzo more famously known as Lonzo Williams is a West Coast rap pioneer and is often hailed by many west coast hip-hop artists and insiders as the Godfather of West Coast hip-hop scene and is one of the pioneers of the electro-hop a duplicate of the electro scene on the East Coast and is responsible for the rise of gangsta-rap artists such as Dr Dre, Yella being most notable.

Born on December 26th 1957 in Compton Lonzo began his fully-fledged career in music during the late 1970s as a DJ. He was friendly with Roger Clayton and together they formed Z-Car Promotions in which both arranged and set MCing and DJing parties around Compton. The Z-Car promotion lasted for a brief time before Clayton and Lonzo split up with Clayton going on to form Uncle Jamms Army a collective group of early west coast rappers and DJS which led to rise of electro-hop artist such as Egyptian Lover while Lonzo began experimenting with creating a funk sound with a group of DJS under the Disco Construction banner which then lured Lonzo into the nightclub business with managing several nightclubs around the LA area his most famous one being Eve After Dark.

Eve After Dark was a showcase or opporunitys for many rappers and more particularly DJS to showcase their skills at the events/parties that Lonzo arranged within the nightclub. Cil-n-tel, Dr Dre and DJ Yella would become frequent DJS that would become booked DJ sets in the Eve After Dark. Lonzo saw potential in all three of them and decided to form the Wreckin Cru. Kru-Cut records shortly not long after was formed by Lonzo and ran by Swamp Dog annd cut a distribution deal with Macola records a small urban record label.

The first single of the Wreckin Cru Slice featuring Yella and Cil-n-tel would achieve ghetto gold by selling 4,000 copies which was an achievement.

The surprise success of the single Slice Lonzo let Dre into the group and would evolve into the World Class Wreckin Cru the World was added onto Wreckin Cru after the World Olympics were heldin LA at that particular time. Also it would led to the single Surgery a basis to launch the reputation of Dre and the Dr moniker was added to Dre's name.