Hip-Hop Guided Tour of Compton Offers a Taste of the 'Hood Life' (Video)

7:30 PM PST 1/7/2013 by Colin Stutz

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The Game's stepfather takes viewers and a car full of Australian tourists through South Central Los Angeles while providing a history lesson on N.W.A., Tupac Shakur, Eazy-E and the late Rodney King.

For those curious to learn a little more about the street names and neighborhoods referenced in their favorite rap songs, Pitchfork released a new short documentary today called "Hood Life: A Hip-Hop Guided Tour of Compton."

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In the video, our guide through South Central Los Angeles, where countless hip-hop icons have been birthed, is none other than The Game's own stepfather, Hodari Sababu, owner of Hood Life Tours. Sababu leads viewers and a car full of Australian tourists through history lessons about N.W.A., Tupac Shakur, the late Rodney King and OJ Simpson.

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He points out the Figueroa Street "ho-stroll," the go-to strip for all your prostitution needs and where he used to sell drugs. And he also makes note of the exotic male dance club he and Taylor's mom started, hiring mostly beefed-up ex-cons freshly out of jail. (That strip club is also where The Game danced a couple times in a thong, later prompting mockery by 50 Cent.) Another landmark on the Hood Life tour? Eazy-E's childhood home (see picture below), which Sababu points out in a drive-by.

In the short film, the enterprising dad explains the inspiration for Hood Life Tours came from going to his son's concerts and seeing a rich white audience singing along without any knowledge of what they were singing along to. Says Sababu: "I thought to myself, wouldn't it be an excellent idea to actually give them then opportunity to actually go to some of these places that the rappers are talking about? Not only go there but be safe and be able to jump out and take pictures in Compton and South Central that they can take back home with them?"