A lot of great music and great groups have come out of Long Beach, but don't discredit the other artists that come out of the city as well. Long Beach is also home to some great comic acts like LB native Jason Collings. When it comes to Jason, you get the feeling that his surroundings had a lot to do with molding him into who his is today and who he will always be. Before Jason headlines the Irvine Improv this Thursday (December 13th) and inspired by the music that came out of the city, we got the chance to take a walk down memory lane to see what comes to his mind when we shout out Five Artists That Feel Ohhh So Long Beach.
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5. Domino
Jason Collings: Domino and I went to high school together in Long Beach. He might have been a grade under me, I'm not sure. Domino reminds me that we had talked about doing something together when I produced but then, I opened a martial arts studio and just stopped everything. I wonder where he is now. Really, where is he?
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4. Warren G
When I think of Warren G I think of when I first turned 21 and we started going out to clubs. You have to understand that one of these guys could never write a song without mentioning Long Beach. They always did and as Long Beach natives, we fucking loved it! We'd literally look around the clubs like, you're listening to our music now! That's what comes to mind. Hearing that Long Beach in the club and loving the fact that hey, we're from here. This is our shit!
3. Slightly Stoopid
I like Slightly Stoopid but the first time I heard them, I thought they were Sublime. I was like, 'Oh wow I thought Brad was dead!' Then it started getting old. It came to a point when I was like, 'If I hear one more white boy reggae band I'm going to lose my mind. And if I see one more white boy with dreadlocks I am going to strangle him with the dreadlocks.' [Laughs.]
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2. Sublime
Yeah, the whole Sublime thing. You have to love them. After they came out there were a bunch of groups that came out and sounded just like them. The kids are now listening to Sublime and I'm like, 'That band was the band that you'd hire for twenty dollars to play at your house party!' Sublime was just a regular house party band when I was in high school.
1. Snoop Dogg
When Snoop Dogg got picked up by Dr. Dre we all thought, 'Hell yeah! Long Beach is on the hip hop map!' I went to high school with Snoop, we're the exact same age. His mom still goes to the church that is right next door to my friend's house. He's a real hometown guy. He made it and he still made sure to keep ties from where he was from. Of course he couldn't still live here because people would be knocking his door down. When you get that certain celebrity status you just have to move you know?
I noticed you are pretty into hip-hop. You kind of light up when you talk about it.
Oh yeah, I even produced it for a while! I had a record deal with PolyGram Island Records as a producer and I produced some hip-hop. One of my biggest claims to fame was that I had a couple songs that I produced in an HBO movie called, “Strapped.” I produced the songs when I was nineteen-years-old so that was a long time ago. My brother David and I made a lot of tracks for it. David's my identical twin and he's the best looking guy I know!
Ha. I'm sure! Well thanks for playing along with us. What's up for your show this Thursday at the Irvine Improv?
I talk about race a lot in my act. And I mean, I talk about everybody and I don't hold back. That's another thing I loved about growing up in Long Beach, all of my friends that I've known since I was twelve years old are the most mixed group of people I know. It's like the set up to a joke. You got the white guy, the black guy, the Latino guy, the Asian guy, and you have the Jew. Literally that's my group of friends. The Irvine Improv is one of my favorite clubs because the audiences are so weird down there. Sometimes they laugh short and that's it and then sometimes it's a total blast. Either way I promise you that you'll love my comedy. It should be a fun show.
See where Jason is going to be next by checking out his Facebook page, follow him on Twitter @JasonCollings, and check out some video hilarity on his YouTube channel. Get your tickets now to see Jason at the Irvine Improv this Thursday (December 13th) at www.Improv.com or by calling 949-854-5455. The Improv is located at 71 Fortune Drive Irvine, CA 92618.
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Ali Lerman knows much about comedy, basketball, and celebrating Wu-Tang Wednesday. She’s been writing for sixteen years and still calls her mom with grammatical questions.