California. The West Coast. A region that dominated the hip-hop charts during the mid-90s, the scene has struggled to reclaim the position it once held during the heyday of the Death Row dynasty. One of the reasons has seemed to be young up-and-comers desperately holding onto the classic L.A. sound...a sound that has become dated over the years, failing to keep up with a rapidly changing industry.

Recently the coast has seen some signs of the tide beginning to change. One bright spot on the map hails from the city of Ontario...located in the Inland Empire, a region that lies just outside Los Angeles. If you’re just coming around, we’re proud to introduce you to that bright spot. The one and only Amen Riccs.

Growing up in the 90s, hip-hop was already a commercial success. "We would go around to these house parties and freestyle over records the DJ was playing", he recalls. "There was nothing even halfway serious about any of it". But it wasn’t long before people started telling him he really had something. One day in 2001, he decided to go record a demo...once again, he claims it wasn’t anything serious. "I don’t know", he says, "I had jacked some beats and written some songs. I just figured, let me go up in a studio and see how these come out". He booked one hour of studio time and recorded 3 complete songs. "Hooks and all", he says, half-smiling. "Start to finish. Didn’t nobody in there care about what I was doing."

He took it for what it was. The demo was played for a few friends and put on the shelf. It wasn’t until 2 years later he found himself dusting it off.

"I was just going through a lot", he says somberly. "I don’t want to make it out that my life has been any harder than the next person’s...but I’ve definitely been through mine." After seeing everything he counted on fall apart in a matter of weeks, he claims he got down and had a long talk with God. A talk that, however crazy it may sound, led him to where he stands today. "I was tired of trying so hard and always losing", he says. "I really just asked God to let me know why He put me here, what He wanted from me. I don’t know what God’s voice sounds like, but I stayed praying for a couple weeks...and one morning I woke up and felt like I knew the answer."

Most people would say he’s out of his mind. But if you watched everything that took place from that moment until today, you might not be so quick to talk. He started work on his debut album in 2003, and by fall of 2004 he was in the streets with the good ol’ California hustle. "I had hooked up with some cats at the studio", he recalls with the same excitement you’d have to assume he had when it all began, "and one of them told me when the record was done we needed to take it to the streets. As soon as it was done I quit my job and started selling the album from the trunk of my car." That album, the self-titled ’Amen Riccs’, went on to sell over 9,000 copies independently.

Over the years he found himself gracing stages up and down the coast, opening up for multi-platinum acts such as Bone Thugs n’ Harmony and E-40, as well as headlining his own events. Local radio stations began to spin his records, and soon enough the artist began to truly believe his calling had been found. "I just don’t think", he says, "...I just can’t believe that this was all an accident. There’s just too much, I’ve already accomplished so much more than most artists could dream of. God doesn’t make mistakes".

In 2006 he connected with one of his producers, Ed Money, and founded the independent label ’Real City’ - a name he claims sums up everything they stand for. "Real", he says with the confidence of a veteran. "It’s a word that gets thrown around a lot, but this music is what it really means. Nothing but the real." They quickly got to work on what would become Amen’s sophmore street album, and saw it’s release late that year. The album, entitled ’Somethin’s Gotta Give’, is a testament to the artist, the company and the grind. "It’s ridiculously hard where we’re at with it all right now, just selling from the trunks of cars", he says, "but I’ll put anything I’ve got behind that record. I know what this music is, I know what it is to the people." The team runs up and down the state, from Sacramento to San Diego and everything in-between. At the present time, they’ve sold just under 4,000 copies of the album.

There’s no shortcut to anyplace worth being. Over the years, Amen Riccs has truly come to understand the dream, the struggle...but he’s also come to understand that it’s those same dreams, those same struggles that make life worth living. "I’m just humbled", he says. "For me to wake up one morning with this crazy idea that God put me here to make music, and to be standing here 5 years later with 14,000 records flooded through the streets of Cali. All the people...all the love...that’s bigger than me. That’s God."

Only time will tell if he crazy. But even looking back from here, you almost wonder if you even need to ask. Here’s to the dream.



Visit the artist’s official site at amenriccs.com