Mozzy @ Canton Hall

Authenticity is like pornography — you know it when you see it. Or hear it, in the case of Mozzy, who makes music about his life growing up on the streets of Sacramento’s challenging Oak Park neighborhood. Over the last few years, he’s emerged as one of hip hop’s most essential storytellers. He raps with unmistakable patina of truth about the grinding realities of drugs, gangs, and violence.

Songs like “Black Hearted” perfectly capture his eye for pathos as he describes losing people close to him. “It’s a spiritual song,” he says. “I’m a gangster with an emotional state of mind.” Elsewhere, he turns up the heat on tracks like “Run It Up,” a tough-as-nails anthem with serious low-end bounce that features ScHoolboy Q. “If you got any type of funk with anybody, it makes you wanna go clean it up,” Mozzy explains.

– cantonhall.com