Ronnie Hudson

Early life

Reared in Washington, D.C., Hudson began developing his craft at the age of sixteen, playing bass in the band of his friend and mentor Charles Harrington. He eventually started his own band, Chapter One, with Al Johnson, after playing with Chuck Brown and the Soul Searchers. He later moved to Memphis, Tennessee, to become one of Stax Records recording bassists. At Stax Records, he recorded and toured with Isaac Hayes on his Grammy-winning soundtrack for the 1970s hit movie Shaft, and multi-platinum Black Moses. He also recorded and co-produced songs with good friends Rufus Thomas on the "Breakdown", and Luther Ingram on "If (Loving you is wrong I don't want to be right)".

Career

Ronnie Hudson blazed his own trail in the hip hop genre with multi-platinum recording, West coast Poplock. Dr.Dre and many other artists including 2pac with California Love and Snoop Dogg with the Poplock 2 have covered this song. Hudson has a passion for Gospel music and it is expressed in this moving and personal journey of the soul. Consisting of a three-man horn section, upright piano, guitar, percussions and drums, with Hudson on the bass guitar, the band is paired with vocals.

1982: "West Coast Poplock"

"West Coast Poplock" is one of the most popular singles by Ronnie Hudson and the Street People and was released in 1982. The song was featured in Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas in the fictional radio station Bounce FM. Immediately adopted as an anthem by KDAY, "West Coast Poplock" has rarely left radio since its release 32 years ago. It has been sampled by N.W.A, Snoop Dogg, Dr. Dre, Scarface and Mos Def. The song is notable for its sample in Dr. Dre's and 2pac's song "California Love", which was released on Death Row Records label in 1995. Hudson made a comeback with his album Westcoastin', in which West Coast Poplock was renamed to "West Coast Poplock 2020" and was re-mastered. Hudson first blazed the West Coast hip hop trail with his 1982 hit "West Coast Poplock". It was later recorded and sampled by Dr. Dre & 2Pac as "California Love". Both quickly became undisputed West Coast anthems by KDAY. Hudson's work is featured in films including The Social Network (also known as The Facebook Movie), Iron Man II, and South Central, and the video game Grand Theft Auto San Andreas. While at Stax Records, he recorded and toured with Isaac Hayes on his Grammy-winning soundtrack for the 1970s hit movie Shaft. The single "California Love" by 2pac and Dr. Dre, which is the best-known song and their most successful, reaching number one on the Billboard Hot 100 for two weeks. The original version contains a sample taken from Joe Cocker's 1972 song "Woman to Woman". The chorus, "California knows how to party", was sung by Roger Troutman using his characteristic talk box and was taken from the 1982 song "West Coast Poplock" by Ronnie Hudson & The Street People which was written by Larry Troutman and Roger Troutman. In the song where Troutman sings "shake it, shake it baby", he interpolates the chant he used on his 1982 Zapp single, "Dance Floor".

2014: Ronnie Hudson presents Westcoastin – EP

Hudson's debut album Westcoastin was No. 2 on Amazon's hot new releases and No. 3 on Amazon's best seller charts. The Westcoastin' album features Snoop Dogg, Too Short, E-40, B-Legit, Zapp Troutman, Rappin' 4-Tay, Celly Cel, Wyclef Jean, Suga Free, Lil Frost, J. Black, DJ Battlecat and was produced by West Coast rap pioneers, including The Real Richie Rich, Lee "DJ Flash" Johnson and Larry "Captain Rapp" Glenn as the album's executive producers.

Discography

Soundtracks

Actor