YG's "Bicken Back Bein Bool" sits in the shadow of Ice Cube's "Today Was a Good Day" as a snapshot of a Compton afternoon: both permanently chill and constantly on the brink of chaos. The title washes a simple phrase like "Kicking back, being cool" in Blood-red nomenclature, a symbol that even a day spent sitting with friends in front of your childhood home doesn't protect from the shadow of gang culture that blankets entire neighborhoods. It's where we find YG and his crew in this new video, forced to defend their block from rival bangers on an otherwise normal morning with the sun shining and old folks bickering in the street. If gangster rap aims not to solve, but to document, YG's accuracy is welcomed: he has the dead-eyed honesty of a child at war, and the sense of humor of a man laughing through it.
