Hip-hop based in and around Los Angeles has been synonymous with so-called gangsta rap since NWA&rsquos game-changing 1988 album Straight Outta Compton. Former NWA-member Dr Dre founded Death Row Records with the thuggish Suge Knight and suddenly gangsta rap and Dre&rsquos g-funk sound found a national audience, creating superstars like Dre himself, Snoop Doggy Dogg (he&rsquos since left off the tautologous &lsquoDoggy&rsquo) and Tupac Shakur. After the murders of Shakur and his East Coast rival Biggie Smalls, the churlish coastal rivalry no longer seemed like so much theatre, just a front to sell records. But this is rap as played out in the headlines, in the charts and on MTV. Hip-hop is about more than this it&rsquos about community and at the grassroots level it shares with punk a raw DIY aesthetic.

Commercial hip-hop is now America&rsquos soundtrack, played as much,if not more, in suburban malls as in the inner city. As you&rsquod expect, in LA most mainstream clubs play hip-hop, have a hip-hop room or least a hip-hop night. Club scene in LA is competitive, full of people desperate to get into clubs like Villa (310-289-8623, www.villalounge.com) on Melrose Avenue on the off-chance they might be photographed in the vicinity of Lindsay Lohan. Villa&rsquos DJs almost certainly play hip-hop and R&ampB, as will those at any number of upscale clubs on Melrose or in Hollywood where you&rsquore unlikely to get in, like the Kress (323-785-5000, www.thekress.net) with its Friday night rooftop parties where a table might cost upwards of $1,500.The world of commercial rap, which glories in money and its trappings, recognises kindred souls in the promoters at the likes of Villa or the Larchmont but hip-hop heads know to stay well clear. On Thursday nights heads coalesce at the Leimert Park neighbourhood in South Central LA for the Project Blowed open mic. Project Blowed (www.projectblowed.com), active for well over a decade now, is a positive force with deep roots in its community and true to the innovative spirit of hip-hop. Its Thursday nights are a raucous affair and the talent on display is always formidable. The Airliner&rsquos Low End Theory nights every Wednesday should not be missed by any visitor eager to sample new sounds. The Airliner (323-221-0771, www.myspace.com/theairlinerclub) is an unprepossessing venue in Lincoln Heights but it&rsquos worth persevering or simply ignoring the discomfort to listen to the likes of Gaslamp Killer and Nosaj Thing. Thursdays at the Little Temple (www.littletemple.com) on Santa Monica Boulevard are Root Down nights (www.myspace.com/rootdownclub) featuring emerging independent hip-hop artists. And don&rsquot forget Stones Throw Records (www.stonesthrow.com), based in LA, has been putting out great records since 1996, including the brilliant work of Madlib, whose strange Rajni-kant-obsession can be perused on Youtube. There is plenty of exciting hip-hop being made in Los Angeles, almost all of it away from the mainstream the website www.lahiphopcalendar.com is a valuable resource if you&rsquore looking to check out a show.