Documentary: Welcome to Bompton – Vice Explores The City of Compton (Parts 1-6)

Compton, California, is known for launching the rap careers of stars like Kendrick Lamar, and music provides a promising avenue out of the community’s cycle of violence. VICE takes us behind the scenes in a new documentary titled Welcome To Bompton, exploring Compton, California. In the second of six segments of the doc, they spend a day with Kendrick’s childhood friend Lil L, who’s pursuing his own musical ambitions. Then we see one of the West Side’s many hole-in-the-wall studios, where L gets to work recording with his friend Earl Swavey and producer Larry Jayy.

In the third segment, Snoop calls in to a radio show hosting several Compton rappers. Then, they spend some time on Rosecrans Avenue with Hitta J3, whose song “Do Yo Gudda” has become Compton’s latest dance craze.

In Part 4, they pay a visit to the Greater Zion Family Church and talk to Pastor Michael Fisher about what he thinks the role of gangster rap is in the community and whether crime in Compton is actually receding. Then, we head to Campanella Park, the heart of Piru gang territory, to talk to Kendrick’s friend G. Weed about his experiences growing up Piru and becoming involved in the ongoing back-and-forth with the neighboring Crips.

In Part 5, we see Lil L talk about his plans to get out of gang life and brings us to Trap Kitchen LA, a catering company run by a Piru and a Crip out of a former trap house. To conclude, Part 6 they visit a barbershop with a studio in the back room, and show the length at which people in inner city communities will go to better their lives. Kendrick Lamar expresses how much he loves the city of Compton, and how he plans to take the city with him wherever his success takes him. Take a look below.