In Cherokee Nation, a feud has been simmering for more than 180 years.

I always joke that the bridges and the russes were like the Montague's in the

Capulets. We've been fighting for so long that people don't really know why,

but in Cherokee we we know why.

That's next week on Code Switch from NPR.

I'm Jesse Thorn, it's Bullseye.

Time now for the song that changed my life, a segment where we bring on people who make great music

and talk with them about the song that defined who they are. This time it's Cut Chemist.

Born Lucas McFadden and raised right here in Los Angeles, Cut Chemist is a DJ and producer.

Together with Charlie Tuna, Akiel, Soup and more, he co-founded the Jurassic 5, the iconic underground rap club.

Cut Chemist also made a name for himself as a solo artist, and when we first had him on the show,

he just released Die Cut.

Cut Chemist got into hip-hop at a pretty young age.

Two young actually get past the door man at most night clubs.

Then he heard about a place called the Good Life Cafe in South LA, an all-age's health food store

with open mics that in the years since have become absolutely legendary.

The Good Life scene was known for an uncompromising attitude,

bring innovations or else. Legendary LA acts like Snoop Dogg and the Black Eyed Peas and Ice Cube

were known to stop by, and the venue fostered its own innovative artists like Absdrak Rude and

Medusa and the Freestyle Fellowship. The Fellowship was a boundary-defying underground crew,

fronted by MC's Micah9 and AC alone. At a time when West Coast Hip-hop was defined in the popular

consciousness by death row records acts like Snoop and Dre. Freestyle Fellowship bucked the norms.

...