Cream of the Local Scene: Musically They’re All Over the Map

The L.A. music scene continued to diversify in 1993, expanding, if possible, on the eclecticism that marked last year’s list. Rap, folk, grunge, roots, new wave, pop-rock, industrial and more are represented in this look at new acts that made the biggest area impact this year .

Coolio: The rapper from Compton has a hard, syncopated flow of his very own, and he is genuinely funny in a way that those hordes of Uzi-toters are not. His recent single, a street-corner jam about waiting in line at the welfare office, is inescapable on urban radio; his first album, on Tommy Boy, should be out early next year.