Journalist William Shaw chronicles the lives of seven young men in Southcentral Los Angeles as they struggle for success in the hip hop music industry. Shaw reveals that the world these men inhabit is one of few opportunities and frequent violence, yet it is a world unlike the wasteland often depicted in the rap lyrics that have made it famous. Among the men Shaw meets are Khop, a former honor student who finds fame working with rap star Ice Cube; Rah, who loses his friend and fellow rapper in a shooting; energetic talent-show regular Big Al, dropped by his label after his first album flops, and other surprising and ambitious men facing uncertain futures. In Westside, Shaw also tells of his meetings with Ice Cube, Tupac Shakur, and Bronx hip hop pioneer Kool Herc, examines the life and career of N.W.A."s Eazy-E, and witnesses a performance by a then-unknown (and penniless) Eminem.