reaper mook

​​​​Blue Chips is a monthly rap column that highlights exceptional rising rappers. To read previous columns, click here. If the sun were shining, Reaper Mook and NiceGuyxVinny would be sitting in the shadow of a lighthouse. But few rays crack the concrete sky on this overcast mid-August afternoon in downtown Long Beach. The locally-revered rapper and producer (respectively) share a wooden bench, conversing while watching the rancid ocean water sway nearby docks. Long Beach natives, collaborators, and now roommates, they could be discussing anything from the muggy weather to their next project and the rent. Mook nods behind dark Versace lenses when I arrive and lifts his broad, 6’7” frame from the bench. He regrets to inform me that Parker’s Lighthouse, the upscale seafood restaurant he sel...