Hiero Day 2023 Affirmed Hip-Hop’s Local Essence — and National Gravity

Editor’s note: This story is part of That’s My Word, KQED’s year-long exploration of Bay Area hip-hop history.

With stellar performances from headlining act Common and the eponymous Hieroglyphics crew, Hiero Day 2023 did not disappoint.

In its second year at Frank Ogawa Plaza, in front of Oakland City Hall – downsized from the previous location at Third Street and Linden, which saw crowds in excess of 20,000 – the daylong hip-hop festival felt just right. With little crowd congestion, one could easily stroll through the vendors and food options, or traverse between two stages. Yet it was dense enough to evoke a sense of collective excitement amongst attendees – a mix of hip-hop fans from seemingly all ages, walks of life, and ethnic backgrounds.

It’s safe to say people will be talking about Common’s Oakland appearance long afterwards. The Chicago emcee, actor, activist and philanthropist delivered a top-notch set that interspersed his own hits with iconic hip-hop songs by other artists, in honor of “Hip Hop 50” – the 50th anniversary of hip-hop, a through-line for many acts throughout the day. Colorfully dressed in a short sleeve button-down shirt, Common’s charisma and commanding stage presence were in evidence for all to see.

Common began his set with his ode to hip-hop culture, “I Used to Love H.E.R.,” which first catapulted him to national attention in the mid-’90s. Like De La Soul’s “Stakes Is High,” the song stands as a cautionary tale, warning against cultural co-option and commodification while underscoring what’s attractive and endearing about the culture in the first place. With poetic flair, Common spins his tale by metaphorically referring to hip-hop as a girl he fell in love with at the age of 10, who “was fresh, yo, when she was underground.”

At first “original, pure, untampered, a down sister,” she changed – moving to the West Coast and embracing a gangsta lifestyle instead of Afrocentricity, then becoming popular with suburban crowds. Though his love has been defiled and degraded, Common pledges at the end of the song: “I’ma take her back, hopin’ that the shit stop / ‘Cause who I’m talkin’ about, y’all, is hip-hop.”

It proved to be the perfect set opener, a classic tune made before many in the audience were born, that remains relevant in its message while aligning with the Hip Hop 50 theme. Another highlight was “The Corner,” from the album Be, produced by Kanye West (back when he was hip-hop’s rising star on the boards), the album version of which features Umar Bin Hassan of the Last Poets, the socially-conscious spoken word artists known as the godfathers of rap. It was a solid selection that peeled back Common’s Hollywood sheen for some authentic grit.

Common closed his set, and the show, with “The Light,” a single from the heyday of the neo-soul era that remains one of hip-hop’s sweetest love songs. Though Common has a reputation as a ladies’ man – Oakland mayor Sheng Thao gushed over him earlier in the day – his approach to the opposite sex has always been respectful. So it wasn’t difficult for the ladies in the house to get completely into the song’s mellow, feel-good vibe, singing along to the chorus lifted from the late Bobby Caldwell: “There are times, when you need someone / I will be by your side / There is a light that shines / Special for me and you.”

Right before Common’s set, Hieroglyphics performed a short but impactful set that seemed to roll back the clock 30 years in terms of their on-stage energy – except their kineticism was tempered by veteran savvy. Up-and coming emcees in the crowd were likely taking notes; this was a masterclass in live performance dynamics. Kicking off with 1998’s “Oakland Blackouts,” the fan favorite’s laid-back album version donned a supercharged carapace live, as Del the Funky Homosapien and Opio traded verses well-qualified to be hip-hop quotables. This may be the only rap song in history to compare emcees to “platypuses,” and the two emcees’ internal rhyme schemes were impeccable throughout.

“Oakland Blackouts” set the tone for the rest of the set, as the other Hieros fed off Del and Opio with lots of crowd-amping gestures and hand raises. There were noticeable rushes from the audience for particularly nasty lyrical flurries by Tajai and Pep Love, although there really wasn’t a weak flow to be found amongst any of the Hieros. It would have been nice had the set afforded more exposition of deep cuts from the collective’s three-decade catalog – “The Powers That Be,” from 2003’s Full Circle, sounded epic.

The song’s bouncy, boom-bap beat shows why Domino is highly underrated as a producer, while the verses from Opio, Tajai, Del and Pep Love were a wicked whirlwind of battle-rap braggadocio and pop culture references (including Chow Yun Fat and Voltron). When Del says “I’m kinda different yo / what I say is thought-provoking,” he could easily be referring to his entire crew. “This is rap Olympics / Hieroglyphics, the dream team,” Pep Love proclaimed. In that moment, no one witnessing the show would have reasonably disagreed.

Hieroglyphics closed their set with Souls of Mischief’s iconic “93 Til Infinity,” which has to be one of the top hip-hop anthems of all time. There’s just something about the A-Plus-produced track that makes you feel warm and fuzzy inside. Maybe it’s the pitch-shifted Billy Cobham sample, or maybe it’s the breezy lyrics which evoke the epitome of laid-back Cali cool (“Now we feel the good vibrations / So many females, so much inspiration”). The song never gets old.

An unexpected highlight took place between Hieroglyphics and Common’s sets, when Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao and Mystik Journeymen/Living Legends emcee Corey “Sunspot Jonz” Johnson announced that the City has partnered with Hiero Day – a development that illustrates just how far hip-hop has come. Some may recall when Oakland’s annual Art & Soul festival avoided booking hip-hop acts altogether, or Oakland’s year-long moratorium on rap shows at City-owned facilities. Just as Hieroglyphics broke the mold by performing at Art & Soul, this year’s Hiero Day appeared to usher in a new era of municipal collaboration with the hip-hop community.

Thao, for her part, certainly seemed to embrace the culture. Dressed in a hella fresh varsity-style jacket with Oakland’s tree logo embroidered on the back, she looked amped to be able to talk about something other than rising crime rates, police scandals, and the deteriorating relationship with the Oakland A’s. She handed out a series of commemorative proclamations honoring the contributions of community mainstays and culture keepers, including Johnson; radio personality, DJ, and educator Davey D; Eastside Arts Alliance co-founders Elena Serrano and Traci Bartlow; visual artist and filmmaker Shomari Smith; and rapper, entrepreneur and activist Mistah F.A.B.

Each of the honorees gave a short speech. “I brought the underground here,” Johnson remarked, while Serrano noted that her association with hip-hop predates Eastside’s founding, going back to the late ’90s at Berkeley’s La Pena. F.A.B. made a point of speaking to underserved kids dealing with trauma: “It’s possible. Whether your father’s incarcerated or your mother’s on drugs, it’s possible to make it” – referring to his own uncertain upbringing and triumphant transformation into a certified cultural hero.

The presentations closed with Thao handing Common a heavyweight boxing-style belt, acknowledging his community work. Later, during his set, the rapper noted that he had been inspired by “the Town”’s examples, citing both Hieroglyphics and the Black Panthers, and name-checking Fred Hampton, the martyred leader of Chicago’s Panther chapter and subject of the recent film Judas and the Black Messiah.

The pacing at the end — Hiero, Thao, and Common — capped a day that started at noon and gradually built up momentum, as up-and-coming artists rocked both stages and attendees filtered into the venue. Some of the undercard was hit-or-miss, and the production’s timing got skewed, forcing some set times to be shortened, but there were still plenty of highlights.

A sparsely-attended early set by Richie Cunning on the second stage probably deserved a bigger audience. Cunning has been an emcee on the rise for many years now, and his flow, delivery, and punchline game seem increasingly ready for prime time. For fans of hardcore Bay Area mobb music, it was great to see Cellski with DJ T.C. the Enhancer. The Kev Choice Ensemble added jazzy musicality with a trip through hip-hop history, from Chic’s “Good Times” to a nod to Zumbi of Zion-I with “Don’t Lose Your Head.”

L.A. underground legend Medusa, who once bested Eminem in a rap battle back in the ’90s, delivered a fiery and fierce-as-fuck set. It was great to see the former member of duo Feline Science and Project Blowed alumnus still doing her thing. Her set was unfortunately truncated, but not before she ripped the recent single “Catch Yo Feelinz” (“You better catch your feelings / I’m about to jump off!”), which shows she can flow over anything, even a contemporary-sounding trap beat.

Ultimate Breaks and Beats curator Breakbeat Lou performed a high-level DJ set with sublime segues, like the Funky Four + 1’s “That’s The Joint” into Naughty By Nature’s “Uptown Anthem,” The Whole Darn Family’s “Seven Minutes of Funk” into Dru Down’s “Pimp of the Year,” and Digable Planets’ “Rebirth of Slick” into E-40’s “Yay Area.” Blending original songs with later tracks that used them as sample sources further carried the theme of hip-hop history as a progression and evolution of a cultural movement that started from the bottom and ended up at City Hall – literally. Yadidahmean?

Throughout the day, several of the artists spoke backstage about hip-hop’s evolution and their personal journeys through the culture. Del, reflecting on 50 years of hip-hop, said, “I just want our values and everything we based it on to live on.” Those values include“self-improvement goals and knowing your environment, being able to deal with motherfuckers in a competitive way instead of fighting or killing each other.”

A-Plus remarked on the longevity of “93 Til Infinity”: “I feel appreciative, honored. You know that I produce many different things, man. But that one is certainly special. It’s done everything for Souls of Mischief and for Hiero. The ways it’s aged, and the new generation with streaming, they’re looking back at it and then finding their own way with music.”

That’s enabled Hiero’s fanbase to expand beyond old heads, he says. “Young kids are part of our demo at this point. And it’s just really surreal. You don’t think that far ahead, like 30 years from now, young kids are going to think your song is the shit.”

Mistah F.A.B. specifically saluted Souls of Mischief’s milestone and what it means for the Bay Area and for Oakland. “To me, Hip Hop 30 is more important to Hip Hop 50, which is kind of weird. Crazy. But Hip Hop 30 for Hiero is very important, man. And I just love the fact that we’ve been included (in the Hiero Day celebration) to be able to watch our hometown guys come through, and for years continue to maintain relevancy, and continue to keep pushing and representing Oakland.”

That said, there would be no 30th anniversary for Souls had the culture never existed in the first place. F.A.B. continued: “Big shout out to the forefathers that opened up the doors. We’re happy to be here. Let’s continue to get another 50 up out of it, and not let the culture die, by preserving and respecting our elders and continuing to keep doing new work.”