Mac Dre Will Get a Vallejo Street Named in His Honor
20 Years After Mac Dre’s Death, the Furly Ghost Still Lingers
Seiji Oda Is Reshaping Bay Area Rap With Lo-Fi, Minimalist Hyphy
Steph Curry Is Producing a Mac Dre Documentary
In the ’90s, California Music Channel Became the MTV of Bay Area Rap
Watch: ‘What’s Pimpin’?’ Takes on Misogynoir in Bay Area Hip-Hop
Listen: Our Thizz DJ Mix Honors Mac Dre’s Complicated, Posthumous Empire
Ube Ice Cream Tacos Are the Bay Area’s Homegrown Answer to the Choco Taco
How I Made a Bay Area Classic at Age 15
Hyphy Meets Hot Wings at Sideshow Kitchen
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When Mac Dre came onto the scene in the late ’80s, it was maybe less than a dozen record labels in the Bay Area that focused on rap,” Ray Luv told KQED in a phone call. “He helped to pave the way for kids from the 707, from the Bay area. And he was able to make his mark internationally, as far away as Amsterdam. They celebrate Mac Dre Day all over the world.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Mac Dre, born Andre Hicks in 1970, was a major influence on prominent Bay Area rappers during the ’90s and 2000s, including Mistah F.A.B. and \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13924167/mac-mall-illegal-business-my-opinion-excerpt\">Mac Mall\u003c/a>. He also \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13967351/mac-dre-20-years-death-furly-ghost-bay-area\">inspired the Bay Area’s next generation\u003c/a> of hitmakers, including P-Lo and Karri. Earlier this year, the two produced Drake’s “2 Hard 4 the Radio,” which heavily samples Mac Dre’s 1989 song “2 Hard 4 the Fuckin’ Radio,” which launched his career as a teenager. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Two decades after his untimely death in a 2004 Kansas City shooting, Mac Dre’s hits, including “Feelin’ Myself” and “Thizzelle Dance,” remain in heavy rotation at Bay Area nightclubs and sports stadiums. For many fans, who’ve made countless tributes through artwork, tattoos and murals, Mac Dre represents freedom, self-expression and being unafraid to “dance a little different,” as he famously rapped on “Get Stupid.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“Mac Dre is a person that — people would come to his concerts, watch his videos and listen to his music, and they felt welcome,” Ray Luv said. “They felt invited. They did not feel ‘other’ when they were around him.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1080\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/01/MacDre.chez_.featured.jpg\" alt=\"a spraypainted mural of the rap artist mac dre\" class=\"wp-image-13924556\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/01/MacDre.chez_.featured.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/01/MacDre.chez_.featured-800x450.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/01/MacDre.chez_.featured-1020x574.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/01/MacDre.chez_.featured-160x90.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/01/MacDre.chez_.featured-768x432.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/01/MacDre.chez_.featured-1536x864.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\" />\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">A Mac Dre mural on Foothill Boulevard in Oakland by artist Chez. (Laurence Madrigal/We Were Hyphy)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>According to a petition for the commemorative street renaming filed by Miami the Most, an artist signed to Mac Dre’s Thizz Entertainment record label, the intersection of Taper Avenue and Amelia Street was the location of Mac Dre’s childhood home, and he made his earliest music there. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>The renaming makes Mac Dre the latest in a line of Bay Area hip-hop icons who’ve had streets renamed in their honor, including \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13936776/e-40-gets-the-key-to-the-city-of-vallejo-and-a-street-named-in-his-honor\">E-40\u003c/a>, \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13922616/too-short-way-street-sign-unveiled-oakland\">Too $hort\u003c/a> and \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13937563/tupac-shakur-way-oakland-street-renaming\">Tupac\u003c/a>. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>The Tuesday night Vallejo City Council meeting drew dozens of supporters who spoke in favor of the renaming during the 42 minutes of public comment. Those included Tom Pangelinan, a local coach; Solano County Supervisor Cassandra James, whose district includes North Vallejo; and artists, rappers and managers who either worked with or were inspired by Mac Dre. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“People ask me, ‘What is it that’s so great about Vallejo?’ This! It’s that intangible, it’s that community, it’s everybody showing up,” Mayor Andrea Sorce remarked, before taking a selfie with the large crowd. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Mac Mall was among the community supporters. “Andre Hicks was a selfless person,” he said. “He helped start my career, and helped countless young people get their start in the music business, and be able to change their lives and provide for their family and friends.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>In an interview, Mac Mall said he hopes Mac Dre Way will set an example for the youth of the Crest, the neighborhood where he and Mac Dre both grew up. “I believe that it’s gonna inspire the next generation to dream big and to do like Mac Dre, man,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>A date for the street renaming ceremony has not yet been set.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003chr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\" />\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Gabe Meline contributed reporting.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Now, Mac Dre will soon have a street named after him. On Sept. 8, the Vallejo City Council voted unanimously to rename Taper Avenue in Vallejo’s Crestside neighborhood Mac Dre Way.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“It’s about damn time,” said Vallejo Vice Mayor Diosdado “J.R.” Matulac at the unusually lively city council meeting. \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Ray Luv, a hip-hop artist and the chief of operations at Mac Dre’s estate, described the honorary street renaming as a major milestone for Vallejo hip-hop and Black culture more broadly.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“Mac Dre is one of the founders. When Mac Dre came onto the scene in the late ’80s, it was maybe less than a dozen record labels in the Bay Area that focused on rap,” Ray Luv told KQED in a phone call. “He helped to pave the way for kids from the 707, from the Bay area. And he was able to make his mark internationally, as far away as Amsterdam. They celebrate Mac Dre Day all over the world.”\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Mac Dre, born Andre Hicks in 1970, was a major influence on prominent Bay Area rappers during the ’90s and 2000s, including Mistah F.A.B. and \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13924167/mac-mall-illegal-business-my-opinion-excerpt\">Mac Mall\u003c/a>. He also \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13967351/mac-dre-20-years-death-furly-ghost-bay-area\">inspired the Bay Area’s next generation\u003c/a> of hitmakers, including P-Lo and Karri. Earlier this year, the two produced Drake’s “2 Hard 4 the Radio,” which heavily samples Mac Dre’s 1989 song “2 Hard 4 the Fuckin’ Radio,” which launched his career as a teenager. \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Two decades after his untimely death in a 2004 Kansas City shooting, Mac Dre’s hits, including “Feelin’ Myself” and “Thizzelle Dance,” remain in heavy rotation at Bay Area nightclubs and sports stadiums. For many fans, who’ve made countless tributes through artwork, tattoos and murals, Mac Dre represents freedom, self-expression and being unafraid to “dance a little different,” as he famously rapped on “Get Stupid.”\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“People ask me, ‘What is it that’s so great about Vallejo?’ This! It’s that intangible, it’s that community, it’s everybody showing up,” Mayor Andrea Sorce remarked, before taking a selfie with the large crowd. \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Mac Mall was among the community supporters. “Andre Hicks was a selfless person,” he said. “He helped start my career, and helped countless young people get their start in the music business, and be able to change their lives and provide for their family and friends.”\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>In an interview, Mac Mall said he hopes Mac Dre Way will set an example for the youth of the Crest, the neighborhood where he and Mac Dre both grew up. “I believe that it’s gonna inspire the next generation to dream big and to do like Mac Dre, man,” he said.\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\n\u003cp>In Bay Area hip-hop, few artists loom as large as \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/tag/mac-dre\">Mac Dre\u003c/a>, the late Vallejo rapper who helped inspire the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/tag/hyphy\">hyphy\u003c/a> movement and create the region’s signature sound.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Now, Mac Dre will soon have a street named after him. On Sept. 8, the Vallejo City Council voted unanimously to rename Taper Avenue in Vallejo’s Crestside neighborhood Mac Dre Way.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“It’s about damn time,” said Vallejo Vice Mayor Diosdado “J.R.” Matulac at the unusually lively city council meeting. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Ray Luv, a hip-hop artist and the chief of operations at Mac Dre’s estate, described the honorary street renaming as a major milestone for Vallejo hip-hop and Black culture more broadly.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“Mac Dre is one of the founders. When Mac Dre came onto the scene in the late ’80s, it was maybe less than a dozen record labels in the Bay Area that focused on rap,” Ray Luv told KQED in a phone call. “He helped to pave the way for kids from the 707, from the Bay area. And he was able to make his mark internationally, as far away as Amsterdam. They celebrate Mac Dre Day all over the world.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Mac Dre, born Andre Hicks in 1970, was a major influence on prominent Bay Area rappers during the ’90s and 2000s, including Mistah F.A.B. and \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13924167/mac-mall-illegal-business-my-opinion-excerpt\">Mac Mall\u003c/a>. He also \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13967351/mac-dre-20-years-death-furly-ghost-bay-area\">inspired the Bay Area’s next generation\u003c/a> of hitmakers, including P-Lo and Karri. Earlier this year, the two produced Drake’s “2 Hard 4 the Radio,” which heavily samples Mac Dre’s 1989 song “2 Hard 4 the Fuckin’ Radio,” which launched his career as a teenager. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Two decades after his untimely death in a 2004 Kansas City shooting, Mac Dre’s hits, including “Feelin’ Myself” and “Thizzelle Dance,” remain in heavy rotation at Bay Area nightclubs and sports stadiums. For many fans, who’ve made countless tributes through artwork, tattoos and murals, Mac Dre represents freedom, self-expression and being unafraid to “dance a little different,” as he famously rapped on “Get Stupid.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“Mac Dre is a person that — people would come to his concerts, watch his videos and listen to his music, and they felt welcome,” Ray Luv said. “They felt invited. They did not feel ‘other’ when they were around him.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1080\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/01/MacDre.chez_.featured.jpg\" alt=\"a spraypainted mural of the rap artist mac dre\" class=\"wp-image-13924556\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/01/MacDre.chez_.featured.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/01/MacDre.chez_.featured-800x450.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/01/MacDre.chez_.featured-1020x574.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/01/MacDre.chez_.featured-160x90.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/01/MacDre.chez_.featured-768x432.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/01/MacDre.chez_.featured-1536x864.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\" />\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">A Mac Dre mural on Foothill Boulevard in Oakland by artist Chez. (Laurence Madrigal/We Were Hyphy)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>According to a petition for the commemorative street renaming filed by Miami the Most, an artist signed to Mac Dre’s Thizz Entertainment record label, the intersection of Taper Avenue and Amelia Street was the location of Mac Dre’s childhood home, and he made his earliest music there. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>The renaming makes Mac Dre the latest in a line of Bay Area hip-hop icons who’ve had streets renamed in their honor, including \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13936776/e-40-gets-the-key-to-the-city-of-vallejo-and-a-street-named-in-his-honor\">E-40\u003c/a>, \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13922616/too-short-way-street-sign-unveiled-oakland\">Too $hort\u003c/a> and \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13937563/tupac-shakur-way-oakland-street-renaming\">Tupac\u003c/a>. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>The Tuesday night Vallejo City Council meeting drew dozens of supporters who spoke in favor of the renaming during the 42 minutes of public comment. Those included Tom Pangelinan, a local coach; Solano County Supervisor Cassandra James, whose district includes North Vallejo; and artists, rappers and managers who either worked with or were inspired by Mac Dre. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“People ask me, ‘What is it that’s so great about Vallejo?’ This! It’s that intangible, it’s that community, it’s everybody showing up,” Mayor Andrea Sorce remarked, before taking a selfie with the large crowd. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Mac Mall was among the community supporters. “Andre Hicks was a selfless person,” he said. “He helped start my career, and helped countless young people get their start in the music business, and be able to change their lives and provide for their family and friends.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>In an interview, Mac Mall said he hopes Mac Dre Way will set an example for the youth of the Crest, the neighborhood where he and Mac Dre both grew up. “I believe that it’s gonna inspire the next generation to dream big and to do like Mac Dre, man,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>A date for the street renaming ceremony has not yet been set.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003chr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\" />\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Gabe Meline contributed reporting.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"slug": "mac-dre-20-years-death-furly-ghost-bay-area",
"title": "20 Years After Mac Dre’s Death, the Furly Ghost Still Lingers",
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"headTitle": "20 Years After Mac Dre’s Death, the Furly Ghost Still Lingers | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cp>[dropcap]W[/dropcap]hen I ask the security guard at Oakland’s Mountain View Cemetery for directions to Plot 47, he replies, “You lookin’ for Dre?”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He’s an older brown-skinned man in a crossing guard vest, sporty sunglasses and an afro protruding from a trucker hat, his hair seasoned by strands of grey. As I talk to the thin, tall, square-shouldered brotha, I wonder: Is this what Mac Dre would’ve looked like had he been able to see elderhood?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright size-thumbnail wp-image-13833985\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/arts/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/05/OGPenn.Cap_-160x184.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"160\" height=\"184\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/05/OGPenn.Cap_-160x184.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/05/OGPenn.Cap_.jpg 180w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 160px) 100vw, 160px\">As he hands me a map, he says folks always come looking for Mac Dre’s burial site, usually to take pictures and leave tokens of appreciation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Those visitors are about to arrive in large numbers. On Nov. 1, 2004, Mac Dre was shot and killed in Kansas City at age 34. Which means that Friday, Nov. 1, will mark 20 years since his death, and a loss felt in every pocket of the Bay.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A week before the anniversary, I get to the gravesite and take in each letter engraved in the mahogany-colored marble headstone. ANDRE ‘MAC DRE’ HICKS.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13967460\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-13967460\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/Mac-Dre-RIP-800x1067.jpg\" alt=\"Mac Dre's headstone, located at Mountain View Cemetery in Oakland. \" width=\"800\" height=\"1067\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/Mac-Dre-RIP-800x1067.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/Mac-Dre-RIP-1020x1360.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/Mac-Dre-RIP-160x213.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/Mac-Dre-RIP-768x1024.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/Mac-Dre-RIP-1152x1536.jpg 1152w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/Mac-Dre-RIP-1536x2048.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/Mac-Dre-RIP-scaled.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Mac Dre’s headstone, located at Mountain View Cemetery in Oakland. \u003ccite>(Pendarvis Harshaw)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The gravesite has character. Two small pinwheels blow in the wind. There’s a couple coins, a piece of quartz and a small figurine of Ernie from Sesame Street. Two feathers stand atop the headstone, and at the center sits a six-inch metallic statuette of Mac Dre on a scooter in a straw hat and stunna shades — a \u003ca href=\"https://www.reddit.com/media?url=https%3A%2F%2Fpreview.redd.it%2Fo4k38u80jc741.jpg%3Fauto%3Dwebp%26s%3D923dc928f710936d8da6933dee7f5a723585bb94\">classic image\u003c/a> of the legend in Hawaii.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Born in Oakland on July 5, 1970, Dre grew up in Vallejo and became a proud representative of the Crestside neighborhood. But in reality, he held it down for the entire Bay Area.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>His decorated rap career spanned 15 years. He recorded album after album, toured continuously and created a subculture within a subculture. His \u003cem>\u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Lo0aiUxJ34\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Treal T.V.\u003c/a>\u003c/em> documentary is a cultural cornerstone. And his contributions to our lexicon are undeniable. If the Bay Area had its say, “Thizz” would be in Webster’s Dictionary.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13967496\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1668px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13967496\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/MacDre.NoahHaytin.FINALfinal.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"1668\" height=\"2388\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/MacDre.NoahHaytin.FINALfinal.png 1668w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/MacDre.NoahHaytin.FINALfinal-800x1145.png 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/MacDre.NoahHaytin.FINALfinal-1020x1460.png 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/MacDre.NoahHaytin.FINALfinal-160x229.png 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/MacDre.NoahHaytin.FINALfinal-768x1100.png 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/MacDre.NoahHaytin.FINALfinal-1073x1536.png 1073w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/MacDre.NoahHaytin.FINALfinal-1431x2048.png 1431w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1668px) 100vw, 1668px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">(\u003cem>Illustration by Noah Haytin/\u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/noh8tin/\">NOH8TIN\u003c/a>)\u003c/em>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Despite serving a five-year stint in a federal prison after being charged with conspiracy to commit bank robbery (a trial during which \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11954252/did-mac-dre-really-go-to-prison-because-of-his-lyrics\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">his lyrics were played for the jury\u003c/a>), Mac Dre had a prolific music career unlike any other.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And it’s still going.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A decade after his death, aerosol artists \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/illuminaries/?hl=en\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">The Illuminaries\u003c/a> put up a mural of \u003ca href=\"https://x.com/warriors/status/609932704205766657\">Steph Curry in a classic Thizz face pose\u003c/a> for the NBA Finals in Oakland. Last year, Curry’s company Unanimous Media announced a forthcoming \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13935501/steph-curry-mac-dre-documentary-bay-area-hip-hop\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Mac Dre documentary\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And just last month, NFL star-turned-media personality Marshawn Lynch was in Cuba for Amazon TV’s NFL coverage, where \u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bX2tJKo6wgs\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">he taught locals the Thizz Dance\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13967462\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-13967462\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/CHbqj0GUcAAFcNa-800x449.jpg\" alt=\"Thizz Face Steph Curry, painted in 2015 on 27th Street and Northgate Avenue in Oakland by The Illuminaries (the mural is no longer standing). \" width=\"800\" height=\"449\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/CHbqj0GUcAAFcNa-800x449.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/CHbqj0GUcAAFcNa-1020x573.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/CHbqj0GUcAAFcNa-160x90.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/CHbqj0GUcAAFcNa-768x431.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/CHbqj0GUcAAFcNa.jpg 1024w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Thizz Face Steph Curry, painted in 2015 on 27th Street and Northgate Avenue in Oakland by The Illuminaries (the mural is no longer standing). \u003ccite>(Pendarvis Harshaw)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>And here I am, two decades after Mac Dre’s death, at his gravesite asking questions to the wind blowing through the pinwheels by his headstone.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>You know you influenced everything from fashion to media, drug culture to car culture, spoken language to body language, right?\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Mac Dre was a man of many aliases — Andre Macassi, Ronald Dregan and more — but I was speaking to “Furl,” a.k.a. “The Furly Ghost.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>How did you do it, Furl? How do you become immortal? How do you influence generations of artists? How do you represent a region even after your demise? What does that mean for us? Are we haunted by the ghost of Furl, or are we enchanted by the legacy of a Mac named Dre? \u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13967465\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-13967465\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/unnamed-1-800x535.jpg\" alt=\"The image of Mac Dre's 'Ronald Dregan: Dreganomics' album cover is shown in the background, as veteran Vallejo MC B-Legit performs at History of The Bay Day in San Francisco. \" width=\"800\" height=\"535\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/unnamed-1-800x535.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/unnamed-1-1020x682.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/unnamed-1-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/unnamed-1-768x513.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/unnamed-1-1536x1027.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/unnamed-1.jpg 1616w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Mac Dre’s ‘Ronald Dregan’ album cover hovers over veteran Vallejo MC B-Legit at History of The Bay Day in San Francisco. \u003ccite>(Pendarvis Harshaw)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>[dropcap]T[/dropcap]he History of The Bay Day, an annual day party organized by podcast production duo, rapper \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/dregs_one/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Dregs One\u003c/a> and audio engineer \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/deo415/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">DEO\u003c/a>, is a collage of Bay Area hip-hop culture. Graffiti writers, MCs, media makers and more rub shoulders as panel discussions and live performances take place on the main stage.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This year, I walk in with Mac Dre on my mind.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Is Furl’s spirit still here? What does Mac Dre mean to fans of Bay Area hip-hop history? Is the lingering presence of “hyphy culture” impeding the progress of current Bay Area rap?\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside postID='news_11954252']When \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/djshellheart/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">\u003cstrong>DJ ShellHeart\u003c/strong>\u003c/a> plays Mac Dre during her events, she says, “it brings the party up to a whole ‘nother level, even in 2024.” Behind her dark-tinted sunglasses, ShellHeart’s eyes widen as she adds, “I get chills talking about it, that’s how I know his spirit is still here.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the snack line, \u003ca href=\"https://www.theringer.com/authors/logan-murdock\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">\u003cstrong>Logan Murdock\u003c/strong>\u003c/a>, writer for \u003cem>The Ringer\u003c/em> and co-host of \u003cem>The Real Ones\u003c/em>, tells me Mac Dre’s legacy lives on because there were “so many different versions of Dre, just like there are so many different versions of the Bay.” And as far as moving beyond the hyphy era, Murdock urges people to acknowledge the variety of Bay Area artists since Dre’s passing. “Artists like 22nd Jim, AllBlack, SOB x RBE, and others who’ve taken the genre forward,” he says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13930745\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 999px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13930745\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/06/mac-dre.png\" alt=\"Mac Dre performs on stage in the early 2000s, wearing giant sunglasses, a striped polo shirt and Adidas jacket.\" width=\"999\" height=\"751\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/06/mac-dre.png 999w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/06/mac-dre-800x601.png 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/06/mac-dre-160x120.png 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/06/mac-dre-768x577.png 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 999px) 100vw, 999px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Mac Dre onstage in the early 2000s. \u003ccite>(D-Ray)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>I run into producer \u003cstrong>\u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/trackademicks/?hl=en\">\u003cstrong>Trackademicks\u003c/strong>\u003c/a>\u003c/strong>, who compares Dre’s contribution to Bay Area hip-hop to the corn tortilla’s place in Mexican cuisine. “It’s part of our cultural fabric.” And just like there’s so much more to Mexican cuisine, there’s more to Bay Area hip-hop culture. “When folks decide to fixate,” says Trackademicks, “thinking you can only be the corn tortilla, that’s where the problems lie.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As for Mac Dre being a vital ingredient in our cultural roux, \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/a.m.a.lllllll/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">\u003cstrong>DJ Amal\u003c/strong>\u003c/a> tells me that “Mac Dre gave us weird. He gave us different. He gave us obscure.” His influence, and the imprint of the hyphy era, is present in new artists both in and out of the Bay, she says. “It’s a reference point, it’s a foundation for a lot of stuff that we do now.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside postID='arts_13930686']On the venue’s back patio, \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/djhholla/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">DJ H Holla\u003c/a> plays Mac Dre’s “Get Stupid.” Upstairs on the terrace, Oakland-based lyricist \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/aliasharrief/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">\u003cstrong>Alia Sharrief\u003c/strong>\u003c/a> doesn’t hesitate to tell me, “Mac Dre is the reason we’re \u003ca href=\"https://genius.com/198388\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">dipped in A.1.\u003c/a>”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“People are going to have their positives and negatives as far as impact and music and message,” Sharrief adds, referring to Dre’s promotion of pimping and pandering. “But when it comes to being happy, having heart and soul for the Bay Area… Mac Dre did that. And he still got us feeling ourselves today.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TepB8KXVZIk\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>San Francisco photographer \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/stson_/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">\u003cstrong>Stetson Hines\u003c/strong>\u003c/a> notes that Mac Dre’s work brought economic growth. Talking about Dre’s \u003cem>Treal T.V.\u003c/em> and other media endeavors, Hines asks, “You ever think about the \u003ca href=\"https://48hills.org/2022/12/meet-the-videographer-behind-mac-dres-historic-90s-treal-t-v/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">videographers\u003c/a> and \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13951122/d-ray-bay-area-hip-hop-photographer\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">photographers\u003c/a> it created?”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Well-known Pittsburg rapper and Mac Dre collaborator \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/golasoaso/?hl=en\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">\u003cstrong>Husalah\u003c/strong>\u003c/a> says Dre’s spirit has persevered because he represents a fading identity, “the street guys.” Akin to mobsters in Chicago, Husalah says they were once looked down upon, but now they’re celebrated.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s an outlaw life,” says Husalah, before going on stage. “We was cutthroats, pirates. Mac Dre was a pirate,” he says, explaining how as free-spirited artists with street ties they’d live freely, eating off of the land, drinking wine and playing their metaphorical “fiddle or violin.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>People romanticize artists from the true underground, Husalah says, and “Mac Dre represents one of the most authentic subcultures.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13967501\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1500px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13967501\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/009_9.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1500\" height=\"1000\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/009_9.jpg 1500w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/009_9-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/009_9-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/009_9-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/009_9-768x512.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1500px) 100vw, 1500px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A mural of Mac Dre in Langton Alley in San Francisco, circa 2005. \u003ccite>(Elizabeth Seward)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Before leaving, I talk with rapper, producer and studio engineer \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13897503/rapper-and-audio-engineer-xarina-opens-a-studio-of-her-own-in-east-oakland\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">\u003cstrong>Xarina\u003c/strong>\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When asked if she hears Mac Dre’s influence in the rappers she works with, she says matter-of-factly: “I record Mistah F.A.B. … When he feels like rapping like Mac Dre, he will rap like Mac Dre. In 2024.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She adds that other artists — Seiji Oda, LaRussell, and Nef the Pharoah to name a few — have taken aspects of Dre’s style and “flipped it and made it new and fresh.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“He’s hyphy,” Xarina says of Seiji Oda. “But it’s not same hyphy. It’s a refined new hyphy that fits into 2024.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13967464\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-13967464\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/0-1-800x1185.jpg\" alt=\"Artist Billy Blaze says his image of Mac Dre as the Furly Ghost is one of his most popular illustrations.\" width=\"800\" height=\"1185\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/0-1-800x1185.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/0-1-1020x1511.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/0-1-160x237.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/0-1-768x1138.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/0-1-1037x1536.jpg 1037w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/0-1.jpg 1061w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Artist Billy Blaze says his image of Mac Dre as the Furly Ghost is one of his most popular illustrations. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of Billy Blaze)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/seijioda/?hl=en\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">\u003cstrong>Seiji Oda\u003c/strong>\u003c/a> is a 26 year-old Japanese and Panamanian guy from Oakland who makes “lo-fi hyphy” music; it’s tranquil yet saucy, and it’s recently gained momentum.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>After he produced the beat for his latest track, “\u003ca href=\"https://soundcloud.com/seijioda/peaceful\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Peaceful\u003c/a>,” a friend pointed out that Oda had inadvertently flipped Mac Dre’s “Thizzle Dance” without realizing it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Intrinsically,” he says, “I heard it and I felt it.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Seiji Oda was just six when Mac Dre was killed, and says he got Mac Dre vibes secondhand from the artists who were popular in the 2010s. “I was listening to \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/ezalecantseewell/?hl=en\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Ezale\u003c/a> and \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/p_lo/?hl=en\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">P-Lo\u003c/a>,” says Seiji Oda during a phone call. He watched their videos, noticing how they embodied aspects of Dre’s music. “The way that it was passed down to us,” says Seiji Oda, “was through that lineage.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13967498\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13967498\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/MacDre.YBB_.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1000\" height=\"991\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/MacDre.YBB_.jpg 1000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/MacDre.YBB_-800x793.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/MacDre.YBB_-160x159.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/MacDre.YBB_-768x761.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Mac Dre’s ‘Young Black Brotha,’ recorded around the time he first met Ray Luv. \u003ccite>(Young Black Brotha Records)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Few can speak to Bay Area hip-hop lineage like \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/therealrayluv/?hl=en\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">\u003cstrong>Ray Luv\u003c/strong>\u003c/a>. Raised in Santa Rosa, as a teen he was close friends with Tupac, as a young adult he had his own career as an MC and nowadays Luv is the COO of Thizz Entertainment, managing Mac Dre’s estate.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Luv even has a story of Mac Dre and Tupac sharing the the same space.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In high school, Luv and Tupac once cut class to visit a video shoot for a Too Short song featuring Ice Cube. As Luv, Tupac and Shock G of The Digital Underground were being interviewed by famed comedian Mark Curry, Mac Dre arrived.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“When Mac Dre got to the door, everybody stopped, and all you heard was ‘Mac Dre!'” exclaims Luv, elevating the pitch in his tone to imitate the guests. “This was a room full of stars and celebrities, but Mac Dre was one of those figures, like Pac in a way; a star among stars.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13886730\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1198px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13886730\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/09/Screen-Shot-2020-09-23-at-10.02.09-AM.png\" alt=\"V White and Mac Dre in Big Pimpin' Turf Clothes\" width=\"1198\" height=\"1184\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/09/Screen-Shot-2020-09-23-at-10.02.09-AM.png 1198w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/09/Screen-Shot-2020-09-23-at-10.02.09-AM-800x791.png 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/09/Screen-Shot-2020-09-23-at-10.02.09-AM-1020x1008.png 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/09/Screen-Shot-2020-09-23-at-10.02.09-AM-160x158.png 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/09/Screen-Shot-2020-09-23-at-10.02.09-AM-768x759.png 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1198px) 100vw, 1198px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">V White and Mac Dre in Big Pimpin’ Turf Clothes. \u003ccite>(Big Printing Archives)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Luv says that these days, Dre’s brand is active, with companies regularly reaching out for potential action figures and hologram collaborations. “Without any marketing or promotion,” adds Luv, “he does millions of streams every month.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Why has Dre’s brand and spirit stood the test of time?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The reason we haven’t, per se, grown past Mac Dre, is because I don’t think that he’s someone to grow past,” says Luv, before remixing an iconic Maya Angelou quote. “People may not remember the words to your songs — they might not remember \u003cem>any\u003c/em> of your songs — but they will always remember the way you made them feel.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And Mac Dre made us feel ourselves.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13924556\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13924556\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/01/MacDre.chez_.featured.jpg\" alt=\"a spraypainted mural of the rap artist mac dre\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1080\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/01/MacDre.chez_.featured.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/01/MacDre.chez_.featured-800x450.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/01/MacDre.chez_.featured-1020x574.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/01/MacDre.chez_.featured-160x90.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/01/MacDre.chez_.featured-768x432.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/01/MacDre.chez_.featured-1536x864.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A Mac Dre mural on Foothill Boulevard in Oakland by artist Chez. \u003ccite>(Laurence Madrigal/We Were Hyphy)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>[dropcap]T[/dropcap]o understand Mac Dre’s impact, I revisited his discography and looked at old photos. I drove around, taking note of murals and stickers with with Mac Dre’s imagery, as well as people wearing Thizz gear. In 2024.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I spent time listening to a wide array of artists eager to discuss Dre’s legacy.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Famed Oakland-born actor \u003ca href=\"https://daveeddiggs.com/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">\u003cstrong>Daveed Diggs\u003c/strong>\u003c/a> asserts that Mac Dre “is under-appreciated as a lyricist and as a originator of cadences.” His hip-hop group \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/clppng/?hl=en\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">clipping.\u003c/a> often uses Mac Dre songs as a reference for a particular feel, Diggs says, and deeper cuts like “Since ’84” and “Me Damac” are some of his favorite Mac Dre tracks.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside postID='arts_13934874']“If I ever had written a verse as good as any of those,” Diggs testifies, “I would have stopped, I would’ve just stopped.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Angelically hyphy extraterrestrial Frisco native \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/alienmackitty/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Alien Mac Kitty\u003c/a> (AMK) attributes the “Mac” in her name to Mac Dre. In a voice note, she says she carries on that spirit, just as \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13928057/alien-mac-kitty-cougnut-daughter-san-francisco-frisco-rap-legacy\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">she carries on the legacy of her late father\u003c/a>, pioneering San Francisco rapper Cougnut. “He and Dre were actually really cool,” says AMK, adding that Mac Dre made everything fun, funky and colorful, in the most respectful way. The underground lyricist says that “Furl is still alive, and his spirit runs through the entire Bay Area renaissance right now.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The journey — all of the conversations — were worth it. But the answers to my questions were in the soil at Mac Dre’s gravesite all along. The cigarette butts and tiny trinkets, the holistic stones and loose change donated to the patron saint of the hyphy movement. All evidence that Mac Dre’s spirt, the ghost of Furl, is still alive — and it lives in the people.\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"headline": "20 Years After Mac Dre’s Death, the Furly Ghost Still Lingers",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cspan class=\"utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__dropcapShortcode__dropcap\">W\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\u003cp>hen I ask the security guard at Oakland’s Mountain View Cemetery for directions to Plot 47, he replies, “You lookin’ for Dre?”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He’s an older brown-skinned man in a crossing guard vest, sporty sunglasses and an afro protruding from a trucker hat, his hair seasoned by strands of grey. As I talk to the thin, tall, square-shouldered brotha, I wonder: Is this what Mac Dre would’ve looked like had he been able to see elderhood?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright size-thumbnail wp-image-13833985\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/arts/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/05/OGPenn.Cap_-160x184.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"160\" height=\"184\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/05/OGPenn.Cap_-160x184.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/05/OGPenn.Cap_.jpg 180w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 160px) 100vw, 160px\">As he hands me a map, he says folks always come looking for Mac Dre’s burial site, usually to take pictures and leave tokens of appreciation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Those visitors are about to arrive in large numbers. On Nov. 1, 2004, Mac Dre was shot and killed in Kansas City at age 34. Which means that Friday, Nov. 1, will mark 20 years since his death, and a loss felt in every pocket of the Bay.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A week before the anniversary, I get to the gravesite and take in each letter engraved in the mahogany-colored marble headstone. ANDRE ‘MAC DRE’ HICKS.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13967460\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-13967460\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/Mac-Dre-RIP-800x1067.jpg\" alt=\"Mac Dre's headstone, located at Mountain View Cemetery in Oakland. \" width=\"800\" height=\"1067\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/Mac-Dre-RIP-800x1067.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/Mac-Dre-RIP-1020x1360.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/Mac-Dre-RIP-160x213.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/Mac-Dre-RIP-768x1024.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/Mac-Dre-RIP-1152x1536.jpg 1152w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/Mac-Dre-RIP-1536x2048.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/Mac-Dre-RIP-scaled.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Mac Dre’s headstone, located at Mountain View Cemetery in Oakland. \u003ccite>(Pendarvis Harshaw)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The gravesite has character. Two small pinwheels blow in the wind. There’s a couple coins, a piece of quartz and a small figurine of Ernie from Sesame Street. Two feathers stand atop the headstone, and at the center sits a six-inch metallic statuette of Mac Dre on a scooter in a straw hat and stunna shades — a \u003ca href=\"https://www.reddit.com/media?url=https%3A%2F%2Fpreview.redd.it%2Fo4k38u80jc741.jpg%3Fauto%3Dwebp%26s%3D923dc928f710936d8da6933dee7f5a723585bb94\">classic image\u003c/a> of the legend in Hawaii.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Born in Oakland on July 5, 1970, Dre grew up in Vallejo and became a proud representative of the Crestside neighborhood. But in reality, he held it down for the entire Bay Area.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>His decorated rap career spanned 15 years. He recorded album after album, toured continuously and created a subculture within a subculture. His \u003cem>\u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Lo0aiUxJ34\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Treal T.V.\u003c/a>\u003c/em> documentary is a cultural cornerstone. And his contributions to our lexicon are undeniable. If the Bay Area had its say, “Thizz” would be in Webster’s Dictionary.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13967496\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1668px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13967496\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/MacDre.NoahHaytin.FINALfinal.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"1668\" height=\"2388\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/MacDre.NoahHaytin.FINALfinal.png 1668w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/MacDre.NoahHaytin.FINALfinal-800x1145.png 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/MacDre.NoahHaytin.FINALfinal-1020x1460.png 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/MacDre.NoahHaytin.FINALfinal-160x229.png 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/MacDre.NoahHaytin.FINALfinal-768x1100.png 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/MacDre.NoahHaytin.FINALfinal-1073x1536.png 1073w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/MacDre.NoahHaytin.FINALfinal-1431x2048.png 1431w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1668px) 100vw, 1668px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">(\u003cem>Illustration by Noah Haytin/\u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/noh8tin/\">NOH8TIN\u003c/a>)\u003c/em>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Despite serving a five-year stint in a federal prison after being charged with conspiracy to commit bank robbery (a trial during which \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11954252/did-mac-dre-really-go-to-prison-because-of-his-lyrics\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">his lyrics were played for the jury\u003c/a>), Mac Dre had a prolific music career unlike any other.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And it’s still going.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A decade after his death, aerosol artists \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/illuminaries/?hl=en\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">The Illuminaries\u003c/a> put up a mural of \u003ca href=\"https://x.com/warriors/status/609932704205766657\">Steph Curry in a classic Thizz face pose\u003c/a> for the NBA Finals in Oakland. Last year, Curry’s company Unanimous Media announced a forthcoming \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13935501/steph-curry-mac-dre-documentary-bay-area-hip-hop\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Mac Dre documentary\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And just last month, NFL star-turned-media personality Marshawn Lynch was in Cuba for Amazon TV’s NFL coverage, where \u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bX2tJKo6wgs\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">he taught locals the Thizz Dance\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13967462\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-13967462\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/CHbqj0GUcAAFcNa-800x449.jpg\" alt=\"Thizz Face Steph Curry, painted in 2015 on 27th Street and Northgate Avenue in Oakland by The Illuminaries (the mural is no longer standing). \" width=\"800\" height=\"449\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/CHbqj0GUcAAFcNa-800x449.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/CHbqj0GUcAAFcNa-1020x573.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/CHbqj0GUcAAFcNa-160x90.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/CHbqj0GUcAAFcNa-768x431.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/CHbqj0GUcAAFcNa.jpg 1024w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Thizz Face Steph Curry, painted in 2015 on 27th Street and Northgate Avenue in Oakland by The Illuminaries (the mural is no longer standing). \u003ccite>(Pendarvis Harshaw)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>And here I am, two decades after Mac Dre’s death, at his gravesite asking questions to the wind blowing through the pinwheels by his headstone.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>You know you influenced everything from fashion to media, drug culture to car culture, spoken language to body language, right?\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Mac Dre was a man of many aliases — Andre Macassi, Ronald Dregan and more — but I was speaking to “Furl,” a.k.a. “The Furly Ghost.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>How did you do it, Furl? How do you become immortal? How do you influence generations of artists? How do you represent a region even after your demise? What does that mean for us? Are we haunted by the ghost of Furl, or are we enchanted by the legacy of a Mac named Dre? \u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13967465\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-13967465\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/unnamed-1-800x535.jpg\" alt=\"The image of Mac Dre's 'Ronald Dregan: Dreganomics' album cover is shown in the background, as veteran Vallejo MC B-Legit performs at History of The Bay Day in San Francisco. \" width=\"800\" height=\"535\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/unnamed-1-800x535.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/unnamed-1-1020x682.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/unnamed-1-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/unnamed-1-768x513.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/unnamed-1-1536x1027.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/unnamed-1.jpg 1616w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Mac Dre’s ‘Ronald Dregan’ album cover hovers over veteran Vallejo MC B-Legit at History of The Bay Day in San Francisco. \u003ccite>(Pendarvis Harshaw)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cspan class=\"utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__dropcapShortcode__dropcap\">T\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\u003cp>he History of The Bay Day, an annual day party organized by podcast production duo, rapper \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/dregs_one/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Dregs One\u003c/a> and audio engineer \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/deo415/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">DEO\u003c/a>, is a collage of Bay Area hip-hop culture. Graffiti writers, MCs, media makers and more rub shoulders as panel discussions and live performances take place on the main stage.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This year, I walk in with Mac Dre on my mind.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Is Furl’s spirit still here? What does Mac Dre mean to fans of Bay Area hip-hop history? Is the lingering presence of “hyphy culture” impeding the progress of current Bay Area rap?\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>When \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/djshellheart/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">\u003cstrong>DJ ShellHeart\u003c/strong>\u003c/a> plays Mac Dre during her events, she says, “it brings the party up to a whole ‘nother level, even in 2024.” Behind her dark-tinted sunglasses, ShellHeart’s eyes widen as she adds, “I get chills talking about it, that’s how I know his spirit is still here.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the snack line, \u003ca href=\"https://www.theringer.com/authors/logan-murdock\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">\u003cstrong>Logan Murdock\u003c/strong>\u003c/a>, writer for \u003cem>The Ringer\u003c/em> and co-host of \u003cem>The Real Ones\u003c/em>, tells me Mac Dre’s legacy lives on because there were “so many different versions of Dre, just like there are so many different versions of the Bay.” And as far as moving beyond the hyphy era, Murdock urges people to acknowledge the variety of Bay Area artists since Dre’s passing. “Artists like 22nd Jim, AllBlack, SOB x RBE, and others who’ve taken the genre forward,” he says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13930745\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 999px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13930745\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/06/mac-dre.png\" alt=\"Mac Dre performs on stage in the early 2000s, wearing giant sunglasses, a striped polo shirt and Adidas jacket.\" width=\"999\" height=\"751\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/06/mac-dre.png 999w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/06/mac-dre-800x601.png 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/06/mac-dre-160x120.png 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/06/mac-dre-768x577.png 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 999px) 100vw, 999px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Mac Dre onstage in the early 2000s. \u003ccite>(D-Ray)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>I run into producer \u003cstrong>\u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/trackademicks/?hl=en\">\u003cstrong>Trackademicks\u003c/strong>\u003c/a>\u003c/strong>, who compares Dre’s contribution to Bay Area hip-hop to the corn tortilla’s place in Mexican cuisine. “It’s part of our cultural fabric.” And just like there’s so much more to Mexican cuisine, there’s more to Bay Area hip-hop culture. “When folks decide to fixate,” says Trackademicks, “thinking you can only be the corn tortilla, that’s where the problems lie.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As for Mac Dre being a vital ingredient in our cultural roux, \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/a.m.a.lllllll/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">\u003cstrong>DJ Amal\u003c/strong>\u003c/a> tells me that “Mac Dre gave us weird. He gave us different. He gave us obscure.” His influence, and the imprint of the hyphy era, is present in new artists both in and out of the Bay, she says. “It’s a reference point, it’s a foundation for a lot of stuff that we do now.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>On the venue’s back patio, \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/djhholla/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">DJ H Holla\u003c/a> plays Mac Dre’s “Get Stupid.” Upstairs on the terrace, Oakland-based lyricist \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/aliasharrief/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">\u003cstrong>Alia Sharrief\u003c/strong>\u003c/a> doesn’t hesitate to tell me, “Mac Dre is the reason we’re \u003ca href=\"https://genius.com/198388\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">dipped in A.1.\u003c/a>”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“People are going to have their positives and negatives as far as impact and music and message,” Sharrief adds, referring to Dre’s promotion of pimping and pandering. “But when it comes to being happy, having heart and soul for the Bay Area… Mac Dre did that. And he still got us feeling ourselves today.”\u003c/p>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutube'>\n \u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutubeInside'>\n \u003ciframe\n loading='lazy'\n class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__youtubePlayer'\n type='text/html'\n src='//www.youtube.com/embed/TepB8KXVZIk'\n title='//www.youtube.com/embed/TepB8KXVZIk'\n allowfullscreen='true'\n style='border:0;'>\u003c/iframe>\n \u003c/span>\n \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cp>San Francisco photographer \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/stson_/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">\u003cstrong>Stetson Hines\u003c/strong>\u003c/a> notes that Mac Dre’s work brought economic growth. Talking about Dre’s \u003cem>Treal T.V.\u003c/em> and other media endeavors, Hines asks, “You ever think about the \u003ca href=\"https://48hills.org/2022/12/meet-the-videographer-behind-mac-dres-historic-90s-treal-t-v/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">videographers\u003c/a> and \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13951122/d-ray-bay-area-hip-hop-photographer\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">photographers\u003c/a> it created?”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Well-known Pittsburg rapper and Mac Dre collaborator \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/golasoaso/?hl=en\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">\u003cstrong>Husalah\u003c/strong>\u003c/a> says Dre’s spirit has persevered because he represents a fading identity, “the street guys.” Akin to mobsters in Chicago, Husalah says they were once looked down upon, but now they’re celebrated.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s an outlaw life,” says Husalah, before going on stage. “We was cutthroats, pirates. Mac Dre was a pirate,” he says, explaining how as free-spirited artists with street ties they’d live freely, eating off of the land, drinking wine and playing their metaphorical “fiddle or violin.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>People romanticize artists from the true underground, Husalah says, and “Mac Dre represents one of the most authentic subcultures.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13967501\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1500px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13967501\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/009_9.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1500\" height=\"1000\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/009_9.jpg 1500w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/009_9-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/009_9-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/009_9-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/009_9-768x512.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1500px) 100vw, 1500px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A mural of Mac Dre in Langton Alley in San Francisco, circa 2005. \u003ccite>(Elizabeth Seward)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Before leaving, I talk with rapper, producer and studio engineer \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13897503/rapper-and-audio-engineer-xarina-opens-a-studio-of-her-own-in-east-oakland\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">\u003cstrong>Xarina\u003c/strong>\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When asked if she hears Mac Dre’s influence in the rappers she works with, she says matter-of-factly: “I record Mistah F.A.B. … When he feels like rapping like Mac Dre, he will rap like Mac Dre. In 2024.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She adds that other artists — Seiji Oda, LaRussell, and Nef the Pharoah to name a few — have taken aspects of Dre’s style and “flipped it and made it new and fresh.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“He’s hyphy,” Xarina says of Seiji Oda. “But it’s not same hyphy. It’s a refined new hyphy that fits into 2024.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13967464\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-13967464\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/0-1-800x1185.jpg\" alt=\"Artist Billy Blaze says his image of Mac Dre as the Furly Ghost is one of his most popular illustrations.\" width=\"800\" height=\"1185\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/0-1-800x1185.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/0-1-1020x1511.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/0-1-160x237.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/0-1-768x1138.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/0-1-1037x1536.jpg 1037w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/0-1.jpg 1061w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Artist Billy Blaze says his image of Mac Dre as the Furly Ghost is one of his most popular illustrations. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of Billy Blaze)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/seijioda/?hl=en\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">\u003cstrong>Seiji Oda\u003c/strong>\u003c/a> is a 26 year-old Japanese and Panamanian guy from Oakland who makes “lo-fi hyphy” music; it’s tranquil yet saucy, and it’s recently gained momentum.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>After he produced the beat for his latest track, “\u003ca href=\"https://soundcloud.com/seijioda/peaceful\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Peaceful\u003c/a>,” a friend pointed out that Oda had inadvertently flipped Mac Dre’s “Thizzle Dance” without realizing it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Intrinsically,” he says, “I heard it and I felt it.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Seiji Oda was just six when Mac Dre was killed, and says he got Mac Dre vibes secondhand from the artists who were popular in the 2010s. “I was listening to \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/ezalecantseewell/?hl=en\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Ezale\u003c/a> and \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/p_lo/?hl=en\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">P-Lo\u003c/a>,” says Seiji Oda during a phone call. He watched their videos, noticing how they embodied aspects of Dre’s music. “The way that it was passed down to us,” says Seiji Oda, “was through that lineage.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13967498\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13967498\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/MacDre.YBB_.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1000\" height=\"991\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/MacDre.YBB_.jpg 1000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/MacDre.YBB_-800x793.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/MacDre.YBB_-160x159.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/MacDre.YBB_-768x761.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Mac Dre’s ‘Young Black Brotha,’ recorded around the time he first met Ray Luv. \u003ccite>(Young Black Brotha Records)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Few can speak to Bay Area hip-hop lineage like \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/therealrayluv/?hl=en\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">\u003cstrong>Ray Luv\u003c/strong>\u003c/a>. Raised in Santa Rosa, as a teen he was close friends with Tupac, as a young adult he had his own career as an MC and nowadays Luv is the COO of Thizz Entertainment, managing Mac Dre’s estate.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Luv even has a story of Mac Dre and Tupac sharing the the same space.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In high school, Luv and Tupac once cut class to visit a video shoot for a Too Short song featuring Ice Cube. As Luv, Tupac and Shock G of The Digital Underground were being interviewed by famed comedian Mark Curry, Mac Dre arrived.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“When Mac Dre got to the door, everybody stopped, and all you heard was ‘Mac Dre!'” exclaims Luv, elevating the pitch in his tone to imitate the guests. “This was a room full of stars and celebrities, but Mac Dre was one of those figures, like Pac in a way; a star among stars.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13886730\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1198px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13886730\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/09/Screen-Shot-2020-09-23-at-10.02.09-AM.png\" alt=\"V White and Mac Dre in Big Pimpin' Turf Clothes\" width=\"1198\" height=\"1184\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/09/Screen-Shot-2020-09-23-at-10.02.09-AM.png 1198w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/09/Screen-Shot-2020-09-23-at-10.02.09-AM-800x791.png 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/09/Screen-Shot-2020-09-23-at-10.02.09-AM-1020x1008.png 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/09/Screen-Shot-2020-09-23-at-10.02.09-AM-160x158.png 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/09/Screen-Shot-2020-09-23-at-10.02.09-AM-768x759.png 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1198px) 100vw, 1198px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">V White and Mac Dre in Big Pimpin’ Turf Clothes. \u003ccite>(Big Printing Archives)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Luv says that these days, Dre’s brand is active, with companies regularly reaching out for potential action figures and hologram collaborations. “Without any marketing or promotion,” adds Luv, “he does millions of streams every month.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Why has Dre’s brand and spirit stood the test of time?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The reason we haven’t, per se, grown past Mac Dre, is because I don’t think that he’s someone to grow past,” says Luv, before remixing an iconic Maya Angelou quote. “People may not remember the words to your songs — they might not remember \u003cem>any\u003c/em> of your songs — but they will always remember the way you made them feel.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And Mac Dre made us feel ourselves.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13924556\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13924556\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/01/MacDre.chez_.featured.jpg\" alt=\"a spraypainted mural of the rap artist mac dre\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1080\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/01/MacDre.chez_.featured.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/01/MacDre.chez_.featured-800x450.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/01/MacDre.chez_.featured-1020x574.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/01/MacDre.chez_.featured-160x90.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/01/MacDre.chez_.featured-768x432.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/01/MacDre.chez_.featured-1536x864.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A Mac Dre mural on Foothill Boulevard in Oakland by artist Chez. \u003ccite>(Laurence Madrigal/We Were Hyphy)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cspan class=\"utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__dropcapShortcode__dropcap\">T\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\u003cp>o understand Mac Dre’s impact, I revisited his discography and looked at old photos. I drove around, taking note of murals and stickers with with Mac Dre’s imagery, as well as people wearing Thizz gear. In 2024.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I spent time listening to a wide array of artists eager to discuss Dre’s legacy.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Famed Oakland-born actor \u003ca href=\"https://daveeddiggs.com/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">\u003cstrong>Daveed Diggs\u003c/strong>\u003c/a> asserts that Mac Dre “is under-appreciated as a lyricist and as a originator of cadences.” His hip-hop group \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/clppng/?hl=en\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">clipping.\u003c/a> often uses Mac Dre songs as a reference for a particular feel, Diggs says, and deeper cuts like “Since ’84” and “Me Damac” are some of his favorite Mac Dre tracks.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>“If I ever had written a verse as good as any of those,” Diggs testifies, “I would have stopped, I would’ve just stopped.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Angelically hyphy extraterrestrial Frisco native \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/alienmackitty/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Alien Mac Kitty\u003c/a> (AMK) attributes the “Mac” in her name to Mac Dre. In a voice note, she says she carries on that spirit, just as \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13928057/alien-mac-kitty-cougnut-daughter-san-francisco-frisco-rap-legacy\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">she carries on the legacy of her late father\u003c/a>, pioneering San Francisco rapper Cougnut. “He and Dre were actually really cool,” says AMK, adding that Mac Dre made everything fun, funky and colorful, in the most respectful way. The underground lyricist says that “Furl is still alive, and his spirit runs through the entire Bay Area renaissance right now.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The journey — all of the conversations — were worth it. But the answers to my questions were in the soil at Mac Dre’s gravesite all along. The cigarette butts and tiny trinkets, the holistic stones and loose change donated to the patron saint of the hyphy movement. All evidence that Mac Dre’s spirt, the ghost of Furl, is still alive — and it lives in the people.\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"content": "\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/seijioda/?hl=en\">Seiji Oda\u003c/a> is adept at remixing the energy around him. Over the past few years, the Oakland-raised artist — who is of Japanese, Irish and Panamanian heritage — has been at the forefront of pushing a new kind of Bay Area sound, a saucy combination of Northern California rap, \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13924014/seiji-odas-anri-city-pop-003-celebrates-lunar-new-year-with-a-ride-through-japantown\">Japanese City Pop\u003c/a> and free-flowing jazz. He’s dubbed it “lofi // HYPHY.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On social media, he’s gone viral for \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/p/C0-E7hTSazq/?hl=en\">popping his collar while sitting on a tree branch\u003c/a>, \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/p/C6b8tBJPs0c/?hl=en\">dancing in a Japanese garden\u003c/a> or \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/p/C6NoYJLL2uE/?hl=en\">going stupid beneath a waterfall\u003c/a> — all while his raps casually slap in the background. In each clip, he summons the holy spirit of a mid-aughts hyphy ghost while somehow remaining as chill as \u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f932UdEg4p8\">Lofi Girl studying at a desk\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside postID='arts_13955802']His music is a bottled-up version of big Bay Area energy, taking the form of a peaceful bonsai tree. There isn’t really a category to describe Seiji Oda’s vibe, either. Hyphy heart whispering? Gentle gigging? Serene smeezing? Acoustic turfing? Going dumb in acapella? Therapeutic thizzing?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Growing up, I was listening to Bay music,” he says. “Mac Dre, that type of shit. But when I got into making music, it was the more melodic stuff like jazz. That kind of sparked my interest in melding that with Bay music.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Seiji Oda’s latest track, “a gentle gigg,” delivers exactly that: a cool minimalism and tranquility distilled into lo-fi hyphy. The Jake Chapman-produced single — which has already accumulated thousands of views, and been shared by SZA, G-Eazy and SiR — evokes E-40’s “Tell Me When To Go” while floating over a soundscape of gentle bells and flutes, stripped-down drums and a hint of mobb music bass.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KwFJ4cH51-s\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Like much of Seiji Oda’s output, the track blends the Bay’s famously uptempo street ethos alongside elements of nature and gratitude. His lyrics underscore the Bay’s contrasting discrepancies, too: “I got friends who went to Berklee School of Music / I got friends who let that glock spill on you for talking stupid / I got homies that’s hella hyphy born after the hyphy movement / I got OGs who teach peace and started revolutions.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s audio proof that Seiji Oda has been quietly nurturing his aura, and he supplies it in abundance — a playerish kind of positivity inspired by anime, international travel, vintage clothing, retro Japanese vocals, Oakland sideshows and much more. Now, others seem to be catching on.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside postID='arts_13953009']“I feel like the reason I make art is to give people an oasis in the world,” he says. “I really want to create a soundscape; that’s the goal. I’m always positive, and very simply myself. I’m not trying to be anything other than that.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The industry tries to lump Asian artists into one vague genre, [but] we’re not all gonna fit on the Jasmine or Tapioca playlist,” he continues. “I wanna show the young life we can do anything, not just what people expect of us.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He’s certainly on his way to doing that, and is currently establishing himself as one of the region’s most promising, original talents. As he sagely reminds us on his latest track: “We all got game, so each one teach one / we all different.”\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/seijioda/?hl=en\">Seiji Oda\u003c/a> is adept at remixing the energy around him. Over the past few years, the Oakland-raised artist — who is of Japanese, Irish and Panamanian heritage — has been at the forefront of pushing a new kind of Bay Area sound, a saucy combination of Northern California rap, \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13924014/seiji-odas-anri-city-pop-003-celebrates-lunar-new-year-with-a-ride-through-japantown\">Japanese City Pop\u003c/a> and free-flowing jazz. He’s dubbed it “lofi // HYPHY.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On social media, he’s gone viral for \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/p/C0-E7hTSazq/?hl=en\">popping his collar while sitting on a tree branch\u003c/a>, \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/p/C6b8tBJPs0c/?hl=en\">dancing in a Japanese garden\u003c/a> or \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/p/C6NoYJLL2uE/?hl=en\">going stupid beneath a waterfall\u003c/a> — all while his raps casually slap in the background. In each clip, he summons the holy spirit of a mid-aughts hyphy ghost while somehow remaining as chill as \u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f932UdEg4p8\">Lofi Girl studying at a desk\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>His music is a bottled-up version of big Bay Area energy, taking the form of a peaceful bonsai tree. There isn’t really a category to describe Seiji Oda’s vibe, either. Hyphy heart whispering? Gentle gigging? Serene smeezing? Acoustic turfing? Going dumb in acapella? Therapeutic thizzing?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Growing up, I was listening to Bay music,” he says. “Mac Dre, that type of shit. But when I got into making music, it was the more melodic stuff like jazz. That kind of sparked my interest in melding that with Bay music.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Seiji Oda’s latest track, “a gentle gigg,” delivers exactly that: a cool minimalism and tranquility distilled into lo-fi hyphy. The Jake Chapman-produced single — which has already accumulated thousands of views, and been shared by SZA, G-Eazy and SiR — evokes E-40’s “Tell Me When To Go” while floating over a soundscape of gentle bells and flutes, stripped-down drums and a hint of mobb music bass.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>“I feel like the reason I make art is to give people an oasis in the world,” he says. “I really want to create a soundscape; that’s the goal. I’m always positive, and very simply myself. I’m not trying to be anything other than that.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The industry tries to lump Asian artists into one vague genre, [but] we’re not all gonna fit on the Jasmine or Tapioca playlist,” he continues. “I wanna show the young life we can do anything, not just what people expect of us.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He’s certainly on his way to doing that, and is currently establishing himself as one of the region’s most promising, original talents. As he sagely reminds us on his latest track: “We all got game, so each one teach one / we all different.”\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"content": "\u003cp>After bringing glory to the Bay Area on the basketball court, Steph Curry announced Thursday that he’s producing a documentary that will uplift the legacy of one of the region’s cultural heroes: Mac Dre.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside label='More on Mac Dre' postid='news_11954252,arts_13930686,arts_13924109']Known for his eccentric party anthems — “Feelin’ Myself,” “Get Stupid,” “Thizzle Dance” — and colorful personas, the Vallejo MC inspired the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13934874/hyphy-kids-got-trauma\">hyphy movement\u003c/a>, and his legend has only grown since his death in a Kansas City shooting in 2004. Mac Dre’s image has been enshrined in murals, tattoos and countless airbrushed T-shirts. And though his legacy tends to go underappreciated outside of the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/bayareahiphop\">Bay Area hip-hop\u003c/a> scene, Mac Dre is a rapper’s rapper, and countless artists, including Yo Gotti and Drake, have shouted out his influence.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The announcement arrives as Curry continues to grow his presence in television and entertainment. He has over a dozen producer credits to his name, and tends to select projects that celebrate Black Americans’ contributions to culture and sports, including the 2023 E series \u003ca href=\"https://www.eonline.com/shows/black_pop\">\u003cem>Black Pop\u003c/em>\u003c/a> and ESPN’s \u003ca href=\"https://espnpressroom.com/us/press-releases/2023/08/why-not-us-howard-golf-produced-by-andscape-and-stephen-currys-unanimous-media/\">\u003cem>Why Not Us: Howard Golf\u003c/em>\u003c/a>. Earlier this year, he was the subject of the acclaimed Apple TV+ documentary, \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13927474/stephen-curry-underrated-documentary-peter-nicks\">\u003cem>Stephen Curry: Underrated\u003c/em>\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A documentary about Mac Dre, whose story has underdog appeal, seems fitting for a star athlete who was once underestimated himself. Curry, his Unanimous Media co-founder Erick Peyton and executive producer Brian Tetsuro Ivie are collaborating with Mac Dre’s mother and head of his estate, Wanda Salvatto, on the project.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13924556\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13924556\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2023/01/MacDre.chez_.featured.jpg\" alt=\"a spraypainted mural of the rap artist mac dre\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1080\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/01/MacDre.chez_.featured.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/01/MacDre.chez_.featured-800x450.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/01/MacDre.chez_.featured-1020x574.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/01/MacDre.chez_.featured-160x90.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/01/MacDre.chez_.featured-768x432.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/01/MacDre.chez_.featured-1536x864.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The Mac Dre mural on Foothill Boulevard in Oakland by artist Chez. \u003ccite>(Laurence Madrigal/We Were Hyphy)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“I look forward to sharing how from Andre’s dreams of rapping emerged a blueprint that not only inspired a generation but also became a guide to conquering obstacles and fulfilling their entrepreneurial dreams,” Salvatto \u003ca href=\"https://www.billboard.com/music/rb-hip-hop/mac-dre-documentary-stephen-curry-1235427714/\">told \u003cem>Billboard\u003c/em>\u003c/a>, who broke the news.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Mac Dre is also the subject of a recent Salvatto-approved biography, \u003ca href=\"https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/mac-dre-donald-morrison/1143893886\">\u003cem>Mac Dre: A Crime That Was Never Committed\u003c/em>\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Known for his eccentric party anthems — “Feelin’ Myself,” “Get Stupid,” “Thizzle Dance” — and colorful personas, the Vallejo MC inspired the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13934874/hyphy-kids-got-trauma\">hyphy movement\u003c/a>, and his legend has only grown since his death in a Kansas City shooting in 2004. Mac Dre’s image has been enshrined in murals, tattoos and countless airbrushed T-shirts. And though his legacy tends to go underappreciated outside of the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/bayareahiphop\">Bay Area hip-hop\u003c/a> scene, Mac Dre is a rapper’s rapper, and countless artists, including Yo Gotti and Drake, have shouted out his influence.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The announcement arrives as Curry continues to grow his presence in television and entertainment. He has over a dozen producer credits to his name, and tends to select projects that celebrate Black Americans’ contributions to culture and sports, including the 2023 E series \u003ca href=\"https://www.eonline.com/shows/black_pop\">\u003cem>Black Pop\u003c/em>\u003c/a> and ESPN’s \u003ca href=\"https://espnpressroom.com/us/press-releases/2023/08/why-not-us-howard-golf-produced-by-andscape-and-stephen-currys-unanimous-media/\">\u003cem>Why Not Us: Howard Golf\u003c/em>\u003c/a>. Earlier this year, he was the subject of the acclaimed Apple TV+ documentary, \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13927474/stephen-curry-underrated-documentary-peter-nicks\">\u003cem>Stephen Curry: Underrated\u003c/em>\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A documentary about Mac Dre, whose story has underdog appeal, seems fitting for a star athlete who was once underestimated himself. Curry, his Unanimous Media co-founder Erick Peyton and executive producer Brian Tetsuro Ivie are collaborating with Mac Dre’s mother and head of his estate, Wanda Salvatto, on the project.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13924556\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13924556\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2023/01/MacDre.chez_.featured.jpg\" alt=\"a spraypainted mural of the rap artist mac dre\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1080\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/01/MacDre.chez_.featured.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/01/MacDre.chez_.featured-800x450.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/01/MacDre.chez_.featured-1020x574.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/01/MacDre.chez_.featured-160x90.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/01/MacDre.chez_.featured-768x432.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/01/MacDre.chez_.featured-1536x864.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The Mac Dre mural on Foothill Boulevard in Oakland by artist Chez. \u003ccite>(Laurence Madrigal/We Were Hyphy)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“I look forward to sharing how from Andre’s dreams of rapping emerged a blueprint that not only inspired a generation but also became a guide to conquering obstacles and fulfilling their entrepreneurial dreams,” Salvatto \u003ca href=\"https://www.billboard.com/music/rb-hip-hop/mac-dre-documentary-stephen-curry-1235427714/\">told \u003cem>Billboard\u003c/em>\u003c/a>, who broke the news.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Mac Dre is also the subject of a recent Salvatto-approved biography, \u003ca href=\"https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/mac-dre-donald-morrison/1143893886\">\u003cem>Mac Dre: A Crime That Was Never Committed\u003c/em>\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "In the ’90s, California Music Channel Became the MTV of Bay Area Rap",
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"content": "\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13933610\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-13933610\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/Chuy_Ak_CMC-800x450.jpg\" alt=\"An old film photo of an Asian American young man and a Mexican American young man behind the scenes in a television studio.\" width=\"800\" height=\"450\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/Chuy_Ak_CMC-800x450.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/Chuy_Ak_CMC-1020x574.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/Chuy_Ak_CMC-160x90.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/Chuy_Ak_CMC-768x432.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/Chuy_Ak_CMC-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/Chuy_Ak_CMC-2048x1152.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/Chuy_Ak_CMC-1920x1080.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Andy Kawanami and Chuy Gomez (left to right) hosted ‘Hip Hop Friday’ on the California Music Channel in the ’90s. The channel became a crucial outlet for Bay Area rappers on their way to national success. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of Andy Kawanami)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>\u003cstrong>Editor’s note:\u003c/strong> This story is part of \u003c/em>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/bayareahiphop\">That’s My Word\u003c/a>\u003cem>, KQED’s year-long exploration of \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/bayareahiphop\">Bay Area hip-hop\u003c/a> history.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>My family didn’t have cable television, but music videos from Andre Nickatina, \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11954252/did-mac-dre-really-go-to-prison-because-of-his-lyrics\">Mac Dre\u003c/a> and Spice 1 were in steady rotation in our home. To catch glimpses of our favorite Bay Area rappers, my siblings and I would rush home from school and tune into the \u003ca href=\"https://cmctv.com/cmc/\">California Music Channel\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I still have VHS tapes I recorded in the ’90s of my favorite CMC broadcasts: Messy Marv running plays as a mob boss in “\u003ca href=\"https://youtu.be/kDyrCQCaSbQ\">On the DL\u003c/a>.” Mr. ILL and Devon spitting game at a house party in “\u003ca href=\"https://youtu.be/N30BQ4R2AHc\">Can U Swing It\u003c/a>.” Dancers strutting in San Quinn’s “\u003ca href=\"https://youtu.be/SRFhLkrx_9M\">Shock the Party\u003c/a>.” It was CMC that encouraged my generation to revere Bay Area artists as much as we did their internationally known counterparts.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13933608\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-13933608\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/40-800x800.jpg\" alt=\"A film photo from the '90s of E-40, wearing a large hat and sunglasses, with Andy Kawanami, who wears a crewneck and smiles. \" width=\"800\" height=\"800\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/40-800x800.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/40-1020x1020.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/40-160x160.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/40-768x768.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/40-1536x1536.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/40-2048x2048.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/40-1920x1920.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">CMC host Andy Kawanami (right) with E-40. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of Andy Kawanami)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Looking back three decades later, CMC’s influence on Bay Area hip-hop is undeniable. The small station allowed artists to share their music, style and slang on television screens from Vallejo to Daly City, paving the way for bigger opportunities. And it became an early-career stepping stone for beloved media personalities like Chuy Gomez, Sway Calloway and San Francisco Giants announcer Renel Brooks-Moon.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s funny, because we actually had some videos that were shown on CMC before they went national, or got picked up by the major labels,” says Gomez.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In a region that prides itself on out-the-trunk, independent hustle, CMC created infrastructure for the Bay Area rap ecosystem of the ’90s to thrive.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>https://youtu.be/kDyrCQCaSbQ\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>The Bay’s own MTV\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Rick Kurkjian didn’t know CMC would become a hip-hop destination when he founded it on Aug. 31, 1981. He was starting out in his radio career, and music videos had begun to emerge as a new medium. In 1980, KTZO ran a program called \u003cem>TV-20 Dance Party\u003c/em>, a Top 40 show featuring local high school students. BET went on air that same year, and MTV played its first music video in 1981. Locally, KSTS launched Magic Number Video.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Kurkjian was fascinated. After seeing Doobie Brothers and Michael Jackson videos on \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13877570/a-tribute-to-soul-beat-tv-the-black-owned-network-of-east-oakland\">Soul Beat\u003c/a>, the Black-owned network out of Oakland, he knew he was ready to take a chance. On March 1, 1982, CMC premiered to 25,000 households as a half-hour show that came on twelve times a week on Oakland Cable Channel 12.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13933603\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-13933603\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/RS64735_052_KQED_CaliforniaMusicChannel_04142023-qut-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/RS64735_052_KQED_CaliforniaMusicChannel_04142023-qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/RS64735_052_KQED_CaliforniaMusicChannel_04142023-qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/RS64735_052_KQED_CaliforniaMusicChannel_04142023-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/RS64735_052_KQED_CaliforniaMusicChannel_04142023-qut-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/RS64735_052_KQED_CaliforniaMusicChannel_04142023-qut-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/RS64735_052_KQED_CaliforniaMusicChannel_04142023-qut.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">CMC founder Rick Kurkjian (from left), hosts Chuy Gomez and Andy Kawanami pose for a photo at the California Music Channel office in Oakland on April 14, 2023. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>In its early years, CMC had a pop focus: Some of its first music videos were by the Village People, British new wave band Bow Wow Wow and Scottish singer Sheena Easton. Kurkjian remembers visiting labels like Capitol, A&M and RCA to request music videos for the station.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I’d come down from San Francisco in my three-piece Aberdeen suit, which was the only suit I had. I’d walk in and it’s all dark, and I go back to this artist promotion guy’s office, and he’s in a Hawaiian shirt,” Kurkjian recalls. “It was great. I felt so out of place but I also felt like I was representing San Francisco, the city. It was kind of fun.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>By 1983, CMC reached over two million households on Saturday nights on KCSM, an educational access station out of San Mateo. A year later, CMC went on to broadcast Monday through Friday at 4 p.m. on KTSF until 2018.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>CMC becomes a home for hip-hop\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>In the late ’80s, hip-hop grew from a Black and brown youth subculture into a commercial force, and its music videos began to play in living rooms across the country. A hip-hop-oriented video request show called The Box began broadcasting out of Miami in 1985. \u003cem>Yo! MTV Raps\u003c/em> aired in 1988, and BET debuted a competing show, \u003cem>Rap City\u003c/em>, in 1989. This was also an exciting time for Bay Area rap: Too Short and MC Hammer went platinum, and the Bay found itself in the national spotlight.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>CMC’s programming began to shift with the arrival of Andy Kawanami in 1992. “I was just an intern answering the phones, and came to Rick with a crazy idea of, ‘Let’s do a hip-hop late night show,’” says Kawanami, who eventually became CMC’s program director. “He let us run with it.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>After the first\u003cem> Hip Hop Friday\u003c/em> episode aired, Kurkjian got a voicemail from a concerned viewer in Berkeley who was in disbelief at what they had just seen. But Kurkjian wasn’t discouraged.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I said, ‘Andy, you lit some fires. Let’s go with this. You do it every night,’” he recalls. “So it was hip-hop late night on CMC, and that became very popular.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>https://youtu.be/duHsIZP71Uk\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Soon, Kawanami recruited Chuy Gomez, whom he had met while interning at the radio station KSOL. At first, Gomez was skeptical: “I didn’t want to be on TV,” he recalls.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But Gomez agreed to fill in for Kawanami, and eventually took over as host. “After being on it for a few years, it was just awesome to have folks recognize you and see you — but it was weird because all of a sudden I felt like Dennis Richmond,” Gomez recalls, referring to the beloved KTVU anchor.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>CMC gave Black artists a platform to take up space beyond their neighborhoods, which helped spread their music and message throughout the greater Bay Area. The music video for “Game Recognize Game,” a 1993 track by San Francisco rapper JT the Bigga Figga, is a perfect example. When it dropped, millions of CMC viewers watched JT do the Get Low, an iconic dance from the Fillmore, in a crowd rocking his Get Low Recordz merch. Though hyper-local, the video had wide appeal. Two years later, JT signed to Priority Records, one of the most influential rap labels of the ’90s.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>https://youtu.be/bHkI6u2hXi4\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Bay Area artists knew that if they wanted video exposure, they’d have to come through us at some point,” says Gomez. “So there’s definitely relationships that form — everybody from JT the Bigga Figga, to Mac Dre, to Boots from The Coup. They were in constant communication with us to try and get on the show.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>CMC also played a role in the success of San Francisco group 11/5. At first, members Taydatay, Hennessy and the late Maine-O didn’t have expectations for their careers — they simply wanted to make party music for the people of Hunters Point. After releasing their hit single “Garcia Vegas,” an ode to cannabis, they shot a music video for “Brousin’” and pitched it to CMC.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Once “Brousin’” hit the airwaves, fan requests for the video started coming in. 11/5’s album \u003cem>Fiendin’ 4 tha Funk\u003c/em> sold 60,000 units in it first four weeks, and went on to reach #76 on the Billboard Top Hip-Hop/R&B Albums charts.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“[CMC was] able to help us show ourselves visually, we were able to do it vocally,” says Taydatay. “Shoutout to Andy Kawanami and Chuy Gomez. They opened up the door and made an outlet for us. We appreciate that.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>https://youtu.be/riCAmhoITsQ\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>CMC’s legacy lives on\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>By the late ’90s, Kawanami transitioned from hosting to working behind the scenes. He directed the music video for Mac Mall’s 2000 hit “\u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q33qDzGOaWM\">Wide Open\u003c/a>,” and eventually partnered with director Bernard Gourley to executive produce music videos for M.I.A.’s “Paper Planes,” E-40’s “Tell Me When To Go” and more.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Gomez went on to have a 20-year career on KMEL. He now spins hip-hop, R&B and pop throwbacks on 102 JAMS every Monday through Friday.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13933606\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-13933606\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/RS64712_011_KQED_CaliforniaMusicChannel_04142023-qut-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/RS64712_011_KQED_CaliforniaMusicChannel_04142023-qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/RS64712_011_KQED_CaliforniaMusicChannel_04142023-qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/RS64712_011_KQED_CaliforniaMusicChannel_04142023-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/RS64712_011_KQED_CaliforniaMusicChannel_04142023-qut-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/RS64712_011_KQED_CaliforniaMusicChannel_04142023-qut-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/RS64712_011_KQED_CaliforniaMusicChannel_04142023-qut.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Andy Kawanami (from left) and Rick Kurkjian, CEO of CMC Broadcasting Company, and Chuy Gomez look through a photo album at the California Music Channel office in Oakland on April 14, 2023. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Meanwhile, 42 years after he founded CMC, Kurkjian still operates it as president and CEO. It’s one of the longest running local music video television stations in the world, and is available on the CMC app, Roku, Amazon, Apple TV and local broadcast television throughout Northern California and Boise, Idaho. Kurkjian is still motivated by the success of “radio with pictures,” and looks back fondly on the channel’s legacy in hip-hop and beyond.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It is the connection with people, whether it’s the advertisers, whether it’s the viewers, whether it’s the artists,” he says. “It’s all part of the wonder and the joy of doing this work. So we’re happy that hip-hop is part of that.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-medium wp-image-12127869\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2016/09/Q.Logo_.Break_-800x78.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"78\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/09/Q.Logo_.Break_.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/09/Q.Logo_.Break_-400x39.jpg 400w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/09/Q.Logo_.Break_-768x75.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"excerpt": "The network aired videos by Mac Dre, San Quinn and JT the Bigga Figga, and was a key driver of independent rap. ",
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"title": "In the ’90s, California Music Channel Became the MTV of Bay Area Rap | KQED",
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"headline": "In the ’90s, California Music Channel Became the MTV of Bay Area Rap",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13933610\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-13933610\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/Chuy_Ak_CMC-800x450.jpg\" alt=\"An old film photo of an Asian American young man and a Mexican American young man behind the scenes in a television studio.\" width=\"800\" height=\"450\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/Chuy_Ak_CMC-800x450.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/Chuy_Ak_CMC-1020x574.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/Chuy_Ak_CMC-160x90.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/Chuy_Ak_CMC-768x432.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/Chuy_Ak_CMC-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/Chuy_Ak_CMC-2048x1152.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/Chuy_Ak_CMC-1920x1080.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Andy Kawanami and Chuy Gomez (left to right) hosted ‘Hip Hop Friday’ on the California Music Channel in the ’90s. The channel became a crucial outlet for Bay Area rappers on their way to national success. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of Andy Kawanami)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>\u003cstrong>Editor’s note:\u003c/strong> This story is part of \u003c/em>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/bayareahiphop\">That’s My Word\u003c/a>\u003cem>, KQED’s year-long exploration of \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/bayareahiphop\">Bay Area hip-hop\u003c/a> history.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>My family didn’t have cable television, but music videos from Andre Nickatina, \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11954252/did-mac-dre-really-go-to-prison-because-of-his-lyrics\">Mac Dre\u003c/a> and Spice 1 were in steady rotation in our home. To catch glimpses of our favorite Bay Area rappers, my siblings and I would rush home from school and tune into the \u003ca href=\"https://cmctv.com/cmc/\">California Music Channel\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I still have VHS tapes I recorded in the ’90s of my favorite CMC broadcasts: Messy Marv running plays as a mob boss in “\u003ca href=\"https://youtu.be/kDyrCQCaSbQ\">On the DL\u003c/a>.” Mr. ILL and Devon spitting game at a house party in “\u003ca href=\"https://youtu.be/N30BQ4R2AHc\">Can U Swing It\u003c/a>.” Dancers strutting in San Quinn’s “\u003ca href=\"https://youtu.be/SRFhLkrx_9M\">Shock the Party\u003c/a>.” It was CMC that encouraged my generation to revere Bay Area artists as much as we did their internationally known counterparts.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13933608\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-13933608\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/40-800x800.jpg\" alt=\"A film photo from the '90s of E-40, wearing a large hat and sunglasses, with Andy Kawanami, who wears a crewneck and smiles. \" width=\"800\" height=\"800\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/40-800x800.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/40-1020x1020.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/40-160x160.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/40-768x768.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/40-1536x1536.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/40-2048x2048.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/40-1920x1920.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">CMC host Andy Kawanami (right) with E-40. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of Andy Kawanami)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Looking back three decades later, CMC’s influence on Bay Area hip-hop is undeniable. The small station allowed artists to share their music, style and slang on television screens from Vallejo to Daly City, paving the way for bigger opportunities. And it became an early-career stepping stone for beloved media personalities like Chuy Gomez, Sway Calloway and San Francisco Giants announcer Renel Brooks-Moon.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s funny, because we actually had some videos that were shown on CMC before they went national, or got picked up by the major labels,” says Gomez.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In a region that prides itself on out-the-trunk, independent hustle, CMC created infrastructure for the Bay Area rap ecosystem of the ’90s to thrive.\u003c/p>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutube'>\n \u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutubeInside'>\n \u003ciframe\n loading='lazy'\n class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__youtubePlayer'\n type='text/html'\n src='//www.youtube.com/embed/kDyrCQCaSbQ'\n title='//www.youtube.com/embed/kDyrCQCaSbQ'\n allowfullscreen='true'\n style='border:0;'>\u003c/iframe>\n \u003c/span>\n \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003ch2>The Bay’s own MTV\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Rick Kurkjian didn’t know CMC would become a hip-hop destination when he founded it on Aug. 31, 1981. He was starting out in his radio career, and music videos had begun to emerge as a new medium. In 1980, KTZO ran a program called \u003cem>TV-20 Dance Party\u003c/em>, a Top 40 show featuring local high school students. BET went on air that same year, and MTV played its first music video in 1981. Locally, KSTS launched Magic Number Video.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Kurkjian was fascinated. After seeing Doobie Brothers and Michael Jackson videos on \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13877570/a-tribute-to-soul-beat-tv-the-black-owned-network-of-east-oakland\">Soul Beat\u003c/a>, the Black-owned network out of Oakland, he knew he was ready to take a chance. On March 1, 1982, CMC premiered to 25,000 households as a half-hour show that came on twelve times a week on Oakland Cable Channel 12.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13933603\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-13933603\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/RS64735_052_KQED_CaliforniaMusicChannel_04142023-qut-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/RS64735_052_KQED_CaliforniaMusicChannel_04142023-qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/RS64735_052_KQED_CaliforniaMusicChannel_04142023-qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/RS64735_052_KQED_CaliforniaMusicChannel_04142023-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/RS64735_052_KQED_CaliforniaMusicChannel_04142023-qut-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/RS64735_052_KQED_CaliforniaMusicChannel_04142023-qut-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/RS64735_052_KQED_CaliforniaMusicChannel_04142023-qut.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">CMC founder Rick Kurkjian (from left), hosts Chuy Gomez and Andy Kawanami pose for a photo at the California Music Channel office in Oakland on April 14, 2023. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>In its early years, CMC had a pop focus: Some of its first music videos were by the Village People, British new wave band Bow Wow Wow and Scottish singer Sheena Easton. Kurkjian remembers visiting labels like Capitol, A&M and RCA to request music videos for the station.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I’d come down from San Francisco in my three-piece Aberdeen suit, which was the only suit I had. I’d walk in and it’s all dark, and I go back to this artist promotion guy’s office, and he’s in a Hawaiian shirt,” Kurkjian recalls. “It was great. I felt so out of place but I also felt like I was representing San Francisco, the city. It was kind of fun.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>By 1983, CMC reached over two million households on Saturday nights on KCSM, an educational access station out of San Mateo. A year later, CMC went on to broadcast Monday through Friday at 4 p.m. on KTSF until 2018.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>CMC becomes a home for hip-hop\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>In the late ’80s, hip-hop grew from a Black and brown youth subculture into a commercial force, and its music videos began to play in living rooms across the country. A hip-hop-oriented video request show called The Box began broadcasting out of Miami in 1985. \u003cem>Yo! MTV Raps\u003c/em> aired in 1988, and BET debuted a competing show, \u003cem>Rap City\u003c/em>, in 1989. This was also an exciting time for Bay Area rap: Too Short and MC Hammer went platinum, and the Bay found itself in the national spotlight.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>CMC’s programming began to shift with the arrival of Andy Kawanami in 1992. “I was just an intern answering the phones, and came to Rick with a crazy idea of, ‘Let’s do a hip-hop late night show,’” says Kawanami, who eventually became CMC’s program director. “He let us run with it.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>After the first\u003cem> Hip Hop Friday\u003c/em> episode aired, Kurkjian got a voicemail from a concerned viewer in Berkeley who was in disbelief at what they had just seen. But Kurkjian wasn’t discouraged.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I said, ‘Andy, you lit some fires. Let’s go with this. You do it every night,’” he recalls. “So it was hip-hop late night on CMC, and that became very popular.”\u003c/p>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutube'>\n \u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutubeInside'>\n \u003ciframe\n loading='lazy'\n class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__youtubePlayer'\n type='text/html'\n src='//www.youtube.com/embed/duHsIZP71Uk'\n title='//www.youtube.com/embed/duHsIZP71Uk'\n allowfullscreen='true'\n style='border:0;'>\u003c/iframe>\n \u003c/span>\n \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cp>Soon, Kawanami recruited Chuy Gomez, whom he had met while interning at the radio station KSOL. At first, Gomez was skeptical: “I didn’t want to be on TV,” he recalls.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But Gomez agreed to fill in for Kawanami, and eventually took over as host. “After being on it for a few years, it was just awesome to have folks recognize you and see you — but it was weird because all of a sudden I felt like Dennis Richmond,” Gomez recalls, referring to the beloved KTVU anchor.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>CMC gave Black artists a platform to take up space beyond their neighborhoods, which helped spread their music and message throughout the greater Bay Area. The music video for “Game Recognize Game,” a 1993 track by San Francisco rapper JT the Bigga Figga, is a perfect example. When it dropped, millions of CMC viewers watched JT do the Get Low, an iconic dance from the Fillmore, in a crowd rocking his Get Low Recordz merch. Though hyper-local, the video had wide appeal. Two years later, JT signed to Priority Records, one of the most influential rap labels of the ’90s.\u003c/p>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutube'>\n \u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutubeInside'>\n \u003ciframe\n loading='lazy'\n class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__youtubePlayer'\n type='text/html'\n src='//www.youtube.com/embed/bHkI6u2hXi4'\n title='//www.youtube.com/embed/bHkI6u2hXi4'\n allowfullscreen='true'\n style='border:0;'>\u003c/iframe>\n \u003c/span>\n \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cp>“Bay Area artists knew that if they wanted video exposure, they’d have to come through us at some point,” says Gomez. “So there’s definitely relationships that form — everybody from JT the Bigga Figga, to Mac Dre, to Boots from The Coup. They were in constant communication with us to try and get on the show.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>CMC also played a role in the success of San Francisco group 11/5. At first, members Taydatay, Hennessy and the late Maine-O didn’t have expectations for their careers — they simply wanted to make party music for the people of Hunters Point. After releasing their hit single “Garcia Vegas,” an ode to cannabis, they shot a music video for “Brousin’” and pitched it to CMC.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Once “Brousin’” hit the airwaves, fan requests for the video started coming in. 11/5’s album \u003cem>Fiendin’ 4 tha Funk\u003c/em> sold 60,000 units in it first four weeks, and went on to reach #76 on the Billboard Top Hip-Hop/R&B Albums charts.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“[CMC was] able to help us show ourselves visually, we were able to do it vocally,” says Taydatay. “Shoutout to Andy Kawanami and Chuy Gomez. They opened up the door and made an outlet for us. We appreciate that.”\u003c/p>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutube'>\n \u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutubeInside'>\n \u003ciframe\n loading='lazy'\n class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__youtubePlayer'\n type='text/html'\n src='//www.youtube.com/embed/riCAmhoITsQ'\n title='//www.youtube.com/embed/riCAmhoITsQ'\n allowfullscreen='true'\n style='border:0;'>\u003c/iframe>\n \u003c/span>\n \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003ch2>CMC’s legacy lives on\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>By the late ’90s, Kawanami transitioned from hosting to working behind the scenes. He directed the music video for Mac Mall’s 2000 hit “\u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q33qDzGOaWM\">Wide Open\u003c/a>,” and eventually partnered with director Bernard Gourley to executive produce music videos for M.I.A.’s “Paper Planes,” E-40’s “Tell Me When To Go” and more.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Gomez went on to have a 20-year career on KMEL. He now spins hip-hop, R&B and pop throwbacks on 102 JAMS every Monday through Friday.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13933606\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-13933606\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/RS64712_011_KQED_CaliforniaMusicChannel_04142023-qut-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/RS64712_011_KQED_CaliforniaMusicChannel_04142023-qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/RS64712_011_KQED_CaliforniaMusicChannel_04142023-qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/RS64712_011_KQED_CaliforniaMusicChannel_04142023-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/RS64712_011_KQED_CaliforniaMusicChannel_04142023-qut-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/RS64712_011_KQED_CaliforniaMusicChannel_04142023-qut-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/RS64712_011_KQED_CaliforniaMusicChannel_04142023-qut.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Andy Kawanami (from left) and Rick Kurkjian, CEO of CMC Broadcasting Company, and Chuy Gomez look through a photo album at the California Music Channel office in Oakland on April 14, 2023. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Meanwhile, 42 years after he founded CMC, Kurkjian still operates it as president and CEO. It’s one of the longest running local music video television stations in the world, and is available on the CMC app, Roku, Amazon, Apple TV and local broadcast television throughout Northern California and Boise, Idaho. Kurkjian is still motivated by the success of “radio with pictures,” and looks back fondly on the channel’s legacy in hip-hop and beyond.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It is the connection with people, whether it’s the advertisers, whether it’s the viewers, whether it’s the artists,” he says. “It’s all part of the wonder and the joy of doing this work. So we’re happy that hip-hop is part of that.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"title": "Watch: ‘What’s Pimpin’?’ Takes on Misogynoir in Bay Area Hip-Hop",
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"content": "\u003cp>\u003cb>\u003ci>Editor’s note:\u003c/i>\u003c/b>\u003ci> This story is part of \u003c/i>\u003ca href=\"http://kqed.org/bayareahiphop\">That’s My Word\u003c/a>\u003ci>, KQED’s year-long exploration of \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/bayareahiphop\">Bay Area hip-hop history\u003c/a>, with new content dropping all throughout 2023.\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Picture this: You’re on the dance floor at a Bay Area function, and “\u003ca href=\"https://youtu.be/6vE6oUc0t4o\">Feelin’ Myself\u003c/a>” by Mac Dre pumps through the speakers. The whole room erupts with joy, and everyone chants the lyrics: “I’m sicker than SARS / higher than Mars.” Then the beat stops and the crowd screams: “And I treat my bitch like an ATM card!”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>There’s power in this ritual, which has been a mainstay at local clubs and house parties since Mac Dre’s hyphy anthem came out in 2004. The music allows us to \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13929461/at-mistah-f-a-b-s-hyphy-tour-going-dumb-was-spiritual\">partake in a collective experience\u003c/a>, and to feel a sense of Bay Area pride at a crucial time when so many have been pushed out of this unaffordable region.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But, scratching below the surface, “Feelin’ Myself” and many of our beloved, local ’90s and 2000s anthems — Dru Down’s “\u003ca href=\"https://youtu.be/HzaqvldQO3I\">Pimp of the Year\u003c/a>,” D-Lo’s “\u003ca href=\"https://youtu.be/HzaqvldQO3I\">No Hoe\u003c/a>” — contain casual references to violence against and the exploitation of women.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Pimp culture is in Bay Area hip-hop’s DNA as much as the liberation politics of the Black Panthers. Some of the region’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13924126/the-bay-area-was-hip-hop-before-there-was-hip-hop\">earliest rappers based their personas on blaxploitation films\u003c/a> like 1973’s \u003cem>The Mack\u003c/em>, which was shot in Oakland and featured real-life pimps and sex workers. Not to mention, \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13925761/magic-mike-richmond-calvin-t-rap-hip-hop\">some of these original MCs \u003cem>were\u003c/em> actual pimps\u003c/a>. As hip-hop \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13927349/bay-area-hip-hop-1980s\">became a commercial force in the late ’80s\u003c/a>, albums like Too Short’s \u003cem>Born to Mack\u003c/em> helped define the Bay Area’s style and identity for the rest of the nation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But considering that the Bay Area is an international hub for sex trafficking, this art reflects a dangerous reality.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In our new vodcast, \u003cem>What’s Pimpin’?\u003c/em>, women rappers and activists \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/mad.lines/\">Maddy Clifford\u003c/a> (aka MADlines), \u003ca href=\"https://www.cocopeila.com/\">Coco Peila\u003c/a> and \u003ca href=\"https://www.msryannicole.com/\">RyanNicole\u003c/a> take back the mic. Across three episodes, the three hosts facilitate candid discussions about the disproportionate rates of violence Black women face, and how systemic racism and wealth inequality breed desperate conditions where pimp culture thrives. They also get deep, drawing from their personal experiences of moving through an Oakland rap scene that at times espouses both misogynistic and revolutionary ideals. [aside postid='arts_13930867,arts_13931295,arts_13931108']\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As Clifford writes in her essay, “\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13930867/whats-pimpin-culture-hip-hop-rap-sexism-misogynoir-black-women\">It’s Time to Unpack Pimp Culture in Bay Area Hip-Hop\u003c/a>,” pimp culture has roots in the exploitative power dynamics that have been part of American culture since colonialism and slavery: “We can sugarcoat the truth, but at the root, pimp culture is about exploitation. Ignoring this reality risks harming some of the most marginalized people in the Bay Area. I’m talking about poor folks, and about Black, brown and Indigenous women, in addition to LGBTQ people. I promise you, they’re already paying the ultimate price.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Stay tuned for \u003cem>What’s Pimpin’? \u003c/em>episodes two and three dropping on July 5 and July 12. \u003cem>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">— Nastia Voynovskaya, lead producer\u003c/span>\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-medium wp-image-11687704\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2016/06/Turntable.Break_-800x60.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"60\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/06/Turntable.Break_.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/06/Turntable.Break_-400x30.jpg 400w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/06/Turntable.Break_-768x58.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>If you or anyone you know is experiencing sexual violence, you can get free, confidential help from the \u003ca href=\"https://www.rainn.org/\">RAINN\u003c/a> hotline at 800-656-4673 or via chat at \u003ca href=\"http://online.rainn.org\">online.rainn.org\u003c/a>. The \u003ca href=\"https://humantraffickinghotline.org/en\">National Human Trafficking Hotline\u003c/a> is available at 888-373-7888 or via text message at 233733.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003cb>\u003ci>Editor’s note:\u003c/i>\u003c/b>\u003ci> This story is part of \u003c/i>\u003ca href=\"http://kqed.org/bayareahiphop\">That’s My Word\u003c/a>\u003ci>, KQED’s year-long exploration of \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/bayareahiphop\">Bay Area hip-hop history\u003c/a>, with new content dropping all throughout 2023.\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Picture this: You’re on the dance floor at a Bay Area function, and “\u003ca href=\"https://youtu.be/6vE6oUc0t4o\">Feelin’ Myself\u003c/a>” by Mac Dre pumps through the speakers. The whole room erupts with joy, and everyone chants the lyrics: “I’m sicker than SARS / higher than Mars.” Then the beat stops and the crowd screams: “And I treat my bitch like an ATM card!”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>There’s power in this ritual, which has been a mainstay at local clubs and house parties since Mac Dre’s hyphy anthem came out in 2004. The music allows us to \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13929461/at-mistah-f-a-b-s-hyphy-tour-going-dumb-was-spiritual\">partake in a collective experience\u003c/a>, and to feel a sense of Bay Area pride at a crucial time when so many have been pushed out of this unaffordable region.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But, scratching below the surface, “Feelin’ Myself” and many of our beloved, local ’90s and 2000s anthems — Dru Down’s “\u003ca href=\"https://youtu.be/HzaqvldQO3I\">Pimp of the Year\u003c/a>,” D-Lo’s “\u003ca href=\"https://youtu.be/HzaqvldQO3I\">No Hoe\u003c/a>” — contain casual references to violence against and the exploitation of women.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Pimp culture is in Bay Area hip-hop’s DNA as much as the liberation politics of the Black Panthers. Some of the region’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13924126/the-bay-area-was-hip-hop-before-there-was-hip-hop\">earliest rappers based their personas on blaxploitation films\u003c/a> like 1973’s \u003cem>The Mack\u003c/em>, which was shot in Oakland and featured real-life pimps and sex workers. Not to mention, \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13925761/magic-mike-richmond-calvin-t-rap-hip-hop\">some of these original MCs \u003cem>were\u003c/em> actual pimps\u003c/a>. As hip-hop \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13927349/bay-area-hip-hop-1980s\">became a commercial force in the late ’80s\u003c/a>, albums like Too Short’s \u003cem>Born to Mack\u003c/em> helped define the Bay Area’s style and identity for the rest of the nation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But considering that the Bay Area is an international hub for sex trafficking, this art reflects a dangerous reality.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In our new vodcast, \u003cem>What’s Pimpin’?\u003c/em>, women rappers and activists \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/mad.lines/\">Maddy Clifford\u003c/a> (aka MADlines), \u003ca href=\"https://www.cocopeila.com/\">Coco Peila\u003c/a> and \u003ca href=\"https://www.msryannicole.com/\">RyanNicole\u003c/a> take back the mic. Across three episodes, the three hosts facilitate candid discussions about the disproportionate rates of violence Black women face, and how systemic racism and wealth inequality breed desperate conditions where pimp culture thrives. They also get deep, drawing from their personal experiences of moving through an Oakland rap scene that at times espouses both misogynistic and revolutionary ideals. \u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As Clifford writes in her essay, “\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13930867/whats-pimpin-culture-hip-hop-rap-sexism-misogynoir-black-women\">It’s Time to Unpack Pimp Culture in Bay Area Hip-Hop\u003c/a>,” pimp culture has roots in the exploitative power dynamics that have been part of American culture since colonialism and slavery: “We can sugarcoat the truth, but at the root, pimp culture is about exploitation. Ignoring this reality risks harming some of the most marginalized people in the Bay Area. I’m talking about poor folks, and about Black, brown and Indigenous women, in addition to LGBTQ people. I promise you, they’re already paying the ultimate price.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Stay tuned for \u003cem>What’s Pimpin’? \u003c/em>episodes two and three dropping on July 5 and July 12. \u003cem>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">— Nastia Voynovskaya, lead producer\u003c/span>\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-medium wp-image-11687704\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2016/06/Turntable.Break_-800x60.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"60\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/06/Turntable.Break_.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/06/Turntable.Break_-400x30.jpg 400w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/06/Turntable.Break_-768x58.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>If you or anyone you know is experiencing sexual violence, you can get free, confidential help from the \u003ca href=\"https://www.rainn.org/\">RAINN\u003c/a> hotline at 800-656-4673 or via chat at \u003ca href=\"http://online.rainn.org\">online.rainn.org\u003c/a>. The \u003ca href=\"https://humantraffickinghotline.org/en\">National Human Trafficking Hotline\u003c/a> is available at 888-373-7888 or via text message at 233733.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "Listen: Our Thizz DJ Mix Honors Mac Dre’s Complicated, Posthumous Empire",
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"content": "\u003cp>\u003cb>\u003ci>Editor’s note:\u003c/i>\u003c/b>\u003ci> This story is part of\u003c/i>\u003ca href=\"http://kqed.org/bayareahiphop\"> That’s My Word\u003c/a>\u003ci>, KQED’s year-long exploration of \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/bayareahiphop\">Bay Area hip-hop history\u003c/a>, with new content dropping all throughout 2023. \u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">After March’s \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13927070/listen-our-thats-my-word-dj-mix-honors-36-years-of-women-in-hip-hop\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">special DJ mix\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> paying tribute to 36 years of incredible women rappers, DJs and producers from the Bay Area, my latest mix for KQED concerns a decidedly more male-dominated subject: Thizz Entertainment, the record label founded by Mac Dre in 1999. (Since his untimely death in 2004, Thizz has been run by his mother, “Mac Wanda” Salvatto.)\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Although his rap career began in 1989, Mac Dre is best known for his work from the early-to-mid-2000s: party-pitched music that showed the world a fun slice of Bay Area street life. He captured the electric energy of the post-grind afterparty, and the standouts of his many posthumous songs lean into the deep, live funk slung in the East Bay for decades.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c!-- iframe plugin v.4.3 wordpress.org/plugins/iframe/ -->\u003cbr>\n\u003ciframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"100%\" height=\"120\" src=\"https://www.mixcloud.com/widget/iframe/?hide_cover=1&feed=%2Fteemoney415%2Fthizz%2F\" frameborder=\"0\" scrolling=\"yes\" class=\"iframe-class\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">If you’re into true crime or soap operas, the list of people who have claimed to be affiliated with Thizz Entertainment (rightfully or not) after Mac Dre’s demise offers substance for several movies. It’s easy to go down a rabbit hole of conspiracy theories and interviews on YouTube, and hard to crawl out.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The term “thizz” was originally slang for ecstasy, which Mac Dre dabbled in thanks to the local rave scene. The loved-up stimulant was a staple of the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13924109/stream-we-were-hyphy-documentary\">hyphy movement\u003c/a>. And it would continue to figure into the Thizz Entertainment storyline long after Mac Dre’s death, most notably in a \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/sections/therecord/2013/09/09/220682752/federal-drug-case-ensnares-the-home-of-hyphy\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">2012 federal drug bust\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> of men who sold ecstasy and said they represented Thizz. Salvatto quickly moved to distance Thizz Entertainment from the subjects of the drug probe.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“I worked very hard to clean up and maintain a legitimate label and business for my son,” she told \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.mercurynews.com/2012/04/25/mac-dres-mother-distances-her-sons-label-thizz-entertainment-from-drug-probe/\">\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The Mercury News\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">. “I don’t want to confuse what we do with our fans.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Assembling a DJ mix like this as a woman was an interesting creative exercise. The label had few female artists. We’re mostly referred to as “skirts” and “crevices” in the catalog, and the misogyny is on 1800 Jose Cuervo pretty much all the time. Pimping and drug dealing are more popular topics than partying, but, like J Diggs says, he’s “\u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A6S37wb4tFo\">Really Not a Rapper\u003c/a>,” and that can describe many of the men who’ve released tracks on Thizz.[aside postid='arts_13929461']\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Thizz Entertainment’s discography is vast: Discogs counts \u003ca href=\"https://www.discogs.com/label/46457-Thizz-Entertainment\">178 different releases\u003c/a>, though it’s difficult to tell how many of those aren’t official. As a hip-hop and dance music DJ, I tend to gravitate towards the happier and more drugged-out sound that Mac Dre popularized. I’ve also long appreciated that there are a lot of \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13925958/bay-area-west-coast-south-rap-hip-hop-master-p-no-limit\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Bay Area and Southern rap connections\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> in the vast Thizzcography, including a whole “chopped and screwed” collection.\u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> (Sadly, the \u003c/span>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Merry Thizzmas\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> compilation featuring Lil Wayne isn’t available on iTunes.)\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">If you thought Tupac Shakur had a lot of posthumous works, you’ll be impressed with Mac Dre’s output in the afterlife (perhaps unsurprising if you know that he \u003ca href=\"http://www.kqed.org/bayareahiphop/timeline#mac-dre-records-songs-from-jail-over-the-phone\">once recorded a whole album over a jail telephone\u003c/a>). My favorite by far is “Roll Wit” featuring Zion I, a song with even more weight since the 2021 passing of the group’s MC \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13920198/zumbi-zion-i-improper-restraint-at-hospital\">Steve “Zumbi” Gaines\u003c/a>.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> This isn’t a purely hyphy mix — the label veered away from the sound when the scene did, though you’ll hear some peak hyphy fun in there for sure. And please note that one selection in the set, “Angel in the Sky” by Mac Dre’s “Thizzelle Dance” guest stars Sumthin Terrible, was released on their own Stupid Ent label and not Thizz; it’s included as an example of one of the more sincere posthumous tribute songs to Andre Hicks. [aside postid='arts_13924109']\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Mixcloud.com, which hosts this DJ mix, places restrictions on how many songs can be included from a single artist or album release. But the spirit of Mac Dre still flows through every selection in the set, which begins and ends with his voice from \u003c/span>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Treal T.V.\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">, his cult-favorite DVD that dropped in September 2003. I recorded it all live with love on two turntables and Serato DJ Pro software.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">While you can find Mac Dre mixtapes online, I haven’t yet seen a Thizz-themed mix that pays respect to this fascinating and complicated label. That changes right now, because Thizz iz what it iz!\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Tracklist\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Intro — \u003cem>Treal T.V.\u003c/em>\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Mac Dre featuring Sumthin Terrible, “Thizzelle Dance” (2002)\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Mac Dre, “Feelin’ Myself” (2004)\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Mistah F.A.B. featuring Turf Talk and E-40, “Super Sic Wit It” (2005)\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Keak Da Sneak, “Eatin’” (2006)\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Dubee AKA Sugawolf, “Thizz Overdose” (2010)\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Mac Mall, “Mac to the Future” (2014) \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Mac Mall, “Mac Dre T-Shirt” (2009)\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">J Diggs, “Really Not a Rapper” (2005)\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Blu Davinci featuring Dru Down, J Diggs & Yukmouth, “Locked Up” (2005)\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Fendi Boys & Johnny Cash, “Thizz How We Talk” (2011)\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Farm Boyz, “All N Da Doe” (2009)\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Rydah J. Klyde, “Hustlin” and “Thizz Kids” (2005)\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Mistah F.A.B. featuring J. Nash, “Nation of Thizzlam” (2006)\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Husalah featuring Cutthoat Committee, “Song 4 You” (2010)\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Sumthin Terrible, “Angel in the Sky” (2006)\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The Jacka, “Want It All” (2011)\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Mac Dre featuring Zion I, “Roll Wit” (2008)\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Outro — \u003cem>Treal T.V.\u003c/em>\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"title": "Listen: Our Thizz DJ Mix Honors Mac Dre’s Complicated, Posthumous Empire | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003cb>\u003ci>Editor’s note:\u003c/i>\u003c/b>\u003ci> This story is part of\u003c/i>\u003ca href=\"http://kqed.org/bayareahiphop\"> That’s My Word\u003c/a>\u003ci>, KQED’s year-long exploration of \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/bayareahiphop\">Bay Area hip-hop history\u003c/a>, with new content dropping all throughout 2023. \u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">After March’s \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13927070/listen-our-thats-my-word-dj-mix-honors-36-years-of-women-in-hip-hop\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">special DJ mix\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> paying tribute to 36 years of incredible women rappers, DJs and producers from the Bay Area, my latest mix for KQED concerns a decidedly more male-dominated subject: Thizz Entertainment, the record label founded by Mac Dre in 1999. (Since his untimely death in 2004, Thizz has been run by his mother, “Mac Wanda” Salvatto.)\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Although his rap career began in 1989, Mac Dre is best known for his work from the early-to-mid-2000s: party-pitched music that showed the world a fun slice of Bay Area street life. He captured the electric energy of the post-grind afterparty, and the standouts of his many posthumous songs lean into the deep, live funk slung in the East Bay for decades.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c!-- iframe plugin v.4.3 wordpress.org/plugins/iframe/ -->\u003cbr>\n\u003ciframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"100%\" height=\"120\" src=\"https://www.mixcloud.com/widget/iframe/?hide_cover=1&feed=%2Fteemoney415%2Fthizz%2F\" frameborder=\"0\" scrolling=\"yes\" class=\"iframe-class\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">If you’re into true crime or soap operas, the list of people who have claimed to be affiliated with Thizz Entertainment (rightfully or not) after Mac Dre’s demise offers substance for several movies. It’s easy to go down a rabbit hole of conspiracy theories and interviews on YouTube, and hard to crawl out.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The term “thizz” was originally slang for ecstasy, which Mac Dre dabbled in thanks to the local rave scene. The loved-up stimulant was a staple of the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13924109/stream-we-were-hyphy-documentary\">hyphy movement\u003c/a>. And it would continue to figure into the Thizz Entertainment storyline long after Mac Dre’s death, most notably in a \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/sections/therecord/2013/09/09/220682752/federal-drug-case-ensnares-the-home-of-hyphy\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">2012 federal drug bust\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> of men who sold ecstasy and said they represented Thizz. Salvatto quickly moved to distance Thizz Entertainment from the subjects of the drug probe.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“I worked very hard to clean up and maintain a legitimate label and business for my son,” she told \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.mercurynews.com/2012/04/25/mac-dres-mother-distances-her-sons-label-thizz-entertainment-from-drug-probe/\">\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The Mercury News\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">. “I don’t want to confuse what we do with our fans.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Assembling a DJ mix like this as a woman was an interesting creative exercise. The label had few female artists. We’re mostly referred to as “skirts” and “crevices” in the catalog, and the misogyny is on 1800 Jose Cuervo pretty much all the time. Pimping and drug dealing are more popular topics than partying, but, like J Diggs says, he’s “\u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A6S37wb4tFo\">Really Not a Rapper\u003c/a>,” and that can describe many of the men who’ve released tracks on Thizz.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Thizz Entertainment’s discography is vast: Discogs counts \u003ca href=\"https://www.discogs.com/label/46457-Thizz-Entertainment\">178 different releases\u003c/a>, though it’s difficult to tell how many of those aren’t official. As a hip-hop and dance music DJ, I tend to gravitate towards the happier and more drugged-out sound that Mac Dre popularized. I’ve also long appreciated that there are a lot of \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13925958/bay-area-west-coast-south-rap-hip-hop-master-p-no-limit\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Bay Area and Southern rap connections\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> in the vast Thizzcography, including a whole “chopped and screwed” collection.\u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> (Sadly, the \u003c/span>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Merry Thizzmas\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> compilation featuring Lil Wayne isn’t available on iTunes.)\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">If you thought Tupac Shakur had a lot of posthumous works, you’ll be impressed with Mac Dre’s output in the afterlife (perhaps unsurprising if you know that he \u003ca href=\"http://www.kqed.org/bayareahiphop/timeline#mac-dre-records-songs-from-jail-over-the-phone\">once recorded a whole album over a jail telephone\u003c/a>). My favorite by far is “Roll Wit” featuring Zion I, a song with even more weight since the 2021 passing of the group’s MC \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13920198/zumbi-zion-i-improper-restraint-at-hospital\">Steve “Zumbi” Gaines\u003c/a>.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> This isn’t a purely hyphy mix — the label veered away from the sound when the scene did, though you’ll hear some peak hyphy fun in there for sure. And please note that one selection in the set, “Angel in the Sky” by Mac Dre’s “Thizzelle Dance” guest stars Sumthin Terrible, was released on their own Stupid Ent label and not Thizz; it’s included as an example of one of the more sincere posthumous tribute songs to Andre Hicks. \u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Mixcloud.com, which hosts this DJ mix, places restrictions on how many songs can be included from a single artist or album release. But the spirit of Mac Dre still flows through every selection in the set, which begins and ends with his voice from \u003c/span>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Treal T.V.\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">, his cult-favorite DVD that dropped in September 2003. I recorded it all live with love on two turntables and Serato DJ Pro software.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">While you can find Mac Dre mixtapes online, I haven’t yet seen a Thizz-themed mix that pays respect to this fascinating and complicated label. That changes right now, because Thizz iz what it iz!\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Tracklist\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Intro — \u003cem>Treal T.V.\u003c/em>\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Mac Dre featuring Sumthin Terrible, “Thizzelle Dance” (2002)\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Mac Dre, “Feelin’ Myself” (2004)\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Mistah F.A.B. featuring Turf Talk and E-40, “Super Sic Wit It” (2005)\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Keak Da Sneak, “Eatin’” (2006)\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Dubee AKA Sugawolf, “Thizz Overdose” (2010)\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Mac Mall, “Mac to the Future” (2014) \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Mac Mall, “Mac Dre T-Shirt” (2009)\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">J Diggs, “Really Not a Rapper” (2005)\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Blu Davinci featuring Dru Down, J Diggs & Yukmouth, “Locked Up” (2005)\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Fendi Boys & Johnny Cash, “Thizz How We Talk” (2011)\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Farm Boyz, “All N Da Doe” (2009)\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Rydah J. Klyde, “Hustlin” and “Thizz Kids” (2005)\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Mistah F.A.B. featuring J. Nash, “Nation of Thizzlam” (2006)\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Husalah featuring Cutthoat Committee, “Song 4 You” (2010)\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Sumthin Terrible, “Angel in the Sky” (2006)\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The Jacka, “Want It All” (2011)\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Mac Dre featuring Zion I, “Roll Wit” (2008)\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Outro — \u003cem>Treal T.V.\u003c/em>\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "Ube Ice Cream Tacos Are the Bay Area’s Homegrown Answer to the Choco Taco",
"headTitle": "Ube Ice Cream Tacos Are the Bay Area’s Homegrown Answer to the Choco Taco | KQED",
"content": "\u003cp>The ube renaissance is real. And in the Bay Area, we’re at the epicenter of its deliciously purple core.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>With the popular Filipino ingredient blitzing the food scene — appearing everywhere from the cover of \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13926618/mayumu-abi-balingit-filipino-desserts-cookbook-bay-area-san-jose\">Abi Balingit’s viral cookbook, \u003ci>Mayumu\u003c/i>\u003c/a>, to the aisles of Trader Joe’s — the tropical yam has blown up to become, arguably, the biggest regional crossover hit since \u003ca href=\"https://sf.eater.com/2019/11/21/20937687/el-garage-quesabirria-birria-taco-richmond-instagram\">the Mexican quesabirria craze\u003c/a>. Utilizing its distinct lilac color and starchy versatility, today’s Filipino American food makers have revolutionized the way ube is being presented to, and consumed by, anyone with a mouth — in the form of pretzels, breads, cookies, jams, cocktails and more.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Perhaps its most genius iteration to date? \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/macs.by.icky/\">Macs by Icky\u003c/a>‘s ube ice cream taco — a homemade waffle cone folded and dipped in ube white chocolate, then stuffed with ube ice cream and sprinkled with crushed pistachios. Naturally, it resembles \u003ca href=\"https://www.bonappetit.com/story/choco-taco-discontinued-klondike\">Klondike’s famously discontinued Choco Taco\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The new Bay Area spinoff originated with Victoria Sablan, a Filipina American from Union City who remembers ordering Choco Tacos as a kid when Taco Bell and roving ice cream trucks prominently sold the frozen treat. Its discontinuation felt like losing a part of childhood. So Sablan decided to bring it back by adding her own vibrant touch: ube.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Ube wasn’t as readily available as it is now,” Sablan says about her lifelong love of the delicacy. “You couldn’t just buy ube ice cream at any grocery store. It was a specialty. If I came home from school and there was ube, I didn’t want to share, and I didn’t ask where my parents got it from.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13929303\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13929303\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/ube-cannoli.jpg\" alt=\"A tray of cannoli stuffed with ube cream and sprinkled with crushed pistachios. \" width=\"1920\" height=\"1440\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/ube-cannoli.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/ube-cannoli-800x600.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/ube-cannoli-1020x765.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/ube-cannoli-160x120.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/ube-cannoli-768x576.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/ube-cannoli-1536x1152.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Ube features prominently across the Macs by Icky menu. Pictured here: ube pistachio cannoli. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of Macs by Icky)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Sablan, who began baking as a young girl in a multi-generational immigrant home, has experimented with ube -based goods since high school. These days, her practice and creativity are paying off. In recent years, you can find her family-run side business, Macs by Icky, posted up around the Union City, Newark and Fremont area. An East Bay flavor come across in everything she does.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“People have always called me Icky,” says Sablan, who has a full-time job in healthcare. “And ‘Macs’ is because I started out making macarons, and because of my husband — he likes Mac Dre.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Her professional food efforts began accidentally in 2019 when Sablan made bags of “muddy mix” — a variation of “puppy chow,” the Midwestern sweet snack — for her pharmacy staff during nurse appreciation week. Shortly after, friends wanted more, so she \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/p/Cn6E62-uewo/\">playfully added ube and Oreo chunks\u003c/a> for an infusion she’d never tasted elsewhere. After that, friends and family clamored for more. She’s been using her imagination to create Filipinoized desserts ever since, from ube ricotta cannolis to “ubenana” (ube and banana) pudding.[pullquote size=\"large\" align=\"right\" citation=\"Victoria Sablan\"]‘Everyone in the Bay Area is a little Filipino. When other people see our foods, they trust our taste.’[/pullquote]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As she enters her early 30s, Sablan — along with her husband, Frank, a Filipino-Chamorro who attended the same high school as her — are mashing the ube gas pedal with their uniquely Pinoy, extremely millennial creations. And they’re making a (purple) mark on Union City’s underground food scene.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s popping off,” she says. “Especially in the Bay, where there’s hella Filipinos. We’re very open [as a community], so our friends become Filipino even if they’re not. Everyone in the Bay Area is a little Filipino. When other people see our foods, they trust our taste.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In addition to co-managing Macs By Icky on their spare weekends, Sablan and her husband also host monthly events for other foodmakers. Their flagship function, “\u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/p/Cr_moMQvWDq/\">UC the Vibes\u003c/a>,” brings a rotating cast of established and emerging small businesses to Union City’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.birdhausbeergarden.com/\">Birdhaus Beer Garden\u003c/a> for a day party, which includes musical performances from local artists like popular Union City rapper \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/darrellmedellin/?hl=en\">Darrell Medellin\u003c/a>, along with live DJs, merch and, of course, food that smacks.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The community gathering began in 2021 when the Sablans were cited by the city for selling food without a permit. Since the couple was largely focused on their professional careers, they didn’t have much time or space to learn about the logistical and legal aspects of running a food business. After their experience with Alameda County’s health department, which Sablan says wasn’t easy, they decided to undergo their own entrepreneurial education in order to teach other community members how to level up their hustles professionally.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Someone complained to Union City about us [selling food]. We honestly didn’t know,” says Sablan. “People sell tamales down the street, or small plates, so we didn’t think anything of it. There’s not any education on it. If you call the health department, they’re not that helpful and no one coaches you through it.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13929306\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1760px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13929306\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/ubenana-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"Small jars of purple banana-ube cream pudding, topped with crushed pistachios.\" width=\"1760\" height=\"2560\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/ubenana-scaled.jpg 1760w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/ubenana-800x1164.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/ubenana-1020x1484.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/ubenana-160x233.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/ubenana-768x1117.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/ubenana-1056x1536.jpg 1056w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/ubenana-1408x2048.jpg 1408w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1760px) 100vw, 1760px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">‘Ubenana,’ the pop-up’s bright purple reinterpretation of a classic banana cream pudding. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of Macs by Icky)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>These days, Macs By Icky is adored in the local “food vending family,” regularly collaborating with and learning from successful pop-up hits like \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/alpastorpapi415/?hl=en\">Al Pastor Papi\u003c/a> and \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/pineapplewhips/\">Pineapple Whips\u003c/a> while simultaneously mentoring nascent, homegrown operations like \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/anthonyskitchen__/\">Anthony’s Kitchen\u003c/a> — a Hawaiian shrimp food slinger that got its at the Sablans’ events and has since expanded to other venues.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Like many immigrant-raised entrepreneurs, the Sablans have learned how to leverage their come-up in order to help feed other aspiring makers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We get vendors and coach them, walking them through how to get insurance and how to get a permit with the health department, so that after an event [like UC the Vibes] they can flourish and do it around the Bay Area if they want to,” Sablan says. “We want to offer our knowledge. There’s room for everyone to eat.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">[aside postID='arts_13926618,arts_13928804,arts_13919707']\u003c/span>A relatively small community with an outsized Filipino population, Union City hasn’t necessarily been known as a hub for exciting Bay Area cuisine in the past. Squished between Oakland and San Jose, and overshadowed by the larger neighboring communities of Hayward and Fremont, Union City is a place where many Bay Areans only go to visit extended family. That hasn’t stopped Macs By Icky — it has only gassed them up to go harder in the food game for their city.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At 6.64%, \u003ca href=\"https://www.asianjournal.com/usa/dateline-usa/pew-research-over-4-2m-filipino-americans-in-the-us/\">the Bay Area boasts the highest percentage of Filipino Americans per capita\u003c/a> of any metro region on the United States mainland, eclipsed only by Hawaii. And \u003ca href=\"https://www.pewresearch.org/social-trends/fact-sheet/asian-americans-filipinos-in-the-u-s/#top-10-u-s-metropolitan-areas-by-filipino-population-2019\">given that 50% of Filipino Americans were born in the U.S.\u003c/a>, compared to an average of 43% for other Asian diasporas, Fil Ams have mastered the art of cultural fusion and generational translation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Union City is a textbook example. \u003ca href=\"https://zipatlas.com/us/ca/city-comparison/percentage-filipino-population.htm\">An impressive 20% of the city’s households are Filipino households\u003c/a>, making it pound for pound one of the most Filipino-saturated places in the nation — the ideal birthplace for a certified Bay Area dessert like the ube ice cream taco.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Rather than picking up shop and catering to trendier parts of the Bay, the Sablans are inviting other parts of the Bay to experience what their home city has got to offer, sometimes straight off their porch.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“[Union City] gets overlooked a lot, but it’s what we know,” says Sablan. “We like it here because we’re near both of our parents, our friends and his grandparents. Even though we’re fully established with our business now, we’re still doing it from home.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-12127869\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2016/09/Q.Logo_.Break_.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"78\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/09/Q.Logo_.Break_.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/09/Q.Logo_.Break_-400x39.jpg 400w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/09/Q.Logo_.Break_-768x75.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>The next edition of \u003c/i>\u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/p/CsE3RrsyrZF/\">\u003ci>UC the Vibes\u003c/i>\u003c/a>\u003ci> will be held on Sun., May 21, at Birdhaus Beer Garden (3821 Smith St., Union City) from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. The pop-up event will take a break in June, but return to Birdhaus on Sun., July 23.\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>The ube renaissance is real. And in the Bay Area, we’re at the epicenter of its deliciously purple core.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>With the popular Filipino ingredient blitzing the food scene — appearing everywhere from the cover of \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13926618/mayumu-abi-balingit-filipino-desserts-cookbook-bay-area-san-jose\">Abi Balingit’s viral cookbook, \u003ci>Mayumu\u003c/i>\u003c/a>, to the aisles of Trader Joe’s — the tropical yam has blown up to become, arguably, the biggest regional crossover hit since \u003ca href=\"https://sf.eater.com/2019/11/21/20937687/el-garage-quesabirria-birria-taco-richmond-instagram\">the Mexican quesabirria craze\u003c/a>. Utilizing its distinct lilac color and starchy versatility, today’s Filipino American food makers have revolutionized the way ube is being presented to, and consumed by, anyone with a mouth — in the form of pretzels, breads, cookies, jams, cocktails and more.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Perhaps its most genius iteration to date? \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/macs.by.icky/\">Macs by Icky\u003c/a>‘s ube ice cream taco — a homemade waffle cone folded and dipped in ube white chocolate, then stuffed with ube ice cream and sprinkled with crushed pistachios. Naturally, it resembles \u003ca href=\"https://www.bonappetit.com/story/choco-taco-discontinued-klondike\">Klondike’s famously discontinued Choco Taco\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The new Bay Area spinoff originated with Victoria Sablan, a Filipina American from Union City who remembers ordering Choco Tacos as a kid when Taco Bell and roving ice cream trucks prominently sold the frozen treat. Its discontinuation felt like losing a part of childhood. So Sablan decided to bring it back by adding her own vibrant touch: ube.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Ube wasn’t as readily available as it is now,” Sablan says about her lifelong love of the delicacy. “You couldn’t just buy ube ice cream at any grocery store. It was a specialty. If I came home from school and there was ube, I didn’t want to share, and I didn’t ask where my parents got it from.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13929303\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13929303\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/ube-cannoli.jpg\" alt=\"A tray of cannoli stuffed with ube cream and sprinkled with crushed pistachios. \" width=\"1920\" height=\"1440\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/ube-cannoli.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/ube-cannoli-800x600.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/ube-cannoli-1020x765.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/ube-cannoli-160x120.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/ube-cannoli-768x576.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/ube-cannoli-1536x1152.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Ube features prominently across the Macs by Icky menu. Pictured here: ube pistachio cannoli. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of Macs by Icky)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Sablan, who began baking as a young girl in a multi-generational immigrant home, has experimented with ube -based goods since high school. These days, her practice and creativity are paying off. In recent years, you can find her family-run side business, Macs by Icky, posted up around the Union City, Newark and Fremont area. An East Bay flavor come across in everything she does.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“People have always called me Icky,” says Sablan, who has a full-time job in healthcare. “And ‘Macs’ is because I started out making macarons, and because of my husband — he likes Mac Dre.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Her professional food efforts began accidentally in 2019 when Sablan made bags of “muddy mix” — a variation of “puppy chow,” the Midwestern sweet snack — for her pharmacy staff during nurse appreciation week. Shortly after, friends wanted more, so she \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/p/Cn6E62-uewo/\">playfully added ube and Oreo chunks\u003c/a> for an infusion she’d never tasted elsewhere. After that, friends and family clamored for more. She’s been using her imagination to create Filipinoized desserts ever since, from ube ricotta cannolis to “ubenana” (ube and banana) pudding.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "‘Everyone in the Bay Area is a little Filipino. When other people see our foods, they trust our taste.’",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As she enters her early 30s, Sablan — along with her husband, Frank, a Filipino-Chamorro who attended the same high school as her — are mashing the ube gas pedal with their uniquely Pinoy, extremely millennial creations. And they’re making a (purple) mark on Union City’s underground food scene.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s popping off,” she says. “Especially in the Bay, where there’s hella Filipinos. We’re very open [as a community], so our friends become Filipino even if they’re not. Everyone in the Bay Area is a little Filipino. When other people see our foods, they trust our taste.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In addition to co-managing Macs By Icky on their spare weekends, Sablan and her husband also host monthly events for other foodmakers. Their flagship function, “\u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/p/Cr_moMQvWDq/\">UC the Vibes\u003c/a>,” brings a rotating cast of established and emerging small businesses to Union City’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.birdhausbeergarden.com/\">Birdhaus Beer Garden\u003c/a> for a day party, which includes musical performances from local artists like popular Union City rapper \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/darrellmedellin/?hl=en\">Darrell Medellin\u003c/a>, along with live DJs, merch and, of course, food that smacks.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The community gathering began in 2021 when the Sablans were cited by the city for selling food without a permit. Since the couple was largely focused on their professional careers, they didn’t have much time or space to learn about the logistical and legal aspects of running a food business. After their experience with Alameda County’s health department, which Sablan says wasn’t easy, they decided to undergo their own entrepreneurial education in order to teach other community members how to level up their hustles professionally.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Someone complained to Union City about us [selling food]. We honestly didn’t know,” says Sablan. “People sell tamales down the street, or small plates, so we didn’t think anything of it. There’s not any education on it. If you call the health department, they’re not that helpful and no one coaches you through it.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13929306\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1760px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13929306\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/ubenana-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"Small jars of purple banana-ube cream pudding, topped with crushed pistachios.\" width=\"1760\" height=\"2560\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/ubenana-scaled.jpg 1760w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/ubenana-800x1164.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/ubenana-1020x1484.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/ubenana-160x233.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/ubenana-768x1117.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/ubenana-1056x1536.jpg 1056w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/ubenana-1408x2048.jpg 1408w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1760px) 100vw, 1760px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">‘Ubenana,’ the pop-up’s bright purple reinterpretation of a classic banana cream pudding. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of Macs by Icky)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>These days, Macs By Icky is adored in the local “food vending family,” regularly collaborating with and learning from successful pop-up hits like \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/alpastorpapi415/?hl=en\">Al Pastor Papi\u003c/a> and \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/pineapplewhips/\">Pineapple Whips\u003c/a> while simultaneously mentoring nascent, homegrown operations like \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/anthonyskitchen__/\">Anthony’s Kitchen\u003c/a> — a Hawaiian shrimp food slinger that got its at the Sablans’ events and has since expanded to other venues.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Like many immigrant-raised entrepreneurs, the Sablans have learned how to leverage their come-up in order to help feed other aspiring makers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We get vendors and coach them, walking them through how to get insurance and how to get a permit with the health department, so that after an event [like UC the Vibes] they can flourish and do it around the Bay Area if they want to,” Sablan says. “We want to offer our knowledge. There’s room for everyone to eat.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/span>A relatively small community with an outsized Filipino population, Union City hasn’t necessarily been known as a hub for exciting Bay Area cuisine in the past. Squished between Oakland and San Jose, and overshadowed by the larger neighboring communities of Hayward and Fremont, Union City is a place where many Bay Areans only go to visit extended family. That hasn’t stopped Macs By Icky — it has only gassed them up to go harder in the food game for their city.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At 6.64%, \u003ca href=\"https://www.asianjournal.com/usa/dateline-usa/pew-research-over-4-2m-filipino-americans-in-the-us/\">the Bay Area boasts the highest percentage of Filipino Americans per capita\u003c/a> of any metro region on the United States mainland, eclipsed only by Hawaii. And \u003ca href=\"https://www.pewresearch.org/social-trends/fact-sheet/asian-americans-filipinos-in-the-u-s/#top-10-u-s-metropolitan-areas-by-filipino-population-2019\">given that 50% of Filipino Americans were born in the U.S.\u003c/a>, compared to an average of 43% for other Asian diasporas, Fil Ams have mastered the art of cultural fusion and generational translation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Union City is a textbook example. \u003ca href=\"https://zipatlas.com/us/ca/city-comparison/percentage-filipino-population.htm\">An impressive 20% of the city’s households are Filipino households\u003c/a>, making it pound for pound one of the most Filipino-saturated places in the nation — the ideal birthplace for a certified Bay Area dessert like the ube ice cream taco.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Rather than picking up shop and catering to trendier parts of the Bay, the Sablans are inviting other parts of the Bay to experience what their home city has got to offer, sometimes straight off their porch.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“[Union City] gets overlooked a lot, but it’s what we know,” says Sablan. “We like it here because we’re near both of our parents, our friends and his grandparents. Even though we’re fully established with our business now, we’re still doing it from home.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-12127869\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2016/09/Q.Logo_.Break_.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"78\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/09/Q.Logo_.Break_.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/09/Q.Logo_.Break_-400x39.jpg 400w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/09/Q.Logo_.Break_-768x75.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>The next edition of \u003c/i>\u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/p/CsE3RrsyrZF/\">\u003ci>UC the Vibes\u003c/i>\u003c/a>\u003ci> will be held on Sun., May 21, at Birdhaus Beer Garden (3821 Smith St., Union City) from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. The pop-up event will take a break in June, but return to Birdhaus on Sun., July 23.\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"content": "\u003cp>\u003cem>\u003cstrong>Editor’s note:\u003c/strong> This story is part of \u003c/em>\u003ca href=\"http://kqed.org/bayareahiphop\">That’s My Word\u003c/a>\u003cem>, KQED’s year-long exploration of Bay Area hip-hop history, with new content dropping all throughout 2023.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>In this edited excerpt from his book \u003c/em>My Opinion\u003cem> (\u003ca href=\"https://www.amazon.com/My-Opinion-Mac-Mall/dp/0692456570/\">available here\u003c/a>), Vallejo legend Mac Mall recalls signing his first record deal and recording his classic debut album, \u003c/em>Illegal Business\u003cem>, at age 15.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[dropcap]W[/dropcap]hen I heard that \u003ca href=\"https://www.discogs.com/artist/184149-Khayree\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Khayree\u003c/a> wanted to holla at me about signing to a new label he was starting called Young Black Brotha Records, I had mixed emotions. On one hand, I was superjuiced, ’cause in my opinion, Khayree was and is a genius. His music is how the Crestside streets sound. I knew that if we hooked up, I would become a part of a legacy, but on the other hand, I was havin’ a run of some real buzzard luck. It seemed like nothing was going my way. I would get close enough to touch my goal, and the rug would get snatched from under me. A part of me thought this time would be no different.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Khayree was like a myth to me then. I never saw him hangin’ out; I just heard and felt the passion in his music. He definitely had his finger on the pulse of the Country Club and the whole Bay with the records he made for Strictly Business.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One of the things that eased my mind was Ceese telling me that it was real business. A Crestside OG and local DJ, Ceese was family; my mother used to babysit him way back when. He was always straight up and honest, so to me, his word was his bond. I got Khayree’s number from Ceese, went directly home, and called him. We talked two or three times, but they were only short conversations, because Khayree was as busy as a dope dealer on the first. Between his campaigning to free Mac Dre, who had been railroaded by the feds, and Ray Luv, who was signed to Strictly Business and dropped the Bay Area classic “\u003ca href=\"https://youtu.be/IVS-j8mGvqU\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Get Ya Money On\u003c/a>,” Khayree didn’t have much time to chat on the phone. He told me he would come to the Crest to chop it up with me face to face and would probably bring some tracks, so I had to be ready to spit.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When the day arrived, a few cuddies and I were posted up in front of my house on Mark Avenue. Khayree pulled up in his dark blue BMW. We knew it was him, ’cause not too many cars like that came through the turf. My crew knew Khayree was in the ‘hood to talk business with me, so they left me there in front of my house. My first impression of Khayree was that he was taller than he looked on the record covers and TV, and he wasn’t mean muggin’; he was actually smiling. So I put my best cold-as-the-North-Pole face on and gave him some dap, and then he ran down his plans on how he was creating Young Black Brotha (YBB) Records. He really didn’t have to sell me on the idea, though, ’cause I was a jump, skip, and a hop from a cell block or a pine box, so I felt I had nothing to lose.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Khayree had heard me rap on the four-track demo tape Mac Dre had produced for me, but I guess he wanted to hear me flow live to find out if my skills were actual and factual. I think this is where the man upstairs who controls all game stepped in, ’cause the first piece of music he played for me was knockin’, and I must say, the rap I spit felt tailor made for the beat. The track and rap ended up being the title track to what would become my debut record \u003cem>Illegal Business\u003c/em>. After I spit a few raps to a couple different beats, I guess Khayree was convinced, so we agreed we would make Young Black Brotha Records a reality. The next step, though, would be a hard one. We would have to persuade my parents to let their 15-year-old son get involved with strangers in a business they knew little, if anything, about.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside label='From the Book' link1='https://www.amazon.com/My-Opinion-Mac-Mall/dp/0692456570/,My Opinion (133 pages; $20)' hero='https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2023/01/MacMall.MyOpinion.jpg']My relationship with my pops wasn’t too cool at this time. We barely even spoke, so I felt he would be against it or wouldn’t care. My mom was under a lot of stress ’cause of the funk between me and my pops, and all she heard about the music business were horror stories of people getting strung out on drugs or dying broke because the record company robbed them. Plus, with the way I was livin’ at that time, she could have thought only the worst.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Ceese set up a meeting at my house with him, Khayree, my parents, and me to discuss my future in the record industry. You should have seen us: Ceese and Khayree were sitting on the couch looking like they just stepped out of a rap video, and my folks and I were on the other side of the couch looking like we just stepped out of an episode of \u003cem>Good Times\u003c/em>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>My parents asked the usual questions like how this would affect me in school, who would look out for me and make sure I wouldn’t fall victim to drugs, and what was up with the contract (who got what, how much, and when). Since I was a minor, a parent would have to sign along with me. For that reason, I was worried; if my pops told my mom not to sign out of spite, maybe mom wouldn’t sign just to keep things cool between them. If that went down, I was right back where I started: the bottom of the bottom.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>After Khayree finished his presentation, Ceese assured my parents that he would look out for me as best as he could, acting as DJ/mentor. Like I said, Ceese was family. After Ceese and Khayree bounced, my parents let me know that they thought I shouldn’t risk my future on a dream and that I should concentrate on school. Then they informed me that if I disobeyed them and chose a music career, I would be doing so alone and without their support.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When they told me that, it really fucked me up. I mean, this was one of the biggest decisions in my life, and not having them have my back felt like they disowned me anyway. My mind was made up — matter of fact, it was a no-brainer.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>My mom and pops wanted me to focus on school, but Hogan High School, which I was attending then, was just the minor leagues of the Crest against the rest of Vallejo funk. There, I focused only on fighting with the enemy and smoking weed with the cuddies, and getting a name for myself was more important than studying or homework. My parents didn’t want me to risk my future on a dream, but my life was at risk every day I woke up and went outside. I felt the music industry couldn’t be worse than growing up in the ‘hood.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Pops had washed his hands of the situation, so I was able to convince my mother to sign the contract. I had to promise her that I would finish school and stay out of trouble. I gave her my word, we both signed, and it was official: Mac Mall was the first artist signed to Young Black Brotha.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>https://youtu.be/g8Bfxiq5Cos\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Writing Up a Storm for ‘Illegal Business’\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>So Khayree started giving me tracks, and we began putting together what would become my first record, \u003cem>Illegal Business\u003c/em>. Leila Steinberg, who managed Ray and had managed Tupac before he got with Digital Underground, agreed to be my manager. With Dre in the feds, Ray took on a big cuddie role, letting me come along with him and perform at clubs and concerts. I felt like things were starting to happen — until Ray Luv caught a bullshit case and had to go to San Quentin for a ninety-day op.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Leila spent a lot of time trying to make sure he didn’t get washed in the legal system and catch some serious time. Khayree was still shooting me tracks for the records, and I was writing up a storm. In the Crestside, the streets were on fire; it was like cats stopped grinding and started robbing banks. Every neighborhood d-boy switched his pitch up and became a modern-day Jesse James. Cuddies were runnin’ up in every bank and credit union around. Some licks were so sweet, cats hit the same spot twice. This was the time some key members of my crew went down, mostly for robbery charges.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At first, the turf took the fed as a joke, but soon nobody would be laughin’. The ‘hood lost some real soldiers to the funk, which was getting deeper by the day. With all this shit jumpin’ off around me, it definitely influenced my rhymes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>My family had decided to take a vacation to Detroit that summer to go see my grandmother, Juanita Rocker. Juanita was a strong, strict, smart woman. She invested in real estate and owned property throughout Detroit. I spent a lot of summers in Motown helping repair houses and doing other business. I couldn’t see it then, but now I appreciate the knowledge I received while I was out there. [aside postid='arts_13923766' hero='https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2023/01/RBL.Small_.GIF.gif']\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But this summer in particular, I wasn’t trying to go out there. I had some Khayree beats to write to, the cuddies from the Strictly Ses (which we changed our name to) and I were putting it down in the town. I was right there in the middle of it. I wasn’t trying to miss any of the action. But after my mom made me go, the trip was actually cool. I got a chance to step back from my reality and put together some real raw material for my CD.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When I got back to the Crest, it was on. Khayree had the game plan made and was ready to execute. He decided we were gonna call the record \u003cem>Illegal Business\u003c/em>, since that was one of the first and tightest songs we made. We were gonna do a savage record cover, where I would be lookin’ like I was plotting a heist. When I heard that, I was with it, but the next thing he said threw me off. He told me he wanted to add another L to my name, ’cause he didn’t think people would get Mall from Mal. At first I didn’t want to do it, but trick it! I was getting in the game, so that’s all that mattered.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When I started my sophomore year at Hogan High, I was hyphy — I mean, I was experiencing stuff no teenager or most adults get a chance to. My mom made me promise that if I rapped, I would have to keep my grades up, so I did just enough to keep her off my back. When people started seeing that what I was doing was profitable, school became an obstacle for them. I would have fools tell me that I would be making more money than the principal, so I should concentrate on my flows instead of school. It sounded cool, but I made a promise to my mother to finish school, and that was what I was gonna do. I’m not gonna say that I was an angel or anything. I would cut class to do songs — even at lunch time — anything I had to do to make it happen.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VYUNInmYtlI\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When I finished the record, I knew it was good, but I really didn’t know what we had our hands on. I gave tapes to some cuddies, but I didn’t know how people outside the turf would take to it. Because of Ray Luv’s single “Get Ya Money On,” KMEL, the rap station in the Bay, gave us some love. I remember when I first heard my song “\u003ca href=\"https://youtu.be/CUm-vin3gR0\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">I Gots 2 Have It\u003c/a>” on the radio. A DJ named Theo Mizuhara, the most popular DJ at the time, played it. I was on Mark Avenue with the cuddie from the crew, just smoking blunts and drinking forties, when a cuddie of mine told me they were playin’ my song. I tell ya, I had an out-of-body experience. I couldn’t believe that was me on the radio for the whole Bay to hear. The cuddies were so juiced that we hopped in the cars and rolled all around the turf, dancing and yelling, telling everybody who would listen that I was on the radio.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When we dropped the record that summer, I could feel something was about to happen. We had a strong street buzz, and slowly but surely, the record picked up momentum. It was a great time for Bay Area music then.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>There was JT & the Get Low Playaz, Dre Dog, Cougnut, and RBL getting down in Frisco; Dru Down, The Luniz, 3X Krazy, and Richie Rich out in Oakland; Lil Ric in Richmond; and Brotha Lynch and C-Bo out in Sac. Man, I tell you, it was a good time to be a rapper.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c!-- iframe plugin v.4.3 wordpress.org/plugins/iframe/ -->\u003cbr>\n\u003ciframe style=\"border-radius:12px\" src=\"https://open.spotify.com/embed/playlist/0qR8qB6JbTVhK2HDodBv4b?utm_source=generator\" width=\"100%\" height=\"352\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen allow=\"autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; fullscreen; picture-in-picture\" loading=\"lazy\" scrolling=\"yes\" class=\"iframe-class\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Hooking Up With Tupac, One of the Hardest to Ever Live\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>With Mac Dre in the feds, E-40 became the king of Vallejo rap. If 40 was the king of Vallejo rap, then I was the prince. A lot of people don’t know this, but 40 and I are cousins, with our roots goin’ back to Louisiana. Actually, when I was younger, my mother and aunt wanted me to hook up with 40 and put out a record, since we were family. We chopped it up, but nothing ever came of it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It was at E-40’s “Practice Lookin’ Hard” video that I met one of the hardest niggas to ever live: Tupac Amaru Shakur.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13924484\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 640px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-large wp-image-13924484\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2023/01/Tupac.MacMall..RayLuv-1020x1224.jpg\" alt=\"Three young men, two of them sitting on car hoods, on a city street\" width=\"640\" height=\"768\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/01/Tupac.MacMall..RayLuv-1020x1224.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/01/Tupac.MacMall..RayLuv-800x960.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/01/Tupac.MacMall..RayLuv-160x192.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/01/Tupac.MacMall..RayLuv-768x922.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/01/Tupac.MacMall..RayLuv.jpg 1240w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">(L–R) Tupac Shakur, Mac Mall and Ray Luv on the set of Mac Mall’s music video, “Ghetto Theme,” directed by Tupac. \u003ccite>(Courtesy Mac Mall / 'My Opinion')\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>My cousin Shanda had brought me to the video; it was cool, even though I don’t think I got in one scene. The thing that made it worth being there was when Pac showed up for his cameo. Pac was there with Mopreme, Stretch, Big Syke, and a couple of his folks from the Bay. He looked like success; at the time, he was on his way to becoming the biggest rap star alive, and the best thing about it was that he was from the Bay.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I remember back in the day when Pac ran with the Jungle, a turf in Marin. Mac Dre did a show out there, and our ‘hoods had funk. We basically had to fight and shoot our way out of the projects, but that was then, and this was now. I can’t front, I was starstruck. I always related to Tupac, not only ’cause he was from the Bay but because I felt that when he rapped, he spoke for every young Black man in America — shit, the world! He represented how far you could take it if you worked hard and kept it real. Pac was at the video chillin’ just like a regular person, only difference was that everybody was jockin’ him. I remember he was smoking some chocolate ty he had brought back from New York.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>My cousin Shanda, who was talking shit as usual, had made a remark about his weed, and that’s when I took my chance to introduce myself. I walked up to him and said, “What’s up, Pac? My name is Mac Mall.” Then I gave him some dap.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When he heard my name, his eyes got big. Now, anybody who knew Pac knew how hyper he could get about shit. He was like, “You Mac Mall from Young Black Brotha? I love your shit, dog! Me and all my niggas is slammin’ that shit right now! I know your manager, Leila. I’m gonna call you up; we got to do something!”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When I heard this coming out of the mouth of one of my rap idols and the biggest rapper in the game, I felt validated and honored. I finally felt like I was on the right track. Shit, if the best said I was good, then I had to be doing something right!\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When he told me “we had to do something,” I really didn’t trip; in the rap game, when somebody tells you that, it’s kind of like somebody in Hollywood telling you, “Hey, I’ll call you, and we’ll do lunch.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>https://youtu.be/EL3N3D5B0CA\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But Tupac wasn’t Hollywood. He called Leila, whom he hadn’t spoken to in a while, and the next time he was in the Bay, he came through the YBB studio to check out our operation and do some tracks with me and Khayree. We had already shot the video for “Sic Wit Dis” a few months prior, and it was during this visit that Tupac told us that he wanted to direct a video for a song on my record called “Ghetto Theme.” I was floored! I couldn’t believe he would take time out of his busy schedule to direct and be in a video for little ol’ me. Tupac will forever be a friend in my eyes for that.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Even now, I think about how God brought Pac into my life. I mean Tupac was large; he didn’t even have to talk to me, let alone take me under his wing. I don’t know why God did it, but I’m happy he did. Here I was in the 11th grade with a CD in stores, doing shows around the country, starting to see a little paper, and having the biggest rapper as a big cuddie! It felt good; life was sweet!\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But you can’t have the sweet without the bitter. The bitter came in the form of hate; it seemed like the better I did, the more some people hated on me. It didn’t bother me, ’cause I had my crew, but when some of them dudes started to hate, it really cut me deep. I had to come face to face with the fact that everybody wasn’t going to see my dream the way I saw it. It hurt that rap came between us, but this was bigger than me. This was destiny. I had to handle my business. Pac and I got close, and even though he was fighting cases, doing movies, and making music, I was still able to call him and ask him for advice or just to chop it up. [aside postid='arts_13924170' hero='https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2023/01/Saafir.Battle.72dpi.jpg']\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I remember when Pac wanted to take me to the Soul Train Awards that year. Since I was young, he decided he’d call my mom and ask her personally for permission rather than having his people do it. He couldn’t have called at a worse time, ’cause I wasn’t doing well in school. When he asked her, she straight-up told him no. I almost fainted. I had to explain to her that this was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, and I had to get out there. Luckily I was able to get my grades together and go.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Man, going to Hollywood for the Soul Train Awards with Tupac was major! It also was the first time Ray Luv and Tupac had spoken since the Strictly Dope days. Strictly Dope was a group Pac and Ray started back in the day. Pac left the group to join Digital Underground, so he and Ray weren’t on good terms. Once we hooked up with Pac, though, he and Ray went into a back room, chopped it up, and squashed whatever problem they had. When we got to the awards, I saw how the big dogs do it. It was superstars everywhere. Pac let me sit in the front next to him, while Ray and Thug Life had other seats in the back. Man, I was literally sitting next to Madonna, and Jamie Foxx, Dr. Dre, and Snoop were by us.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>People I watched on TV were right in front of my face — not to mention, I was with the biggest rapper/ actor in the game. “Man, if the cuddies could see me now,” I thought.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-11687704\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2016/06/Turntable.Break_.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"60\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/06/Turntable.Break_.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/06/Turntable.Break_-400x30.jpg 400w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/06/Turntable.Break_-768x58.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003cem>\u003cstrong>Editor’s note:\u003c/strong> This story is part of \u003c/em>\u003ca href=\"http://kqed.org/bayareahiphop\">That’s My Word\u003c/a>\u003cem>, KQED’s year-long exploration of Bay Area hip-hop history, with new content dropping all throughout 2023.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>In this edited excerpt from his book \u003c/em>My Opinion\u003cem> (\u003ca href=\"https://www.amazon.com/My-Opinion-Mac-Mall/dp/0692456570/\">available here\u003c/a>), Vallejo legend Mac Mall recalls signing his first record deal and recording his classic debut album, \u003c/em>Illegal Business\u003cem>, at age 15.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cspan class=\"utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__dropcapShortcode__dropcap\">W\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\u003cp>hen I heard that \u003ca href=\"https://www.discogs.com/artist/184149-Khayree\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Khayree\u003c/a> wanted to holla at me about signing to a new label he was starting called Young Black Brotha Records, I had mixed emotions. On one hand, I was superjuiced, ’cause in my opinion, Khayree was and is a genius. His music is how the Crestside streets sound. I knew that if we hooked up, I would become a part of a legacy, but on the other hand, I was havin’ a run of some real buzzard luck. It seemed like nothing was going my way. I would get close enough to touch my goal, and the rug would get snatched from under me. A part of me thought this time would be no different.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Khayree was like a myth to me then. I never saw him hangin’ out; I just heard and felt the passion in his music. He definitely had his finger on the pulse of the Country Club and the whole Bay with the records he made for Strictly Business.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One of the things that eased my mind was Ceese telling me that it was real business. A Crestside OG and local DJ, Ceese was family; my mother used to babysit him way back when. He was always straight up and honest, so to me, his word was his bond. I got Khayree’s number from Ceese, went directly home, and called him. We talked two or three times, but they were only short conversations, because Khayree was as busy as a dope dealer on the first. Between his campaigning to free Mac Dre, who had been railroaded by the feds, and Ray Luv, who was signed to Strictly Business and dropped the Bay Area classic “\u003ca href=\"https://youtu.be/IVS-j8mGvqU\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Get Ya Money On\u003c/a>,” Khayree didn’t have much time to chat on the phone. He told me he would come to the Crest to chop it up with me face to face and would probably bring some tracks, so I had to be ready to spit.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When the day arrived, a few cuddies and I were posted up in front of my house on Mark Avenue. Khayree pulled up in his dark blue BMW. We knew it was him, ’cause not too many cars like that came through the turf. My crew knew Khayree was in the ‘hood to talk business with me, so they left me there in front of my house. My first impression of Khayree was that he was taller than he looked on the record covers and TV, and he wasn’t mean muggin’; he was actually smiling. So I put my best cold-as-the-North-Pole face on and gave him some dap, and then he ran down his plans on how he was creating Young Black Brotha (YBB) Records. He really didn’t have to sell me on the idea, though, ’cause I was a jump, skip, and a hop from a cell block or a pine box, so I felt I had nothing to lose.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Khayree had heard me rap on the four-track demo tape Mac Dre had produced for me, but I guess he wanted to hear me flow live to find out if my skills were actual and factual. I think this is where the man upstairs who controls all game stepped in, ’cause the first piece of music he played for me was knockin’, and I must say, the rap I spit felt tailor made for the beat. The track and rap ended up being the title track to what would become my debut record \u003cem>Illegal Business\u003c/em>. After I spit a few raps to a couple different beats, I guess Khayree was convinced, so we agreed we would make Young Black Brotha Records a reality. The next step, though, would be a hard one. We would have to persuade my parents to let their 15-year-old son get involved with strangers in a business they knew little, if anything, about.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>My relationship with my pops wasn’t too cool at this time. We barely even spoke, so I felt he would be against it or wouldn’t care. My mom was under a lot of stress ’cause of the funk between me and my pops, and all she heard about the music business were horror stories of people getting strung out on drugs or dying broke because the record company robbed them. Plus, with the way I was livin’ at that time, she could have thought only the worst.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Ceese set up a meeting at my house with him, Khayree, my parents, and me to discuss my future in the record industry. You should have seen us: Ceese and Khayree were sitting on the couch looking like they just stepped out of a rap video, and my folks and I were on the other side of the couch looking like we just stepped out of an episode of \u003cem>Good Times\u003c/em>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>My parents asked the usual questions like how this would affect me in school, who would look out for me and make sure I wouldn’t fall victim to drugs, and what was up with the contract (who got what, how much, and when). Since I was a minor, a parent would have to sign along with me. For that reason, I was worried; if my pops told my mom not to sign out of spite, maybe mom wouldn’t sign just to keep things cool between them. If that went down, I was right back where I started: the bottom of the bottom.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>After Khayree finished his presentation, Ceese assured my parents that he would look out for me as best as he could, acting as DJ/mentor. Like I said, Ceese was family. After Ceese and Khayree bounced, my parents let me know that they thought I shouldn’t risk my future on a dream and that I should concentrate on school. Then they informed me that if I disobeyed them and chose a music career, I would be doing so alone and without their support.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When they told me that, it really fucked me up. I mean, this was one of the biggest decisions in my life, and not having them have my back felt like they disowned me anyway. My mind was made up — matter of fact, it was a no-brainer.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>My mom and pops wanted me to focus on school, but Hogan High School, which I was attending then, was just the minor leagues of the Crest against the rest of Vallejo funk. There, I focused only on fighting with the enemy and smoking weed with the cuddies, and getting a name for myself was more important than studying or homework. My parents didn’t want me to risk my future on a dream, but my life was at risk every day I woke up and went outside. I felt the music industry couldn’t be worse than growing up in the ‘hood.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Pops had washed his hands of the situation, so I was able to convince my mother to sign the contract. I had to promise her that I would finish school and stay out of trouble. I gave her my word, we both signed, and it was official: Mac Mall was the first artist signed to Young Black Brotha.\u003c/p>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutube'>\n \u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutubeInside'>\n \u003ciframe\n loading='lazy'\n class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__youtubePlayer'\n type='text/html'\n src='//www.youtube.com/embed/g8Bfxiq5Cos'\n title='//www.youtube.com/embed/g8Bfxiq5Cos'\n allowfullscreen='true'\n style='border:0;'>\u003c/iframe>\n \u003c/span>\n \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003ch2>Writing Up a Storm for ‘Illegal Business’\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>So Khayree started giving me tracks, and we began putting together what would become my first record, \u003cem>Illegal Business\u003c/em>. Leila Steinberg, who managed Ray and had managed Tupac before he got with Digital Underground, agreed to be my manager. With Dre in the feds, Ray took on a big cuddie role, letting me come along with him and perform at clubs and concerts. I felt like things were starting to happen — until Ray Luv caught a bullshit case and had to go to San Quentin for a ninety-day op.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Leila spent a lot of time trying to make sure he didn’t get washed in the legal system and catch some serious time. Khayree was still shooting me tracks for the records, and I was writing up a storm. In the Crestside, the streets were on fire; it was like cats stopped grinding and started robbing banks. Every neighborhood d-boy switched his pitch up and became a modern-day Jesse James. Cuddies were runnin’ up in every bank and credit union around. Some licks were so sweet, cats hit the same spot twice. This was the time some key members of my crew went down, mostly for robbery charges.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At first, the turf took the fed as a joke, but soon nobody would be laughin’. The ‘hood lost some real soldiers to the funk, which was getting deeper by the day. With all this shit jumpin’ off around me, it definitely influenced my rhymes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>My family had decided to take a vacation to Detroit that summer to go see my grandmother, Juanita Rocker. Juanita was a strong, strict, smart woman. She invested in real estate and owned property throughout Detroit. I spent a lot of summers in Motown helping repair houses and doing other business. I couldn’t see it then, but now I appreciate the knowledge I received while I was out there. \u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But this summer in particular, I wasn’t trying to go out there. I had some Khayree beats to write to, the cuddies from the Strictly Ses (which we changed our name to) and I were putting it down in the town. I was right there in the middle of it. I wasn’t trying to miss any of the action. But after my mom made me go, the trip was actually cool. I got a chance to step back from my reality and put together some real raw material for my CD.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When I got back to the Crest, it was on. Khayree had the game plan made and was ready to execute. He decided we were gonna call the record \u003cem>Illegal Business\u003c/em>, since that was one of the first and tightest songs we made. We were gonna do a savage record cover, where I would be lookin’ like I was plotting a heist. When I heard that, I was with it, but the next thing he said threw me off. He told me he wanted to add another L to my name, ’cause he didn’t think people would get Mall from Mal. At first I didn’t want to do it, but trick it! I was getting in the game, so that’s all that mattered.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When I started my sophomore year at Hogan High, I was hyphy — I mean, I was experiencing stuff no teenager or most adults get a chance to. My mom made me promise that if I rapped, I would have to keep my grades up, so I did just enough to keep her off my back. When people started seeing that what I was doing was profitable, school became an obstacle for them. I would have fools tell me that I would be making more money than the principal, so I should concentrate on my flows instead of school. It sounded cool, but I made a promise to my mother to finish school, and that was what I was gonna do. I’m not gonna say that I was an angel or anything. I would cut class to do songs — even at lunch time — anything I had to do to make it happen.\u003c/p>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutube'>\n \u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutubeInside'>\n \u003ciframe\n loading='lazy'\n class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__youtubePlayer'\n type='text/html'\n src='//www.youtube.com/embed/VYUNInmYtlI'\n title='//www.youtube.com/embed/VYUNInmYtlI'\n allowfullscreen='true'\n style='border:0;'>\u003c/iframe>\n \u003c/span>\n \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cp>When I finished the record, I knew it was good, but I really didn’t know what we had our hands on. I gave tapes to some cuddies, but I didn’t know how people outside the turf would take to it. Because of Ray Luv’s single “Get Ya Money On,” KMEL, the rap station in the Bay, gave us some love. I remember when I first heard my song “\u003ca href=\"https://youtu.be/CUm-vin3gR0\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">I Gots 2 Have It\u003c/a>” on the radio. A DJ named Theo Mizuhara, the most popular DJ at the time, played it. I was on Mark Avenue with the cuddie from the crew, just smoking blunts and drinking forties, when a cuddie of mine told me they were playin’ my song. I tell ya, I had an out-of-body experience. I couldn’t believe that was me on the radio for the whole Bay to hear. The cuddies were so juiced that we hopped in the cars and rolled all around the turf, dancing and yelling, telling everybody who would listen that I was on the radio.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When we dropped the record that summer, I could feel something was about to happen. We had a strong street buzz, and slowly but surely, the record picked up momentum. It was a great time for Bay Area music then.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>There was JT & the Get Low Playaz, Dre Dog, Cougnut, and RBL getting down in Frisco; Dru Down, The Luniz, 3X Krazy, and Richie Rich out in Oakland; Lil Ric in Richmond; and Brotha Lynch and C-Bo out in Sac. Man, I tell you, it was a good time to be a rapper.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c!-- iframe plugin v.4.3 wordpress.org/plugins/iframe/ -->\u003cbr>\n\u003ciframe style=\"border-radius:12px\" src=\"https://open.spotify.com/embed/playlist/0qR8qB6JbTVhK2HDodBv4b?utm_source=generator\" width=\"100%\" height=\"352\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen allow=\"autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; fullscreen; picture-in-picture\" loading=\"lazy\" scrolling=\"yes\" class=\"iframe-class\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Hooking Up With Tupac, One of the Hardest to Ever Live\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>With Mac Dre in the feds, E-40 became the king of Vallejo rap. If 40 was the king of Vallejo rap, then I was the prince. A lot of people don’t know this, but 40 and I are cousins, with our roots goin’ back to Louisiana. Actually, when I was younger, my mother and aunt wanted me to hook up with 40 and put out a record, since we were family. We chopped it up, but nothing ever came of it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It was at E-40’s “Practice Lookin’ Hard” video that I met one of the hardest niggas to ever live: Tupac Amaru Shakur.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13924484\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 640px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-large wp-image-13924484\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2023/01/Tupac.MacMall..RayLuv-1020x1224.jpg\" alt=\"Three young men, two of them sitting on car hoods, on a city street\" width=\"640\" height=\"768\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/01/Tupac.MacMall..RayLuv-1020x1224.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/01/Tupac.MacMall..RayLuv-800x960.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/01/Tupac.MacMall..RayLuv-160x192.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/01/Tupac.MacMall..RayLuv-768x922.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/01/Tupac.MacMall..RayLuv.jpg 1240w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">(L–R) Tupac Shakur, Mac Mall and Ray Luv on the set of Mac Mall’s music video, “Ghetto Theme,” directed by Tupac. \u003ccite>(Courtesy Mac Mall / 'My Opinion')\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>My cousin Shanda had brought me to the video; it was cool, even though I don’t think I got in one scene. The thing that made it worth being there was when Pac showed up for his cameo. Pac was there with Mopreme, Stretch, Big Syke, and a couple of his folks from the Bay. He looked like success; at the time, he was on his way to becoming the biggest rap star alive, and the best thing about it was that he was from the Bay.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I remember back in the day when Pac ran with the Jungle, a turf in Marin. Mac Dre did a show out there, and our ‘hoods had funk. We basically had to fight and shoot our way out of the projects, but that was then, and this was now. I can’t front, I was starstruck. I always related to Tupac, not only ’cause he was from the Bay but because I felt that when he rapped, he spoke for every young Black man in America — shit, the world! He represented how far you could take it if you worked hard and kept it real. Pac was at the video chillin’ just like a regular person, only difference was that everybody was jockin’ him. I remember he was smoking some chocolate ty he had brought back from New York.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>My cousin Shanda, who was talking shit as usual, had made a remark about his weed, and that’s when I took my chance to introduce myself. I walked up to him and said, “What’s up, Pac? My name is Mac Mall.” Then I gave him some dap.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When he heard my name, his eyes got big. Now, anybody who knew Pac knew how hyper he could get about shit. He was like, “You Mac Mall from Young Black Brotha? I love your shit, dog! Me and all my niggas is slammin’ that shit right now! I know your manager, Leila. I’m gonna call you up; we got to do something!”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When I heard this coming out of the mouth of one of my rap idols and the biggest rapper in the game, I felt validated and honored. I finally felt like I was on the right track. Shit, if the best said I was good, then I had to be doing something right!\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When he told me “we had to do something,” I really didn’t trip; in the rap game, when somebody tells you that, it’s kind of like somebody in Hollywood telling you, “Hey, I’ll call you, and we’ll do lunch.”\u003c/p>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutube'>\n \u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutubeInside'>\n \u003ciframe\n loading='lazy'\n class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__youtubePlayer'\n type='text/html'\n src='//www.youtube.com/embed/EL3N3D5B0CA'\n title='//www.youtube.com/embed/EL3N3D5B0CA'\n allowfullscreen='true'\n style='border:0;'>\u003c/iframe>\n \u003c/span>\n \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cp>But Tupac wasn’t Hollywood. He called Leila, whom he hadn’t spoken to in a while, and the next time he was in the Bay, he came through the YBB studio to check out our operation and do some tracks with me and Khayree. We had already shot the video for “Sic Wit Dis” a few months prior, and it was during this visit that Tupac told us that he wanted to direct a video for a song on my record called “Ghetto Theme.” I was floored! I couldn’t believe he would take time out of his busy schedule to direct and be in a video for little ol’ me. Tupac will forever be a friend in my eyes for that.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Even now, I think about how God brought Pac into my life. I mean Tupac was large; he didn’t even have to talk to me, let alone take me under his wing. I don’t know why God did it, but I’m happy he did. Here I was in the 11th grade with a CD in stores, doing shows around the country, starting to see a little paper, and having the biggest rapper as a big cuddie! It felt good; life was sweet!\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But you can’t have the sweet without the bitter. The bitter came in the form of hate; it seemed like the better I did, the more some people hated on me. It didn’t bother me, ’cause I had my crew, but when some of them dudes started to hate, it really cut me deep. I had to come face to face with the fact that everybody wasn’t going to see my dream the way I saw it. It hurt that rap came between us, but this was bigger than me. This was destiny. I had to handle my business. Pac and I got close, and even though he was fighting cases, doing movies, and making music, I was still able to call him and ask him for advice or just to chop it up. \u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I remember when Pac wanted to take me to the Soul Train Awards that year. Since I was young, he decided he’d call my mom and ask her personally for permission rather than having his people do it. He couldn’t have called at a worse time, ’cause I wasn’t doing well in school. When he asked her, she straight-up told him no. I almost fainted. I had to explain to her that this was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, and I had to get out there. Luckily I was able to get my grades together and go.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Man, going to Hollywood for the Soul Train Awards with Tupac was major! It also was the first time Ray Luv and Tupac had spoken since the Strictly Dope days. Strictly Dope was a group Pac and Ray started back in the day. Pac left the group to join Digital Underground, so he and Ray weren’t on good terms. Once we hooked up with Pac, though, he and Ray went into a back room, chopped it up, and squashed whatever problem they had. When we got to the awards, I saw how the big dogs do it. It was superstars everywhere. Pac let me sit in the front next to him, while Ray and Thug Life had other seats in the back. Man, I was literally sitting next to Madonna, and Jamie Foxx, Dr. Dre, and Snoop were by us.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>People I watched on TV were right in front of my face — not to mention, I was with the biggest rapper/ actor in the game. “Man, if the cuddies could see me now,” I thought.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"title": "Hyphy Meets Hot Wings at Sideshow Kitchen",
"headTitle": "Hyphy Meets Hot Wings at Sideshow Kitchen | KQED",
"content": "\u003cp>\u003cb>\u003ci>¡Hella Hungry! is a column about Bay Area foodmakers, exploring the region’s culinary cultures through the mouth of a first-generation local.\u003c/i>\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">When you order at \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.sideshowkitchen.com/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Sideshow Kitchen’s\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> street-facing window in North Oakland, you might hear Larry June’s “Smoothies in 1991” lazily playing in the background. Above the counter, a collection of old-school Mac Dre, Spice 1 and Tupac albums overlook the cash register like a holy trinity of Bay Area saints. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The workers move rhythmically—cranking out burgers, frying fish and tossing fries—while the owner, Mike Beatrice, pours draft beers and takes orders with the collected coolness of someone accustomed to swinging a V8-powered machine.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">At this neighborhood kickback, you can grub on the popular Sideshow Burger, a double beef patty with all the fixings. Or you can mess around and get the 12-piece Hyphy Hot Wings, which come dolloped with their housemade “Hyphy Hot Sauce” of mild peppers, smoky Jamaican jerk seasoning and other spices. Or you can try my personal favorite, the Hella Hyphy Fried Chicken Sandwich—a heavenly stack of fried chicken, jalapeño-infused coleslaw, honey mustard and, of course, more of that saucy Hyphyness, all piled on a soft La Jolla bun. You’ll definitely want a side of the paprika-dusted crinkle-cut garlic fries, too. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">No matter what you decide, the choices at Sideshow are aplenty (yup), so it’s impossible to leave the place feeling empty-stomached (nope).\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">[pullquote size=\"large\" align=\"right\" citation=\"Mike Beatrice\"]“I want to preserve that [spirit]. This is for the community, the people who deserve it and have been here for a long time. This is for the real Town people.”[/pullquote]The restaurant’s hyphy-era vibes are unmistakable, and they’re as flavorfully sprinkled with Bay Area culture as \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13907726/e-40-goon-with-the-spoon-bay-area-rappers-food-entrepreneurs-hustle\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">E-40’s ice cream\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> brand—a dessert option that Beatrice hopes to offer soon. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Recently celebrating its five-year anniversary—and having just signed a new five-year lease—the spot feels authentic and lively, with an aim to not only serve smackin’ plates, but to represent the local community.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13913216\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-13913216\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2022/05/SideshowKitchen_Mike-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"Man holds up two peace signs while standing in front of his restaurant named Sideshow, with hand painted sign behind him that says hot food\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/05/SideshowKitchen_Mike-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/05/SideshowKitchen_Mike-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/05/SideshowKitchen_Mike-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/05/SideshowKitchen_Mike-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/05/SideshowKitchen_Mike-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/05/SideshowKitchen_Mike.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Sideshow Kitchen founder Mike Beatrice has been a North Oakland resident and business owner for the past 15 years. \u003ccite>(Alan Chazaro)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“Over the years, more commercialized shit has popped up around here and Emeryville, and it loses the Bay Area spirit,” says Beatrice, who runs the restaurant with his wife Salma and best friend Jose Luis Leon, who functions as the head chef. “I want to preserve that [spirit]. This is for the community, the people who deserve it and have been here for a long time. This is for the real Town people.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">I sat down with Beatrice to get a sense of what makes his restaurant worth a trip to the North Pole.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">This interview has been edited for length and clarity.\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"text-align: center\">********\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>KQED: Tell us about yourself and your history with food. What inspired you to get into the culinary arts? \u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">I grew up with my pops in the restaurant business. I’m originally from the East Coast, and my first experience was working in [my dad’s] restaurant when I would get in trouble at school. I’d get suspended and have to wash dishes and do grunt work, cleaning bathrooms. The chef would bring his son, too, and I saw that that kid got paid, but since I was on punishment, I wasn’t getting paid. So I wanted to get money and started taking it more seriously. After that, I always kept a restaurant job growing up. I’ve also worked night clubs, bartending, fine dining. From 2016 to 2020, I ran \u003ca href=\"https://www.facebook.com/oakalndhomegrown/\">Homegrown Oakland\u003c/a> as a smoothie and salad shop. I decided to close that during the pandemic and focus on Sideshow. Now I’m here everyday.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>What’s your connection to the Bay Area? When did you arrive here, and what’s your favorite thing about the Bay’s culinary scene?\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">I moved to San Francisco from East Boston when I was younger. Fifteen years ago I settled into this specific neighborhood. I live right down the street and have been here for hella long. At first I felt a little lost in California coming from the East Coast. But as soon as I pulled up in Oakland, I felt like it was home. It felt like what I grew up around—independent people just hustling and grinding. It felt natural to me.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">In terms of food, the Bay has lots of folks who aren’t classically trained chefs, and I appreciate that. That creates a rawness from the heart and soul. The people here are cooking what they grew up with, maybe something their grandmothers would cook. It’s also just so diverse and competitive. There are lots of people making burgers and fried chicken everywhere, so you have to figure out what sets you apart. It’s a hybridization of many things.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>https://www.instagram.com/p/CHHb-VjgVxQ/\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>As an Italian American from the East Coast, has anyone ever questioned the name choice behind your restaurant?\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">To keep it simple, no. I lived and breathed all the culture I’m portraying. I grew up driving a [Mustang] 5.0 and my brother had a [Camaro] Z-28. We rode motorcycles and dirt bikes. We had a studio growing up and used to rap, and I always listened to Bay music. It’s a natural representation of myself. Even though I moved here from the East Coast as a teen, I still grew up in this lifestyle and would always go to sideshows, drove the cars, was at the events. To me, this is normal life. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">While we were [building out the restaurant], people were always slapping music outside, and we were thinking of a name at the time, and since there was basically just a sideshow happening right there in front of us, the idea was super organic and natural and on the fly. We rolled with it, and we haven’t stopped. I know it’s a bold name, but ever since we started out, local people pull up on us to see if we check out. Sideshow is a neighborhood spot. We’re preserving the culture, not erasing it. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>What has been a highlight for you during your time at Sideshow Kitchen?\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Just knowing that we made it through COVID and made it even better than before. We went from nothing happening at all to finding a way to build it back ten times stronger. We built a camaraderie and trust that helped push our business forward. We had a no-quit attitude. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">This is the beginning of year six now. It was an interesting road because we built this place with our bare hands, me and my brother. My brother has a business called Sons of Salvage. We demolitioned this place together and rebuilt it from scratch. The tables, the walls—we made all that.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13913217\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-13913217\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2022/05/SideshowKitchen_spice1-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"Two music album covers are displayed on a shelf inside the restaurant. One album is of Spice 1, the other is of Mac Dre.\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/05/SideshowKitchen_spice1-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/05/SideshowKitchen_spice1-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/05/SideshowKitchen_spice1-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/05/SideshowKitchen_spice1-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/05/SideshowKitchen_spice1-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/05/SideshowKitchen_spice1.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Bay Area hip-hop legends, Spice 1 and Mac Dre, overlook the restaurant. \u003ccite>(Alan Chazaro)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>What Bay Area rappers do you listen to who have influenced your culinary craft?\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">[aside postID='arts_13907726,arts_13908052']Shit. Mac Dre, J Stalin, Yukmouth, Fab, Keak da Sneak, those are the pillars. Nowadays, I like Offset Jim [now 22nd Jim], AllBlack, G Pop. G is a local dude, lives right in the neighborhood. I listen to him a lot. Depending on my mood I might be slapping Luniz or Berner. Also Pac, let’s claim that. And The Jacka, RIP. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">I like the vision and hustle of all those artists. I love watching anyone go from something small to something huge. That’s why I always fuck with Bay Area rap. I grew up in the East, and it’s more industry—more rappers are signed to major record labels. But in the Bay, \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13907726/e-40-goon-with-the-spoon-bay-area-rappers-food-entrepreneurs-hustle\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">people are independent and selling out the trunk\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">. Everyone bites that style now, but it started out here.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Oh, and Larry June. I fuck with Larry June.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13913225\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-13913225 size-medium\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2022/05/sideshowkitchen_chickensandwich-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"a friend chicken sandwich with crinkle-cut fries and ketchup, served on a metal tray, with a beer on the table\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/05/sideshowkitchen_chickensandwich-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/05/sideshowkitchen_chickensandwich-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/05/sideshowkitchen_chickensandwich-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/05/sideshowkitchen_chickensandwich-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/05/sideshowkitchen_chickensandwich-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/05/sideshowkitchen_chickensandwich.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The Hyphy Fried Chicken Sandwich with a hazy IPA and a side of fries.\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-12904247\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2017/03/Q.Logo_.Break_-400x39.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"400\" height=\"39\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/03/Q.Logo_.Break_-400x39.jpg 400w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/03/Q.Logo_.Break_-400x39-160x16.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/03/Q.Logo_.Break_-400x39-240x23.jpg 240w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/03/Q.Logo_.Break_-400x39-375x37.jpg 375w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 400px) 100vw, 400px\">\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>\u003ca href=\"https://www.sideshowkitchen.com/\">Sideshow Kitchen\u003c/a> is open Tuesday–Saturday, noon to 6 pm (Thursday through Saturday, they close at 7 pm) at 942 Stanford Ave. in Oakland.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003cb>\u003ci>¡Hella Hungry! is a column about Bay Area foodmakers, exploring the region’s culinary cultures through the mouth of a first-generation local.\u003c/i>\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">When you order at \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.sideshowkitchen.com/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Sideshow Kitchen’s\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> street-facing window in North Oakland, you might hear Larry June’s “Smoothies in 1991” lazily playing in the background. Above the counter, a collection of old-school Mac Dre, Spice 1 and Tupac albums overlook the cash register like a holy trinity of Bay Area saints. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The workers move rhythmically—cranking out burgers, frying fish and tossing fries—while the owner, Mike Beatrice, pours draft beers and takes orders with the collected coolness of someone accustomed to swinging a V8-powered machine.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">At this neighborhood kickback, you can grub on the popular Sideshow Burger, a double beef patty with all the fixings. Or you can mess around and get the 12-piece Hyphy Hot Wings, which come dolloped with their housemade “Hyphy Hot Sauce” of mild peppers, smoky Jamaican jerk seasoning and other spices. Or you can try my personal favorite, the Hella Hyphy Fried Chicken Sandwich—a heavenly stack of fried chicken, jalapeño-infused coleslaw, honey mustard and, of course, more of that saucy Hyphyness, all piled on a soft La Jolla bun. You’ll definitely want a side of the paprika-dusted crinkle-cut garlic fries, too. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">No matter what you decide, the choices at Sideshow are aplenty (yup), so it’s impossible to leave the place feeling empty-stomached (nope).\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>The restaurant’s hyphy-era vibes are unmistakable, and they’re as flavorfully sprinkled with Bay Area culture as \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13907726/e-40-goon-with-the-spoon-bay-area-rappers-food-entrepreneurs-hustle\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">E-40’s ice cream\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> brand—a dessert option that Beatrice hopes to offer soon. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Recently celebrating its five-year anniversary—and having just signed a new five-year lease—the spot feels authentic and lively, with an aim to not only serve smackin’ plates, but to represent the local community.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13913216\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-13913216\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2022/05/SideshowKitchen_Mike-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"Man holds up two peace signs while standing in front of his restaurant named Sideshow, with hand painted sign behind him that says hot food\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/05/SideshowKitchen_Mike-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/05/SideshowKitchen_Mike-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/05/SideshowKitchen_Mike-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/05/SideshowKitchen_Mike-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/05/SideshowKitchen_Mike-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/05/SideshowKitchen_Mike.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Sideshow Kitchen founder Mike Beatrice has been a North Oakland resident and business owner for the past 15 years. \u003ccite>(Alan Chazaro)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“Over the years, more commercialized shit has popped up around here and Emeryville, and it loses the Bay Area spirit,” says Beatrice, who runs the restaurant with his wife Salma and best friend Jose Luis Leon, who functions as the head chef. “I want to preserve that [spirit]. This is for the community, the people who deserve it and have been here for a long time. This is for the real Town people.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">I sat down with Beatrice to get a sense of what makes his restaurant worth a trip to the North Pole.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">This interview has been edited for length and clarity.\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"text-align: center\">********\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>KQED: Tell us about yourself and your history with food. What inspired you to get into the culinary arts? \u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">I grew up with my pops in the restaurant business. I’m originally from the East Coast, and my first experience was working in [my dad’s] restaurant when I would get in trouble at school. I’d get suspended and have to wash dishes and do grunt work, cleaning bathrooms. The chef would bring his son, too, and I saw that that kid got paid, but since I was on punishment, I wasn’t getting paid. So I wanted to get money and started taking it more seriously. After that, I always kept a restaurant job growing up. I’ve also worked night clubs, bartending, fine dining. From 2016 to 2020, I ran \u003ca href=\"https://www.facebook.com/oakalndhomegrown/\">Homegrown Oakland\u003c/a> as a smoothie and salad shop. I decided to close that during the pandemic and focus on Sideshow. Now I’m here everyday.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>What’s your connection to the Bay Area? When did you arrive here, and what’s your favorite thing about the Bay’s culinary scene?\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">I moved to San Francisco from East Boston when I was younger. Fifteen years ago I settled into this specific neighborhood. I live right down the street and have been here for hella long. At first I felt a little lost in California coming from the East Coast. But as soon as I pulled up in Oakland, I felt like it was home. It felt like what I grew up around—independent people just hustling and grinding. It felt natural to me.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">In terms of food, the Bay has lots of folks who aren’t classically trained chefs, and I appreciate that. That creates a rawness from the heart and soul. The people here are cooking what they grew up with, maybe something their grandmothers would cook. It’s also just so diverse and competitive. There are lots of people making burgers and fried chicken everywhere, so you have to figure out what sets you apart. It’s a hybridization of many things.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003cb>As an Italian American from the East Coast, has anyone ever questioned the name choice behind your restaurant?\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">To keep it simple, no. I lived and breathed all the culture I’m portraying. I grew up driving a [Mustang] 5.0 and my brother had a [Camaro] Z-28. We rode motorcycles and dirt bikes. We had a studio growing up and used to rap, and I always listened to Bay music. It’s a natural representation of myself. Even though I moved here from the East Coast as a teen, I still grew up in this lifestyle and would always go to sideshows, drove the cars, was at the events. To me, this is normal life. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">While we were [building out the restaurant], people were always slapping music outside, and we were thinking of a name at the time, and since there was basically just a sideshow happening right there in front of us, the idea was super organic and natural and on the fly. We rolled with it, and we haven’t stopped. I know it’s a bold name, but ever since we started out, local people pull up on us to see if we check out. Sideshow is a neighborhood spot. We’re preserving the culture, not erasing it. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>What has been a highlight for you during your time at Sideshow Kitchen?\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Just knowing that we made it through COVID and made it even better than before. We went from nothing happening at all to finding a way to build it back ten times stronger. We built a camaraderie and trust that helped push our business forward. We had a no-quit attitude. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">This is the beginning of year six now. It was an interesting road because we built this place with our bare hands, me and my brother. My brother has a business called Sons of Salvage. We demolitioned this place together and rebuilt it from scratch. The tables, the walls—we made all that.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13913217\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-13913217\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2022/05/SideshowKitchen_spice1-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"Two music album covers are displayed on a shelf inside the restaurant. One album is of Spice 1, the other is of Mac Dre.\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/05/SideshowKitchen_spice1-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/05/SideshowKitchen_spice1-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/05/SideshowKitchen_spice1-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/05/SideshowKitchen_spice1-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/05/SideshowKitchen_spice1-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/05/SideshowKitchen_spice1.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Bay Area hip-hop legends, Spice 1 and Mac Dre, overlook the restaurant. \u003ccite>(Alan Chazaro)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>What Bay Area rappers do you listen to who have influenced your culinary craft?\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Shit. Mac Dre, J Stalin, Yukmouth, Fab, Keak da Sneak, those are the pillars. Nowadays, I like Offset Jim [now 22nd Jim], AllBlack, G Pop. G is a local dude, lives right in the neighborhood. I listen to him a lot. Depending on my mood I might be slapping Luniz or Berner. Also Pac, let’s claim that. And The Jacka, RIP. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">I like the vision and hustle of all those artists. I love watching anyone go from something small to something huge. That’s why I always fuck with Bay Area rap. I grew up in the East, and it’s more industry—more rappers are signed to major record labels. But in the Bay, \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13907726/e-40-goon-with-the-spoon-bay-area-rappers-food-entrepreneurs-hustle\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">people are independent and selling out the trunk\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">. Everyone bites that style now, but it started out here.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Oh, and Larry June. I fuck with Larry June.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13913225\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-13913225 size-medium\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2022/05/sideshowkitchen_chickensandwich-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"a friend chicken sandwich with crinkle-cut fries and ketchup, served on a metal tray, with a beer on the table\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/05/sideshowkitchen_chickensandwich-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/05/sideshowkitchen_chickensandwich-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/05/sideshowkitchen_chickensandwich-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/05/sideshowkitchen_chickensandwich-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/05/sideshowkitchen_chickensandwich-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/05/sideshowkitchen_chickensandwich.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The Hyphy Fried Chicken Sandwich with a hazy IPA and a side of fries.\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-12904247\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2017/03/Q.Logo_.Break_-400x39.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"400\" height=\"39\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/03/Q.Logo_.Break_-400x39.jpg 400w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/03/Q.Logo_.Break_-400x39-160x16.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/03/Q.Logo_.Break_-400x39-240x23.jpg 240w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/03/Q.Logo_.Break_-400x39-375x37.jpg 375w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 400px) 100vw, 400px\">\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>\u003ca href=\"https://www.sideshowkitchen.com/\">Sideshow Kitchen\u003c/a> is open Tuesday–Saturday, noon to 6 pm (Thursday through Saturday, they close at 7 pm) at 942 Stanford Ave. in Oakland.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"info": "What kind of no sabo word is Hyphenación? For us, it’s about living within a hyphenation. Like being a third-gen Mexican-American from the Texas border now living that Bay Area Chicano life. Like Xorje! Each week we bring together a couple of hyphenated Latinos to talk all about personal life choices: family, careers, relationships, belonging … everything is on the table. ",
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"info": "The Political Mind of Jerry Brown brings listeners the wisdom of the former Governor, Mayor, and presidential candidate. Scott Shafer interviewed Brown for more than 40 hours, covering the former governor's life and half-century in the political game – and Brown has some lessons he'd like to share. ",
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"marketplace": {
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"info": "Our flagship program, helmed by Kai Ryssdal, examines what the day in money delivered, through stories, conversations, newsworthy numbers and more. Updated Monday through Friday at about 3:30 p.m. PT.",
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"mindshift": {
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"info": "The MindShift podcast explores the innovations in education that are shaping how kids learn. Hosts Ki Sung and Katrina Schwartz introduce listeners to educators, researchers, parents and students who are developing effective ways to improve how kids learn. We cover topics like how fed-up administrators are developing surprising tactics to deal with classroom disruptions; how listening to podcasts are helping kids develop reading skills; the consequences of overparenting; and why interdisciplinary learning can engage students on all ends of the traditional achievement spectrum. This podcast is part of the MindShift education site, a division of KQED News. KQED is an NPR/PBS member station based in San Francisco. You can also visit the MindShift website for episodes and supplemental blog posts or tweet us \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/MindShiftKQED\">@MindShiftKQED\u003c/a> or visit us at \u003ca href=\"/mindshift\">MindShift.KQED.org\u003c/a>",
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"order": 12
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"info": "For decades, the process for how police police themselves has been inconsistent – if not opaque. In some states, like California, these proceedings were completely hidden. After a new police transparency law unsealed scores of internal affairs files, our reporters set out to examine these cases and the shadow world of police discipline. On Our Watch brings listeners into the rooms where officers are questioned and witnesses are interrogated to find out who this system is really protecting. Is it the officers, or the public they've sworn to serve?",
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"info": "Our weekly podcast explores how the media 'sausage' is made, casts an incisive eye on fluctuations in the marketplace of ideas, and examines threats to the freedom of information and expression in America and abroad. For one hour a week, the show tries to lift the veil from the process of \"making media,\" especially news media, because it's through that lens that we see the world and the world sees us",
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"info": "The economy explained. Imagine you could call up a friend and say, Meet me at the bar and tell me what's going on with the economy. Now imagine that's actually a fun evening.",
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"politicalbreakdown": {
"id": "politicalbreakdown",
"title": "Political Breakdown",
"tagline": "Politics from a personal perspective",
"info": "Political Breakdown is a new series that explores the political intersection of California and the nation. Each week hosts Scott Shafer and Marisa Lagos are joined with a new special guest to unpack politics -- with personality — and offer an insider’s glimpse at how politics happens.",
"airtime": "THU 6:30pm-7pm",
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"possible": {
"id": "possible",
"title": "Possible",
"info": "Possible is hosted by entrepreneur Reid Hoffman and writer Aria Finger. Together in Possible, Hoffman and Finger lead enlightening discussions about building a brighter collective future. The show features interviews with visionary guests like Trevor Noah, Sam Altman and Janette Sadik-Khan. Possible paints an optimistic portrait of the world we can create through science, policy, business, art and our shared humanity. It asks: What if everything goes right for once? How can we get there? Each episode also includes a short fiction story generated by advanced AI GPT-4, serving as a thought-provoking springboard to speculate how humanity could leverage technology for good.",
"airtime": "SUN 2pm",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Possible-Podcast-Tile-360x360-1.jpg",
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},
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},
"pri-the-world": {
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"title": "PRI's The World: Latest Edition",
"info": "Each weekday, host Marco Werman and his team of producers bring you the world's most interesting stories in an hour of radio that reminds us just how small our planet really is.",
"airtime": "MON-FRI 2pm-3pm",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/The-World-Podcast-Tile-360x360-1.jpg",
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},
"radiolab": {
"id": "radiolab",
"title": "Radiolab",
"info": "A two-time Peabody Award-winner, Radiolab is an investigation told through sounds and stories, and centered around one big idea. In the Radiolab world, information sounds like music and science and culture collide. Hosted by Jad Abumrad and Robert Krulwich, the show is designed for listeners who demand skepticism, but appreciate wonder. WNYC Studios is the producer of other leading podcasts including Freakonomics Radio, Death, Sex & Money, On the Media and many more.",
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},
"reveal": {
"id": "reveal",
"title": "Reveal",
"info": "Created by The Center for Investigative Reporting and PRX, Reveal is public radios first one-hour weekly radio show and podcast dedicated to investigative reporting. Credible, fact based and without a partisan agenda, Reveal combines the power and artistry of driveway moment storytelling with data-rich reporting on critically important issues. The result is stories that inform and inspire, arming our listeners with information to right injustices, hold the powerful accountable and improve lives.Reveal is hosted by Al Letson and showcases the award-winning work of CIR and newsrooms large and small across the nation. In a radio and podcast market crowded with choices, Reveal focuses on important and often surprising stories that illuminate the world for our listeners.",
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"imageSrc": "https://ww2.kqed.org/radio/wp-content/uploads/sites/50/2018/04/reveal300px.png",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.revealnews.org/episodes/",
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"link": "/radio/program/reveal",
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"rss": "http://feeds.revealradio.org/revealpodcast"
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},
"rightnowish": {
"id": "rightnowish",
"title": "Rightnowish",
"tagline": "Art is where you find it",
"info": "Rightnowish digs into life in the Bay Area right now… ish. Journalist Pendarvis Harshaw takes us to galleries painted on the sides of liquor stores in West Oakland. We'll dance in warehouses in the Bayview, make smoothies with kids in South Berkeley, and listen to classical music in a 1984 Cutlass Supreme in Richmond. Every week, Pen talks to movers and shakers about how the Bay Area shapes what they create, and how they shape the place we call home.",
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"order": 16
},
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},
"science-friday": {
"id": "science-friday",
"title": "Science Friday",
"info": "Science Friday is a weekly science talk show, broadcast live over public radio stations nationwide. Each week, the show focuses on science topics that are in the news and tries to bring an educated, balanced discussion to bear on the scientific issues at hand. Panels of expert guests join host Ira Flatow, a veteran science journalist, to discuss science and to take questions from listeners during the call-in portion of the program.",
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