Unsigned and Hella Broke: The East Bay’s Dirt-Hustling 1990s Hip-Hop Subculture
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"content": "\u003cp>\u003cem>This week, as we near the end of 2025, the writers and editors of KQED Arts & Culture are reflecting on \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/tag/one-beautiful-thing\">One Beautiful Thing\u003c/a> from the year.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[dropcap]T[/dropcap]his year, nothing has been more beautiful than the outpouring of support for famed San Francisco rapper Messy Marv.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>After being released last year from a stint behind bars, the lyrical game spitter has been spotted struggling on the streets of the Bay. 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Rushmore of Bay Area rap has always bothered me.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Set aside that it’s referencing images of colonists carved into sacred stones of the Lakota Sioux, who called the land formation Tȟuŋkášila Šákpe, or Six Grandfathers. My main problem is with people believing that four individuals can truly represent the entirety of this unique, obscure, vast flavor of hip-hop we know and love.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Do you know the depth of Bay Area hip-hop? \u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13951128\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-13951128\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/3-800x1064.png\" alt=\"Fillmore raised MC, San Francisco rap star Messy Marv poses for a photo.\" width=\"800\" height=\"1064\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/3-800x1064.png 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/3-1020x1357.png 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/3-160x213.png 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/3-768x1022.png 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/3.png 1108w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Fillmore-raised MC and San Francisco rap star Messy Marv in the 2000s. \u003ccite>(D-Ray)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The list of figureheads for Northern California’s rap scene usually starts with Too Short, the Godfather, and E-40, the king of slang. The Furly Ghost himself, Mac Dre, is often a shoo-in. And then the discussion gets interesting.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>MC Hammer broke pop barriers and went diamond. The Jacka’s music reached folks on prison yards and those praying in Mecca. And HBK held it down when the Bay wasn’t really making a sound.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Hieroglyphics created a brand known around the world, and \u003ca href=\"https://www.xxlmag.com/california-love/\">San Quinn is in the Guinness Book of World Records\u003c/a> for recording the most features before the age of 21. Kamaiyah is a party music machine, Traxamillion gave us anthems for virtually every Bay Area city and Rick Rock embodies the term “slap.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Conscious Daughters gave us “Somethin’ to Ride To,” Larry June is showing us there’s a healthy way to be a player and Keak Da Sneak is still the people’s champ. There’s Digital Underground, Luniz, Rappin’ 4-Tay, Richie Rich, Mistah F.A.B. and more.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And then there’s Messy Marv.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13924090\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-13924090\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/01/1b391526-3797-4371-acff-a39092a7d871-800x756.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"756\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/01/1b391526-3797-4371-acff-a39092a7d871-800x756.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/01/1b391526-3797-4371-acff-a39092a7d871-1020x964.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/01/1b391526-3797-4371-acff-a39092a7d871-160x151.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/01/1b391526-3797-4371-acff-a39092a7d871-768x726.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/01/1b391526-3797-4371-acff-a39092a7d871.jpg 1125w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Nump (at right) with Messy Marv, who gave Nump his name during studio sessions in the early 2000s. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of Nump)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>He’s a rapper that’s seen some of the highest highs and the lowest lows. And his story shows why the Mt. Rushmore question is asinine, and leaves no room for the nuances of an artist’s career, or the person’s lived experience.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For some rappers, “making it” isn’t about talent and hit tracks, radio spins, plaques on the wall or songs reaching the charts. It’s about surviving.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Messy Marv has done all of the above.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He’s rocked shows all across the country, dropped multiple tracks that’ve reached the Billboard charts and collaborated with the likes of \u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GNGSCgs8moM&t=43s\">Keyshia Cole\u003c/a>, \u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xHZphkKEt2Q\">Dead Prez\u003c/a> and \u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Izr9s1ozOss\">George Clinton\u003c/a>. He’s navigated true poverty, dealt with addiction and been in and out of one system or another since he was a kid.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside postID='arts_13983670']“I’m a foster care baby,” \u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KPhMR8X5NHk\">Messy Marv told Dregs One\u003c/a>, host of the \u003cem>History of The Bay\u003c/em> podcast during a revealing interview last year. Discussing his parents, whom he’s never met, he said, “They left me on the porch when I was two years old, and sold me for $70.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He slept in trap houses with dogs, and was exposed to the fast life at a young age. “I was tooting powder at 9,” Marv told Dregs One in the same interview. “This is a Fillmore tradition,” he added. “Smoke a lil’ coke and toot a lil’ powder cocaine. This is history.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Marv found family through \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/richrocka/?hl=en\">Rich Rocka\u003c/a> (formerly known as Ya Boy) and the neighboring Fillmore community; serenity came later in the form of hip-hop.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Inspired by the music of pioneering San Francisco rappers \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/hughemc/\">Hugh EMC\u003c/a> and the late \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13928057/alien-mac-kitty-cougnut-daughter-san-francisco-frisco-rap-legacy\">Cougnut\u003c/a>, and coupled with a push to perform during a middle school talent show, Messy Marv found his lane.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He dropped his first full album \u003cem>Messy Situationz\u003c/em> in 1996. Two years later he partnered with fellow Fillmore rapper \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/sanquinn415/\">San Quinn\u003c/a> for \u003cem>Explosive Mode\u003c/em>, a project that still stands as a certified hood classic.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13984674\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13984674\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/12/img_9880.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/12/img_9880.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/12/img_9880-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/12/img_9880-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/12/img_9880-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">‘Explosive Mode,’ Messy Marv’s 1998 album with San Quinn. \u003ccite>(Gabe Meline/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Marv then went on a run from the late ’90s through the early 2000s, dropping dozens of albums, recording hundreds of features and founding his own label, Scalen Entertainment.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>His music reflected his real-life involvement with the streets, fast cars, women and drug use. With a certain ease, he used his guttural voice and punchy wordplay to paint vivid images of “the other side” of the most picturesque city in the world.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Marv’s career is full of erroneous decisions and unfortunate mishaps. In 2001 he was confined to a wheelchair for six months after \u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KPhMR8X5NHk&t=2413s\">surviving a leap from a four-story window\u003c/a> that left his legs shattered. In 2005 he was \u003ca href=\"https://www.sfgate.com/crime/article/for-s-f-rappers-another-dream-deferred-2560404.php\">arrested on weapons possession charges\u003c/a> while en route to a photoshoot for the magazine \u003cem>XXL\u003c/em>. In 2018 he was seen \u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=73KjowD6TLg\">brandishing a firearm\u003c/a> while searching for rapper J-Diggs in Vallejo.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And still, Marv holds a special place in Bay Area hip-hop lore.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Two years ago, as O.J. Simpson discussed his love of hip-hop during an appearance on Cam’ron and Ma$e’s popular podcast \u003cem>It Is What It Is\u003c/em>, he surprised nearly everyone by \u003ca href=\"https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=311185161773531\">mentioning Messy Marv first\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside postID='arts_13895586']I’ve talked to so many people about Marv’s influence. That includes renowned hip-hop \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13951122/d-ray-bay-area-hip-hop-photographer\">photographer D-Ray\u003c/a>, who made some of the earliest images of Marv as a rapper, and \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13956701/therapy-in-the-ghetto-reimagined-to-raise-mental-health-awareness-in-sfs-bayview\">Gunna Goes Global\u003c/a>, an MC raised in the shadows of Marv’s ascension in the Fillmore. They all say the same thing: Messy Marv is tragically underrated.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A recent call to one of Marv’s close family members revealed to me that the famed rapper is still in need of help. And a text from Mistah F.A.B., who also runs the “\u003ca href=\"https://thethugstherapy.com/\">T.H.U.G. Therapy\u003c/a>” men’s support group, reminded me that “mental health is important.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Like many all across the Bay, I’m hoping for the best for Marv. I’ll also echo something \u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mC6momU_K50\">Mistah F.A.B. told Dregs One\u003c/a> earlier this year, while discussing Messy Marv: “They can’t take who we was,” he said, paraphrasing a line from the film \u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K8NeB6-JQqI\">\u003cem>Above The Rim\u003c/em>\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“A gold medal in 2002 is still a gold medal in 2025,” added F.A.B. “And Mess will always be a gold medalist in my eyes.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I don’t believe we should have a Mt. Rushmore of Bay Area hip-hop. But if we were to hoist the names of the greatest locally raised hip-hop artists to the top of, say, Twin Peaks? Then there’d better be a spot reserved for Messy Marv.\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"excerpt": "This year, the outpouring of love for the San Francisco rapper was a beautiful thing, writes Pendarvis Harshaw.",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003cem>This week, as we near the end of 2025, the writers and editors of KQED Arts & Culture are reflecting on \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/tag/one-beautiful-thing\">One Beautiful Thing\u003c/a> from the year.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cspan class=\"utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__dropcapShortcode__dropcap\">T\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\u003cp>his year, nothing has been more beautiful than the outpouring of support for famed San Francisco rapper Messy Marv.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>After being released last year from a stint behind bars, the lyrical game spitter has been spotted struggling on the streets of the Bay. People have pulled up and given him \u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/shorts/mXuWiOev5ow\">money\u003c/a>, \u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/shorts/29nYDBERpBQ\">food\u003c/a>, a \u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/shorts/a5WY-nRTLYg\">haircut\u003c/a>, as well as love and support; that affection has only been \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/p/DRTEsgIEiCz/\">amplified online\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright size-full wp-image-13833985\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/05/OGPenn.Cap_.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"180\" height=\"207\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/05/OGPenn.Cap_.jpg 180w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/05/OGPenn.Cap_-160x184.jpg 160w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 180px) 100vw, 180px\">Marv’s return was highlighted by an emotional reunion with \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/p/DPM4vs5keOY/\">Mistah F.A.B.\u003c/a> in September, which inspired another resounding wave of props to remind people of his rightful spot in the Bay Area’s hip-hop pantheon.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The question of who goes on the Mt. Rushmore of Bay Area rap has always bothered me.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Set aside that it’s referencing images of colonists carved into sacred stones of the Lakota Sioux, who called the land formation Tȟuŋkášila Šákpe, or Six Grandfathers. My main problem is with people believing that four individuals can truly represent the entirety of this unique, obscure, vast flavor of hip-hop we know and love.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Do you know the depth of Bay Area hip-hop? \u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13951128\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-13951128\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/3-800x1064.png\" alt=\"Fillmore raised MC, San Francisco rap star Messy Marv poses for a photo.\" width=\"800\" height=\"1064\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/3-800x1064.png 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/3-1020x1357.png 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/3-160x213.png 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/3-768x1022.png 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/3.png 1108w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Fillmore-raised MC and San Francisco rap star Messy Marv in the 2000s. \u003ccite>(D-Ray)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The list of figureheads for Northern California’s rap scene usually starts with Too Short, the Godfather, and E-40, the king of slang. The Furly Ghost himself, Mac Dre, is often a shoo-in. And then the discussion gets interesting.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>MC Hammer broke pop barriers and went diamond. The Jacka’s music reached folks on prison yards and those praying in Mecca. And HBK held it down when the Bay wasn’t really making a sound.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Hieroglyphics created a brand known around the world, and \u003ca href=\"https://www.xxlmag.com/california-love/\">San Quinn is in the Guinness Book of World Records\u003c/a> for recording the most features before the age of 21. Kamaiyah is a party music machine, Traxamillion gave us anthems for virtually every Bay Area city and Rick Rock embodies the term “slap.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Conscious Daughters gave us “Somethin’ to Ride To,” Larry June is showing us there’s a healthy way to be a player and Keak Da Sneak is still the people’s champ. There’s Digital Underground, Luniz, Rappin’ 4-Tay, Richie Rich, Mistah F.A.B. and more.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And then there’s Messy Marv.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13924090\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-13924090\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/01/1b391526-3797-4371-acff-a39092a7d871-800x756.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"756\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/01/1b391526-3797-4371-acff-a39092a7d871-800x756.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/01/1b391526-3797-4371-acff-a39092a7d871-1020x964.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/01/1b391526-3797-4371-acff-a39092a7d871-160x151.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/01/1b391526-3797-4371-acff-a39092a7d871-768x726.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/01/1b391526-3797-4371-acff-a39092a7d871.jpg 1125w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Nump (at right) with Messy Marv, who gave Nump his name during studio sessions in the early 2000s. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of Nump)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>He’s a rapper that’s seen some of the highest highs and the lowest lows. And his story shows why the Mt. Rushmore question is asinine, and leaves no room for the nuances of an artist’s career, or the person’s lived experience.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For some rappers, “making it” isn’t about talent and hit tracks, radio spins, plaques on the wall or songs reaching the charts. It’s about surviving.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Messy Marv has done all of the above.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He’s rocked shows all across the country, dropped multiple tracks that’ve reached the Billboard charts and collaborated with the likes of \u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GNGSCgs8moM&t=43s\">Keyshia Cole\u003c/a>, \u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xHZphkKEt2Q\">Dead Prez\u003c/a> and \u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Izr9s1ozOss\">George Clinton\u003c/a>. He’s navigated true poverty, dealt with addiction and been in and out of one system or another since he was a kid.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>“I’m a foster care baby,” \u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KPhMR8X5NHk\">Messy Marv told Dregs One\u003c/a>, host of the \u003cem>History of The Bay\u003c/em> podcast during a revealing interview last year. Discussing his parents, whom he’s never met, he said, “They left me on the porch when I was two years old, and sold me for $70.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He slept in trap houses with dogs, and was exposed to the fast life at a young age. “I was tooting powder at 9,” Marv told Dregs One in the same interview. “This is a Fillmore tradition,” he added. “Smoke a lil’ coke and toot a lil’ powder cocaine. This is history.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Marv found family through \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/richrocka/?hl=en\">Rich Rocka\u003c/a> (formerly known as Ya Boy) and the neighboring Fillmore community; serenity came later in the form of hip-hop.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Inspired by the music of pioneering San Francisco rappers \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/hughemc/\">Hugh EMC\u003c/a> and the late \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13928057/alien-mac-kitty-cougnut-daughter-san-francisco-frisco-rap-legacy\">Cougnut\u003c/a>, and coupled with a push to perform during a middle school talent show, Messy Marv found his lane.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He dropped his first full album \u003cem>Messy Situationz\u003c/em> in 1996. Two years later he partnered with fellow Fillmore rapper \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/sanquinn415/\">San Quinn\u003c/a> for \u003cem>Explosive Mode\u003c/em>, a project that still stands as a certified hood classic.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13984674\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13984674\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/12/img_9880.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/12/img_9880.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/12/img_9880-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/12/img_9880-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/12/img_9880-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">‘Explosive Mode,’ Messy Marv’s 1998 album with San Quinn. \u003ccite>(Gabe Meline/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Marv then went on a run from the late ’90s through the early 2000s, dropping dozens of albums, recording hundreds of features and founding his own label, Scalen Entertainment.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>His music reflected his real-life involvement with the streets, fast cars, women and drug use. With a certain ease, he used his guttural voice and punchy wordplay to paint vivid images of “the other side” of the most picturesque city in the world.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Marv’s career is full of erroneous decisions and unfortunate mishaps. In 2001 he was confined to a wheelchair for six months after \u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KPhMR8X5NHk&t=2413s\">surviving a leap from a four-story window\u003c/a> that left his legs shattered. In 2005 he was \u003ca href=\"https://www.sfgate.com/crime/article/for-s-f-rappers-another-dream-deferred-2560404.php\">arrested on weapons possession charges\u003c/a> while en route to a photoshoot for the magazine \u003cem>XXL\u003c/em>. In 2018 he was seen \u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=73KjowD6TLg\">brandishing a firearm\u003c/a> while searching for rapper J-Diggs in Vallejo.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And still, Marv holds a special place in Bay Area hip-hop lore.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Two years ago, as O.J. Simpson discussed his love of hip-hop during an appearance on Cam’ron and Ma$e’s popular podcast \u003cem>It Is What It Is\u003c/em>, he surprised nearly everyone by \u003ca href=\"https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=311185161773531\">mentioning Messy Marv first\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>I’ve talked to so many people about Marv’s influence. That includes renowned hip-hop \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13951122/d-ray-bay-area-hip-hop-photographer\">photographer D-Ray\u003c/a>, who made some of the earliest images of Marv as a rapper, and \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13956701/therapy-in-the-ghetto-reimagined-to-raise-mental-health-awareness-in-sfs-bayview\">Gunna Goes Global\u003c/a>, an MC raised in the shadows of Marv’s ascension in the Fillmore. They all say the same thing: Messy Marv is tragically underrated.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A recent call to one of Marv’s close family members revealed to me that the famed rapper is still in need of help. And a text from Mistah F.A.B., who also runs the “\u003ca href=\"https://thethugstherapy.com/\">T.H.U.G. Therapy\u003c/a>” men’s support group, reminded me that “mental health is important.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Like many all across the Bay, I’m hoping for the best for Marv. I’ll also echo something \u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mC6momU_K50\">Mistah F.A.B. told Dregs One\u003c/a> earlier this year, while discussing Messy Marv: “They can’t take who we was,” he said, paraphrasing a line from the film \u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K8NeB6-JQqI\">\u003cem>Above The Rim\u003c/em>\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“A gold medal in 2002 is still a gold medal in 2025,” added F.A.B. “And Mess will always be a gold medalist in my eyes.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I don’t believe we should have a Mt. Rushmore of Bay Area hip-hop. But if we were to hoist the names of the greatest locally raised hip-hop artists to the top of, say, Twin Peaks? Then there’d better be a spot reserved for Messy Marv.\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "Unsigned and Hella Broke: The East Bay’s Dirt-Hustling 1990s Hip-Hop Subculture",
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"headTitle": "Unsigned and Hella Broke: The East Bay’s Dirt-Hustling 1990s Hip-Hop Subculture | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cp>\u003cem>Editor’s note: This story is part of \u003c/em>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/bayareahiphop\">That’s My Word\u003c/a>\u003cem>, an ongoing KQED series about \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/bayareahiphop\">Bay Area hip-hop\u003c/a> history.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I’ll never lose that spirit, but I don’t miss being on the street from morning to night,” says Corey “Sunspot Jonz” Johnson.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Johnson is talking about his years of “dirt hustling,” when he sold stapled and Xeroxed copies of his zine \u003ci>Unsigned and Hella Broke \u003c/i>and cassette tapes by his rap group Mystik Journeymen on Telegraph Avenue in Berkeley. Anyone who either attended UC Berkeley in the 1990s or frequented heavily trafficked storefronts like Blondie’s Pizza and Leopold’s Music undoubtedly has memories of being approached by a friendly teenager who moonlit as a rapper and tried to sell you a homemade tape. It was very nearly a rite of passage during an era now romanticized for birthing the Bay Area’s underground hip-hop scene.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Sunspot Jonz may have given the Unsigned and Hella Broke era its name, but he wasn’t the only one on Telegraph Avenue. Others who gathered there to sell their wares included the Berkeley duo Fundamentals, Kirby Dominant, Fremont rapper/producer “Walt Liquor” Taylor and his group Mixed Practice, the Cytoplasmz crew, Queen Nefra, and Hobo Junction, the crew led by the dextrous rapper \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13968340/saafir-dead-oakland-rapper-dies-at-54\">Saafir\u003c/a>. They duplicated their songs onto blank cassette tapes, added modestly illustrated J-cards and sold them wherever they could, from sidewalks along Telegraph and outside of local concert venues to newly launched message boards on the nascent internet.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13984377\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1079px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/12/R-3874152-1371056865-1515.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1079\" height=\"550\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13984377\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/12/R-3874152-1371056865-1515.jpg 1079w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/12/R-3874152-1371056865-1515-160x82.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/12/R-3874152-1371056865-1515-768x391.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1079px) 100vw, 1079px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Cassettes sold hand-to-hand in the Bay Area’s independent hip-hop scene included the Dereliks’ ‘A Turn on the Wheel Is Worth More Than a Record Deal,’ Hobo Junction’s ‘Limited Edition’ and Bored Stiff’s ‘Explainin’.’\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>At the time, the sound of the Bay Area underground was typified by warm and muddy tones generated by basic four-track recording equipment, with deliberately abstract lyrics. Its homespun quality stood in defiantly uncommercial contrast to the slick “gangsta” style that defined mainstream rap after the arrival of Dr. Dre’s 1992 opus \u003ci>The Chronic\u003c/i>. Its ethos posited hip-hop as not just a popular musical genre, but a vocation that required personal commitment and sacrifice.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Nobody in Living Legends had a job. Nobody had kids at the time. Nobody had anything but to do \u003ci>this \u003c/i>every day,” says Sunspot, who rapped and produced beats in Mystik Journeymen alongside L.A. transplant Tommy “Luckyiam” Woolfolk.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Mystik Journeymen eventually built a modest yet far-flung cult following, traveling overseas and laying the groundwork for an international DIY touring circuit that others would duplicate. In 1996, the duo co-founded the group Living Legends, alongside Berkeley rapper The Grouch, L.A. rappers Murs and Eligh; San Jose State student Scarab; Fresno rapper Asop and DJ/producer Bicasso, a graduate of Cal Poly Humboldt. (Arata was briefly a member before returning home to Japan.) On Dec. 5 at the UC Theater in Berkeley, they headline \u003ca href=\"https://www.theuctheatre.org/shows/how-the-grouch-stole-christmas-tour-living-legends-05-dec\">How the Grouch Stole Christmas\u003c/a>, an annual concert tour organized by The Grouch since 2007; Oakland icons Souls of Mischief and Kentucky trio Cunninlynguists support.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13984360\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2390px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/12/LL-VARIOUS.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2390\" height=\"1875\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13984360\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/12/LL-VARIOUS.jpg 2390w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/12/LL-VARIOUS-2000x1569.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/12/LL-VARIOUS-160x126.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/12/LL-VARIOUS-768x603.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/12/LL-VARIOUS-1536x1205.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/12/LL-VARIOUS-2048x1607.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2390px) 100vw, 2390px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Various members of Living Legends gather outside a show in the 1990s. \u003ccite>(Courtesy Sunspot Jonz)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>But for Sunspot, reminiscing about his formative years on Telegraph Avenue elicits complicated feelings. His drive and passion back then put “a battery pack in our asses,” as Fundamentals rapper/producer Jonathan “King Koncepts” Sklute appreciatively notes. Yet it also was an extreme result of surviving as a starving artist.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Do I miss being on the street?” asks Sunspot, whose many 2025 projects include releasing a solo album (\u003ci>\u003ca href=\"https://youtu.be/tOmlruvkQak?si=o4fR_64__VH1E-xY\">Bad to the Bonez\u003c/a>\u003c/i>), organizing his annual “Hip Hop Fairyland” back-to-school bazaar at Children’s Fairyland through his Hip-Hop Scholastics nonprofit, and publishing a children’s book he wrote and illustrated (\u003ca href=\"https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0G1YL39RL\">\u003ci>Werewolves Want the Moon for Christmas\u003c/i>\u003c/a>). “I would literally wake up, scrape together money I had to get on the bus or BART from East Oakland to Berkeley, and unless I sold a tape, I wasn’t getting two things: I wasn’t getting lunch, and I wasn’t getting a ride home, because I needed to make enough for the bus fare home.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I am done with those days.” \u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13984165\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/11/251124-bretalexanderswet00132_TV_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13984165\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/11/251124-bretalexanderswet00132_TV_qed.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/11/251124-bretalexanderswet00132_TV_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/11/251124-bretalexanderswet00132_TV_qed-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/11/251124-bretalexanderswet00132_TV_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Bret Alexander Sweet poses for a portrait on Telegraph Avenue, where he used to sell his own cassette tapes in the 1990s as part of the Bay Area’s independent hip-hop scene. \u003ccite>(Tâm Vũ/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch2>From high school to the Avenue\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>The roots of Telegraph Avenue as a brief yet memorable hub for local hip-hop entrepreneurs lie in the University of California, Berkeley. Located at the northernmost end of Telegraph, it’s an unofficial gateway for students to the rest of the Bay Area. At the dawn of the 1990s, as the culture blossomed both locally and nationally, small groups of youth in ciphers joined the annoyingly loud drum circles and couples furiously making out on park benches that typified the daily Sproul Plaza backdrop.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Back then, “[Telegraph was] the magnetism point of the entire Bay Area, of something for young people to go and do,” says Bret “Karma” Sweet of Fundamentals. “If you went to Telegraph next week and you would see all the streets are blocked off because there’s [a street festival] where they can sell things for Black Friday, that’s how Telegraph used to be \u003ci>every day\u003c/i>, especially weekends from 1993 to 2001.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside postID='arts_13979349']Amid a confluence of developments around the Bay, from Oakland’s Digital Underground on KMEL-FM and \u003ci>Billboard \u003c/i>charts to \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11690787/when-oakland-was-a-chocolate-city-a-brief-history-of-festival-at-the-lake\">Festival at the Lake\u003c/a> in Lake Merritt, there was the emergence of\u003ca href=\"https://bsc.coop/housing/our-houses-apartments/african-american-theme-house\"> The Afro House\u003c/a>, a South Berkeley student co-op established in 1977, as a spot for house parties. And there was the Justice League, a crew of 20-30 DJs and MCs that included Beni B (who formed the prominent independent label ABB Records in 1997) as well as UC Berkeley students Hodari “Dr. Bomb” Davis, \u003ca href=\"http://www.kqed.org/bayareahiphop/timeline#college-radio-makes-its-mark\">Davey D\u003c/a>, and Defari and Superstar Quamallah (the latter two became ABB artists).\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A year after Davis graduated in 1991, he began teaching at Berkeley High, and drew national attention for leading its African American studies department. He was \u003ca href=\"https://youtu.be/RZJxp4iFSK0?si=9PNjzJsSPOQZYVoF&t=1144\">prominently featured in the controversial 1994 PBS \u003ci>Frontline \u003c/i>documentary \u003ci>School Colors\u003c/i>\u003c/a>, which led media outlets such as the \u003ci>New York Times \u003c/i>to \u003ca href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/1994/10/18/arts/television-review-school-s-integration-falling-short-of-ideal.html\">blithely criticize his activism on integration and race relations\u003c/a>. But Davis also launched Live Lyricist Society, an academic club where students could practice hip-hop elements such as DJing, B-boy dancing, and MC’ing. (Its name was inspired by the Robin Williams movie \u003ci>Dead Poets Society\u003c/i>.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13984375\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1455px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/12/Screenshot-2025-12-02-at-9.45.22%E2%80%AFPM.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1455\" height=\"1120\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13984375\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/12/Screenshot-2025-12-02-at-9.45.22 PM.jpg 1455w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/12/Screenshot-2025-12-02-at-9.45.22 PM-160x123.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/12/Screenshot-2025-12-02-at-9.45.22 PM-768x591.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1455px) 100vw, 1455px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Hodari Davis in the 1994 PBS documentary ‘School Colors.’ \u003ccite>(PBS)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>In 1992, “I’m walking across campus on Berkeley High School, and I noticed that these kids are freestyling on the courtyard. … They’re doing it in the middle of the day, which was a problem for other teachers, because it meant that whole groups of people would be late to class,” says Davis. Eventually, he offered his classroom as a space for the students to practice their craft. “We never kicked anybody out because they were weak. The point was to get people’s skills up,” he adds.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As students in the Live Lyricist Society club, Fundamentals’ King Koncepts and Karma fondly recall campus visits by rap stars that Davis invited, like Outkast and the Wu-Tang Clan (with help from Justice League crew like Davey D, by then a well-known journalist and radio host). \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“When Wu-Tang came, it was damn near a riot. [The organizers] had to do it outside because there wasn’t any indoor space that could accommodate that amount of people. They had to do a signing and a talk in the courtyard,” remembers Koncepts. “But the only people who knew Outkast at that time were people who were clued in. … We were ciphering with them in the hallway.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Broke-ass parties at the East Oakland warehouse\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Meanwhile in East Oakland, Sunspot formed Mystik Journeymen, after spending two years at college in Hawaii. He cycled through various collaborators before meeting Luckyiam on a trip to L.A. “Tom always has my back, no matter how psycho and stupid and childish my ideas would be,” he says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13984364\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1806px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/12/MJ-ELIGH-MURS-AUSTRALIA-FLIER_0001.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1806\" height=\"1204\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13984364\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/12/MJ-ELIGH-MURS-AUSTRALIA-FLIER_0001.jpg 1806w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/12/MJ-ELIGH-MURS-AUSTRALIA-FLIER_0001-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/12/MJ-ELIGH-MURS-AUSTRALIA-FLIER_0001-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/12/MJ-ELIGH-MURS-AUSTRALIA-FLIER_0001-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1806px) 100vw, 1806px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Mystik Journeymen in the studio. \u003ccite>(Courtesy Sunspot Jonz)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Mystik Journeymen opened for the likes of Broun Fellinis and Conscious Daughters, earned a “Demo Tape of the Week” nod in the \u003ci>San Francisco Bay Guardian\u003c/i>, and were mentored by \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13914311/rono-tse-disposable-heroes-hiphoprisy-michael-franti\">Rono Tse of Disposable Heroes of HipHoprisy\u003c/a>. As the Journeymen’s local reputation ascended, Tse helped the duo get a publishing deal at Polygram, which allowed them to buy equipment and studio time at Hyde Street Studios in San Francisco. The deal should’ve led to a London Records contract. Instead, Sunspot says, “Polygram was, like, ‘We don’t know what to do with you,’” and released the group from its contract. “We weren’t ready. The way we were going to make it wasn’t gonna be by making songs all perfect for the radio. The way we were going to make it is by making songs from our heart.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Tse also found the duo a unit at 4001 San Leandro Street, a warehouse in East Oakland. Sunspot and Luckyiam began throwing “Unsigned and Hella Broke” parties to pay the bills. Famously, they charged $3 and a package of Top Ramen noodles for entry. “They had no money. That’s how they were feeding themselves,” says Koncepts, who remembers “literally being at 4001 eating Top Ramen. Like, somebody would cook it up.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As the 4001 San Leandro Street parties grew and, later, moved to Jackson Street Studios, the Journeymen attracted acolytes. One of them was Corey “The Grouch” Scoffern, an Oakland youth hungering to network with fellow hip-hop enthusiasts. He met the group during one of its performances at Yo Mama’s Kitchen.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Hip-hop was like a subculture at the time that was growing and becoming what it is today. But it wasn’t there yet,” says The Grouch. “I didn’t hear of any unsigned artists following their dreams and putting their music in the world out on their own. And that’s what I discovered when I was introduced to Mystik Journeymen.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13984367\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1140px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/12/Screenshot-2023-09-05-at-2.48.06-PM.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1140\" height=\"1464\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13984367\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/12/Screenshot-2023-09-05-at-2.48.06-PM.jpg 1140w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/12/Screenshot-2023-09-05-at-2.48.06-PM-160x205.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/12/Screenshot-2023-09-05-at-2.48.06-PM-768x986.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1140px) 100vw, 1140px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A collage of underground hip-hop artist names from an issue of ‘Unsigned and Hella Broke.’ \u003ccite>(King Koncepts)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>1995 proved to be a breakthrough year for local underground rap. Mystik Journeymen dropped their first official project the previous year, \u003ci>4001: The Stolen Legacy\u003c/i>, then followed with \u003ci>Walkmen Invaders\u003c/i>, both on their Outhouse imprint. Walt Liquor’s group Mixed Practice dropped \u003ci>Homegrown: The EP\u003c/i>. Hobo Junction dropped \u003ci>Limited Edition\u003c/i>, which generated an unexpected national hit in Whoridas’ “Shot Callin’ and Big Ballin’” after L.A. label Southpaw Records picked it up for distribution. (According to Bas-1 of Cytoplasmz, it was Hobo Junction rapper Eyecue who coined the phrase “dirt hustling.”)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Grouch completed his debut, \u003ci>Don’t Talk to Me\u003c/i>, after Sunspot jokingly threatened to “beat him up” if he didn’t finish it. The Journeymen captured the energy of it all in \u003ci>Unsigned and Hella Broke\u003c/i>, a photocopied zine they assembled on an occasional basis between 1993 and 1996.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside postID='arts_13937489']At its inception, this byzantine movement drew middling industry support. For rap fans that associated “Yay Area” rap with street-oriented mobb music like the Luniz’ “I Got 5 on It” and E-40’s “Sprinkle Me,” these indie acts must’ve seemed like the kind of local yokels that follow in the wake of bigger artists’ success, and whose art seemed insubstantial by comparison.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I met MC Hammer at this [SF mastering studio] called the Rocket Lab,” remembers Sunspot, “and he was, like, ‘Who you guys signed to?’ And I was, like, ‘No one. We’re just doing it ourselves.’ And he was, like, ‘Okay, y’all ain’t doing nothin’.’ And I was, like, \u003ci>whoa\u003c/i>. These motherfuckers really discount us because we’re not trying to be hoe-ed or slaved out to some label.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13984368\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1463px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/12/KemeticSuns.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1463\" height=\"335\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13984368\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/12/KemeticSuns.jpg 1463w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/12/KemeticSuns-160x37.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/12/KemeticSuns-768x176.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1463px) 100vw, 1463px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Fundamentals members King Koncepts and Karma (L–R, center) and other members of the Kemetic Suns crew. \u003ccite>(Courtesy Bret Sweet)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch2>Resourceful creativity meets police harassment\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>But for those who took the time to listen, the Journeymen’s tapes as well as similar releases by San Francisco’s Bored Stiff (\u003ci>\u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UsUHUp69VXg&list=PLO5qzC_OCrlhnKRpQLJdcVjvKoiBRPwH7\">Explainin’\u003c/a>\u003c/i>), the South Bay’s Dereliks (\u003ci>\u003ca href=\"https://youtu.be/7GaAj4M90Vs?si=8l0PbB_0ZWaSWMB8\">A Turn on the Wheel Is Worth More Than a Record Deal\u003c/a>\u003c/i>) and others were soulful, imaginative, and engrossing. On tracks like “\u003ca href=\"https://youtu.be/yDM7BBFleVk?si=ksxgjNvrUWYD3xqA\">Call Ov Da Wild\u003c/a>” and “\u003ca href=\"https://youtu.be/G52NArlILxs?si=QrZMXvjtxcpugjT8\">Runnin’ Through the Swamps\u003c/a>,” the Journeymen explored their inner mind’s eye with bracing honesty, and earnestly questioned the meaning of life with ruddy melodies and slangy verses. Their music captivated thousands of local youth that couldn’t relate to the G-funk beats and thugged-out dramatics dominating mainstream rap and were inquisitive enough to seek out alternatives.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Fundamentals’ Koncepts — who also enjoyed the likes of E-40 and DJ Quik — had just graduated from Berkeley High when he and Karma made \u003ci>\u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZVuBYizoeUc\">Thirty Daze and a Plane Ticket\u003c/a>\u003c/i>, a title inspired by Koncepts’ impending move to New York to attend NYU. “I used to find it real cringey, because I’m baring my soul from the perspective of a 17 year-old kid,” says Koncepts, who now works in the music industry and runs a label, Key System Recordings. (Full disclosure: I contributed liner notes to a Key System project.) “But I think it’s really sweet. My whole life was about to change.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>With little in the way of media attention, save for brief items in magazines like \u003ci>Rap Pages, 4080, \u003c/i>and \u003ci>URB \u003c/i>or alt-weeklies like the \u003ci>Bay Guardian\u003c/i> that didn’t capture the scene’s growing depth, Telegraph Avenue seemed like a great place to boost much-needed awareness. It was a near-daily open bazaar, with crowds of students, tourists, and even the occasional naked person navigating streets filled with shops and street vendors. The best spot was on the corner of Durant and Telegraph, right next to Leopold’s Records before it closed in 1996.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13984163\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/11/251124-bretalexanderswet00044_TV_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13984163\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/11/251124-bretalexanderswet00044_TV_qed.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/11/251124-bretalexanderswet00044_TV_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/11/251124-bretalexanderswet00044_TV_qed-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/11/251124-bretalexanderswet00044_TV_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Bret Alexander Sweet’s tapes, CD, and record, rest on a divider on Telegraph Avenue, where he sold his own tapes in the 1990s. \u003ccite>(Tâm Vũ/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“This is the economics of it,” says Walt Liquor, who sold copies of his group Mixed Practice’s \u003ci>\u003ca href=\"https://youtu.be/YrzxuuVqzwU?si=WL5JhFfefhagUKyM\">Homegrown\u003c/a>\u003c/i>. Today, he’s a soundtrack producer and artist manager with several IMDB credits, most recently the Lifetime Channel movie \u003ci>Terry McMillan Presents: Preach, Pray, Love\u003c/i>. “I would go to Costco and get a whole brick of 90-minute TDK tapes for 100 bucks. Let’s say I get 100 tapes. I’d just sit there and dub them shits. I’d record them in my bedroom, having fun with my homies … and selling them for $10 a pop.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As Black youth solicited passersby, formed impromptu ciphers, took food breaks at Blondie’s and hung out all day outside on the street, police scrutiny inevitably followed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside postID='arts_13914311']Before he passed away this year on August 18, Living Legends’ Asop recalled how the police harassed him for selling copies of his tapes \u003ci>\u003ca href=\"https://youtu.be/HydxuPEguR4?si=ajVNkDNIKEYq-NyP\">Who Are U\u003c/a>\u003c/i> and \u003ci>\u003ca href=\"https://youtu.be/TGsnYFjn9h8?si=2wu1k3pc-a4RU8yO\">Demonstration\u003c/a>\u003c/i>. “I remember the police started running us off Telegraph Avenue,” he told me in a 2001 \u003ci>URB\u003c/i> magazine story. “I had a box of tapes once and some money in my pocket, and it was just like I had dope. They handcuffed me, took my stuff and my money and let me go.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Karma of Fundamentals was also arrested, thrown in jail, and forced to go to court and pay a fine. “The reason why they would do that is because the other vendors who were selling tie-dyed shirts or necklaces or whatever would go, like, ‘Hey, these guys don’t have a permit,’” he says. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Despite the hassles, Karma says he eventually sold thousands of tapes on Telegraph as well as on the internet, a grind that earned him a measure of respect. “Imagine being these kids who keep dreaming that one day they’ll know our name,” he says. “Even the guys who used to pick on you in high school are rolling down [the street and seeing you] and bumping your music. And they’re playing it for \u003ci>you\u003c/i>.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13984168\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/11/251125-sunspotjonz00286_TV_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13984168\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/11/251125-sunspotjonz00286_TV_qed.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/11/251125-sunspotjonz00286_TV_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/11/251125-sunspotjonz00286_TV_qed-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/11/251125-sunspotjonz00286_TV_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Sunspot Jonz shows off his hat representing Oakland on Telegraph Avenue in Berkeley on November 25, 2025. \u003ccite>(Tâm Vũ/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch2>‘We couldn’t be eating ramen forever’\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>The formation of Living Legends in 1996 symbolized the scene’s emerging professionalism, moving from word-of-mouth house parties to more official event venues like La Peña Cultural Center. The Grouch, for one, welcomed the growth. “I feel like it’s natural. I feel like we couldn’t be eating ramen forever,” he says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>However, the music changed as well, shifting from the murky production and raw lyrics of the mid-’90s tapes to the clean keyboard bounce and DJ Premier-like chops that typified indie-rap toward the end of the decade, as evoked by standout Legends projects like The Grouch’s 1997 album \u003ci>\u003ca href=\"https://youtu.be/0IBntZWJdvU?si=4UVygiMN-HIhURHw\">Success Is Destiny\u003c/a>\u003c/i> and Mystik Journeymen’s 1998 album \u003ci>\u003ca href=\"https://youtu.be/t2-Y236gllo?si=VoPh_3ApPeN3jcY5\">Worldwide Underground\u003c/a>\u003c/i>. Local companies like TRC Distribution catered to the rising tide, allowing local acts to press 12-inch vinyl and CDs with finished artwork — a marked upgrade from Maxell blank cassettes and hand-drawn covers. With more industry structure, the number of artists calling themselves “underground” and “indie” multiplied.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“That’s when I learned that saturation isn’t always great,” says Sunspot. “If we’re going to be underground, we need to be underground \u003ci>superstars\u003c/i>. We need to be next-level underground.” That led the Legends to pursue larger venues like San Francisco’s Maritime Hall and, later in the 2000s, the national Rock the Bells festival. Still, his older fans often yearned for the “Top Ramen” glory days. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I had an ex-girlfriend tell me, ‘Please never do a show in an arena.’ When it’s sacred, people only want you for \u003ci>them\u003c/i>. They don’t care what that means for your career, or your longevity. They want you to be in the same box you always stayed. But the thing is, we are all artists, and we’re gonna evolve,” he says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13984363\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1802px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/12/MJ-VARIOUS_0001.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1802\" height=\"1224\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13984363\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/12/MJ-VARIOUS_0001.jpg 1802w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/12/MJ-VARIOUS_0001-160x109.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/12/MJ-VARIOUS_0001-768x522.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/12/MJ-VARIOUS_0001-1536x1043.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1802px) 100vw, 1802px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Out of the warehouse and onto the stage: Mystik Journeymen live. \u003ccite>(Courtesy Sunspot Jonz)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Today, original copies of Mystik Journeymen’s sundry demo tapes, Fundamentals’ \u003ci>Thirty Daze and a Plane Ticket\u003c/i> and Hobo Junction’s \u003ci>Limited Edition\u003c/i> trade for up to hundreds of dollars. For collectors and rap scholars, the Bay’s underground era yielded a rich source of creativity. However, its cult status means that many people don’t know or appreciate how much those artists contributed to local music history. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“When I look back on it from 30 years, every single hip-hop household name has been built by a major label, and if there’s one or two exceptions like \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13967904/watch-larussell-pay-tribute-to-the-bay-during-his-tiny-desk-concert\">LaRussell\u003c/a>, that speaks to my point,” says The Grouch, who rues that the streaming economy tends to reward major label stars. “We were not able to touch on a household name level, and so that affects business, and the power you have in the industry.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Perhaps it’s ironic that the heroes of the Bay Area underground, who once valued their distance from the music industry, now struggle to be taken seriously as artists because of it. But it’s also an opportunity: the ’90s Bay Area hip-hop underground is now ripe for discovery by anyone looking for an alternative to the rap mainstream. As the Grouch puts it, “I still say we’re the most underground, independent crew to ever do it, you know?”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As for Sunspot, who now operates as a multi-disciplinary artist and cultural strategist, he continues to carry the ethos he honed on Telegraph Avenue, applying the same formula to his current projects.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I’ll never lose that spirit,” he says.\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003cem>Editor’s note: This story is part of \u003c/em>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/bayareahiphop\">That’s My Word\u003c/a>\u003cem>, an ongoing KQED series about \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/bayareahiphop\">Bay Area hip-hop\u003c/a> history.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I’ll never lose that spirit, but I don’t miss being on the street from morning to night,” says Corey “Sunspot Jonz” Johnson.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Johnson is talking about his years of “dirt hustling,” when he sold stapled and Xeroxed copies of his zine \u003ci>Unsigned and Hella Broke \u003c/i>and cassette tapes by his rap group Mystik Journeymen on Telegraph Avenue in Berkeley. Anyone who either attended UC Berkeley in the 1990s or frequented heavily trafficked storefronts like Blondie’s Pizza and Leopold’s Music undoubtedly has memories of being approached by a friendly teenager who moonlit as a rapper and tried to sell you a homemade tape. It was very nearly a rite of passage during an era now romanticized for birthing the Bay Area’s underground hip-hop scene.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Sunspot Jonz may have given the Unsigned and Hella Broke era its name, but he wasn’t the only one on Telegraph Avenue. Others who gathered there to sell their wares included the Berkeley duo Fundamentals, Kirby Dominant, Fremont rapper/producer “Walt Liquor” Taylor and his group Mixed Practice, the Cytoplasmz crew, Queen Nefra, and Hobo Junction, the crew led by the dextrous rapper \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13968340/saafir-dead-oakland-rapper-dies-at-54\">Saafir\u003c/a>. They duplicated their songs onto blank cassette tapes, added modestly illustrated J-cards and sold them wherever they could, from sidewalks along Telegraph and outside of local concert venues to newly launched message boards on the nascent internet.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13984377\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1079px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/12/R-3874152-1371056865-1515.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1079\" height=\"550\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13984377\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/12/R-3874152-1371056865-1515.jpg 1079w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/12/R-3874152-1371056865-1515-160x82.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/12/R-3874152-1371056865-1515-768x391.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1079px) 100vw, 1079px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Cassettes sold hand-to-hand in the Bay Area’s independent hip-hop scene included the Dereliks’ ‘A Turn on the Wheel Is Worth More Than a Record Deal,’ Hobo Junction’s ‘Limited Edition’ and Bored Stiff’s ‘Explainin’.’\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>At the time, the sound of the Bay Area underground was typified by warm and muddy tones generated by basic four-track recording equipment, with deliberately abstract lyrics. Its homespun quality stood in defiantly uncommercial contrast to the slick “gangsta” style that defined mainstream rap after the arrival of Dr. Dre’s 1992 opus \u003ci>The Chronic\u003c/i>. Its ethos posited hip-hop as not just a popular musical genre, but a vocation that required personal commitment and sacrifice.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Nobody in Living Legends had a job. Nobody had kids at the time. Nobody had anything but to do \u003ci>this \u003c/i>every day,” says Sunspot, who rapped and produced beats in Mystik Journeymen alongside L.A. transplant Tommy “Luckyiam” Woolfolk.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Mystik Journeymen eventually built a modest yet far-flung cult following, traveling overseas and laying the groundwork for an international DIY touring circuit that others would duplicate. In 1996, the duo co-founded the group Living Legends, alongside Berkeley rapper The Grouch, L.A. rappers Murs and Eligh; San Jose State student Scarab; Fresno rapper Asop and DJ/producer Bicasso, a graduate of Cal Poly Humboldt. (Arata was briefly a member before returning home to Japan.) On Dec. 5 at the UC Theater in Berkeley, they headline \u003ca href=\"https://www.theuctheatre.org/shows/how-the-grouch-stole-christmas-tour-living-legends-05-dec\">How the Grouch Stole Christmas\u003c/a>, an annual concert tour organized by The Grouch since 2007; Oakland icons Souls of Mischief and Kentucky trio Cunninlynguists support.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13984360\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2390px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/12/LL-VARIOUS.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2390\" height=\"1875\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13984360\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/12/LL-VARIOUS.jpg 2390w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/12/LL-VARIOUS-2000x1569.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/12/LL-VARIOUS-160x126.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/12/LL-VARIOUS-768x603.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/12/LL-VARIOUS-1536x1205.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/12/LL-VARIOUS-2048x1607.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2390px) 100vw, 2390px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Various members of Living Legends gather outside a show in the 1990s. \u003ccite>(Courtesy Sunspot Jonz)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>But for Sunspot, reminiscing about his formative years on Telegraph Avenue elicits complicated feelings. His drive and passion back then put “a battery pack in our asses,” as Fundamentals rapper/producer Jonathan “King Koncepts” Sklute appreciatively notes. Yet it also was an extreme result of surviving as a starving artist.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Do I miss being on the street?” asks Sunspot, whose many 2025 projects include releasing a solo album (\u003ci>\u003ca href=\"https://youtu.be/tOmlruvkQak?si=o4fR_64__VH1E-xY\">Bad to the Bonez\u003c/a>\u003c/i>), organizing his annual “Hip Hop Fairyland” back-to-school bazaar at Children’s Fairyland through his Hip-Hop Scholastics nonprofit, and publishing a children’s book he wrote and illustrated (\u003ca href=\"https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0G1YL39RL\">\u003ci>Werewolves Want the Moon for Christmas\u003c/i>\u003c/a>). “I would literally wake up, scrape together money I had to get on the bus or BART from East Oakland to Berkeley, and unless I sold a tape, I wasn’t getting two things: I wasn’t getting lunch, and I wasn’t getting a ride home, because I needed to make enough for the bus fare home.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I am done with those days.” \u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13984165\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/11/251124-bretalexanderswet00132_TV_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13984165\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/11/251124-bretalexanderswet00132_TV_qed.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/11/251124-bretalexanderswet00132_TV_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/11/251124-bretalexanderswet00132_TV_qed-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/11/251124-bretalexanderswet00132_TV_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Bret Alexander Sweet poses for a portrait on Telegraph Avenue, where he used to sell his own cassette tapes in the 1990s as part of the Bay Area’s independent hip-hop scene. \u003ccite>(Tâm Vũ/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch2>From high school to the Avenue\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>The roots of Telegraph Avenue as a brief yet memorable hub for local hip-hop entrepreneurs lie in the University of California, Berkeley. Located at the northernmost end of Telegraph, it’s an unofficial gateway for students to the rest of the Bay Area. At the dawn of the 1990s, as the culture blossomed both locally and nationally, small groups of youth in ciphers joined the annoyingly loud drum circles and couples furiously making out on park benches that typified the daily Sproul Plaza backdrop.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Back then, “[Telegraph was] the magnetism point of the entire Bay Area, of something for young people to go and do,” says Bret “Karma” Sweet of Fundamentals. “If you went to Telegraph next week and you would see all the streets are blocked off because there’s [a street festival] where they can sell things for Black Friday, that’s how Telegraph used to be \u003ci>every day\u003c/i>, especially weekends from 1993 to 2001.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Amid a confluence of developments around the Bay, from Oakland’s Digital Underground on KMEL-FM and \u003ci>Billboard \u003c/i>charts to \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11690787/when-oakland-was-a-chocolate-city-a-brief-history-of-festival-at-the-lake\">Festival at the Lake\u003c/a> in Lake Merritt, there was the emergence of\u003ca href=\"https://bsc.coop/housing/our-houses-apartments/african-american-theme-house\"> The Afro House\u003c/a>, a South Berkeley student co-op established in 1977, as a spot for house parties. And there was the Justice League, a crew of 20-30 DJs and MCs that included Beni B (who formed the prominent independent label ABB Records in 1997) as well as UC Berkeley students Hodari “Dr. Bomb” Davis, \u003ca href=\"http://www.kqed.org/bayareahiphop/timeline#college-radio-makes-its-mark\">Davey D\u003c/a>, and Defari and Superstar Quamallah (the latter two became ABB artists).\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A year after Davis graduated in 1991, he began teaching at Berkeley High, and drew national attention for leading its African American studies department. He was \u003ca href=\"https://youtu.be/RZJxp4iFSK0?si=9PNjzJsSPOQZYVoF&t=1144\">prominently featured in the controversial 1994 PBS \u003ci>Frontline \u003c/i>documentary \u003ci>School Colors\u003c/i>\u003c/a>, which led media outlets such as the \u003ci>New York Times \u003c/i>to \u003ca href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/1994/10/18/arts/television-review-school-s-integration-falling-short-of-ideal.html\">blithely criticize his activism on integration and race relations\u003c/a>. But Davis also launched Live Lyricist Society, an academic club where students could practice hip-hop elements such as DJing, B-boy dancing, and MC’ing. (Its name was inspired by the Robin Williams movie \u003ci>Dead Poets Society\u003c/i>.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13984375\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1455px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/12/Screenshot-2025-12-02-at-9.45.22%E2%80%AFPM.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1455\" height=\"1120\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13984375\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/12/Screenshot-2025-12-02-at-9.45.22 PM.jpg 1455w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/12/Screenshot-2025-12-02-at-9.45.22 PM-160x123.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/12/Screenshot-2025-12-02-at-9.45.22 PM-768x591.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1455px) 100vw, 1455px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Hodari Davis in the 1994 PBS documentary ‘School Colors.’ \u003ccite>(PBS)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>In 1992, “I’m walking across campus on Berkeley High School, and I noticed that these kids are freestyling on the courtyard. … They’re doing it in the middle of the day, which was a problem for other teachers, because it meant that whole groups of people would be late to class,” says Davis. Eventually, he offered his classroom as a space for the students to practice their craft. “We never kicked anybody out because they were weak. The point was to get people’s skills up,” he adds.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As students in the Live Lyricist Society club, Fundamentals’ King Koncepts and Karma fondly recall campus visits by rap stars that Davis invited, like Outkast and the Wu-Tang Clan (with help from Justice League crew like Davey D, by then a well-known journalist and radio host). \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“When Wu-Tang came, it was damn near a riot. [The organizers] had to do it outside because there wasn’t any indoor space that could accommodate that amount of people. They had to do a signing and a talk in the courtyard,” remembers Koncepts. “But the only people who knew Outkast at that time were people who were clued in. … We were ciphering with them in the hallway.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Broke-ass parties at the East Oakland warehouse\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Meanwhile in East Oakland, Sunspot formed Mystik Journeymen, after spending two years at college in Hawaii. He cycled through various collaborators before meeting Luckyiam on a trip to L.A. “Tom always has my back, no matter how psycho and stupid and childish my ideas would be,” he says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13984364\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1806px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/12/MJ-ELIGH-MURS-AUSTRALIA-FLIER_0001.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1806\" height=\"1204\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13984364\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/12/MJ-ELIGH-MURS-AUSTRALIA-FLIER_0001.jpg 1806w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/12/MJ-ELIGH-MURS-AUSTRALIA-FLIER_0001-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/12/MJ-ELIGH-MURS-AUSTRALIA-FLIER_0001-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/12/MJ-ELIGH-MURS-AUSTRALIA-FLIER_0001-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1806px) 100vw, 1806px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Mystik Journeymen in the studio. \u003ccite>(Courtesy Sunspot Jonz)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Mystik Journeymen opened for the likes of Broun Fellinis and Conscious Daughters, earned a “Demo Tape of the Week” nod in the \u003ci>San Francisco Bay Guardian\u003c/i>, and were mentored by \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13914311/rono-tse-disposable-heroes-hiphoprisy-michael-franti\">Rono Tse of Disposable Heroes of HipHoprisy\u003c/a>. As the Journeymen’s local reputation ascended, Tse helped the duo get a publishing deal at Polygram, which allowed them to buy equipment and studio time at Hyde Street Studios in San Francisco. The deal should’ve led to a London Records contract. Instead, Sunspot says, “Polygram was, like, ‘We don’t know what to do with you,’” and released the group from its contract. “We weren’t ready. The way we were going to make it wasn’t gonna be by making songs all perfect for the radio. The way we were going to make it is by making songs from our heart.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Tse also found the duo a unit at 4001 San Leandro Street, a warehouse in East Oakland. Sunspot and Luckyiam began throwing “Unsigned and Hella Broke” parties to pay the bills. Famously, they charged $3 and a package of Top Ramen noodles for entry. “They had no money. That’s how they were feeding themselves,” says Koncepts, who remembers “literally being at 4001 eating Top Ramen. Like, somebody would cook it up.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As the 4001 San Leandro Street parties grew and, later, moved to Jackson Street Studios, the Journeymen attracted acolytes. One of them was Corey “The Grouch” Scoffern, an Oakland youth hungering to network with fellow hip-hop enthusiasts. He met the group during one of its performances at Yo Mama’s Kitchen.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Hip-hop was like a subculture at the time that was growing and becoming what it is today. But it wasn’t there yet,” says The Grouch. “I didn’t hear of any unsigned artists following their dreams and putting their music in the world out on their own. And that’s what I discovered when I was introduced to Mystik Journeymen.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13984367\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1140px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/12/Screenshot-2023-09-05-at-2.48.06-PM.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1140\" height=\"1464\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13984367\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/12/Screenshot-2023-09-05-at-2.48.06-PM.jpg 1140w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/12/Screenshot-2023-09-05-at-2.48.06-PM-160x205.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/12/Screenshot-2023-09-05-at-2.48.06-PM-768x986.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1140px) 100vw, 1140px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A collage of underground hip-hop artist names from an issue of ‘Unsigned and Hella Broke.’ \u003ccite>(King Koncepts)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>1995 proved to be a breakthrough year for local underground rap. Mystik Journeymen dropped their first official project the previous year, \u003ci>4001: The Stolen Legacy\u003c/i>, then followed with \u003ci>Walkmen Invaders\u003c/i>, both on their Outhouse imprint. Walt Liquor’s group Mixed Practice dropped \u003ci>Homegrown: The EP\u003c/i>. Hobo Junction dropped \u003ci>Limited Edition\u003c/i>, which generated an unexpected national hit in Whoridas’ “Shot Callin’ and Big Ballin’” after L.A. label Southpaw Records picked it up for distribution. (According to Bas-1 of Cytoplasmz, it was Hobo Junction rapper Eyecue who coined the phrase “dirt hustling.”)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Grouch completed his debut, \u003ci>Don’t Talk to Me\u003c/i>, after Sunspot jokingly threatened to “beat him up” if he didn’t finish it. The Journeymen captured the energy of it all in \u003ci>Unsigned and Hella Broke\u003c/i>, a photocopied zine they assembled on an occasional basis between 1993 and 1996.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>At its inception, this byzantine movement drew middling industry support. For rap fans that associated “Yay Area” rap with street-oriented mobb music like the Luniz’ “I Got 5 on It” and E-40’s “Sprinkle Me,” these indie acts must’ve seemed like the kind of local yokels that follow in the wake of bigger artists’ success, and whose art seemed insubstantial by comparison.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I met MC Hammer at this [SF mastering studio] called the Rocket Lab,” remembers Sunspot, “and he was, like, ‘Who you guys signed to?’ And I was, like, ‘No one. We’re just doing it ourselves.’ And he was, like, ‘Okay, y’all ain’t doing nothin’.’ And I was, like, \u003ci>whoa\u003c/i>. These motherfuckers really discount us because we’re not trying to be hoe-ed or slaved out to some label.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13984368\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1463px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/12/KemeticSuns.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1463\" height=\"335\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13984368\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/12/KemeticSuns.jpg 1463w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/12/KemeticSuns-160x37.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/12/KemeticSuns-768x176.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1463px) 100vw, 1463px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Fundamentals members King Koncepts and Karma (L–R, center) and other members of the Kemetic Suns crew. \u003ccite>(Courtesy Bret Sweet)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch2>Resourceful creativity meets police harassment\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>But for those who took the time to listen, the Journeymen’s tapes as well as similar releases by San Francisco’s Bored Stiff (\u003ci>\u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UsUHUp69VXg&list=PLO5qzC_OCrlhnKRpQLJdcVjvKoiBRPwH7\">Explainin’\u003c/a>\u003c/i>), the South Bay’s Dereliks (\u003ci>\u003ca href=\"https://youtu.be/7GaAj4M90Vs?si=8l0PbB_0ZWaSWMB8\">A Turn on the Wheel Is Worth More Than a Record Deal\u003c/a>\u003c/i>) and others were soulful, imaginative, and engrossing. On tracks like “\u003ca href=\"https://youtu.be/yDM7BBFleVk?si=ksxgjNvrUWYD3xqA\">Call Ov Da Wild\u003c/a>” and “\u003ca href=\"https://youtu.be/G52NArlILxs?si=QrZMXvjtxcpugjT8\">Runnin’ Through the Swamps\u003c/a>,” the Journeymen explored their inner mind’s eye with bracing honesty, and earnestly questioned the meaning of life with ruddy melodies and slangy verses. Their music captivated thousands of local youth that couldn’t relate to the G-funk beats and thugged-out dramatics dominating mainstream rap and were inquisitive enough to seek out alternatives.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Fundamentals’ Koncepts — who also enjoyed the likes of E-40 and DJ Quik — had just graduated from Berkeley High when he and Karma made \u003ci>\u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZVuBYizoeUc\">Thirty Daze and a Plane Ticket\u003c/a>\u003c/i>, a title inspired by Koncepts’ impending move to New York to attend NYU. “I used to find it real cringey, because I’m baring my soul from the perspective of a 17 year-old kid,” says Koncepts, who now works in the music industry and runs a label, Key System Recordings. (Full disclosure: I contributed liner notes to a Key System project.) “But I think it’s really sweet. My whole life was about to change.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>With little in the way of media attention, save for brief items in magazines like \u003ci>Rap Pages, 4080, \u003c/i>and \u003ci>URB \u003c/i>or alt-weeklies like the \u003ci>Bay Guardian\u003c/i> that didn’t capture the scene’s growing depth, Telegraph Avenue seemed like a great place to boost much-needed awareness. It was a near-daily open bazaar, with crowds of students, tourists, and even the occasional naked person navigating streets filled with shops and street vendors. The best spot was on the corner of Durant and Telegraph, right next to Leopold’s Records before it closed in 1996.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13984163\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/11/251124-bretalexanderswet00044_TV_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13984163\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/11/251124-bretalexanderswet00044_TV_qed.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/11/251124-bretalexanderswet00044_TV_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/11/251124-bretalexanderswet00044_TV_qed-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/11/251124-bretalexanderswet00044_TV_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Bret Alexander Sweet’s tapes, CD, and record, rest on a divider on Telegraph Avenue, where he sold his own tapes in the 1990s. \u003ccite>(Tâm Vũ/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“This is the economics of it,” says Walt Liquor, who sold copies of his group Mixed Practice’s \u003ci>\u003ca href=\"https://youtu.be/YrzxuuVqzwU?si=WL5JhFfefhagUKyM\">Homegrown\u003c/a>\u003c/i>. Today, he’s a soundtrack producer and artist manager with several IMDB credits, most recently the Lifetime Channel movie \u003ci>Terry McMillan Presents: Preach, Pray, Love\u003c/i>. “I would go to Costco and get a whole brick of 90-minute TDK tapes for 100 bucks. Let’s say I get 100 tapes. I’d just sit there and dub them shits. I’d record them in my bedroom, having fun with my homies … and selling them for $10 a pop.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As Black youth solicited passersby, formed impromptu ciphers, took food breaks at Blondie’s and hung out all day outside on the street, police scrutiny inevitably followed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Before he passed away this year on August 18, Living Legends’ Asop recalled how the police harassed him for selling copies of his tapes \u003ci>\u003ca href=\"https://youtu.be/HydxuPEguR4?si=ajVNkDNIKEYq-NyP\">Who Are U\u003c/a>\u003c/i> and \u003ci>\u003ca href=\"https://youtu.be/TGsnYFjn9h8?si=2wu1k3pc-a4RU8yO\">Demonstration\u003c/a>\u003c/i>. “I remember the police started running us off Telegraph Avenue,” he told me in a 2001 \u003ci>URB\u003c/i> magazine story. “I had a box of tapes once and some money in my pocket, and it was just like I had dope. They handcuffed me, took my stuff and my money and let me go.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Karma of Fundamentals was also arrested, thrown in jail, and forced to go to court and pay a fine. “The reason why they would do that is because the other vendors who were selling tie-dyed shirts or necklaces or whatever would go, like, ‘Hey, these guys don’t have a permit,’” he says. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Despite the hassles, Karma says he eventually sold thousands of tapes on Telegraph as well as on the internet, a grind that earned him a measure of respect. “Imagine being these kids who keep dreaming that one day they’ll know our name,” he says. “Even the guys who used to pick on you in high school are rolling down [the street and seeing you] and bumping your music. And they’re playing it for \u003ci>you\u003c/i>.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13984168\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/11/251125-sunspotjonz00286_TV_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13984168\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/11/251125-sunspotjonz00286_TV_qed.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/11/251125-sunspotjonz00286_TV_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/11/251125-sunspotjonz00286_TV_qed-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/11/251125-sunspotjonz00286_TV_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Sunspot Jonz shows off his hat representing Oakland on Telegraph Avenue in Berkeley on November 25, 2025. \u003ccite>(Tâm Vũ/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch2>‘We couldn’t be eating ramen forever’\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>The formation of Living Legends in 1996 symbolized the scene’s emerging professionalism, moving from word-of-mouth house parties to more official event venues like La Peña Cultural Center. The Grouch, for one, welcomed the growth. “I feel like it’s natural. I feel like we couldn’t be eating ramen forever,” he says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>However, the music changed as well, shifting from the murky production and raw lyrics of the mid-’90s tapes to the clean keyboard bounce and DJ Premier-like chops that typified indie-rap toward the end of the decade, as evoked by standout Legends projects like The Grouch’s 1997 album \u003ci>\u003ca href=\"https://youtu.be/0IBntZWJdvU?si=4UVygiMN-HIhURHw\">Success Is Destiny\u003c/a>\u003c/i> and Mystik Journeymen’s 1998 album \u003ci>\u003ca href=\"https://youtu.be/t2-Y236gllo?si=VoPh_3ApPeN3jcY5\">Worldwide Underground\u003c/a>\u003c/i>. Local companies like TRC Distribution catered to the rising tide, allowing local acts to press 12-inch vinyl and CDs with finished artwork — a marked upgrade from Maxell blank cassettes and hand-drawn covers. With more industry structure, the number of artists calling themselves “underground” and “indie” multiplied.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“That’s when I learned that saturation isn’t always great,” says Sunspot. “If we’re going to be underground, we need to be underground \u003ci>superstars\u003c/i>. We need to be next-level underground.” That led the Legends to pursue larger venues like San Francisco’s Maritime Hall and, later in the 2000s, the national Rock the Bells festival. Still, his older fans often yearned for the “Top Ramen” glory days. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I had an ex-girlfriend tell me, ‘Please never do a show in an arena.’ When it’s sacred, people only want you for \u003ci>them\u003c/i>. They don’t care what that means for your career, or your longevity. They want you to be in the same box you always stayed. But the thing is, we are all artists, and we’re gonna evolve,” he says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13984363\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1802px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/12/MJ-VARIOUS_0001.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1802\" height=\"1224\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13984363\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/12/MJ-VARIOUS_0001.jpg 1802w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/12/MJ-VARIOUS_0001-160x109.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/12/MJ-VARIOUS_0001-768x522.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/12/MJ-VARIOUS_0001-1536x1043.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1802px) 100vw, 1802px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Out of the warehouse and onto the stage: Mystik Journeymen live. \u003ccite>(Courtesy Sunspot Jonz)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Today, original copies of Mystik Journeymen’s sundry demo tapes, Fundamentals’ \u003ci>Thirty Daze and a Plane Ticket\u003c/i> and Hobo Junction’s \u003ci>Limited Edition\u003c/i> trade for up to hundreds of dollars. For collectors and rap scholars, the Bay’s underground era yielded a rich source of creativity. However, its cult status means that many people don’t know or appreciate how much those artists contributed to local music history. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“When I look back on it from 30 years, every single hip-hop household name has been built by a major label, and if there’s one or two exceptions like \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13967904/watch-larussell-pay-tribute-to-the-bay-during-his-tiny-desk-concert\">LaRussell\u003c/a>, that speaks to my point,” says The Grouch, who rues that the streaming economy tends to reward major label stars. “We were not able to touch on a household name level, and so that affects business, and the power you have in the industry.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Perhaps it’s ironic that the heroes of the Bay Area underground, who once valued their distance from the music industry, now struggle to be taken seriously as artists because of it. But it’s also an opportunity: the ’90s Bay Area hip-hop underground is now ripe for discovery by anyone looking for an alternative to the rap mainstream. As the Grouch puts it, “I still say we’re the most underground, independent crew to ever do it, you know?”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As for Sunspot, who now operates as a multi-disciplinary artist and cultural strategist, he continues to carry the ethos he honed on Telegraph Avenue, applying the same formula to his current projects.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I’ll never lose that spirit,” he says.\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"slug": "spice-1-interview-hayward-oakland-too-short-1980s",
"title": "Spice 1 Talks Growing Up in Hayward, Running From Cops and Breakin’ at the Mall",
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"headTitle": "Spice 1 Talks Growing Up in Hayward, Running From Cops and Breakin’ at the Mall | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cp>Spice 1 is a \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/bayareahiphop\">Bay Area rap\u003c/a> legend. Born Robert Lee Greene Jr., he first became interested in rapping after watching Ice-T in the 1980s movies \u003cem>Breakin’\u003c/em> and \u003cem>Rappin’\u003c/em>. As a teenager, he was taken under \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/tag/too-short\">Too Short\u003c/a>’s wing, joined the Dangerous Crew and signed to Jive Records, releasing six albums under the label throughout the 1990s. Incredibly prolific since, his latest album is \u003cem>Platinum O.G. 2\u003c/em>. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Ahead of his headlining set at the third annual \u003ca href=\"https://www.tixr.com/groups/publicsf/events/3rd-annual-history-of-the-bay-day-159082?utm_source=publicsf&utm_medium=venuewebsite\">History of the Bay party on Sunday, Nov. 9\u003c/a> at Public Works in San Francisco (which includes appearances by \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13973907/freaky-tales-true-stories-pedro-pascal-too-short-924-gilman-oakland\">Too Short\u003c/a>, \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13836150/the-power-of-taking-up-space-at-marshawn-lynchs-oakland-rideout\">Marshawn Lynch\u003c/a>, \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/10489213/a-day-in-the-life-with-breakout-bay-area-rappers-hbk-gang\">Iamsu\u003c/a>, \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/tag/lyrics-born\">Lyrics Born\u003c/a> and others) Joshua Minsoo Kim spoke with Spice 1 to discuss his upbringing in Hayward, breakdancing at the mall, running from the cops, meeting Too Short and picking up the mic.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>An abridged Q&A appears below; read the full, unedited interview at \u003ca href=\"https://toneglow.substack.com/p/tone-glow-146-spice-1\">Tone Glow\u003c/a>.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kRJA2YrA6qI\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Joshua Minsoo Kim:\u003c/strong> How’s your day been?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Spice 1:\u003c/strong> Man, I’m good. I just woke up from a nap. I gotta take that OG nap, y’know what I’m sayin’? You don’t take that OG nap at 12 or 1 o’clock, you’re not gonna make it to 9 (\u003cem>laughter\u003c/em>). You gotta get that extra energy.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>I saw online that you were born in Corsicana, Texas. How long were you there for?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I was born in Bryan, Texas. College Station. Texas A&M, that area. It’s about 100 miles outside of Houston. I don’t think I even turned one year old before I got to California. And we was living in Oakland.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>I wanted to ask about your family. I know your dad was a poet and that his dad was a poet, too. Did you grow up reading or hearing your father’s poetry when you were a kid? Was that a thing he would do?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Yeah, he’d show me his poems. His poetry was kind of like my raps. He was really militant (\u003cem>laughs\u003c/em>). He would speak at Black Panther events sometimes. He would go to the \u003ca href=\"https://www.cwmorse.org/uhuruhouse/\">Uhuru House\u003c/a> in East Oakland and speak while I would be getting my haircut down the street. First time he showed me some poetry he was like, “I wrote a poem, I want you to hear it.” We were in the car and I was in the passenger seat. I don’t even remember the whole poem but I remember him starting off (\u003cem>in a loud, authoritative voice\u003c/em>) \u003cem>“N****s die! N****s think they fly, n****s gon’ die tryin’ be cool.”\u003c/em> When he said this I was like, okay, pops is crazy (\u003cem>laughter\u003c/em>). I’m in the car trying not to laugh and he’s just like, \u003cem>“N****s die!”\u003c/em> and I’m like, oh shit, if I laugh I’d be in trouble. Like, this n**** crazy! (\u003cem>laughter\u003c/em>).\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>His poetry was very militant and he may have written other poems but it was crazy when he showed me that one. It was dope, though. When I got older, that’s what I seen. And you probably seen it too. N****s out here dying, and not just Black dudes. \u003cem>People. N****s.\u003c/em> People are out here dying tryin’ to be cool. They gon’ be too busy looking good—when death come, they ain’t even gon’ know. What’s that song? “Imma be fly when the feds watch” or something like that.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside postID='arts_13927349']\u003cstrong>That’s 2 Chainz. “Feds Watching.”\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Yeah. Basically, my dad was tellin’ me, pay attention to this shit. Don’t walk around thinkin’ you the shit. Pay attention to what’s around you. You gon’ be too busy trying to look good when death come. It had a message to it—I just caught the message years later.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>How old were you when he said the poem in the car?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I was probably nine (\u003cem>laughs\u003c/em>). Shout out to pops. Real smart dude, real intelligent man. He showed me a lot. Shout out to Robert Greene Sr.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Did you know your grandfather? He wrote poems, too.\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I didn’t know he wrote poems until my dad told me, and then my sisters, my cousins do spoken word. It was amazing to know that. My sisters and cousins do spoken word and they’re really good too.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Older or younger?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Older sister.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S8K31tTV554\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>What was it like growing up in the Greene household?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>My dad and mom split up when I was two or three, and when I was nine or ten years old, my mom remarried and I got my crazy-ass step-dad. My real dad lived in Oakland and we lived in Hayward. And it was like how \u003cem>Boyz n the Hood\u003c/em> was. My dad had the same orange Volkswagen convertible. The \u003cem>same\u003c/em> car. And he would act exactly how Tre’s dad act. He was like that to a T. That was Robert Greene Sr.! He’d come get me in the orange Volkswagen and I would come from Hayward to Oakland. I’d see my homeboys from Oakland and, just like Tre, I’d be waitin’ for dad to go in the house so I could play. They’d be like, “Chico! What’s up man!” And my dad would always say exactly what Tre’s dad said: “Wash my car and rake them leaves up before you start playing.” The same shit! When I saw that movie, it was like the spitting image of how my father and me were.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>My sister, I would try to show her my raps and she’d be like, “That shit wack, n****! Get that shit outta here!” If I could impress an older female like my sister, then I could impress anybody. But she was just saying that shit was wack even if it was dope. She said she wanted to make me better by telling me my shit was wack. And it was like, okay… it worked (\u003cem>laughter\u003c/em>).\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Did she ever give approval?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“\u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kRJA2YrA6qI\">187 Proof\u003c/a>,” my first single—she was loving that. She was like, “Shit, well I couldn’t write like that. That was cool.” That song was a blessing to me because it raised a lot of eyebrows and turned a lot of heads my way.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13983524\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 599px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/11/R-5525685-1597856575-3411.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"599\" height=\"589\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13983524\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/11/R-5525685-1597856575-3411.jpg 599w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/11/R-5525685-1597856575-3411-160x157.jpg 160w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, 599px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Spice 1’s debut album, released in 1992. \u003ccite>(Jive Records)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>You had this family who were into the arts, and I know that your dad showed you The Last Poets, too. How old were you when you started rapping? I know you were in the \u003ca href=\"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Dangerous_Crew\">Dangerous Crew\u003c/a> in high school, but when did it all begin?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I used to breakdance, and I was in my little breakdancing crew. We was hip-hop. We’d sneak out at night and spray paint our group name on the side of the BART trains. We’d sneak on the BART like we was from New York. We’d hop on the train from Hayward to San Francisco and go to Pier 39 and we would breakdance our way to some real good money. Next thing you know, we got two or three thousand dollars in the hat, we’d split it between all of us, and we’d be on our way back home. Eventually, I seen Ice-T in the movie \u003cem>Breakin’\u003c/em>. He was on stage singing the song “Killers.” [Editor’s Note: This specific scene is from the 1985 movie Rappin’]. “Killers! Bloodthirsty killers!”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I was watching him and I was like, that’s dope, I wanna do that. Give me the motherfuckin’ mic and let me talk my shit! After I seen that I was like, man, Imma write some raps and I showed it to a few people and I kept on doing it. The next thing you know, I was standing up in front of crowds. I remembered all my songs and I was just gettin’ it. I had to tell my little breakdancing crew, hey, I probably won’t be doing this no more, I’m on the microphone now. And that was it. This was around 1986 I think. It was a lot going on. Hip-hop hit the nation real tough, real big. Crack hit the nation real big. Gangs hit the nation real big. Around that time, I felt like I was developing my style, so by the time ’90 came in, “187 Proof” was out. I couldn’t even buy alcohol back then.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h5Bdmle6CS8\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>What memories do you have of being in that breakdancing crew? Does anything stand out?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It gave me a sense of being on a team. Baseball and basketball is the same thing. When you’re in a breakin’ crew, you’re on a team and help each other make different moves, make up different stuff, and it shows you how to work with other people and get something accomplished. We was \u003cem>good\u003c/em>. We won some trophies! We were called Video Numbers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>We was kind of crazy. I remember we were in a battle at the mall against Planet Poppers or something—I can’t remember the name. We had a big crowd and we was one of the hottest groups out there. We was hitting our moves and then we got into it with these dudes. A fight broke out and everything calmed down and I did a few moves and stepped out. I see my homie to the left and he’s like, “Come here!” I go over to him and he’s like, “I got a stolen car outside!” And I was like, “For real?” We go outside, I hop in the car. I’m not thinkin’. I’m \u003cem>on one\u003c/em>. We’re in the parking lot of the mall in a stolen car doing doughnuts. We burnin’ that muthafucka (\u003cem>laughter\u003c/em>). Figure eights and all that! I just remember hearing \u003cem>skrrrt\u003c/em> and us laughing real hard and then the police got behind us. We parked the car, hopped out, and ran back into the mall and tried to mix in with the rest of the crowd. And it worked. I was like, wow, they’re probably looking for our group, we better take these hats off (\u003cem>laughter\u003c/em>). Those years, everything was a learning experience. The bad shit and the good shit made me who I am today.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>What’s the good shit that comes to mind immediately?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Definitely when I met Too Short’s manager, \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/raustin510/?hl=en\">Randy Austin\u003c/a>, through some friends at school. \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13973907/freaky-tales-true-stories-pedro-pascal-too-short-924-gilman-oakland\">N-Tice and Barbie of the Danger Zone\u003c/a>, who are on “Don’t Fight the Feelin’,” were my friends. When you keep good relations with people, you never know what can happen or who they know or how they may be able to help. I knew this girl and we were kickin’ it and we both switched schools at the same time and she was like, “I heard you rap, my uncle is Too Short’s manager.” I was like, “Oh shit, I been knowin’ you for years, I didn’t know that.” I was always cool with her. When Short would come pick me up from school, he’d pick them up too and we’d all be in the car ride. It taught me a lot as far as building relationships with people. Shit, you never know what you gon’ get when you don’t burn bridges. Shout out to the Danger Zone. Those are my homegirls.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside postID='arts_13922616']\u003cstrong>Do you remember the first time you met Too Short and what that was like? How were you feeling?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It was Randy callin’ me on the phone and he was like, “What’s your name? MC Spice? We gon’ come pick you up at school tomorrow.” And I’m like, “Whatever muthafucka, who the hell is this? Fuck outta here.” I hung the phone up and then 10 minutes later, the phone rang again and my mom answered. She was like, “Chico! There’s someone named Too Short on the phone!” I get on the phone and it’s Short, saying (\u003cem>imitating his voice\u003c/em>) “Hey man, what time you get out of school?” So now I gotta be cool. This is muthafuckin’ Too Short on the phone! I’m like (\u003cem>in the coolest, most nonchalant voice\u003c/em>) “Oh, you know, I get out of school about 2:30, 3 o’clock.” And he’s like, “Okay, we gon’ come swoop you, just stand outside.” I was tryin’ be cool, and when he hung up I was like (\u003cem>five seconds of excited, cartoonish babbling\u003c/em>). It was Too Short!!!!\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The next day at school, I’m tellin’ all my friends that Too Short called me. They just like, “Hell nah. No way Too Short comin’ to get you fool.” So we’re all standing there outside the school, waiting for him to pull up and sure enough, he pull up in a burgundy Biarritz convertible. White interior. He pull up and I said, “See! I told you!” He picked me up for the rest of the school year. We was hanging out and he’d take me to the studio. That experience of me being in the studio was an influence. The dude was cool as hell. I wanted to drive his car but he wouldn’t let me do that. And then I stole one and drove it over there and I was doing doughnuts in front of his house making hella noise. He opened up the door and yelled, “Chico! Get that stolen-ass car off my mama’s house n****!” I was thinking, why the fuck he think this car was stolen? But he knew damn well I stole that muthafuckin’ car. It was a Cadillac Biarritz. That’s uncle Short, man. I used to do a lot of things to impress that dude (\u003cem>laughter\u003c/em>).\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13983519\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 750px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/11/21ebc59c-e340-47a4-8d61-a1b57f184627_750x421.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"750\" height=\"421\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13983519\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/11/21ebc59c-e340-47a4-8d61-a1b57f184627_750x421.jpg 750w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/11/21ebc59c-e340-47a4-8d61-a1b57f184627_750x421-160x90.jpg 160w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 750px) 100vw, 750px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Spice 1. \u003ccite>(Courtesy Spice 1)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>I wanna talk about that first tape with the Dangerous Crew. You had “Leave It to Me” on there and there were songs by Rappin’ 4-Tay and Crazy Rak. You went from the breakin’ crew and now you were with this rap crew. What was that like? And you were still a teenager at the time.\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Going to school, I understood what haterism was at a very young age. A lot of my friends believed in me and was down with me from day one. But a lot of cats didn’t believe in me, even in my high school. They were doubting me and I would come through with my record and they would try their hardest to act unimpressed by this shit. It always bothered me. There’s this saying: “A prophet is never honored in his own space.” I felt the wrath of that at a young age. I felt how deep the hate could get. Many people would be trippin’ on you because they felt they should be in your position or they didn’t like that you were making it out and they not. You never know how deep it could go. And I experienced a lot of this stuff as a teen in high school. I was in school with my CD out, with Too Short and the Dangerous Crew. I was passing it out at school and you was getting a lot of looks like, yeah, whatever muthafucka. And I was like, no, it’s \u003cem>real\u003c/em> muthafucka.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The point of that, of passing out your CDs, is to get everybody to be like, “that’s him.” But I didn’t get that from my peers at school. A few of my friends was with me, but the majority was like, whatever n****. That taught me a lot right there. And even coming back with my album and passing out flyers that says I’m opening up for Eazy-E and N.W.A. I was 16. A few of my friends was like, “We comin’ through.” They started to rock with me then. They witnessed it for real. I really get down. I rocked the crowd, there was no doubt. There was no boos. They might’ve tried to talk shit before I started rapping, but once I started spitting I turnt them crowd of haters into some muthafuckas who love me. Right there before your eyes. And that’s what you supposed to do.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Were you scared at all about opening for them?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I had so much energy at that point in time. I was just on one. I coulda jumped into a roaring ocean—I had so much energy in me. I knew I had outrapped a lot of rappers by the time I got there. I had a lot of confidence in me and my music. My DJ was dope. It was \u003ca href=\"https://www.discogs.com/artist/331474-Pizzo\">DJ Pizzo\u003c/a>, and he used to DJ for \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/tag/e-40\">E-40\u003c/a> and Too Short but he was my DJ from the beginning. He was from Hayward. We rocked that shit. They wanted to see N.W.A. and Eazy-E, they didn’t know who the fuck I was, but they knew who I was after I got off stage. Too Short came up and watched me get down. Rodney-O & Joe Cooley, I opened up for them too. We had these concerts at the skating rink. They got me a lot of exposure. Four years later, by the time I was 20, “187 Proof” dropped.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>I love that you had all these people who were older than you who were really supportive.\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That was cool, man. A lot of people felt like I wasn’t supposed to be in the position I was, but being around Short and the whole Dangerous Crew—\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13845996/four-years-after-drake-dispute-rappin-4-tays-song-royalties-are-for-sale\">4-Tay\u003c/a>, \u003ca href=\"https://www.discogs.com/artist/568712-JJ-Hard\">J.J. Hard\u003c/a>, even the homegirls—it was all a big influence to keep going. J.J. Hard still do his thing too. I saw him at the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13937563/tupac-shakur-way-oakland-street-renaming\">Tupac thing where they gave him his street\u003c/a>. Hopefully I do some work with him still. We’re still pushing—it’s the Dangerous Crew! Everything and everybody who come into your life is either a blessing or a lesson. Every time you make a mistake, you gotta learn from it. Learn from everything.\u003c/p>\n\u003chr>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Spice 1 performs at the third annual History of the Bay party on Sunday, Nov. 9 at Public Works in San Francisco. \u003ca href=\"https://www.tixr.com/groups/publicsf/events/3rd-annual-history-of-the-bay-day-159082?utm_source=publicsf&utm_medium=venuewebsite\">Tickets and more information here\u003c/a>. \u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>To read the rest of this conversation, which touches on Spice 1’s relationships with Jive Records, his dad, the city of Houston, reggae music, Bruce Lee and the remix to ‘I Got 5 On It,’ head over to \u003ca href=\"https://toneglow.substack.com/p/tone-glow-146-spice-1\">the full interview at Tone Glow\u003c/a>.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>Spice 1 is a \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/bayareahiphop\">Bay Area rap\u003c/a> legend. Born Robert Lee Greene Jr., he first became interested in rapping after watching Ice-T in the 1980s movies \u003cem>Breakin’\u003c/em> and \u003cem>Rappin’\u003c/em>. As a teenager, he was taken under \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/tag/too-short\">Too Short\u003c/a>’s wing, joined the Dangerous Crew and signed to Jive Records, releasing six albums under the label throughout the 1990s. Incredibly prolific since, his latest album is \u003cem>Platinum O.G. 2\u003c/em>. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Ahead of his headlining set at the third annual \u003ca href=\"https://www.tixr.com/groups/publicsf/events/3rd-annual-history-of-the-bay-day-159082?utm_source=publicsf&utm_medium=venuewebsite\">History of the Bay party on Sunday, Nov. 9\u003c/a> at Public Works in San Francisco (which includes appearances by \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13973907/freaky-tales-true-stories-pedro-pascal-too-short-924-gilman-oakland\">Too Short\u003c/a>, \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13836150/the-power-of-taking-up-space-at-marshawn-lynchs-oakland-rideout\">Marshawn Lynch\u003c/a>, \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/10489213/a-day-in-the-life-with-breakout-bay-area-rappers-hbk-gang\">Iamsu\u003c/a>, \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/tag/lyrics-born\">Lyrics Born\u003c/a> and others) Joshua Minsoo Kim spoke with Spice 1 to discuss his upbringing in Hayward, breakdancing at the mall, running from the cops, meeting Too Short and picking up the mic.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>An abridged Q&A appears below; read the full, unedited interview at \u003ca href=\"https://toneglow.substack.com/p/tone-glow-146-spice-1\">Tone Glow\u003c/a>.\u003c/em>\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/kRJA2YrA6qI'\n title='//www.youtube.com/embed/kRJA2YrA6qI'\n allowfullscreen='true'\n style='border:0;'>\u003c/iframe>\n \u003c/span>\n \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Joshua Minsoo Kim:\u003c/strong> How’s your day been?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Spice 1:\u003c/strong> Man, I’m good. I just woke up from a nap. I gotta take that OG nap, y’know what I’m sayin’? You don’t take that OG nap at 12 or 1 o’clock, you’re not gonna make it to 9 (\u003cem>laughter\u003c/em>). You gotta get that extra energy.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>I saw online that you were born in Corsicana, Texas. How long were you there for?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I was born in Bryan, Texas. College Station. Texas A&M, that area. It’s about 100 miles outside of Houston. I don’t think I even turned one year old before I got to California. And we was living in Oakland.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>I wanted to ask about your family. I know your dad was a poet and that his dad was a poet, too. Did you grow up reading or hearing your father’s poetry when you were a kid? Was that a thing he would do?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Yeah, he’d show me his poems. His poetry was kind of like my raps. He was really militant (\u003cem>laughs\u003c/em>). He would speak at Black Panther events sometimes. He would go to the \u003ca href=\"https://www.cwmorse.org/uhuruhouse/\">Uhuru House\u003c/a> in East Oakland and speak while I would be getting my haircut down the street. First time he showed me some poetry he was like, “I wrote a poem, I want you to hear it.” We were in the car and I was in the passenger seat. I don’t even remember the whole poem but I remember him starting off (\u003cem>in a loud, authoritative voice\u003c/em>) \u003cem>“N****s die! N****s think they fly, n****s gon’ die tryin’ be cool.”\u003c/em> When he said this I was like, okay, pops is crazy (\u003cem>laughter\u003c/em>). I’m in the car trying not to laugh and he’s just like, \u003cem>“N****s die!”\u003c/em> and I’m like, oh shit, if I laugh I’d be in trouble. Like, this n**** crazy! (\u003cem>laughter\u003c/em>).\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>His poetry was very militant and he may have written other poems but it was crazy when he showed me that one. It was dope, though. When I got older, that’s what I seen. And you probably seen it too. N****s out here dying, and not just Black dudes. \u003cem>People. N****s.\u003c/em> People are out here dying tryin’ to be cool. They gon’ be too busy looking good—when death come, they ain’t even gon’ know. What’s that song? “Imma be fly when the feds watch” or something like that.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cstrong>That’s 2 Chainz. “Feds Watching.”\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Yeah. Basically, my dad was tellin’ me, pay attention to this shit. Don’t walk around thinkin’ you the shit. Pay attention to what’s around you. You gon’ be too busy trying to look good when death come. It had a message to it—I just caught the message years later.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>How old were you when he said the poem in the car?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I was probably nine (\u003cem>laughs\u003c/em>). Shout out to pops. Real smart dude, real intelligent man. He showed me a lot. Shout out to Robert Greene Sr.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Did you know your grandfather? He wrote poems, too.\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I didn’t know he wrote poems until my dad told me, and then my sisters, my cousins do spoken word. It was amazing to know that. My sisters and cousins do spoken word and they’re really good too.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Older or younger?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Older sister.\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/S8K31tTV554'\n title='//www.youtube.com/embed/S8K31tTV554'\n allowfullscreen='true'\n style='border:0;'>\u003c/iframe>\n \u003c/span>\n \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003cstrong>What was it like growing up in the Greene household?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>My dad and mom split up when I was two or three, and when I was nine or ten years old, my mom remarried and I got my crazy-ass step-dad. My real dad lived in Oakland and we lived in Hayward. And it was like how \u003cem>Boyz n the Hood\u003c/em> was. My dad had the same orange Volkswagen convertible. The \u003cem>same\u003c/em> car. And he would act exactly how Tre’s dad act. He was like that to a T. That was Robert Greene Sr.! He’d come get me in the orange Volkswagen and I would come from Hayward to Oakland. I’d see my homeboys from Oakland and, just like Tre, I’d be waitin’ for dad to go in the house so I could play. They’d be like, “Chico! What’s up man!” And my dad would always say exactly what Tre’s dad said: “Wash my car and rake them leaves up before you start playing.” The same shit! When I saw that movie, it was like the spitting image of how my father and me were.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>My sister, I would try to show her my raps and she’d be like, “That shit wack, n****! Get that shit outta here!” If I could impress an older female like my sister, then I could impress anybody. But she was just saying that shit was wack even if it was dope. She said she wanted to make me better by telling me my shit was wack. And it was like, okay… it worked (\u003cem>laughter\u003c/em>).\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Did she ever give approval?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“\u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kRJA2YrA6qI\">187 Proof\u003c/a>,” my first single—she was loving that. She was like, “Shit, well I couldn’t write like that. That was cool.” That song was a blessing to me because it raised a lot of eyebrows and turned a lot of heads my way.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13983524\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 599px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/11/R-5525685-1597856575-3411.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"599\" height=\"589\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13983524\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/11/R-5525685-1597856575-3411.jpg 599w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/11/R-5525685-1597856575-3411-160x157.jpg 160w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, 599px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Spice 1’s debut album, released in 1992. \u003ccite>(Jive Records)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>You had this family who were into the arts, and I know that your dad showed you The Last Poets, too. How old were you when you started rapping? I know you were in the \u003ca href=\"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Dangerous_Crew\">Dangerous Crew\u003c/a> in high school, but when did it all begin?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I used to breakdance, and I was in my little breakdancing crew. We was hip-hop. We’d sneak out at night and spray paint our group name on the side of the BART trains. We’d sneak on the BART like we was from New York. We’d hop on the train from Hayward to San Francisco and go to Pier 39 and we would breakdance our way to some real good money. Next thing you know, we got two or three thousand dollars in the hat, we’d split it between all of us, and we’d be on our way back home. Eventually, I seen Ice-T in the movie \u003cem>Breakin’\u003c/em>. He was on stage singing the song “Killers.” [Editor’s Note: This specific scene is from the 1985 movie Rappin’]. “Killers! Bloodthirsty killers!”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I was watching him and I was like, that’s dope, I wanna do that. Give me the motherfuckin’ mic and let me talk my shit! After I seen that I was like, man, Imma write some raps and I showed it to a few people and I kept on doing it. The next thing you know, I was standing up in front of crowds. I remembered all my songs and I was just gettin’ it. I had to tell my little breakdancing crew, hey, I probably won’t be doing this no more, I’m on the microphone now. And that was it. This was around 1986 I think. It was a lot going on. Hip-hop hit the nation real tough, real big. Crack hit the nation real big. Gangs hit the nation real big. Around that time, I felt like I was developing my style, so by the time ’90 came in, “187 Proof” was out. I couldn’t even buy alcohol back then.\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/h5Bdmle6CS8'\n title='//www.youtube.com/embed/h5Bdmle6CS8'\n allowfullscreen='true'\n style='border:0;'>\u003c/iframe>\n \u003c/span>\n \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003cstrong>What memories do you have of being in that breakdancing crew? Does anything stand out?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It gave me a sense of being on a team. Baseball and basketball is the same thing. When you’re in a breakin’ crew, you’re on a team and help each other make different moves, make up different stuff, and it shows you how to work with other people and get something accomplished. We was \u003cem>good\u003c/em>. We won some trophies! We were called Video Numbers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>We was kind of crazy. I remember we were in a battle at the mall against Planet Poppers or something—I can’t remember the name. We had a big crowd and we was one of the hottest groups out there. We was hitting our moves and then we got into it with these dudes. A fight broke out and everything calmed down and I did a few moves and stepped out. I see my homie to the left and he’s like, “Come here!” I go over to him and he’s like, “I got a stolen car outside!” And I was like, “For real?” We go outside, I hop in the car. I’m not thinkin’. I’m \u003cem>on one\u003c/em>. We’re in the parking lot of the mall in a stolen car doing doughnuts. We burnin’ that muthafucka (\u003cem>laughter\u003c/em>). Figure eights and all that! I just remember hearing \u003cem>skrrrt\u003c/em> and us laughing real hard and then the police got behind us. We parked the car, hopped out, and ran back into the mall and tried to mix in with the rest of the crowd. And it worked. I was like, wow, they’re probably looking for our group, we better take these hats off (\u003cem>laughter\u003c/em>). Those years, everything was a learning experience. The bad shit and the good shit made me who I am today.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>What’s the good shit that comes to mind immediately?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Definitely when I met Too Short’s manager, \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/raustin510/?hl=en\">Randy Austin\u003c/a>, through some friends at school. \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13973907/freaky-tales-true-stories-pedro-pascal-too-short-924-gilman-oakland\">N-Tice and Barbie of the Danger Zone\u003c/a>, who are on “Don’t Fight the Feelin’,” were my friends. When you keep good relations with people, you never know what can happen or who they know or how they may be able to help. I knew this girl and we were kickin’ it and we both switched schools at the same time and she was like, “I heard you rap, my uncle is Too Short’s manager.” I was like, “Oh shit, I been knowin’ you for years, I didn’t know that.” I was always cool with her. When Short would come pick me up from school, he’d pick them up too and we’d all be in the car ride. It taught me a lot as far as building relationships with people. Shit, you never know what you gon’ get when you don’t burn bridges. Shout out to the Danger Zone. Those are my homegirls.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Do you remember the first time you met Too Short and what that was like? How were you feeling?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It was Randy callin’ me on the phone and he was like, “What’s your name? MC Spice? We gon’ come pick you up at school tomorrow.” And I’m like, “Whatever muthafucka, who the hell is this? Fuck outta here.” I hung the phone up and then 10 minutes later, the phone rang again and my mom answered. She was like, “Chico! There’s someone named Too Short on the phone!” I get on the phone and it’s Short, saying (\u003cem>imitating his voice\u003c/em>) “Hey man, what time you get out of school?” So now I gotta be cool. This is muthafuckin’ Too Short on the phone! I’m like (\u003cem>in the coolest, most nonchalant voice\u003c/em>) “Oh, you know, I get out of school about 2:30, 3 o’clock.” And he’s like, “Okay, we gon’ come swoop you, just stand outside.” I was tryin’ be cool, and when he hung up I was like (\u003cem>five seconds of excited, cartoonish babbling\u003c/em>). It was Too Short!!!!\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The next day at school, I’m tellin’ all my friends that Too Short called me. They just like, “Hell nah. No way Too Short comin’ to get you fool.” So we’re all standing there outside the school, waiting for him to pull up and sure enough, he pull up in a burgundy Biarritz convertible. White interior. He pull up and I said, “See! I told you!” He picked me up for the rest of the school year. We was hanging out and he’d take me to the studio. That experience of me being in the studio was an influence. The dude was cool as hell. I wanted to drive his car but he wouldn’t let me do that. And then I stole one and drove it over there and I was doing doughnuts in front of his house making hella noise. He opened up the door and yelled, “Chico! Get that stolen-ass car off my mama’s house n****!” I was thinking, why the fuck he think this car was stolen? But he knew damn well I stole that muthafuckin’ car. It was a Cadillac Biarritz. That’s uncle Short, man. I used to do a lot of things to impress that dude (\u003cem>laughter\u003c/em>).\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13983519\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 750px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/11/21ebc59c-e340-47a4-8d61-a1b57f184627_750x421.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"750\" height=\"421\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13983519\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/11/21ebc59c-e340-47a4-8d61-a1b57f184627_750x421.jpg 750w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/11/21ebc59c-e340-47a4-8d61-a1b57f184627_750x421-160x90.jpg 160w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 750px) 100vw, 750px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Spice 1. \u003ccite>(Courtesy Spice 1)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>I wanna talk about that first tape with the Dangerous Crew. You had “Leave It to Me” on there and there were songs by Rappin’ 4-Tay and Crazy Rak. You went from the breakin’ crew and now you were with this rap crew. What was that like? And you were still a teenager at the time.\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Going to school, I understood what haterism was at a very young age. A lot of my friends believed in me and was down with me from day one. But a lot of cats didn’t believe in me, even in my high school. They were doubting me and I would come through with my record and they would try their hardest to act unimpressed by this shit. It always bothered me. There’s this saying: “A prophet is never honored in his own space.” I felt the wrath of that at a young age. I felt how deep the hate could get. Many people would be trippin’ on you because they felt they should be in your position or they didn’t like that you were making it out and they not. You never know how deep it could go. And I experienced a lot of this stuff as a teen in high school. I was in school with my CD out, with Too Short and the Dangerous Crew. I was passing it out at school and you was getting a lot of looks like, yeah, whatever muthafucka. And I was like, no, it’s \u003cem>real\u003c/em> muthafucka.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The point of that, of passing out your CDs, is to get everybody to be like, “that’s him.” But I didn’t get that from my peers at school. A few of my friends was with me, but the majority was like, whatever n****. That taught me a lot right there. And even coming back with my album and passing out flyers that says I’m opening up for Eazy-E and N.W.A. I was 16. A few of my friends was like, “We comin’ through.” They started to rock with me then. They witnessed it for real. I really get down. I rocked the crowd, there was no doubt. There was no boos. They might’ve tried to talk shit before I started rapping, but once I started spitting I turnt them crowd of haters into some muthafuckas who love me. Right there before your eyes. And that’s what you supposed to do.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Were you scared at all about opening for them?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I had so much energy at that point in time. I was just on one. I coulda jumped into a roaring ocean—I had so much energy in me. I knew I had outrapped a lot of rappers by the time I got there. I had a lot of confidence in me and my music. My DJ was dope. It was \u003ca href=\"https://www.discogs.com/artist/331474-Pizzo\">DJ Pizzo\u003c/a>, and he used to DJ for \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/tag/e-40\">E-40\u003c/a> and Too Short but he was my DJ from the beginning. He was from Hayward. We rocked that shit. They wanted to see N.W.A. and Eazy-E, they didn’t know who the fuck I was, but they knew who I was after I got off stage. Too Short came up and watched me get down. Rodney-O & Joe Cooley, I opened up for them too. We had these concerts at the skating rink. They got me a lot of exposure. Four years later, by the time I was 20, “187 Proof” dropped.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>I love that you had all these people who were older than you who were really supportive.\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That was cool, man. A lot of people felt like I wasn’t supposed to be in the position I was, but being around Short and the whole Dangerous Crew—\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13845996/four-years-after-drake-dispute-rappin-4-tays-song-royalties-are-for-sale\">4-Tay\u003c/a>, \u003ca href=\"https://www.discogs.com/artist/568712-JJ-Hard\">J.J. Hard\u003c/a>, even the homegirls—it was all a big influence to keep going. J.J. Hard still do his thing too. I saw him at the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13937563/tupac-shakur-way-oakland-street-renaming\">Tupac thing where they gave him his street\u003c/a>. Hopefully I do some work with him still. We’re still pushing—it’s the Dangerous Crew! Everything and everybody who come into your life is either a blessing or a lesson. Every time you make a mistake, you gotta learn from it. Learn from everything.\u003c/p>\n\u003chr>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Spice 1 performs at the third annual History of the Bay party on Sunday, Nov. 9 at Public Works in San Francisco. \u003ca href=\"https://www.tixr.com/groups/publicsf/events/3rd-annual-history-of-the-bay-day-159082?utm_source=publicsf&utm_medium=venuewebsite\">Tickets and more information here\u003c/a>. \u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>To read the rest of this conversation, which touches on Spice 1’s relationships with Jive Records, his dad, the city of Houston, reggae music, Bruce Lee and the remix to ‘I Got 5 On It,’ head over to \u003ca href=\"https://toneglow.substack.com/p/tone-glow-146-spice-1\">the full interview at Tone Glow\u003c/a>.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"content": "\u003cp>What do \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11910890/how-oaklands-16th-street-train-station-helped-build-west-oakland-and-the-modern-civil-rights-movement\">train porters\u003c/a>, boomboxes, \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13824571/oakland-sideshows-legalize-macarthur\">Lincoln Continentals\u003c/a>, barbecues, \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/tag/nightlife\">nightclubs\u003c/a> and crowded intersections have in common?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As author Alex Werth illustrates in his new book, \u003cem>On Loop: Black Sonic Politics in Oakland\u003c/em> (UC Press), all have been targeted by police and lawmakers throughout decades of sound containment in Oakland. Part history of Black expression, part dissertation on the squelching thereof, \u003cem>On Loop\u003c/em> disassembles and analyzes the longstanding infrastructure that serves to keep Oakland’s creative and dynamic Black youth from reaching their full potential.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For those who’ve lived in Oakland, or paid attention to its culture, much of \u003cem>On Loop\u003c/em> will be familiar terrain: the \u003ca href=\"http://www.kqed.org/bayareahiphop/timeline#oakland-cracks-down-on-sideshows\">crackdown on sideshows\u003c/a>, the “urban renewal” of the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11986396/when-bart-was-built-people-and-houses-had-to-go\">West Seventh Street cultural corridor\u003c/a>, anti-cruising laws, a yearlong \u003ca href=\"http://www.kqed.org/bayareahiphop/timeline#oakland-bans-rap-concerts-in-city-owned-venues\">ban on rap concerts\u003c/a> in 1989 and the end of \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11690787/when-oakland-was-a-chocolate-city-a-brief-history-of-festival-at-the-lake\">Festival at the Lake\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13927325\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1024px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13927325\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/04/Hammer.VIdeoShoot.NewParish.Getty_.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1024\" height=\"723\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/04/Hammer.VIdeoShoot.NewParish.Getty_.jpg 1024w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/04/Hammer.VIdeoShoot.NewParish.Getty_-800x565.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/04/Hammer.VIdeoShoot.NewParish.Getty_-1020x720.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/04/Hammer.VIdeoShoot.NewParish.Getty_-160x113.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/04/Hammer.VIdeoShoot.NewParish.Getty_-768x542.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">MC Hammer films the music video for ‘Let’s Get It Started’ at Sweet Jimmie’s nightclub in downtown Oakland, March 19, 1988. \u003ccite>(Deanne Fitzmaurice/San Francisco Chronicle via Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>But Werth — a geographer, DJ and dancer who grew up in Massachusetts and came to Oakland in 2009 — brings a bird’s-eye perspective to these issues while unearthing telling details in decades-old police files and newspaper accounts. (He also cites reporting from KQED, \u003cem>East Bay Express\u003c/em> and other media outlets.) Though his approach may be academic, his writing isn’t impenetrable. Anyone interested in Oakland culture, and the way it has been shaped as well as cauterized, will find his research valuable.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The book’s title \u003cem>On Loop\u003c/em> refers to the musical rhythms of funk and rap as much as the spinning of a sideshow car, a DJ’s record, a walk around Lake Merritt and the cyclical nature of policing. Through a sound-studies lens, Werth equates sonic presence, and taking up space in its many forms, with Black liberation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>From the closure of clubs like \u003ca href=\"http://www.kqed.org/bayareahiphop/timeline#urban-renewal-destroys-a-black-nightlife-district\">Slim Jenkins’ Place\u003c/a> to the 2018 “\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13832886/were-still-here-bbqn-while-black-draws-out-oaklanders-in-force\">BBQ Becky\u003c/a>” incident at Lake Merritt, Werth painstakingly shows the ways white privilege has operated under the cover of anti-nuisance laws, property values and “keeping the peace.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13983068\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1071px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13983068\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/10/AlexWerth.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1071\" height=\"1071\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/10/AlexWerth.jpg 1071w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/10/AlexWerth-160x160.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/10/AlexWerth-768x768.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1071px) 100vw, 1071px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Alex Werth, author of ‘On Loop: Black Sonic Politics in Oakland.’ \u003ccite>(UC Press)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>This precision is especially present in a chapter detailing the punitive fines the Oakland Police Department issued to club owners to cover officers’ presence at rap shows, preemptively deemed a nuisance. In a lengthy section, Werth shows how OPD and the courts effectively ended regular nightclub events at Geoffrey’s Inner Circle in downtown Oakland. In another, he lays out how the nightclub Sweet Jimmie’s went from a Black-owned hotspot to a music venue owned by white men — one of them the head of concerts and festivals at Another Planet Entertainment, the most powerful live music promoter in Northern California.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Some heroes do emerge in \u003cem>On Loop\u003c/em>, like Boots Riley, filmmaker and frontman for The Coup, who \u003ca href=\"http://www.kqed.org/bayareahiphop/timeline#boots-riley-and-the-young-comrades-speak-out-against-police-discrimination\">organized young residents against police crackdowns\u003c/a> at the lake in the 1990s. The entire \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/tag/hyphy\">hyphy\u003c/a> movement is characterized, rightfully, as a \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13934874/hyphy-kids-got-trauma\">massive force of opposition\u003c/a>. (Meanwhile, Oakland’s first two Black mayors, Lionel Wilson and Elihu Harris, are shown as complicit in over-enforcement of quality-of-life ordinances and redevelopment to assuage the city’s “image problem.”)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>With patience, focus and deep research (the footnotes alone take up 48 pages), Werth has written a book that will last — just like the oppression of Black culture will also seemingly last, coming and going in different forms, on a constant loop.\u003c/p>\n\u003chr>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Alex Werth discusses ‘On Loop’ in a series of Bay Area author appearances, including Oct. 29 at UC Berkeley, Oct. 30 at Oakland Library’s main branch, Nov. 1 at Book Passage Ferry Building, and Nov. 2 at Chapter 510. \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/p/DPjERZxDZ9V/?hl=en\">More information here\u003c/a>. \u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>What do \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11910890/how-oaklands-16th-street-train-station-helped-build-west-oakland-and-the-modern-civil-rights-movement\">train porters\u003c/a>, boomboxes, \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13824571/oakland-sideshows-legalize-macarthur\">Lincoln Continentals\u003c/a>, barbecues, \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/tag/nightlife\">nightclubs\u003c/a> and crowded intersections have in common?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As author Alex Werth illustrates in his new book, \u003cem>On Loop: Black Sonic Politics in Oakland\u003c/em> (UC Press), all have been targeted by police and lawmakers throughout decades of sound containment in Oakland. Part history of Black expression, part dissertation on the squelching thereof, \u003cem>On Loop\u003c/em> disassembles and analyzes the longstanding infrastructure that serves to keep Oakland’s creative and dynamic Black youth from reaching their full potential.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For those who’ve lived in Oakland, or paid attention to its culture, much of \u003cem>On Loop\u003c/em> will be familiar terrain: the \u003ca href=\"http://www.kqed.org/bayareahiphop/timeline#oakland-cracks-down-on-sideshows\">crackdown on sideshows\u003c/a>, the “urban renewal” of the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11986396/when-bart-was-built-people-and-houses-had-to-go\">West Seventh Street cultural corridor\u003c/a>, anti-cruising laws, a yearlong \u003ca href=\"http://www.kqed.org/bayareahiphop/timeline#oakland-bans-rap-concerts-in-city-owned-venues\">ban on rap concerts\u003c/a> in 1989 and the end of \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11690787/when-oakland-was-a-chocolate-city-a-brief-history-of-festival-at-the-lake\">Festival at the Lake\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13927325\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1024px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13927325\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/04/Hammer.VIdeoShoot.NewParish.Getty_.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1024\" height=\"723\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/04/Hammer.VIdeoShoot.NewParish.Getty_.jpg 1024w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/04/Hammer.VIdeoShoot.NewParish.Getty_-800x565.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/04/Hammer.VIdeoShoot.NewParish.Getty_-1020x720.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/04/Hammer.VIdeoShoot.NewParish.Getty_-160x113.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/04/Hammer.VIdeoShoot.NewParish.Getty_-768x542.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">MC Hammer films the music video for ‘Let’s Get It Started’ at Sweet Jimmie’s nightclub in downtown Oakland, March 19, 1988. \u003ccite>(Deanne Fitzmaurice/San Francisco Chronicle via Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>But Werth — a geographer, DJ and dancer who grew up in Massachusetts and came to Oakland in 2009 — brings a bird’s-eye perspective to these issues while unearthing telling details in decades-old police files and newspaper accounts. (He also cites reporting from KQED, \u003cem>East Bay Express\u003c/em> and other media outlets.) Though his approach may be academic, his writing isn’t impenetrable. Anyone interested in Oakland culture, and the way it has been shaped as well as cauterized, will find his research valuable.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The book’s title \u003cem>On Loop\u003c/em> refers to the musical rhythms of funk and rap as much as the spinning of a sideshow car, a DJ’s record, a walk around Lake Merritt and the cyclical nature of policing. Through a sound-studies lens, Werth equates sonic presence, and taking up space in its many forms, with Black liberation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>From the closure of clubs like \u003ca href=\"http://www.kqed.org/bayareahiphop/timeline#urban-renewal-destroys-a-black-nightlife-district\">Slim Jenkins’ Place\u003c/a> to the 2018 “\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13832886/were-still-here-bbqn-while-black-draws-out-oaklanders-in-force\">BBQ Becky\u003c/a>” incident at Lake Merritt, Werth painstakingly shows the ways white privilege has operated under the cover of anti-nuisance laws, property values and “keeping the peace.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13983068\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1071px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13983068\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/10/AlexWerth.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1071\" height=\"1071\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/10/AlexWerth.jpg 1071w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/10/AlexWerth-160x160.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/10/AlexWerth-768x768.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1071px) 100vw, 1071px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Alex Werth, author of ‘On Loop: Black Sonic Politics in Oakland.’ \u003ccite>(UC Press)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>This precision is especially present in a chapter detailing the punitive fines the Oakland Police Department issued to club owners to cover officers’ presence at rap shows, preemptively deemed a nuisance. In a lengthy section, Werth shows how OPD and the courts effectively ended regular nightclub events at Geoffrey’s Inner Circle in downtown Oakland. In another, he lays out how the nightclub Sweet Jimmie’s went from a Black-owned hotspot to a music venue owned by white men — one of them the head of concerts and festivals at Another Planet Entertainment, the most powerful live music promoter in Northern California.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Some heroes do emerge in \u003cem>On Loop\u003c/em>, like Boots Riley, filmmaker and frontman for The Coup, who \u003ca href=\"http://www.kqed.org/bayareahiphop/timeline#boots-riley-and-the-young-comrades-speak-out-against-police-discrimination\">organized young residents against police crackdowns\u003c/a> at the lake in the 1990s. The entire \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/tag/hyphy\">hyphy\u003c/a> movement is characterized, rightfully, as a \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13934874/hyphy-kids-got-trauma\">massive force of opposition\u003c/a>. (Meanwhile, Oakland’s first two Black mayors, Lionel Wilson and Elihu Harris, are shown as complicit in over-enforcement of quality-of-life ordinances and redevelopment to assuage the city’s “image problem.”)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>With patience, focus and deep research (the footnotes alone take up 48 pages), Werth has written a book that will last — just like the oppression of Black culture will also seemingly last, coming and going in different forms, on a constant loop.\u003c/p>\n\u003chr>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Alex Werth discusses ‘On Loop’ in a series of Bay Area author appearances, including Oct. 29 at UC Berkeley, Oct. 30 at Oakland Library’s main branch, Nov. 1 at Book Passage Ferry Building, and Nov. 2 at Chapter 510. \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/p/DPjERZxDZ9V/?hl=en\">More information here\u003c/a>. \u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"content": "\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13981784\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1478px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13981784\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/09/GettyImages-1066615210.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1478\" height=\"2115\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/09/GettyImages-1066615210.jpg 1478w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/09/GettyImages-1066615210-160x229.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/09/GettyImages-1066615210-768x1099.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/09/GettyImages-1066615210-1073x1536.jpg 1073w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/09/GettyImages-1066615210-1431x2048.jpg 1431w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1478px) 100vw, 1478px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Assata Shakur holds the manuscript of her autobiography with Old Havana, Cuba, in the background on October 7, 1987. \u003ccite>(Ozier Muhammad/Newsday RM via Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Assata Shakur, a Black liberation activist who was given political asylum in Cuba after her 1979 escape from a U.S. prison where she had been serving a life sentence for killing a police officer, has died, her daughter and the Cuban government said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Shakur, who was born Joanne Deborah Chesimard, died Thursday in the capital city of Havana due to “health conditions and advanced age,” Cuba’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs \u003cspan class=\"LinkEnhancement\">\u003ca class=\"Link AnClick-LinkEnhancement\" href=\"https://cubaminrex.cu/es/nota-de-prensa-del-ministerio-relaciones-exteriores\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" data-gtm-enhancement-style=\"LinkEnhancementA\">said in a statement\u003c/a>\u003c/span>. Shakur’s daughter, Kakuya Shakur, also confirmed her mother’s death in a Facebook post.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Born in Queens, New York in 1947, Shakur briefly relocated to Oakland as a young woman in the late 1960s, where she became a member of the Black Panther Party. After returning to the East Coast, Shakur served in the Black Panthers’ New York City chapter, where she met Afeni Shakur, whose son Tupac would go on to become a global icon in rap music and politics. Assata Shakur became Tupac’s godmother and step-aunt when Afeni married Assata’s brother, Mutulu.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13981781\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1823px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13981781\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/09/GettyImages-515114572-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1823\" height=\"2560\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/09/GettyImages-515114572-scaled.jpg 1823w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/09/GettyImages-515114572-160x225.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/09/GettyImages-515114572-768x1078.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/09/GettyImages-515114572-1094x1536.jpg 1094w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/09/GettyImages-515114572-1459x2048.jpg 1459w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1823px) 100vw, 1823px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">New Brunswick, N.J.: Assata Shakur, a.k.a. Joanna Chesimard, arrives at Middlesex County jail after her transfer from New York City for her trail involving the killing of a New Jersey State trooper. \u003ccite>(Bettman/Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Shakur’s case had long been a thorny issue in the fraught relations between the U.S. and Cuba. American authorities, including President Donald Trump during \u003cspan class=\"LinkEnhancement\">\u003ca class=\"Link AnClick-LinkEnhancement\" href=\"https://apnews.com/general-news-b182fefc30a04b2d8de3956b92eb1a9a\" data-gtm-enhancement-style=\"LinkEnhancementA\">his first term in office\u003c/a>\u003c/span>, had demanded her return from the communist nation for decades.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In her telling, and in the minds of her supporters, she was being pursued for crimes she didn’t commit, or which were justified. The FBI put Shakur on its list of “\u003cspan class=\"LinkEnhancement\">\u003ca class=\"Link AnClick-LinkEnhancement\" href=\"https://www.fbi.gov/wanted/wanted_terrorists/joanne-deborah-chesimard/download.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" data-gtm-enhancement-style=\"LinkEnhancementA\">most wanted terrorists\u003c/a>\u003c/span>.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A member of the Black Liberation Army, Shakur and two others were involved in a gunfight with New Jersey State Police Troopers following a highway traffic stop on May 2, 1973.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Trooper Werner Foerster was killed and another officer was wounded, while one of Shakur’s companions was also killed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Shakur, who was at the time wanted on several felonies, including bank robbery, fled but was eventually apprehended. She maintained in her \u003ca href=\"https://hoodcommunist.org/2024/03/07/an-open-letter-from-assata-shakur/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">writings from Cuba over the years\u003c/a> that she didn’t shoot anyone and had her hands in the air when she was wounded during the gunfire.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Shakur was found guilty of murder, armed robbery and other crimes in 1977 and was sentenced to life in prison, only to escape in November 1979.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Members of the Black Liberation Army, posing as visitors, stormed the Clinton Correctional Facility for women, took two guards hostage and commandeered a prison van to break Shakur out.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She disappeared before eventually emerging in 1984 in Cuba, where Fidel Castro granted her asylum, according to the FBI. A companion who was also convicted in Foerster’s killing, Sundiata Acoli, was \u003cspan class=\"LinkEnhancement\">\u003ca class=\"Link AnClick-LinkEnhancement\" href=\"https://apnews.com/article/cuba-crime-new-jersey-fidel-castro-supreme-court-c6dc08d755f73e24ebd229f07adfa7f4\" data-gtm-enhancement-style=\"LinkEnhancementA\">granted parole\u003c/a>\u003c/span> in 2022. His attorneys had argued the then-octogenarian had been a model prisoner for nearly three decades and counseled other inmates.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Shakur’s autobiography, \u003cem>Assata\u003c/em>, has remained an influential text for activists and artists in the Bay Area and beyond since its publication in 1987.\u003c/p>\n\u003chr>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Nastia Voynovskaya contributed reporting.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13981784\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1478px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13981784\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/09/GettyImages-1066615210.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1478\" height=\"2115\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/09/GettyImages-1066615210.jpg 1478w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/09/GettyImages-1066615210-160x229.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/09/GettyImages-1066615210-768x1099.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/09/GettyImages-1066615210-1073x1536.jpg 1073w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/09/GettyImages-1066615210-1431x2048.jpg 1431w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1478px) 100vw, 1478px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Assata Shakur holds the manuscript of her autobiography with Old Havana, Cuba, in the background on October 7, 1987. \u003ccite>(Ozier Muhammad/Newsday RM via Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Assata Shakur, a Black liberation activist who was given political asylum in Cuba after her 1979 escape from a U.S. prison where she had been serving a life sentence for killing a police officer, has died, her daughter and the Cuban government said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Shakur, who was born Joanne Deborah Chesimard, died Thursday in the capital city of Havana due to “health conditions and advanced age,” Cuba’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs \u003cspan class=\"LinkEnhancement\">\u003ca class=\"Link AnClick-LinkEnhancement\" href=\"https://cubaminrex.cu/es/nota-de-prensa-del-ministerio-relaciones-exteriores\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" data-gtm-enhancement-style=\"LinkEnhancementA\">said in a statement\u003c/a>\u003c/span>. Shakur’s daughter, Kakuya Shakur, also confirmed her mother’s death in a Facebook post.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Born in Queens, New York in 1947, Shakur briefly relocated to Oakland as a young woman in the late 1960s, where she became a member of the Black Panther Party. After returning to the East Coast, Shakur served in the Black Panthers’ New York City chapter, where she met Afeni Shakur, whose son Tupac would go on to become a global icon in rap music and politics. Assata Shakur became Tupac’s godmother and step-aunt when Afeni married Assata’s brother, Mutulu.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13981781\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1823px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13981781\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/09/GettyImages-515114572-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1823\" height=\"2560\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/09/GettyImages-515114572-scaled.jpg 1823w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/09/GettyImages-515114572-160x225.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/09/GettyImages-515114572-768x1078.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/09/GettyImages-515114572-1094x1536.jpg 1094w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/09/GettyImages-515114572-1459x2048.jpg 1459w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1823px) 100vw, 1823px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">New Brunswick, N.J.: Assata Shakur, a.k.a. Joanna Chesimard, arrives at Middlesex County jail after her transfer from New York City for her trail involving the killing of a New Jersey State trooper. \u003ccite>(Bettman/Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Shakur’s case had long been a thorny issue in the fraught relations between the U.S. and Cuba. American authorities, including President Donald Trump during \u003cspan class=\"LinkEnhancement\">\u003ca class=\"Link AnClick-LinkEnhancement\" href=\"https://apnews.com/general-news-b182fefc30a04b2d8de3956b92eb1a9a\" data-gtm-enhancement-style=\"LinkEnhancementA\">his first term in office\u003c/a>\u003c/span>, had demanded her return from the communist nation for decades.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In her telling, and in the minds of her supporters, she was being pursued for crimes she didn’t commit, or which were justified. The FBI put Shakur on its list of “\u003cspan class=\"LinkEnhancement\">\u003ca class=\"Link AnClick-LinkEnhancement\" href=\"https://www.fbi.gov/wanted/wanted_terrorists/joanne-deborah-chesimard/download.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" data-gtm-enhancement-style=\"LinkEnhancementA\">most wanted terrorists\u003c/a>\u003c/span>.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A member of the Black Liberation Army, Shakur and two others were involved in a gunfight with New Jersey State Police Troopers following a highway traffic stop on May 2, 1973.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Trooper Werner Foerster was killed and another officer was wounded, while one of Shakur’s companions was also killed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Shakur, who was at the time wanted on several felonies, including bank robbery, fled but was eventually apprehended. She maintained in her \u003ca href=\"https://hoodcommunist.org/2024/03/07/an-open-letter-from-assata-shakur/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">writings from Cuba over the years\u003c/a> that she didn’t shoot anyone and had her hands in the air when she was wounded during the gunfire.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Shakur was found guilty of murder, armed robbery and other crimes in 1977 and was sentenced to life in prison, only to escape in November 1979.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Members of the Black Liberation Army, posing as visitors, stormed the Clinton Correctional Facility for women, took two guards hostage and commandeered a prison van to break Shakur out.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She disappeared before eventually emerging in 1984 in Cuba, where Fidel Castro granted her asylum, according to the FBI. A companion who was also convicted in Foerster’s killing, Sundiata Acoli, was \u003cspan class=\"LinkEnhancement\">\u003ca class=\"Link AnClick-LinkEnhancement\" href=\"https://apnews.com/article/cuba-crime-new-jersey-fidel-castro-supreme-court-c6dc08d755f73e24ebd229f07adfa7f4\" data-gtm-enhancement-style=\"LinkEnhancementA\">granted parole\u003c/a>\u003c/span> in 2022. His attorneys had argued the then-octogenarian had been a model prisoner for nearly three decades and counseled other inmates.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Shakur’s autobiography, \u003cem>Assata\u003c/em>, has remained an influential text for activists and artists in the Bay Area and beyond since its publication in 1987.\u003c/p>\n\u003chr>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Nastia Voynovskaya contributed reporting.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"content": "\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13981493\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1999px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13981493\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/09/250805_DB.-Boutabag_GH-3_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1999\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/09/250805_DB.-Boutabag_GH-3_qed.jpg 1999w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/09/250805_DB.-Boutabag_GH-3_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/09/250805_DB.-Boutabag_GH-3_qed-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/09/250805_DB.-Boutabag_GH-3_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1999px) 100vw, 1999px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">DB.Boutabag, 25, a rapper from Sacramento, Calif., poses for a portrait in Berkeley, Calif., on Aug. 5, 2025. \u003ccite>(Gustavo Hernandez/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>When it comes to roasting rivals, \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/db.boutabag/\">DB.Boutabag\u003c/a> wears his reputation as a badge of honor.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Just look at his jewelry. When we meet for our interview at a Berkeley rooftop bar on a recent afternoon, the Sacramento \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/tag/hip-hop\">rapper\u003c/a> rolls up wearing a half dozen chains with heavy, gem-encrusted pendants. One features a 3D, cartoon version of himself perched on a toilet, an homage to one of his best-known bars: “I’m not rappin’ / I just shit talk.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside postID='arts_13920746']Fans have yelled that line back to DB at sold-out clubs from his hometown of Sacramento to Reno to Phoenix. Now the 25-year-old lyricist wants to prove that he can do more than casually eviscerate opponents over thunderclaps of bass.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The cover of DB’s latest album, \u003cem>The \u003c/em>\u003ci>Real Boutabag II\u003c/i>, independently released in July, features him holding his infant son. Between offhanded flexes about sexual conquests and fast cars, he lets listeners into the vulnerabilities that come with young fatherhood — both the pride and the pressure.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>https://youtu.be/xSiu3k-Rd68?si=qJODSiUVOv2_eQNE\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On “Slight Vent PT3,” a standout track with a melancholy saxophone sample, DB raps about grappling with the career and personal sacrifices he must accept in order to be a good dad. “That shit hurt / When you gotta kill your ego,” he admits on the beat.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I had to … put a lot of things to the side so I could make sure I’m in [my son’s] life and I could pour into him, you feel me,” he reflects when we talk, “and [so] I can receive the blessing that God gave me.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>An active Twitch streamer, DB’s social media savvy has propelled his career from the beginning. He started getting traction during pandemic shutdowns, when he’d regularly join Instagram Live freestyle sessions from \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/thethizzler/?hl=en\">Thizzler\u003c/a>, the Northern California rap platform. That eventually led to a distribution deal with Thizzler and regional hits like “Fettuccine.” At Thizzler, DB connected with his now-manager Russell North, who also works with rising Oakland rapper \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13904319/rightnowish-capolow\">Capolow\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>https://youtu.be/OcK67UqNufg?si=pJBQYPMQIWfu5kv1\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When North heard DB’s searing 2021 diss track “1st Off,” he knew DB had something special. “Your head’s bobbing, you wanna fucking go 100 miles per hour on the freeway,” North says. “It was just this crazy energy. … I’m like, ‘Bro, every DJ I know needs this record.’”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the years since, DB has stayed consistent with releases, worked with the Sacramento Kings and collaborated with some of his heroes, including underground rap giants 03 Greedo and the late Drakeo the Ruler. Drakeo, whose one-of-a-kind flow evoked haunted whispers from the underworld, invited DB to his city to film a music video for their song together, “\u003ca href=\"https://youtu.be/r3TZTr5ER4E?si=j-PUqwH-nN-fCMMf\">Top Rapper\u003c/a>.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We rented a blue Lamborghini, fuckin’ had hella whips,” DB remembers. “It was a crazy ass experience. That was the best night of my life.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>https://youtu.be/r3TZTr5ER4E?si=j-PUqwH-nN-fCMMf\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Yet amid the Instagram-worthy moments, DB has always made space in his music to be real. He started sharing more of his obstacles and anxieties in 2020 with the release of “\u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uw9jd09cans\">Slight Vent\u003c/a>,” where he airs out money stress and trust issues. He almost didn’t put it out. He thought people would call him soft. But the risk paid off. “I got a whole new fan base off of that,” he says. “Like, a chakra opened.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A former high school hooper with dreams of playing in college, DB.Boutabag has the work ethic to turn his viral moments into something lasting. He learned discipline both through athletics and his mom, who raised him as a single parent in South Sacramento, and who instilled a belief in self that motivates him to this day.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13979586\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13979586\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/08/250805_DB.-BOUTABAG_GH-9-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/08/250805_DB.-BOUTABAG_GH-9-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/08/250805_DB.-BOUTABAG_GH-9-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/08/250805_DB.-BOUTABAG_GH-9-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/08/250805_DB.-BOUTABAG_GH-9-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">DB.Boutabag (center) with his childhood friends, Tommy Almanza (left) and Kamari Woodie (right), in Berkeley on Aug. 5, 2025. \u003ccite>(Gustavo Hernandez/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“She used to tell me, like, people stereotype us because of our hair, our color, our dreads … and how we present ourselves from our culture,” he says. “And she always just told me, like, you could still be a winner, a businessman with a briefcase, whatever you want to be. You could be the motherfucking president wearing your gold grill.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>DB wants to be that positive role model for his own son. I ask him if there’s anything he wants to give his child that he himself didn’t have growing up.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>DB wastes no time answering. “Everything, bruh. He not gon’ realize it ’cause he gon’ have it.”\u003c/p>\n\u003chr>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>\u003ca href=\"https://www.eventbrite.com/e/daboii-dbboutabag-tickets-1607430541019\">DB.Boutabag co-headlines the Phoenix Theater\u003c/a> in Petaluma with DaBoii on Saturday, Oct. 18.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"excerpt": "On his new album ‘The Real Boutabag II,’ the 25-year-old rising rapper gets vulnerable about new fatherhood.",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On “Slight Vent PT3,” a standout track with a melancholy saxophone sample, DB raps about grappling with the career and personal sacrifices he must accept in order to be a good dad. “That shit hurt / When you gotta kill your ego,” he admits on the beat.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I had to … put a lot of things to the side so I could make sure I’m in [my son’s] life and I could pour into him, you feel me,” he reflects when we talk, “and [so] I can receive the blessing that God gave me.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>An active Twitch streamer, DB’s social media savvy has propelled his career from the beginning. He started getting traction during pandemic shutdowns, when he’d regularly join Instagram Live freestyle sessions from \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/thethizzler/?hl=en\">Thizzler\u003c/a>, the Northern California rap platform. That eventually led to a distribution deal with Thizzler and regional hits like “Fettuccine.” At Thizzler, DB connected with his now-manager Russell North, who also works with rising Oakland rapper \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13904319/rightnowish-capolow\">Capolow\u003c/a>.\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/OcK67UqNufg'\n title='//www.youtube.com/embed/OcK67UqNufg'\n allowfullscreen='true'\n style='border:0;'>\u003c/iframe>\n \u003c/span>\n \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cp>When North heard DB’s searing 2021 diss track “1st Off,” he knew DB had something special. “Your head’s bobbing, you wanna fucking go 100 miles per hour on the freeway,” North says. “It was just this crazy energy. … I’m like, ‘Bro, every DJ I know needs this record.’”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the years since, DB has stayed consistent with releases, worked with the Sacramento Kings and collaborated with some of his heroes, including underground rap giants 03 Greedo and the late Drakeo the Ruler. Drakeo, whose one-of-a-kind flow evoked haunted whispers from the underworld, invited DB to his city to film a music video for their song together, “\u003ca href=\"https://youtu.be/r3TZTr5ER4E?si=j-PUqwH-nN-fCMMf\">Top Rapper\u003c/a>.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We rented a blue Lamborghini, fuckin’ had hella whips,” DB remembers. “It was a crazy ass experience. That was the best night of my life.”\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/r3TZTr5ER4E'\n title='//www.youtube.com/embed/r3TZTr5ER4E'\n allowfullscreen='true'\n style='border:0;'>\u003c/iframe>\n \u003c/span>\n \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cp>Yet amid the Instagram-worthy moments, DB has always made space in his music to be real. He started sharing more of his obstacles and anxieties in 2020 with the release of “\u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uw9jd09cans\">Slight Vent\u003c/a>,” where he airs out money stress and trust issues. He almost didn’t put it out. He thought people would call him soft. But the risk paid off. “I got a whole new fan base off of that,” he says. “Like, a chakra opened.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A former high school hooper with dreams of playing in college, DB.Boutabag has the work ethic to turn his viral moments into something lasting. He learned discipline both through athletics and his mom, who raised him as a single parent in South Sacramento, and who instilled a belief in self that motivates him to this day.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13979586\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13979586\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/08/250805_DB.-BOUTABAG_GH-9-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/08/250805_DB.-BOUTABAG_GH-9-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/08/250805_DB.-BOUTABAG_GH-9-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/08/250805_DB.-BOUTABAG_GH-9-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/08/250805_DB.-BOUTABAG_GH-9-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">DB.Boutabag (center) with his childhood friends, Tommy Almanza (left) and Kamari Woodie (right), in Berkeley on Aug. 5, 2025. \u003ccite>(Gustavo Hernandez/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“She used to tell me, like, people stereotype us because of our hair, our color, our dreads … and how we present ourselves from our culture,” he says. “And she always just told me, like, you could still be a winner, a businessman with a briefcase, whatever you want to be. You could be the motherfucking president wearing your gold grill.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>DB wants to be that positive role model for his own son. I ask him if there’s anything he wants to give his child that he himself didn’t have growing up.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>DB wastes no time answering. “Everything, bruh. He not gon’ realize it ’cause he gon’ have it.”\u003c/p>\n\u003chr>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>\u003ca href=\"https://www.eventbrite.com/e/daboii-dbboutabag-tickets-1607430541019\">DB.Boutabag co-headlines the Phoenix Theater\u003c/a> in Petaluma with DaBoii on Saturday, Oct. 18.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"slug": "fijiana-welcome-to-the-bay-indo-fijian-rap-video",
"title": "Fijiana’s ‘Welcome to the Bay’ Sparks Questions About Our Cultural Melting Pot",
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"headTitle": "Fijiana’s ‘Welcome to the Bay’ Sparks Questions About Our Cultural Melting Pot | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cp>Where else but the Bay Area can you find some authentic Indo-Fijian slap?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Last week, \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13911398/rightnowish-pallavi-aka-fijiana-rapper-hindi-sexuality\">Richmond rapper Fijiana\u003c/a> dropped “\u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qqLdpgeM1ac\">Welcome to The Bay\u003c/a>,” a track pairing that distinct Bay Area flavor with sounds from the Indian diaspora, including traditional flutes like the shehnai and the bansuri.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Over 808 kicks and persistent hi-hats, \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/iamfijiana/\">Fijiana\u003c/a> raps about “going 80 on the 80” from Richmond to Oakland alongside references to dharma and bindis. She even raps a few bars in Fiji Hindi.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the video for “Welcome to the Bay,” Fijiana stops by immigrant-owned markets in Richmond before pulling up on the homies at Lake Merritt. Later, she hangs out the window of a BMW doing donuts near the historic 16th Street Station in West Oakland, a Fijian flag proudly waving from the vehicle.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13981077\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-13981077\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/09/Screenshot-2025-09-04-at-10.10.14%E2%80%AFAM-2000x1363.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1363\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/09/Screenshot-2025-09-04-at-10.10.14 AM-2000x1363.png 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/09/Screenshot-2025-09-04-at-10.10.14 AM-160x109.png 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/09/Screenshot-2025-09-04-at-10.10.14 AM-768x523.png 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/09/Screenshot-2025-09-04-at-10.10.14 AM-1536x1047.png 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/09/Screenshot-2025-09-04-at-10.10.14 AM-2048x1395.png 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Fijiana’s ’Welcome to the Bay’ video features artists, landmarks and local community members. It’s an ode to Fijiana’s Bay Area circles. \u003ccite>(Heaathh/Erik Saevi)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“It feels so good that people are connecting to this piece,” Fijiana tells me, reflecting on the video’s overwhelming response. “I almost, like, can’t even believe it.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Directed by \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/heath.visuals/\">Heaathh\u003c/a> and \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/eriksaevi/\">Erik Saevi\u003c/a> (with creative direction from Fijiana and \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/riya.xx/\">Riya Saloni\u003c/a>), “Welcome to the Bay” keeps racking up tens of thousands of views on \u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qqLdpgeM1ac\">YouTube\u003c/a>, \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/p/DOJdE_uCZrp/\">Instagram\u003c/a> and \u003ca href=\"https://www.tiktok.com/@iamfijiana/video/7545176804068314423?lang=en\">TikTok\u003c/a>, earning praise locally and abroad. And at the same time, it’s added to the longstanding conversation about hip-hop, cross-cultural connections and appropriation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The song’s success has also offered a glimpse into what goes into making a viral hit. There’s been a genuine wave of support for “Welcome to the Bay,” notably from other Bay Area artists like Keak Da Sneak, IamSu! and Capolow. Yet Fijiana and her team’s savvy social media work has also added to the hype: She posted a \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/p/DOOVChYEcWc/\">doctored meme\u003c/a> that makes it look as if \u003ca href=\"https://www.twitch.tv/kaicenat\">famed streamer Kai Cenat\u003c/a> reacted to the song. (The clip is actually of him listening to a\u003ca href=\"https://youtu.be/egpSUBiBPy8?si=Iotj6wm5KVIJto17&t=159\"> Jackboys track\u003c/a>.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qqLdpgeM1ac\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Like anything that gets a lot of attention online, the comment section adds another layer to the story.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One commenter, also Indo-Fijian, was close to tears, thinking about how “Welcome to the Bay” is helping spread the Fiji Hindi language to all corners of the world. “That really hit me,” says Fijiana, “because it made me very aware that what I’m doing for my people is so important.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Yet the multiculturalism of the Bay is not without its tension. More than one commenter took Fijiana to task, accusing her of appropriating Black culture.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Fijiana says she understands that Black people are tired of others constantly taking from their creations. She noted in the comments (and in our interview) that at the start of the video she wears a shirt explicitly stating, “\u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/p/DOUACZUkhu7/\">Bay Area Culture Is Black Culture\u003c/a>.” [aside postid='arts_13980855']\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The song is reflective of her life experience, which includes a mixture of cultural influences, she says. With that, she acknowledges that some people may never accept a Fijian woman of South Asian descent who was raised in close proximity to Richmond’s Black community. She’s learned to be OK with that.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Being an immigrant in this country,” she says, “we do grow up in these spaces. I’m actually more around American things than I am of my cultural things.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Fijiana has faced criticism in the past, albeit it was from the other side of the metaphorical cultural aisle.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13911398/rightnowish-pallavi-aka-fijiana-rapper-hindi-sexuality\">In an interview with me in 2022\u003c/a>, she acknowledged some people of the Indian diaspora were perturbed about the sexuality in her video for “\u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zl97qCiK7Bs\">Sanskari Hoe\u003c/a>.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Even then she discussed growing up in a predominantly Black and Latino community — and the delicate balance she has to strike between her heritage and surrounding influences.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13981082\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1542px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13981082\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/09/Fijiana.JuliaFairbrother.HeathPhotography.ErikSaevi.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1542\" height=\"1546\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/09/Fijiana.JuliaFairbrother.HeathPhotography.ErikSaevi.jpg 1542w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/09/Fijiana.JuliaFairbrother.HeathPhotography.ErikSaevi-160x160.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/09/Fijiana.JuliaFairbrother.HeathPhotography.ErikSaevi-768x770.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/09/Fijiana.JuliaFairbrother.HeathPhotography.ErikSaevi-1532x1536.jpg 1532w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1542px) 100vw, 1542px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Richmond rapper Fijiana wears a ‘Numbers’ jersey from the Organic Midnight brand by San Francisco rapper Larry June, and poses on a Harley Davidson motorcycle at Oakland’s Lake Merritt in a scene from ‘Welcome to the Bay.’ \u003ccite>(Heath Photography)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>In her latest video, her attempt to effectively depict this cultural intersection pushed Fijiana to call in a second videographer by the name of \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/oadayday/?hl=en\">Oaday Day\u003c/a> for a few final, important touches.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We wanted to tell the story of what the Bay Area means to us, what it means to an Indo-Fijian girl, what is means to an immigrant girl in this community,” she says. “And we wanted to showcase some of our elders in the community and how dope they are.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The video features Richmond’s Palm Market, Aliyah Jewelry and Apna Foods. At one point, a clerk counts money as Fijiana posts up on the counter. In another, Fijiana lays on bags of rice while she recites her bars. The shots of community extend flawlessly to include other Bay Area artists, as images of rapper \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/7namez/\">7Namez\u003c/a>, producer \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/kontrabandbeatz/\">Kontraband Beatz,\u003c/a> model \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/kier.aaa/\">Kiera\u003c/a>, photographer \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/been.milky/\">Been Milky\u003c/a> and others fill the screen.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13981262\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-13981262\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/09/Fijiana-Pose-2000x3018.jpg\" alt=\"A woman in a blue top and high heels squats as she's photographed in a candid pose. \" width=\"2000\" height=\"3018\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/09/Fijiana-Pose-2000x3018.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/09/Fijiana-Pose-160x241.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/09/Fijiana-Pose-768x1159.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/09/Fijiana-Pose-1018x1536.jpg 1018w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/09/Fijiana-Pose-1357x2048.jpg 1357w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/09/Fijiana-Pose-scaled.jpg 1697w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Behind the scenes at Fijiana’s “Welcome to The Bay” video shoot. \u003ccite>(Been Milky)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“This video is so special, because it was \u003cem>so\u003c/em> community,” Fijiana says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In response to a scene in the video where a friend applies oil to Fijiana’s hair, one viewer, a Black woman, wrote, “It’s the Amla oil for me,” showing that certain personal items can have cross-cultural significance.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“As a Desi person,” Fijiana says, “Amla oil is an important part of the culture.” Having your hair oiled weekly is a custom, she says: “Our elders do it for us, and our sisters.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the video, the woman oiling Fijiana’s hair is \u003ca href=\"https://www.backstage.com/u/raven-mapanao/\">Raven Mapanao\u003c/a>, a model, actress and close friend of Fijiana’s. The clip is symbolic, Fijiana explains, as last year while Fijiana was in the hospital Mapanao would regularly visit and oil her hair.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside postID='arts_13911398'] For six months a life-threatening autoimmune disease caused the rapper intense mobility issues and concerns of organ failure. “I fought through it, somehow I made it,” she says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While her hair gets oiled and the BMW gets sideways behind her in the video, Fijiana wears a tan knee pad and beige hand bandage, representative of the scars of last year. The scene is a celebration of the fact that she \u003cem>can\u003c/em> move.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There’s something about going through something like that,” she says, “as unfortunate as it is, I really think it brought me closer to myself, my art and my intention in a way that I don’t think I’ve ever felt.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She cracks up while thinking about the song’s producer, \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/yoshubmusic/\">a guy named Shub\u003c/a> who she met on YouTube. “He’s just some person, chillin’ at his house in India,” she says with a laugh, thinking about the song’s sudden success. “He’s also probably trippin’, like ‘What’s going on?’ This is poppin’ for both of us.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>With additional singles on the way ahead of a forthcoming album, Fijiana says there’s more where “Welcome to The Bay” came from.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Through each song, through each single, through each visual,” she says, “I’m trying to let people come into this world of Fijiana.”\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>Where else but the Bay Area can you find some authentic Indo-Fijian slap?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Last week, \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13911398/rightnowish-pallavi-aka-fijiana-rapper-hindi-sexuality\">Richmond rapper Fijiana\u003c/a> dropped “\u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qqLdpgeM1ac\">Welcome to The Bay\u003c/a>,” a track pairing that distinct Bay Area flavor with sounds from the Indian diaspora, including traditional flutes like the shehnai and the bansuri.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Over 808 kicks and persistent hi-hats, \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/iamfijiana/\">Fijiana\u003c/a> raps about “going 80 on the 80” from Richmond to Oakland alongside references to dharma and bindis. She even raps a few bars in Fiji Hindi.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the video for “Welcome to the Bay,” Fijiana stops by immigrant-owned markets in Richmond before pulling up on the homies at Lake Merritt. Later, she hangs out the window of a BMW doing donuts near the historic 16th Street Station in West Oakland, a Fijian flag proudly waving from the vehicle.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13981077\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-13981077\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/09/Screenshot-2025-09-04-at-10.10.14%E2%80%AFAM-2000x1363.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1363\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/09/Screenshot-2025-09-04-at-10.10.14 AM-2000x1363.png 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/09/Screenshot-2025-09-04-at-10.10.14 AM-160x109.png 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/09/Screenshot-2025-09-04-at-10.10.14 AM-768x523.png 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/09/Screenshot-2025-09-04-at-10.10.14 AM-1536x1047.png 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/09/Screenshot-2025-09-04-at-10.10.14 AM-2048x1395.png 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Fijiana’s ’Welcome to the Bay’ video features artists, landmarks and local community members. It’s an ode to Fijiana’s Bay Area circles. \u003ccite>(Heaathh/Erik Saevi)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“It feels so good that people are connecting to this piece,” Fijiana tells me, reflecting on the video’s overwhelming response. “I almost, like, can’t even believe it.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Directed by \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/heath.visuals/\">Heaathh\u003c/a> and \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/eriksaevi/\">Erik Saevi\u003c/a> (with creative direction from Fijiana and \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/riya.xx/\">Riya Saloni\u003c/a>), “Welcome to the Bay” keeps racking up tens of thousands of views on \u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qqLdpgeM1ac\">YouTube\u003c/a>, \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/p/DOJdE_uCZrp/\">Instagram\u003c/a> and \u003ca href=\"https://www.tiktok.com/@iamfijiana/video/7545176804068314423?lang=en\">TikTok\u003c/a>, earning praise locally and abroad. And at the same time, it’s added to the longstanding conversation about hip-hop, cross-cultural connections and appropriation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The song’s success has also offered a glimpse into what goes into making a viral hit. There’s been a genuine wave of support for “Welcome to the Bay,” notably from other Bay Area artists like Keak Da Sneak, IamSu! and Capolow. Yet Fijiana and her team’s savvy social media work has also added to the hype: She posted a \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/p/DOOVChYEcWc/\">doctored meme\u003c/a> that makes it look as if \u003ca href=\"https://www.twitch.tv/kaicenat\">famed streamer Kai Cenat\u003c/a> reacted to the song. (The clip is actually of him listening to a\u003ca href=\"https://youtu.be/egpSUBiBPy8?si=Iotj6wm5KVIJto17&t=159\"> Jackboys track\u003c/a>.)\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/qqLdpgeM1ac'\n title='//www.youtube.com/embed/qqLdpgeM1ac'\n allowfullscreen='true'\n style='border:0;'>\u003c/iframe>\n \u003c/span>\n \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cp>Like anything that gets a lot of attention online, the comment section adds another layer to the story.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One commenter, also Indo-Fijian, was close to tears, thinking about how “Welcome to the Bay” is helping spread the Fiji Hindi language to all corners of the world. “That really hit me,” says Fijiana, “because it made me very aware that what I’m doing for my people is so important.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Yet the multiculturalism of the Bay is not without its tension. More than one commenter took Fijiana to task, accusing her of appropriating Black culture.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Fijiana says she understands that Black people are tired of others constantly taking from their creations. She noted in the comments (and in our interview) that at the start of the video she wears a shirt explicitly stating, “\u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/p/DOUACZUkhu7/\">Bay Area Culture Is Black Culture\u003c/a>.” \u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The song is reflective of her life experience, which includes a mixture of cultural influences, she says. With that, she acknowledges that some people may never accept a Fijian woman of South Asian descent who was raised in close proximity to Richmond’s Black community. She’s learned to be OK with that.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Being an immigrant in this country,” she says, “we do grow up in these spaces. I’m actually more around American things than I am of my cultural things.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Fijiana has faced criticism in the past, albeit it was from the other side of the metaphorical cultural aisle.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13911398/rightnowish-pallavi-aka-fijiana-rapper-hindi-sexuality\">In an interview with me in 2022\u003c/a>, she acknowledged some people of the Indian diaspora were perturbed about the sexuality in her video for “\u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zl97qCiK7Bs\">Sanskari Hoe\u003c/a>.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Even then she discussed growing up in a predominantly Black and Latino community — and the delicate balance she has to strike between her heritage and surrounding influences.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13981082\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1542px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13981082\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/09/Fijiana.JuliaFairbrother.HeathPhotography.ErikSaevi.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1542\" height=\"1546\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/09/Fijiana.JuliaFairbrother.HeathPhotography.ErikSaevi.jpg 1542w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/09/Fijiana.JuliaFairbrother.HeathPhotography.ErikSaevi-160x160.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/09/Fijiana.JuliaFairbrother.HeathPhotography.ErikSaevi-768x770.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/09/Fijiana.JuliaFairbrother.HeathPhotography.ErikSaevi-1532x1536.jpg 1532w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1542px) 100vw, 1542px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Richmond rapper Fijiana wears a ‘Numbers’ jersey from the Organic Midnight brand by San Francisco rapper Larry June, and poses on a Harley Davidson motorcycle at Oakland’s Lake Merritt in a scene from ‘Welcome to the Bay.’ \u003ccite>(Heath Photography)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>In her latest video, her attempt to effectively depict this cultural intersection pushed Fijiana to call in a second videographer by the name of \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/oadayday/?hl=en\">Oaday Day\u003c/a> for a few final, important touches.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We wanted to tell the story of what the Bay Area means to us, what it means to an Indo-Fijian girl, what is means to an immigrant girl in this community,” she says. “And we wanted to showcase some of our elders in the community and how dope they are.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The video features Richmond’s Palm Market, Aliyah Jewelry and Apna Foods. At one point, a clerk counts money as Fijiana posts up on the counter. In another, Fijiana lays on bags of rice while she recites her bars. The shots of community extend flawlessly to include other Bay Area artists, as images of rapper \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/7namez/\">7Namez\u003c/a>, producer \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/kontrabandbeatz/\">Kontraband Beatz,\u003c/a> model \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/kier.aaa/\">Kiera\u003c/a>, photographer \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/been.milky/\">Been Milky\u003c/a> and others fill the screen.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13981262\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-13981262\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/09/Fijiana-Pose-2000x3018.jpg\" alt=\"A woman in a blue top and high heels squats as she's photographed in a candid pose. \" width=\"2000\" height=\"3018\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/09/Fijiana-Pose-2000x3018.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/09/Fijiana-Pose-160x241.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/09/Fijiana-Pose-768x1159.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/09/Fijiana-Pose-1018x1536.jpg 1018w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/09/Fijiana-Pose-1357x2048.jpg 1357w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/09/Fijiana-Pose-scaled.jpg 1697w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Behind the scenes at Fijiana’s “Welcome to The Bay” video shoot. \u003ccite>(Been Milky)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“This video is so special, because it was \u003cem>so\u003c/em> community,” Fijiana says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In response to a scene in the video where a friend applies oil to Fijiana’s hair, one viewer, a Black woman, wrote, “It’s the Amla oil for me,” showing that certain personal items can have cross-cultural significance.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“As a Desi person,” Fijiana says, “Amla oil is an important part of the culture.” Having your hair oiled weekly is a custom, she says: “Our elders do it for us, and our sisters.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the video, the woman oiling Fijiana’s hair is \u003ca href=\"https://www.backstage.com/u/raven-mapanao/\">Raven Mapanao\u003c/a>, a model, actress and close friend of Fijiana’s. The clip is symbolic, Fijiana explains, as last year while Fijiana was in the hospital Mapanao would regularly visit and oil her hair.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp> For six months a life-threatening autoimmune disease caused the rapper intense mobility issues and concerns of organ failure. “I fought through it, somehow I made it,” she says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While her hair gets oiled and the BMW gets sideways behind her in the video, Fijiana wears a tan knee pad and beige hand bandage, representative of the scars of last year. The scene is a celebration of the fact that she \u003cem>can\u003c/em> move.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There’s something about going through something like that,” she says, “as unfortunate as it is, I really think it brought me closer to myself, my art and my intention in a way that I don’t think I’ve ever felt.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She cracks up while thinking about the song’s producer, \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/yoshubmusic/\">a guy named Shub\u003c/a> who she met on YouTube. “He’s just some person, chillin’ at his house in India,” she says with a laugh, thinking about the song’s sudden success. “He’s also probably trippin’, like ‘What’s going on?’ This is poppin’ for both of us.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>With additional singles on the way ahead of a forthcoming album, Fijiana says there’s more where “Welcome to The Bay” came from.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Through each song, through each single, through each visual,” she says, “I’m trying to let people come into this world of Fijiana.”\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "Meet the DJs Bringing the Pride and the Party to the Valkyries’ Ballhalla",
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"headTitle": "Meet the DJs Bringing the Pride and the Party to the Valkyries’ Ballhalla | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cp>On a recent August afternoon, \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/golden-state-valkyries\">Golden State Valkyries\u003c/a> guard Kaitlyn Chen looks up, bends her knees and releases the ball with a flick of the wrist, sinking another 3-pointer. Down the violet-tinted court, forward Cecilia Zandalasini runs drills, crouching low as she dribbles the ball between her legs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Two hours before tip-off, the Valkyries are getting ready to take on the Phoenix Mercury. To hype up the players, DJ Shellheart is behind the decks, blending Soulja Boy’s nostalgic swag rap with the sad-boy crooning of Drake and the cocky, Memphis-inflected flow of GloRilla. By the time she hits a transition into E-40’s “Yay Area,” the players are clearly feeling themselves.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“What it dooo?” Kate Martin says as she jogs by and fist-bumps Shellheart, who has one eye on her DJ controller and the other on the players, making sure they’re responding to the music.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I love a good DJ,” guard Tiffany Hayes tells KQED courtside, pointing to a music note tattoo on her ankle. “I think positive frequencies are important. … The DJ in here got us rockin’ right now, gettin’ ready for the game.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In their \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12039501/wnbas-newest-team-golden-state-valkyries-kick-off-first-season\">inaugural season\u003c/a>, the Valkyries have made WNBA history, consistently selling out Chase Center and breaking the record for most wins by an expansion team.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13980965\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13980965\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/09/20250516_VALKYRIESHOMEOPENER_GC-66-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1356\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/09/20250516_VALKYRIESHOMEOPENER_GC-66-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/09/20250516_VALKYRIESHOMEOPENER_GC-66-KQED-160x108.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/09/20250516_VALKYRIESHOMEOPENER_GC-66-KQED-768x521.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/09/20250516_VALKYRIESHOMEOPENER_GC-66-KQED-1536x1041.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Golden State Valkyries guard Tiffany Hayes (15) advances towards the basket as Los Angeles Sparks guard Odyssey Sims (0) defends during the Valkyries’ home opener at Chase Center on May 16, 2025. \u003ccite>(Gina Castro/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Along the way, they’ve cultivated an unmatched energy at “Ballhalla,” as their home arena is known. For the legions of fans packing Chase Center game after game — \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12047885/how-to-be-a-valkyries-fan-a-beginners-guide-to-bay-area-wnba-fandom\">many of them women and queer people\u003c/a> — the atmosphere rivals Oracle Arena during the Warriors’ 2010s championship run. Behind the decks, Bay Area nightlife fixtures Shellheart and LadyRyan provide the soundtrack, from warmups to the final buzzer.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s 18,000 people I get to DJ in front of. It’s just motivated me so much,” Shellheart says, still visibly in disbelief that this is her life.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Mainey\">mainey\u003c/a>,” she says. “I got chills.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>The rise of two nightlife luminaries\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Shellheart and LadyRyan have been friends and colleagues in the Bay Area music scene for a decade, but they’ve taken different paths to Ballhalla. Shellheart, who’s been DJing since 2014, is a major figure in Bay Area hip-hop: She’s the tour DJ for \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13979968/rexx-life-raj-in-rhythm-new-album\">Rexx Life Raj\u003c/a>, the Berkeley-raised rapper.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When she’s not on the road, Shellheart spins at big-name events, sharing stages with stars like DJ Jazzy Jeff and Anderson .Paak, or DJing atop the San Francisco Bay Ferry for P-Lo’s album release party.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13980949\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13980949\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/09/250819-VALKYRIESDJS_00605_TV-KQED-3.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/09/250819-VALKYRIESDJS_00605_TV-KQED-3.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/09/250819-VALKYRIESDJS_00605_TV-KQED-3-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/09/250819-VALKYRIESDJS_00605_TV-KQED-3-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/09/250819-VALKYRIESDJS_00605_TV-KQED-3-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">DJ Shellheart plays a set for the Golden State Valkyries during a game at Chase Center in San Francisco on Aug. 19, 2025. \u003ccite>(Tâm Vũ/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Her day party, Good Times, is an Oakland summer staple, and her annual Green Party — celebrating her birthday — recently packed San Francisco’s Midway with hundreds of partygoers in head-to-toe forest, chartreuse and lime green outfits to see Bay Area rap heavy-hitters DaBoii and Kamaiyah.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>LadyRyan began spinning at Bay Area parties in 2006 and has become one of the most influential figures in Oakland’s LGBTQ+ scene. The party she co-founded 14 years ago, Soulovely — with its eclectic mix of hip-hop, house and multicultural sounds like dembow and dabke — continues to draw a passionate following of queer and trans people of color.[aside postID=arts_13980000 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/08/Violet-Valkyries.jpg']Over the summer, LadyRyan got thousands dancing at festivals like Stern Grove, where she most recently opened for the Pointer Sisters, and the San Francisco Hip-Hop Festival, headlined by Digable Planets. She hosts a weekly radio show on KALW, and on Sept. 7, she’ll perform at Oakland Pride. She and her partner, Dennise Acio, also recently opened Golden Ratio, a cozy, inclusive cocktail lounge with a dance floor and giant disco ball in downtown Oakland.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At Chase Center, LadyRyan and Shellheart hype the crowd during interactive T-shirt-throwing moments, timeouts and halftime. For both DJs, joining the Valkyries for their inaugural season is a career highlight.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“When people are there at their first game, and you catch that vibe, it makes you want to be involved in this major unison of excitement and celebration,” LadyRyan says. “You get there, and you’re like, ‘Oh my god, this is bigger than I thought it would be.’ They’re loud, and I’m loud with them.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As they entered the sports world, both DJs found a supporter in the Warriors’ official DJ, D Sharp. A hip-hop veteran with the team since before their mid-2010s dynasty, D Sharp guided LadyRyan and Shellheart when they became the Valkyries’ official selectors.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13980968\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-13980968 size-full\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/09/250901-VALKYRIESDJS00326_TV-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/09/250901-VALKYRIESDJS00326_TV-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/09/250901-VALKYRIESDJS00326_TV-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/09/250901-VALKYRIESDJS00326_TV-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/09/250901-VALKYRIESDJS00326_TV-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">DJ LadyRyan (left) and DJ ShellHeart (right) pose for a portrait before starting their “Cut a Rug” event at the venue ForTheCulture in Oakland on Sept. 1, 2025. \u003ccite>(Tâm Vũ/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“Especially in the male-dominated industry where people kind of look at each other as competition,” LadyRyan says, “he’s one of those DJs that knows that there’s enough for everybody.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>D Sharp has supported LadyRyan since they met almost a decade ago while performing at a pan-African festival. “She was killing it. And I was like, ‘Go, girl, do your thing,” he says. They bonded through mutual appreciation of each other’s DJing skills.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Speaking about Shellheart, D Sharp beams with pride, recalling her on the jumbotron at a Valkyries game for the first time. “They gave her a DJ spotlight and she murdered that s—,” he says.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>The WNBA embraces queer culture\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>The Valkyries’ selection of Shellheart and LadyRyan comes as the WNBA increasingly embraces its queer players and fans. When the league debuted in 1997, it marketed a feminine, straight image; in the 2000s, when WNBA greats like Sue Wicks and Sheryl Swoopes came out, it rocked the sports world.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Fast-forward to 2025, LGBTQ+ players’ ability to be themselves is fueling the league’s growing mainstream popularity. During All-Star Weekend, charismatic Minnesota Lynx players Court Williams and Natisha “T” Hiedeman livestreamed off-court antics on their Twitch channel, StudBudz, to give fans unprecedented behind-the-scenes access for 72 hours.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13980970\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13980970\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/09/250901-VALKYRIESDJS01816_TV-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/09/250901-VALKYRIESDJS01816_TV-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/09/250901-VALKYRIESDJS01816_TV-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/09/250901-VALKYRIESDJS01816_TV-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/09/250901-VALKYRIESDJS01816_TV-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">DJ LadyRyan plays her set as a friend chats with her at the “Cut a Rug” event at the venue ForTheCulture in Oakland on Sept. 1, 2025. \u003ccite>(Tâm Vũ/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>They went viral, and \u003ca href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6507411/2025/07/22/stud-budz-studbudz-courtney-williams-natisha-hiedeman-wnba-twitch/\">\u003cem>The New York Times\u003c/em> called them a “sensation.”\u003c/a> During the same weekend, the Dallas Wings’ No. 1 overall draft pick Paige Bueckers hard-launched her relationship with University of Connecticut player Azzi Fudd, adding to a growing list of WNBA couples.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Shellheart was at the center of the All-Star Weekend, hanging with the players at the celebrations and afterparties. She’d DJed NBA All-Star parties before, but the W felt different. “Just seeing all the beautiful women, all the athletic women — being around women that are wealthy, you know?” she says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Shellheart, this is it,” she remembers telling herself. “This is where you belong.”[aside postID=arts_13977457 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/06/RIKKIS-0326-fave.jpg']For LadyRyan, DJing on such a massive platform that centers women comes with a sense of pride. Her sets feature amped-up anthems like Beyoncé’s “My House” and Doechii’s “Nissan Altima.” “It just feels comfortable and really empowering,” she says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At Chase Center during Valkyries games, it’s common to see Pride flags, fashion-forward queer friend groups and couples on dates. But LadyRyan warns that openness comes with backlash: a contingent of incel-ish MNBA fans routinely post sexist and homophobic comments on social media. In the past month, three men were arrested for throwing sex toys onto the court during WNBA games.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If we weren’t discriminated against to begin with, we wouldn’t have to be proud about it, you know? We’re just not past it,” LadyRyan says. “As much as people wanna say everything’s fine, we still have an administration that is working against our existence.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Seeing LadyRyan and DJ Shellheart in the DJ booth is especially meaningful to fans like Vanessa Hernandez, the co-founder of Valqueeries, an LGBTQ+ Valkyries fan club that organizes meet-ups and events at games and bars.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13980951\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13980951\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/09/250819-VALKYRIESDJS_00749_TV-KQED-3.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/09/250819-VALKYRIESDJS_00749_TV-KQED-3.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/09/250819-VALKYRIESDJS_00749_TV-KQED-3-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/09/250819-VALKYRIESDJS_00749_TV-KQED-3-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/09/250819-VALKYRIESDJS_00749_TV-KQED-3-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">DJ Shellheart plays a set for the Golden State Valkyries during a game at Chase Center in San Francisco on Aug. 19, 2025. \u003ccite>(Tâm Vũ/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“As the Valkyries are still figuring out their identity, I hope in the future they still continue to lean on LadyRyan and Shellheart because they’re huge influences in the Bay Area, especially in the DJ community,” she says. “In the queer community at large, these people are so essential to us.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At Chase Center, the Valkyries’ fandom transcends gender identity, sexual orientation, race and age. Shellheart knows that by bringing their skills, she and LadyRyan are inspiring the next generation of fans, no matter their background.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At her second-ever game spinning for the Valkyries, a young boy approached her for an autograph. “I was, like, ‘Oh, s—, nice,’” she says. “You just don’t know who you’re motivating.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>On a recent August afternoon, \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/golden-state-valkyries\">Golden State Valkyries\u003c/a> guard Kaitlyn Chen looks up, bends her knees and releases the ball with a flick of the wrist, sinking another 3-pointer. Down the violet-tinted court, forward Cecilia Zandalasini runs drills, crouching low as she dribbles the ball between her legs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Two hours before tip-off, the Valkyries are getting ready to take on the Phoenix Mercury. To hype up the players, DJ Shellheart is behind the decks, blending Soulja Boy’s nostalgic swag rap with the sad-boy crooning of Drake and the cocky, Memphis-inflected flow of GloRilla. By the time she hits a transition into E-40’s “Yay Area,” the players are clearly feeling themselves.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“What it dooo?” Kate Martin says as she jogs by and fist-bumps Shellheart, who has one eye on her DJ controller and the other on the players, making sure they’re responding to the music.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I love a good DJ,” guard Tiffany Hayes tells KQED courtside, pointing to a music note tattoo on her ankle. “I think positive frequencies are important. … The DJ in here got us rockin’ right now, gettin’ ready for the game.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In their \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12039501/wnbas-newest-team-golden-state-valkyries-kick-off-first-season\">inaugural season\u003c/a>, the Valkyries have made WNBA history, consistently selling out Chase Center and breaking the record for most wins by an expansion team.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13980965\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13980965\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/09/20250516_VALKYRIESHOMEOPENER_GC-66-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1356\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/09/20250516_VALKYRIESHOMEOPENER_GC-66-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/09/20250516_VALKYRIESHOMEOPENER_GC-66-KQED-160x108.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/09/20250516_VALKYRIESHOMEOPENER_GC-66-KQED-768x521.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/09/20250516_VALKYRIESHOMEOPENER_GC-66-KQED-1536x1041.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Golden State Valkyries guard Tiffany Hayes (15) advances towards the basket as Los Angeles Sparks guard Odyssey Sims (0) defends during the Valkyries’ home opener at Chase Center on May 16, 2025. \u003ccite>(Gina Castro/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Along the way, they’ve cultivated an unmatched energy at “Ballhalla,” as their home arena is known. For the legions of fans packing Chase Center game after game — \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12047885/how-to-be-a-valkyries-fan-a-beginners-guide-to-bay-area-wnba-fandom\">many of them women and queer people\u003c/a> — the atmosphere rivals Oracle Arena during the Warriors’ 2010s championship run. Behind the decks, Bay Area nightlife fixtures Shellheart and LadyRyan provide the soundtrack, from warmups to the final buzzer.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s 18,000 people I get to DJ in front of. It’s just motivated me so much,” Shellheart says, still visibly in disbelief that this is her life.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Mainey\">mainey\u003c/a>,” she says. “I got chills.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>The rise of two nightlife luminaries\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Shellheart and LadyRyan have been friends and colleagues in the Bay Area music scene for a decade, but they’ve taken different paths to Ballhalla. Shellheart, who’s been DJing since 2014, is a major figure in Bay Area hip-hop: She’s the tour DJ for \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13979968/rexx-life-raj-in-rhythm-new-album\">Rexx Life Raj\u003c/a>, the Berkeley-raised rapper.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When she’s not on the road, Shellheart spins at big-name events, sharing stages with stars like DJ Jazzy Jeff and Anderson .Paak, or DJing atop the San Francisco Bay Ferry for P-Lo’s album release party.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13980949\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13980949\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/09/250819-VALKYRIESDJS_00605_TV-KQED-3.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/09/250819-VALKYRIESDJS_00605_TV-KQED-3.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/09/250819-VALKYRIESDJS_00605_TV-KQED-3-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/09/250819-VALKYRIESDJS_00605_TV-KQED-3-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/09/250819-VALKYRIESDJS_00605_TV-KQED-3-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">DJ Shellheart plays a set for the Golden State Valkyries during a game at Chase Center in San Francisco on Aug. 19, 2025. \u003ccite>(Tâm Vũ/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Her day party, Good Times, is an Oakland summer staple, and her annual Green Party — celebrating her birthday — recently packed San Francisco’s Midway with hundreds of partygoers in head-to-toe forest, chartreuse and lime green outfits to see Bay Area rap heavy-hitters DaBoii and Kamaiyah.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>LadyRyan began spinning at Bay Area parties in 2006 and has become one of the most influential figures in Oakland’s LGBTQ+ scene. The party she co-founded 14 years ago, Soulovely — with its eclectic mix of hip-hop, house and multicultural sounds like dembow and dabke — continues to draw a passionate following of queer and trans people of color.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Over the summer, LadyRyan got thousands dancing at festivals like Stern Grove, where she most recently opened for the Pointer Sisters, and the San Francisco Hip-Hop Festival, headlined by Digable Planets. She hosts a weekly radio show on KALW, and on Sept. 7, she’ll perform at Oakland Pride. She and her partner, Dennise Acio, also recently opened Golden Ratio, a cozy, inclusive cocktail lounge with a dance floor and giant disco ball in downtown Oakland.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At Chase Center, LadyRyan and Shellheart hype the crowd during interactive T-shirt-throwing moments, timeouts and halftime. For both DJs, joining the Valkyries for their inaugural season is a career highlight.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“When people are there at their first game, and you catch that vibe, it makes you want to be involved in this major unison of excitement and celebration,” LadyRyan says. “You get there, and you’re like, ‘Oh my god, this is bigger than I thought it would be.’ They’re loud, and I’m loud with them.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As they entered the sports world, both DJs found a supporter in the Warriors’ official DJ, D Sharp. A hip-hop veteran with the team since before their mid-2010s dynasty, D Sharp guided LadyRyan and Shellheart when they became the Valkyries’ official selectors.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13980968\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-13980968 size-full\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/09/250901-VALKYRIESDJS00326_TV-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/09/250901-VALKYRIESDJS00326_TV-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/09/250901-VALKYRIESDJS00326_TV-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/09/250901-VALKYRIESDJS00326_TV-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/09/250901-VALKYRIESDJS00326_TV-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">DJ LadyRyan (left) and DJ ShellHeart (right) pose for a portrait before starting their “Cut a Rug” event at the venue ForTheCulture in Oakland on Sept. 1, 2025. \u003ccite>(Tâm Vũ/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“Especially in the male-dominated industry where people kind of look at each other as competition,” LadyRyan says, “he’s one of those DJs that knows that there’s enough for everybody.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>D Sharp has supported LadyRyan since they met almost a decade ago while performing at a pan-African festival. “She was killing it. And I was like, ‘Go, girl, do your thing,” he says. They bonded through mutual appreciation of each other’s DJing skills.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Speaking about Shellheart, D Sharp beams with pride, recalling her on the jumbotron at a Valkyries game for the first time. “They gave her a DJ spotlight and she murdered that s—,” he says.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>The WNBA embraces queer culture\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>The Valkyries’ selection of Shellheart and LadyRyan comes as the WNBA increasingly embraces its queer players and fans. When the league debuted in 1997, it marketed a feminine, straight image; in the 2000s, when WNBA greats like Sue Wicks and Sheryl Swoopes came out, it rocked the sports world.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Fast-forward to 2025, LGBTQ+ players’ ability to be themselves is fueling the league’s growing mainstream popularity. During All-Star Weekend, charismatic Minnesota Lynx players Court Williams and Natisha “T” Hiedeman livestreamed off-court antics on their Twitch channel, StudBudz, to give fans unprecedented behind-the-scenes access for 72 hours.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13980970\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13980970\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/09/250901-VALKYRIESDJS01816_TV-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/09/250901-VALKYRIESDJS01816_TV-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/09/250901-VALKYRIESDJS01816_TV-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/09/250901-VALKYRIESDJS01816_TV-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/09/250901-VALKYRIESDJS01816_TV-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">DJ LadyRyan plays her set as a friend chats with her at the “Cut a Rug” event at the venue ForTheCulture in Oakland on Sept. 1, 2025. \u003ccite>(Tâm Vũ/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>They went viral, and \u003ca href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6507411/2025/07/22/stud-budz-studbudz-courtney-williams-natisha-hiedeman-wnba-twitch/\">\u003cem>The New York Times\u003c/em> called them a “sensation.”\u003c/a> During the same weekend, the Dallas Wings’ No. 1 overall draft pick Paige Bueckers hard-launched her relationship with University of Connecticut player Azzi Fudd, adding to a growing list of WNBA couples.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Shellheart was at the center of the All-Star Weekend, hanging with the players at the celebrations and afterparties. She’d DJed NBA All-Star parties before, but the W felt different. “Just seeing all the beautiful women, all the athletic women — being around women that are wealthy, you know?” she says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Shellheart, this is it,” she remembers telling herself. “This is where you belong.”\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>For LadyRyan, DJing on such a massive platform that centers women comes with a sense of pride. Her sets feature amped-up anthems like Beyoncé’s “My House” and Doechii’s “Nissan Altima.” “It just feels comfortable and really empowering,” she says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At Chase Center during Valkyries games, it’s common to see Pride flags, fashion-forward queer friend groups and couples on dates. But LadyRyan warns that openness comes with backlash: a contingent of incel-ish MNBA fans routinely post sexist and homophobic comments on social media. In the past month, three men were arrested for throwing sex toys onto the court during WNBA games.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If we weren’t discriminated against to begin with, we wouldn’t have to be proud about it, you know? We’re just not past it,” LadyRyan says. “As much as people wanna say everything’s fine, we still have an administration that is working against our existence.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Seeing LadyRyan and DJ Shellheart in the DJ booth is especially meaningful to fans like Vanessa Hernandez, the co-founder of Valqueeries, an LGBTQ+ Valkyries fan club that organizes meet-ups and events at games and bars.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13980951\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13980951\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/09/250819-VALKYRIESDJS_00749_TV-KQED-3.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/09/250819-VALKYRIESDJS_00749_TV-KQED-3.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/09/250819-VALKYRIESDJS_00749_TV-KQED-3-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/09/250819-VALKYRIESDJS_00749_TV-KQED-3-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/09/250819-VALKYRIESDJS_00749_TV-KQED-3-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">DJ Shellheart plays a set for the Golden State Valkyries during a game at Chase Center in San Francisco on Aug. 19, 2025. \u003ccite>(Tâm Vũ/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“As the Valkyries are still figuring out their identity, I hope in the future they still continue to lean on LadyRyan and Shellheart because they’re huge influences in the Bay Area, especially in the DJ community,” she says. “In the queer community at large, these people are so essential to us.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At Chase Center, the Valkyries’ fandom transcends gender identity, sexual orientation, race and age. Shellheart knows that by bringing their skills, she and LadyRyan are inspiring the next generation of fans, no matter their background.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At her second-ever game spinning for the Valkyries, a young boy approached her for an autograph. “I was, like, ‘Oh, s—, nice,’” she says. “You just don’t know who you’re motivating.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cp>Through the mounted speakers inside a multistory warehouse in \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/east-oakland\">East Oakland\u003c/a>, LaVance “Poo$ie” Warren’s thick New Orleans accent vibrates the room.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Rapping about life and death, the 28-year-old lyricist drops bars informed by generational poverty and the cycle of community violence. He also carries the weight of surviving Hurricane Katrina, the storm of a century, 20 years ago.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Muderrrrrr she wrote,” he says into the mic, performing his take on Chaka Demus & Pliers’ classic reggae track. Poo$ie’s version has a hymn-like cadence, delivered over an ominous bass line. It’s one of 11 songs off of Poos$ie’s new album, \u003ca href=\"https://open.spotify.com/album/41SeCpKNcHvcJQU2ujscTF\">\u003cem>My Friends Like to Kill Each Other\u003c/em>\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The mid-July edition of the \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/theofficehoursstudio/\">Office Hours\u003c/a> musical showcase is full of MCs and vocalists, dancers and media makers. It’s a who’s who of Bay Area talent: \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/jamel_griot/\">Jamel Griot\u003c/a>, \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/callherstoni/\">Stonï\u003c/a>, \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/firstnameian/\">Ian Kelly\u003c/a> and \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/alienmackitty/\">Alien Mac Kitty\u003c/a>, to name a few.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Event host \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/randymcphly/\">Randy McPhly\u003c/a> stands on a large rug that serves as a stage, contorting his face as Poo$ie rapidly gasses the track. “The ghetto’s just a graveyard / Lost but he played hard / Born with a bad hand / \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13927810/brendas-got-a-baby-tupac-shakur-ethel-love\">Brenda’s by the trash can\u003c/a>,” he says, throwing bars into the universe with ease.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Despite living in Oakland two decades, his Louisiana accent remains. He’s part of a diaspora of New Orleans kids who came of age in a new land after the federal government treated their families like refugees and fellow citizens stepped in to help.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13917939\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2048px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13917939\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/08/PoosieSAE_RVS-3-scaled-e1661274509994.jpeg\" alt=\"Poo$ie\" width=\"2048\" height=\"1472\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/08/PoosieSAE_RVS-3-scaled-e1661274509994.jpeg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/08/PoosieSAE_RVS-3-scaled-e1661274509994-800x575.jpeg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/08/PoosieSAE_RVS-3-scaled-e1661274509994-1020x733.jpeg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/08/PoosieSAE_RVS-3-scaled-e1661274509994-160x115.jpeg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/08/PoosieSAE_RVS-3-scaled-e1661274509994-768x552.jpeg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/08/PoosieSAE_RVS-3-scaled-e1661274509994-1536x1104.jpeg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/08/PoosieSAE_RVS-3-scaled-e1661274509994-1920x1380.jpeg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2048px) 100vw, 2048px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Poo$ie on stage. \u003ccite>(Edwin Roque / @rocky__vision)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Twenty years after Katrina forced his family from New Orleans to Oakland, Poo$ie has transformed trauma into art. His music and life as a young father reflect the resilience passed down from his mother, who during Katrina cared for him, his brothers and his grandmother. Poo$ie’s mother did so by relying on her own willpower, a few blessings from benevolent bystanders and the sheer luck concealed inside of a little black purse.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When Hurricane Katrina laid waste to the southern Gulf Coast in August 2005, it was one of the most powerful storms to ever hit the mainland United States, with \u003ca href=\"https://www.weather.gov/mob/katrina\">sustained winds of up to 175 mph\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Torrential rain submerged buildings in more than 20 feet of water. The damage was compounded by \u003ca href=\"https://georgewbush-whitehouse.archives.gov/reports/katrina-lessons-learned/chapter4.html#:~:text=The%20New%20Orleans%20Flood%20and%20Hurricane%20Protection%20System%20is%20complex,very%20strong%20Category%202%20hurricane.\">aging infrastructure\u003c/a>, \u003ca href=\"https://shac.studentorg.berkeley.edu/2020/07/15/redlining-and-structural-racism/\">racist redlining housing policies\u003c/a> and \u003ca href=\"https://www.cato.org/blog/hurricane-katrina-remembering-federal-failures#:~:text=The%20Red%20Cross%20had%20239,prepositioning%20of%20people%20and%20assets.\">mismanagement of relief efforts\u003c/a> by local and federal officials.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>More than 1,000 people died and an estimated \u003ca href=\"https://www.axios.com/local/new-orleans/2025/08/21/new-data-new-orleans-displaced-hurricane-katrina\">162,000 New Orleans residents were displaced\u003c/a>, many settling in Baton Rouge, Texas, or elsewhere in the South. Poo$ie and his family represent the approximately 16,000 New Orleans residents who relocated to other parts of the country, including California.[aside postID=arts_13807413 hero='https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2017/09/Kanye.YouTube-1180x664.jpg']Now 20 years removed from the storm, Poo$ie is raising 6-year-old Zavion — about the same age he was when Hurricane Katrina hit, and when, just six months earlier, his own father was killed by gun violence in New Orleans.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I was supposed to be with him the day he got killed,” Poo$ie tells me days after his performance. “That shit just sent me in a spiral.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Because of what he experienced as a kid, he says he takes parenting and art more seriously than most. Zavion is often at his side, even at shows. His music is transparent and introspective — “spiritually inclined,” as he puts it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Not spiritually like your chakras are aligned,” Poo$ie clarifies with a laugh. “But like \u003ca href=\"https://slate.com/culture/2024/06/soulja-slim-death-new-orleans-rapper-master-p-juvenile.html\">Soulja Slim\u003c/a> came through my body,” he says, referring to the late rapper still beloved in New Orleans. “I’m channeling a certain energy. I represent a lot of people that ain’t here.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As a child, Poo$ie lived in New Orleans’ notorious Calliope Projects and the Eighth Ward. At the time of the storm, he lived in Chalmette, an area on the Mississippi River, adjacent to the Lower Ninth Ward.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s not lost on him that he wouldn’t be rocking a crowd in East Oakland’s Jingletown neighborhood were it not for the strength of a few angels who looked out for him 20 years ago — and for his mother, her perseverance, and her little black purse.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>A birthday present to remember\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Days after her birthday, I visit Poo$ie’s mother, Letitia Morris-Ward, at her Hayward apartment. With red micro-braids, a big smile and a heavy Southern accent, she sits at a kitchen table covered in balloons and unopened gifts, reflecting on her celebration with family, including her three sons and four grandchildren.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s not too different from how she celebrated in 2005. Her only request back then, besides having her family present, was a small black Guess purse, “just to say it was my birthday,” she says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Weeks later, when the storm hit, the purse became her saving grace: “It was the only thing I had left.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13979958\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-13979958 size-full\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/08/250811-POOSIE-HURRICANE-KATRINA-MD-09-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1334\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/08/250811-POOSIE-HURRICANE-KATRINA-MD-09-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/08/250811-POOSIE-HURRICANE-KATRINA-MD-09-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/08/250811-POOSIE-HURRICANE-KATRINA-MD-09-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/08/250811-POOSIE-HURRICANE-KATRINA-MD-09-KQED-1536x1025.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Letitia Morris-Ward holds a new Guess purse similar to the one that she received for her birthday in 2005. \u003ccite>(Martin do Nascimento/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>At the time, she had just moved her boys — Poo$ie, 8, PaTrick, 11, and RaShad, 13 — out of the projects and into a two-story townhouse. She was working a new minimum-wage job at Shell gas station and driving a used Pontiac she bought for $700. Rent was $425 a month. Things were looking up.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Then the storm came.[aside postID=arts_13917938 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/08/IMG_0971-1536x1024.jpeg']Morris-Ward first heard the warnings from relatives, then a call from her brother, an offshore oil worker. By the time she realized its seriousness, it was nearly too late.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She packed the boys into the car and drove to the Eighth Ward to get her mother. On the return trip, guards wouldn’t let them enter Chalmette without ID — and she had left her new purse behind.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When they went back, the purse was still on the porch, untouched. “That’s how many people had started leaving the city,” she says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When they came to the checkpoint again, guards warned her about returning home. “I dunno why you’re trying to go out there,” she recalls the armed serviceman telling her, “Y’all gonna be under 20 feet of water anyway. You won’t make it.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Taking offense to the condescending tone, Morris-Ward said she replied, “That’s between me and God.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Back home, she cooked food as her mother watched TV and the boys played. She figured it would rain and they’d be fine. Then her mother spoke up:\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13979957\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-13979957 size-full\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/08/250811-POOSIE-HURRICANE-KATRINA-MD-06-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1334\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/08/250811-POOSIE-HURRICANE-KATRINA-MD-06-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/08/250811-POOSIE-HURRICANE-KATRINA-MD-06-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/08/250811-POOSIE-HURRICANE-KATRINA-MD-06-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/08/250811-POOSIE-HURRICANE-KATRINA-MD-06-KQED-1536x1025.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Letitia Morris-Ward sits in her living room at her home in Hayward on Aug. 12, 2025. \u003ccite>(Martin do Nascimento/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“She said, ‘My feet wet,’” Morris-Ward recalls.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Water was seeping in. It rose so fast that soon they fled upstairs. The wind tore the roof off. They worked with neighbors, breaking through walls to reach safer units.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At one point, Morris-Ward held Poo$ie out a window to flag down passing boats, then pulled him back, afraid he’d be traumatized by the sights.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“He saw a lady pass by with her arms folded tight, dead, floating on her back. With a baby,” Morris-Ward says.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Seeking shelter\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Boats passed them by or capsized when overloaded. After 16 hours, they were rescued, but there wasn’t room for RaShad. Morris-Ward made rescuers promise to reunite them. She grabbed her new purse, stuffed with documents, IDs, a photo and a small phone book.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At the jail that doubled as an evacuation center, Morris-Ward’s two other boys slept in a cell. She waited up all night for RaShad, but he never came. “I wanted my child,” she says, choking up. “I stayed there until I couldn’t stand no more.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The family was moved to a shelter at Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge. There, Morris-Ward did what she could to keep the boys fed and healthy. They even went to church on the Sunday after the storm.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13979959\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-13979959 size-full\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/08/250811-POOSIE-HURRICANE-KATRINA-MD-10-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1334\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/08/250811-POOSIE-HURRICANE-KATRINA-MD-10-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/08/250811-POOSIE-HURRICANE-KATRINA-MD-10-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/08/250811-POOSIE-HURRICANE-KATRINA-MD-10-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/08/250811-POOSIE-HURRICANE-KATRINA-MD-10-KQED-1536x1025.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Letitia Morris-Ward holds a photo of herself and her three sons at the 2000 Mardi Gras in News Orleans at her home in Hayward on Aug. 12, 2025. \u003ccite>(Martin do Nascimento/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Still, the conditions wore her down: Army food made her sick, her head hurt, an abscess grew under her arm. Her mother’s insulin had been lost in the flood, leaving her foaming at the mouth.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Morris-Ward hit a breaking point and left the shelter on foot without any intention of returning. “I walked so far my feet were just burning on the ground,” Morris-Ward says. But one thought made her turn around.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The boys need me,” she said to herself. “They need me, they have nothing else. I’m the last option.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At a Walgreens, she tried to buy insulin without a prescription but was met with resistance. A woman behind her in line stepped in: Jessica Johnson, mother of NBA rookie Tyrus Thomas. Johnson persuaded the pharmacist to sell Morris-Ward insulin.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It was an angel standing behind me in line,” Morris-Ward says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Johnson began accompanying Morris-Ward on shopping trips as store employees hovered, suspicious on the wristband identifying Morris-Ward as a Katrina survivor. When Morris-Ward eventually told her about her missing son RaShad, Johnson vowed to help.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13979956\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-13979956 size-full\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/08/250811-POOSIE-HURRICANE-KATRINA-MD-04-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1334\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/08/250811-POOSIE-HURRICANE-KATRINA-MD-04-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/08/250811-POOSIE-HURRICANE-KATRINA-MD-04-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/08/250811-POOSIE-HURRICANE-KATRINA-MD-04-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/08/250811-POOSIE-HURRICANE-KATRINA-MD-04-KQED-1536x1025.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Poo$ie (left) and his mother Letitia Morris-Ward at her home in Hayward on Aug. 12, 2025. \u003ccite>(Martin do Nascimento/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>She gave Johnson a wallet-sized photo she had in her black purse. It was a picture of RaShad, posing with his cousin at a fancy ball. Johnson posted it online. When she came back days later to talk Morris-Ward figured the worst had happened. “My heart started beating fast,” she recalls.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But Johnson had found RaShad. A woman who saw her post had spotted him in Houston, shirtless and shoeless, outside of a dollar store.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Johnson grabbed Morris-Ward’s hand and said she’d drive to meet the woman halfway between the two cities in order to get RaShad, and then she did just that. After 12 days apart, RaShad and mother were reunited.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>With RaShad back, Morris-Ward made plans to leave the shelter. In the phone book she had in her purse was a phone number written in her mother’s handwriting: “My brother. Uncle Leroy. Oakland, California.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Along the way, strangers kept helping. Firefighters gave the family a ride to the airport. During a layover in Atlanta, an older Black woman asked if they were Katrina survivors and gave Morris-Ward $300.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Turning trauma into art\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>The arrival in Oakland brought new obstacles: expensive housing and discrimination against Katrina survivors.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But for Poo$ie, Oakland became home. He played Pop Warner, then \u003ca href=\"https://www.hudl.com/video/3/3819306/5721bc58c124573b545d7517\">starred as a running back\u003c/a> at McClymonds High School, helping win back-to-back citywide Silver Bowl championships in 2014 and 2015.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Before an interview with football coaches at Oakland’s Laney College, Poo$ie told his mother about a way to process the impacts of the storm and its aftermath.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5EiPtez9AAg\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I know what can help me,” she recalls him saying. “I’m about to start sitting down, writing rap music about how I feel.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He’s released nine full-length albums since.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Morris-Ward, too, found peace in telling her story. She wasn’t always so open: “My mama was in the streets,” Poo$ie says, noting she once had a mouth full of gold teeth. “So you know, she just now coming into ‘feelings’ and s—,” he says with air quotes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13980255\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-13980255\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/08/img_4947-1-2000x2667.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"2667\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Poo$ie rocks the mic during a performance at the Office Hours event in East Oakland \u003ccite>(Pendarvis Harshaw/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Now, when Hurricane Katrina comes up, she’s comfortable talking about her experience, “because maybe I can help somebody out in their situation, someone that’s going through something and they’re holding it in,” she says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>An employee of AC Transit for the past 19 years, Morris-Ward is now stable and married. She’s been to New Orleans a few times since her life there was upended by Hurricane Katrina. Her mother, who swore to never return to the Big Easy, passed in 2014, just before the first trip back.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Morris-Ward keeps recipes from New Orleans in rotation, including beignets. On her trips back, she picks up special ingredients she can only get there.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“New Orleans is in me, bro,” Poo$ie says. “This is just who we are — we speak a different dialect at home, it’s really a different language.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In addition to New Orleans culture, Morris-Ward passed along something else to Poo$ie: approaches to parenting. After witnessing his mother’s tenacity, Poo$ie is mindful to teach his son survival skills, from swimming to fighting. “I don’t know when \u003cem>I’m\u003c/em> gonna need \u003cem>you\u003c/em>,” he says, his young son sitting within earshot.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Today, Morris-Ward sits in her apartment surrounded by candles and walls covered in recent family photos; Katrina washed away so many of her old ones.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She doesn’t play about negative energy, asking people to check themselves before they cross the threshold of her front door. She’s in a good place.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I’ve literally seen my mom change as a person,” Poo$ie says. “I love to see her tending to herself and discovering new ways to heal whatever happened even before I was here. Before the storm.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>Through the mounted speakers inside a multistory warehouse in \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/east-oakland\">East Oakland\u003c/a>, LaVance “Poo$ie” Warren’s thick New Orleans accent vibrates the room.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Rapping about life and death, the 28-year-old lyricist drops bars informed by generational poverty and the cycle of community violence. He also carries the weight of surviving Hurricane Katrina, the storm of a century, 20 years ago.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Muderrrrrr she wrote,” he says into the mic, performing his take on Chaka Demus & Pliers’ classic reggae track. Poo$ie’s version has a hymn-like cadence, delivered over an ominous bass line. It’s one of 11 songs off of Poos$ie’s new album, \u003ca href=\"https://open.spotify.com/album/41SeCpKNcHvcJQU2ujscTF\">\u003cem>My Friends Like to Kill Each Other\u003c/em>\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The mid-July edition of the \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/theofficehoursstudio/\">Office Hours\u003c/a> musical showcase is full of MCs and vocalists, dancers and media makers. It’s a who’s who of Bay Area talent: \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/jamel_griot/\">Jamel Griot\u003c/a>, \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/callherstoni/\">Stonï\u003c/a>, \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/firstnameian/\">Ian Kelly\u003c/a> and \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/alienmackitty/\">Alien Mac Kitty\u003c/a>, to name a few.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Event host \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/randymcphly/\">Randy McPhly\u003c/a> stands on a large rug that serves as a stage, contorting his face as Poo$ie rapidly gasses the track. “The ghetto’s just a graveyard / Lost but he played hard / Born with a bad hand / \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13927810/brendas-got-a-baby-tupac-shakur-ethel-love\">Brenda’s by the trash can\u003c/a>,” he says, throwing bars into the universe with ease.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Despite living in Oakland two decades, his Louisiana accent remains. He’s part of a diaspora of New Orleans kids who came of age in a new land after the federal government treated their families like refugees and fellow citizens stepped in to help.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13917939\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2048px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13917939\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/08/PoosieSAE_RVS-3-scaled-e1661274509994.jpeg\" alt=\"Poo$ie\" width=\"2048\" height=\"1472\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/08/PoosieSAE_RVS-3-scaled-e1661274509994.jpeg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/08/PoosieSAE_RVS-3-scaled-e1661274509994-800x575.jpeg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/08/PoosieSAE_RVS-3-scaled-e1661274509994-1020x733.jpeg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/08/PoosieSAE_RVS-3-scaled-e1661274509994-160x115.jpeg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/08/PoosieSAE_RVS-3-scaled-e1661274509994-768x552.jpeg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/08/PoosieSAE_RVS-3-scaled-e1661274509994-1536x1104.jpeg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/08/PoosieSAE_RVS-3-scaled-e1661274509994-1920x1380.jpeg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2048px) 100vw, 2048px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Poo$ie on stage. \u003ccite>(Edwin Roque / @rocky__vision)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Twenty years after Katrina forced his family from New Orleans to Oakland, Poo$ie has transformed trauma into art. His music and life as a young father reflect the resilience passed down from his mother, who during Katrina cared for him, his brothers and his grandmother. Poo$ie’s mother did so by relying on her own willpower, a few blessings from benevolent bystanders and the sheer luck concealed inside of a little black purse.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When Hurricane Katrina laid waste to the southern Gulf Coast in August 2005, it was one of the most powerful storms to ever hit the mainland United States, with \u003ca href=\"https://www.weather.gov/mob/katrina\">sustained winds of up to 175 mph\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Torrential rain submerged buildings in more than 20 feet of water. The damage was compounded by \u003ca href=\"https://georgewbush-whitehouse.archives.gov/reports/katrina-lessons-learned/chapter4.html#:~:text=The%20New%20Orleans%20Flood%20and%20Hurricane%20Protection%20System%20is%20complex,very%20strong%20Category%202%20hurricane.\">aging infrastructure\u003c/a>, \u003ca href=\"https://shac.studentorg.berkeley.edu/2020/07/15/redlining-and-structural-racism/\">racist redlining housing policies\u003c/a> and \u003ca href=\"https://www.cato.org/blog/hurricane-katrina-remembering-federal-failures#:~:text=The%20Red%20Cross%20had%20239,prepositioning%20of%20people%20and%20assets.\">mismanagement of relief efforts\u003c/a> by local and federal officials.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>More than 1,000 people died and an estimated \u003ca href=\"https://www.axios.com/local/new-orleans/2025/08/21/new-data-new-orleans-displaced-hurricane-katrina\">162,000 New Orleans residents were displaced\u003c/a>, many settling in Baton Rouge, Texas, or elsewhere in the South. Poo$ie and his family represent the approximately 16,000 New Orleans residents who relocated to other parts of the country, including California.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Now 20 years removed from the storm, Poo$ie is raising 6-year-old Zavion — about the same age he was when Hurricane Katrina hit, and when, just six months earlier, his own father was killed by gun violence in New Orleans.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I was supposed to be with him the day he got killed,” Poo$ie tells me days after his performance. “That shit just sent me in a spiral.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Because of what he experienced as a kid, he says he takes parenting and art more seriously than most. Zavion is often at his side, even at shows. His music is transparent and introspective — “spiritually inclined,” as he puts it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Not spiritually like your chakras are aligned,” Poo$ie clarifies with a laugh. “But like \u003ca href=\"https://slate.com/culture/2024/06/soulja-slim-death-new-orleans-rapper-master-p-juvenile.html\">Soulja Slim\u003c/a> came through my body,” he says, referring to the late rapper still beloved in New Orleans. “I’m channeling a certain energy. I represent a lot of people that ain’t here.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As a child, Poo$ie lived in New Orleans’ notorious Calliope Projects and the Eighth Ward. At the time of the storm, he lived in Chalmette, an area on the Mississippi River, adjacent to the Lower Ninth Ward.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s not lost on him that he wouldn’t be rocking a crowd in East Oakland’s Jingletown neighborhood were it not for the strength of a few angels who looked out for him 20 years ago — and for his mother, her perseverance, and her little black purse.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>A birthday present to remember\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Days after her birthday, I visit Poo$ie’s mother, Letitia Morris-Ward, at her Hayward apartment. With red micro-braids, a big smile and a heavy Southern accent, she sits at a kitchen table covered in balloons and unopened gifts, reflecting on her celebration with family, including her three sons and four grandchildren.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s not too different from how she celebrated in 2005. Her only request back then, besides having her family present, was a small black Guess purse, “just to say it was my birthday,” she says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Weeks later, when the storm hit, the purse became her saving grace: “It was the only thing I had left.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13979958\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-13979958 size-full\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/08/250811-POOSIE-HURRICANE-KATRINA-MD-09-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1334\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/08/250811-POOSIE-HURRICANE-KATRINA-MD-09-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/08/250811-POOSIE-HURRICANE-KATRINA-MD-09-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/08/250811-POOSIE-HURRICANE-KATRINA-MD-09-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/08/250811-POOSIE-HURRICANE-KATRINA-MD-09-KQED-1536x1025.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Letitia Morris-Ward holds a new Guess purse similar to the one that she received for her birthday in 2005. \u003ccite>(Martin do Nascimento/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>At the time, she had just moved her boys — Poo$ie, 8, PaTrick, 11, and RaShad, 13 — out of the projects and into a two-story townhouse. She was working a new minimum-wage job at Shell gas station and driving a used Pontiac she bought for $700. Rent was $425 a month. Things were looking up.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Then the storm came.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Morris-Ward first heard the warnings from relatives, then a call from her brother, an offshore oil worker. By the time she realized its seriousness, it was nearly too late.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She packed the boys into the car and drove to the Eighth Ward to get her mother. On the return trip, guards wouldn’t let them enter Chalmette without ID — and she had left her new purse behind.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When they went back, the purse was still on the porch, untouched. “That’s how many people had started leaving the city,” she says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When they came to the checkpoint again, guards warned her about returning home. “I dunno why you’re trying to go out there,” she recalls the armed serviceman telling her, “Y’all gonna be under 20 feet of water anyway. You won’t make it.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Taking offense to the condescending tone, Morris-Ward said she replied, “That’s between me and God.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Back home, she cooked food as her mother watched TV and the boys played. She figured it would rain and they’d be fine. Then her mother spoke up:\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13979957\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-13979957 size-full\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/08/250811-POOSIE-HURRICANE-KATRINA-MD-06-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1334\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/08/250811-POOSIE-HURRICANE-KATRINA-MD-06-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/08/250811-POOSIE-HURRICANE-KATRINA-MD-06-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/08/250811-POOSIE-HURRICANE-KATRINA-MD-06-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/08/250811-POOSIE-HURRICANE-KATRINA-MD-06-KQED-1536x1025.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Letitia Morris-Ward sits in her living room at her home in Hayward on Aug. 12, 2025. \u003ccite>(Martin do Nascimento/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“She said, ‘My feet wet,’” Morris-Ward recalls.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Water was seeping in. It rose so fast that soon they fled upstairs. The wind tore the roof off. They worked with neighbors, breaking through walls to reach safer units.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At one point, Morris-Ward held Poo$ie out a window to flag down passing boats, then pulled him back, afraid he’d be traumatized by the sights.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“He saw a lady pass by with her arms folded tight, dead, floating on her back. With a baby,” Morris-Ward says.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Seeking shelter\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Boats passed them by or capsized when overloaded. After 16 hours, they were rescued, but there wasn’t room for RaShad. Morris-Ward made rescuers promise to reunite them. She grabbed her new purse, stuffed with documents, IDs, a photo and a small phone book.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At the jail that doubled as an evacuation center, Morris-Ward’s two other boys slept in a cell. She waited up all night for RaShad, but he never came. “I wanted my child,” she says, choking up. “I stayed there until I couldn’t stand no more.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The family was moved to a shelter at Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge. There, Morris-Ward did what she could to keep the boys fed and healthy. They even went to church on the Sunday after the storm.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13979959\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-13979959 size-full\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/08/250811-POOSIE-HURRICANE-KATRINA-MD-10-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1334\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/08/250811-POOSIE-HURRICANE-KATRINA-MD-10-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/08/250811-POOSIE-HURRICANE-KATRINA-MD-10-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/08/250811-POOSIE-HURRICANE-KATRINA-MD-10-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/08/250811-POOSIE-HURRICANE-KATRINA-MD-10-KQED-1536x1025.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Letitia Morris-Ward holds a photo of herself and her three sons at the 2000 Mardi Gras in News Orleans at her home in Hayward on Aug. 12, 2025. \u003ccite>(Martin do Nascimento/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Still, the conditions wore her down: Army food made her sick, her head hurt, an abscess grew under her arm. Her mother’s insulin had been lost in the flood, leaving her foaming at the mouth.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Morris-Ward hit a breaking point and left the shelter on foot without any intention of returning. “I walked so far my feet were just burning on the ground,” Morris-Ward says. But one thought made her turn around.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The boys need me,” she said to herself. “They need me, they have nothing else. I’m the last option.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At a Walgreens, she tried to buy insulin without a prescription but was met with resistance. A woman behind her in line stepped in: Jessica Johnson, mother of NBA rookie Tyrus Thomas. Johnson persuaded the pharmacist to sell Morris-Ward insulin.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It was an angel standing behind me in line,” Morris-Ward says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Johnson began accompanying Morris-Ward on shopping trips as store employees hovered, suspicious on the wristband identifying Morris-Ward as a Katrina survivor. When Morris-Ward eventually told her about her missing son RaShad, Johnson vowed to help.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13979956\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-13979956 size-full\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/08/250811-POOSIE-HURRICANE-KATRINA-MD-04-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1334\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/08/250811-POOSIE-HURRICANE-KATRINA-MD-04-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/08/250811-POOSIE-HURRICANE-KATRINA-MD-04-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/08/250811-POOSIE-HURRICANE-KATRINA-MD-04-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/08/250811-POOSIE-HURRICANE-KATRINA-MD-04-KQED-1536x1025.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Poo$ie (left) and his mother Letitia Morris-Ward at her home in Hayward on Aug. 12, 2025. \u003ccite>(Martin do Nascimento/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>She gave Johnson a wallet-sized photo she had in her black purse. It was a picture of RaShad, posing with his cousin at a fancy ball. Johnson posted it online. When she came back days later to talk Morris-Ward figured the worst had happened. “My heart started beating fast,” she recalls.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But Johnson had found RaShad. A woman who saw her post had spotted him in Houston, shirtless and shoeless, outside of a dollar store.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Johnson grabbed Morris-Ward’s hand and said she’d drive to meet the woman halfway between the two cities in order to get RaShad, and then she did just that. After 12 days apart, RaShad and mother were reunited.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>With RaShad back, Morris-Ward made plans to leave the shelter. In the phone book she had in her purse was a phone number written in her mother’s handwriting: “My brother. Uncle Leroy. Oakland, California.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Along the way, strangers kept helping. Firefighters gave the family a ride to the airport. During a layover in Atlanta, an older Black woman asked if they were Katrina survivors and gave Morris-Ward $300.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Turning trauma into art\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>The arrival in Oakland brought new obstacles: expensive housing and discrimination against Katrina survivors.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But for Poo$ie, Oakland became home. He played Pop Warner, then \u003ca href=\"https://www.hudl.com/video/3/3819306/5721bc58c124573b545d7517\">starred as a running back\u003c/a> at McClymonds High School, helping win back-to-back citywide Silver Bowl championships in 2014 and 2015.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Before an interview with football coaches at Oakland’s Laney College, Poo$ie told his mother about a way to process the impacts of the storm and its aftermath.\u003c/p>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutube'>\n \u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutubeInside'>\n \u003ciframe\n loading='lazy'\n class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__youtubePlayer'\n type='text/html'\n src='//www.youtube.com/embed/5EiPtez9AAg'\n title='//www.youtube.com/embed/5EiPtez9AAg'\n allowfullscreen='true'\n style='border:0;'>\u003c/iframe>\n \u003c/span>\n \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cp>“I know what can help me,” she recalls him saying. “I’m about to start sitting down, writing rap music about how I feel.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He’s released nine full-length albums since.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Morris-Ward, too, found peace in telling her story. She wasn’t always so open: “My mama was in the streets,” Poo$ie says, noting she once had a mouth full of gold teeth. “So you know, she just now coming into ‘feelings’ and s—,” he says with air quotes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13980255\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-13980255\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/08/img_4947-1-2000x2667.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"2667\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Poo$ie rocks the mic during a performance at the Office Hours event in East Oakland \u003ccite>(Pendarvis Harshaw/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Now, when Hurricane Katrina comes up, she’s comfortable talking about her experience, “because maybe I can help somebody out in their situation, someone that’s going through something and they’re holding it in,” she says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>An employee of AC Transit for the past 19 years, Morris-Ward is now stable and married. She’s been to New Orleans a few times since her life there was upended by Hurricane Katrina. Her mother, who swore to never return to the Big Easy, passed in 2014, just before the first trip back.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Morris-Ward keeps recipes from New Orleans in rotation, including beignets. On her trips back, she picks up special ingredients she can only get there.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“New Orleans is in me, bro,” Poo$ie says. “This is just who we are — we speak a different dialect at home, it’s really a different language.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In addition to New Orleans culture, Morris-Ward passed along something else to Poo$ie: approaches to parenting. After witnessing his mother’s tenacity, Poo$ie is mindful to teach his son survival skills, from swimming to fighting. “I don’t know when \u003cem>I’m\u003c/em> gonna need \u003cem>you\u003c/em>,” he says, his young son sitting within earshot.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Today, Morris-Ward sits in her apartment surrounded by candles and walls covered in recent family photos; Katrina washed away so many of her old ones.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She doesn’t play about negative energy, asking people to check themselves before they cross the threshold of her front door. She’s in a good place.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I’ve literally seen my mom change as a person,” Poo$ie says. “I love to see her tending to herself and discovering new ways to heal whatever happened even before I was here. Before the storm.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"info": "KQED’s new podcast, Bay Curious, gets to the bottom of the mysteries — both profound and peculiar — that give the Bay Area its unique identity. And we’ll do it with your help! You ask the questions. You decide what Bay Curious investigates. And you join us on the journey to find the answers.",
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"order": 8
},
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},
"link": "https://www.cityarts.net",
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"order": 1
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"info": "\u003cem>Code Switch\u003c/em>, which listeners will hear in the first part of the hour, has fearless and much-needed conversations about race. Hosted by journalists of color, the show tackles the subject of race head-on, exploring how it impacts every part of society — from politics and pop culture to history, sports and more.\u003cbr />\u003cbr />\u003cem>Life Kit\u003c/em>, which will be in the second part of the hour, guides you through spaces and feelings no one prepares you for — from finances to mental health, from workplace microaggressions to imposter syndrome, from relationships to parenting. The show features experts with real world experience and shares their knowledge. Because everyone needs a little help being human.\u003cbr />\u003cbr />\u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/podcasts/510312/codeswitch\">\u003cem>Code Switch\u003c/em> offical site and podcast\u003c/a>\u003cbr />\u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/lifekit\">\u003cem>Life Kit\u003c/em> offical site and podcast\u003c/a>\u003cbr />",
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"id": "commonwealth-club",
"title": "Commonwealth Club of California Podcast",
"info": "The Commonwealth Club of California is the nation's oldest and largest public affairs forum. As a non-partisan forum, The Club brings to the public airwaves diverse viewpoints on important topics. The Club's weekly radio broadcast - the oldest in the U.S., dating back to 1924 - is carried across the nation on public radio stations and is now podcasting. Our website archive features audio of our recent programs, as well as selected speeches from our long and distinguished history. This podcast feed is usually updated twice a week and is always un-edited.",
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"info": "KQED’s live call-in program discussing local, state, national and international issues, as well as in-depth interviews.",
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"order": 9
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"hidden-brain": {
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"source": "NPR"
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"how-i-built-this": {
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"airtime": "SUN 7:30pm-8pm",
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"link": "/radio/program/how-i-built-this",
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"hyphenacion": {
"id": "hyphenacion",
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"tagline": "Where conversation and cultura meet",
"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. ",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Hyphenacion_FinalAssets_PodcastTile.png",
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},
"jerrybrown": {
"id": "jerrybrown",
"title": "The Political Mind of Jerry Brown",
"tagline": "Lessons from a lifetime in politics",
"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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"order": 18
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},
"latino-usa": {
"id": "latino-usa",
"title": "Latino USA",
"airtime": "MON 1am-2am, SUN 6pm-7pm",
"info": "Latino USA, the radio journal of news and culture, is the only national, English-language radio program produced from a Latino perspective.",
"imageSrc": "https://ww2.kqed.org/radio/wp-content/uploads/sites/50/2018/04/latinoUsa.jpg",
"officialWebsiteLink": "http://latinousa.org/",
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"link": "/radio/program/latino-usa",
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"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?s=143441&mt=2&id=79681317&at=11l79Y&ct=nprdirectory",
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"rss": "https://feeds.npr.org/510016/podcast.xml"
}
},
"marketplace": {
"id": "marketplace",
"title": "Marketplace",
"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.",
"airtime": "MON-FRI 4pm-4:30pm, MON-WED 6:30pm-7pm",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Marketplace-Podcast-Tile-360x360-1.jpg",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.marketplace.org/",
"meta": {
"site": "news",
"source": "American Public Media"
},
"link": "/radio/program/marketplace",
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},
"masters-of-scale": {
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"title": "Masters of Scale",
"info": "Masters of Scale is an original podcast in which LinkedIn co-founder and Greylock Partner Reid Hoffman sets out to describe and prove theories that explain how great entrepreneurs take their companies from zero to a gazillion in ingenious fashion.",
"airtime": "Every other Wednesday June 12 through October 16 at 8pm (repeats Thursdays at 2am)",
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"officialWebsiteLink": "https://mastersofscale.com/",
"meta": {
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"source": "WaitWhat"
},
"link": "/radio/program/masters-of-scale",
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"rss": "https://rss.art19.com/masters-of-scale"
}
},
"mindshift": {
"id": "mindshift",
"title": "MindShift",
"tagline": "A podcast about the future of learning and how we raise our kids",
"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>",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Mindshift-Podcast-Tile-703x703-1.jpg",
"imageAlt": "KQED MindShift: How We Will Learn",
"officialWebsiteLink": "/mindshift/",
"meta": {
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"source": "kqed",
"order": 12
},
"link": "/podcasts/mindshift",
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"google": "https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5tZWdhcGhvbmUuZm0vS1FJTkM1NzY0NjAwNDI5",
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