By Ian Thomas by Stephen Morrison
October 5, 2008

This is the second run of The Hip Hop Live Tour which goes like this: 1) Find a tight live band to hold it down with the roots of the music and throw in some Puerto Rican Salsa with champion style reggae flavor. That's the 10-piece Rhythm Roots All-Stars. 2) Bring the live MCs to do their thing backed by the heavyweight players...

By Craig Young
October 1, 2008

During the week of Sept. 7-13, creative events and production company Infin8 Sync celebrated Bay Area artistry, uniting the community for San Francisco's inaugural Independent Artists Week. We caught up with founders Melonie and Melorra Green...

By Kimberly Turner
September 23, 2008

Long Beach indie emcee Blu must never sleep. After dropping two releases in under a year, he has teamed up with producer Mainframe for his latest project, Johnson&Jonson. This self-titled album packs plenty of hits to leave listeners feeling powder fresh...

By Adisa Banjoko
September 21, 2008

In watching Barack Obama's rise, it is hard to not see a pattern of his victories closely connected with The 48 Laws of Power and the 33 Strategies of War. At times Obama appears to have been playing a magnificent game of political chess from the start of his bid for the Oval Office...

By Oh Dang!, Photos by Gretchen Robinette
September 16, 2008

The legendary Digable Planets returned to the Bay Area on Thursday, Sept. 11, ripping through classics like "Rebirth of Slick (Cool Like Dat)" and "Nickel Bags" to a packed house at DNA Lounge...

By Kimberly Turner
September 7, 2008

The Doom crew breaks the listener in early with a rowdy chest-thumping intro that leads into “Drumsticks.” It features verses from all five emcees and is an all out assault on the eardrums...

By Jessica Barcenilla, Photos by Kirstina Sangsahachart
September 3, 2008

The 24-year-old college graduate is better known as Hopie Spitshard, a hungry female emcee out to prove that she is more than just a pretty face...

By Kimberly Turner
August 30, 2008

This album literally brings the listener to church and that isn’t a coincidence. The singers were recorded live at Mt. Mariah Church in response to an ad placed by Daptone Records. Judging by the powerful end result, all of rural Como’s finest must have turned out...

By Nina Parks
August 25, 2008

Anthony Marshall, co-founder of the legendary Lyricist Lounge, sits down with photographer Nina Parks at West Side Cuts in the Fillmore to discuss the progress and state of hip hop as a business...

By Oh Dang!, Photos by John Coyne (www.caughtinthescramble.com), Jan C. Ferrer, and Alex Welsh (lightstalkers.org/alex_welsh)
August 25, 2008

Last Wednesday was ridiculous. Niko Villamor, Hopie Spitshard, Bambu, The Jacka and Pacific Division ripped it, each in their unique fashion. Peace to everyone who came out and packed the house on a weeknight...

By Jamaal Johnson
August 19, 2008

Tucked under the L.A. gravel, the new west coast movement is emerging with a nostalgic sound of old school awareness blended with a splash of new school swag and rhyming prowess. Enters Pacific Division, the So Cal rap trio looking to rattle listeners’ heads a bit with what they call "honesty rap"...

By Kimberly Turner
August 12, 2008

On this album, Buff1 proves that the “underground” label doesn’t mean being revelry impaired. There’s Only One knocks, balancing throbbing bass lines and snare drums with witty lyrics...

By Kimberly Turner
August 6, 2008

It's not uncharacteristic for hip-hop to be full of swagger and braggadocio. However, it doesn't always pay to be over confident. Such is the case with Construct Existence Crews first full-length release, Epic Knowledge. They may have overshot the title's implication...

By Sam Devine
July 18, 2008

RMXXOLOGY, a compilation of remixed songs from Delicious Vinyl's archives, is laced with the unexpected and pushes the music into new territory. It doesn’t always go places you want to go, but for the most part it’s a surprising, funky album that breathes new life into good tracks that haven’t been heard for a while...

By Oh Dang!, Photos by Wensi (www.jinwensi.com)
July 16, 2008

Yeah yeah yeah, we know, we lag on this shit. It's because we're still recovering from two weekends ago. July 5 was a really long day--first Streets of Gold and then Doin' It After Dark. Shit was crazy...

By Kimberly Turner
July 16, 2008

Staying true to his style, Opio is sticking with the same formula that made his solo debut Triangulation Station an underground success: slick beats paired with lyrical agility. This combination comes together beautifully...

By Kimberly Turner
July 14, 2008

When it comes to lyrical delivery Shawn Jackson definitely doesn’t suffer from a lack of confidence. First Of All is self deprecation free and packed with unrelenting cockiness...

By Oh Dang!, Photos by Gretchen Robinette
July 14, 2008

Oh Dang! teamed up with Live Mechanics and Nextdoor Neighbor for our first Streets of Gold indie arts showcase on July 5 at Cafe Cocomo in SF. We brought together Bay Area independent artists and entrepreneurs--musicians, fashion designers, jewelers, painters, retailers...and pastry chefs--in order to help give our local talent some wider exposure, and have an amazing fucking time in the process...

By Austin Walsh
July 13, 2008

When Donwill and Ilyas connect with producer Von Pea to form like a triangle, which is construction’s most powerful configuration, they bridge their Cincinnati-based flavor with Von's Brooklyn bred beats to produce special music. And the foreign exchange of styles must lead to fat accounts on Paypal...

By Kimberly Turner
June 29, 2008

To call the album eclectic is an understatement. It’s hip-hop meets world meets folk meets R&B with a dollop of rock and jazz thrown in for good measure. Not to mention K’Naan bends the concept of what are considered musical instruments...

By Gabby Wooden
June 13, 2008

I wanna get dirty, so dirty you cringe. Thats right, I'm talking I wanna drop the words "penis" and "vagina"...a lot...just 'cause i can. Sit back fools, and read on only if you can handle it. Because right now I'm fully about to enforce my first amendment rights. Penis and vagina...

By Kimberly Turner
June 9, 2008

With soaring gas prices and rising food costs you could say the latest release from Time Machine, Life is Expensive, is just stating the obvious. Luckily the LA threesome of emcees Biscuit, Jet Set Jay, and Producer/DJ Mekalek put together an album that is more creative than its title lets on...

By Austin Walsh
June 8, 2008

On his newest album The New Wine, much of Qwel's standard fare still exists: wisdom, religiosity, and knowledge cloaked under a vocal labyrinth in a discombobulating flow of lyrics, syllables and pitch oscillations...

By Donna Tam
June 4, 2008

When the court overturned a ban on gay marriage on May 15, I was estactic. It shows how far our society has come in terms of tolerance...

By Kimberly Turner
June 2, 2008

Heavily influenced by Cream drummer Ginger Baker’s time in Lagos and his band Airforce, which featured several Nigerian musicians, the album’s artists mix fuzz guitars and Hammond organs with African Rhythms and percussion. The end result is a cross cultural hodgepodge of tone, textures and genres...

Oct. 18: Mighty4 10th Year Anniversary, SF
(10/05/08 - 7:37 PM)

The world renowned Mighty4 b-boy competition celebrates its 10-year anniversary this year, and for this occasion they're doing it BIG... Oct. 11: 2nd Annual Chess Kings Invitational
(10/05/08 - 6:49 PM)

The Hip Hop Chess Federation is hosting the 2nd Annual Chess Kings Invitational, a celebrity chess and grappling tournament on Oct. 11 at the Cow Palace in San Francisco. Special guests include Rza, Gza, Josh Waitzkin, Rhymefest...

Oct. 4: Mr. Hyphen contest at Oakland Asian Cultural Center in Oakland
(09/29/08 - 12:00 AM)

Back by popular demand, Hyphen presents the third annual Mr. Hyphen competition on October 4, 2008, celebrating the men of the Asian American community... Oct. 4: Hecho in Califas 2008 Festival
(09/29/08 - 12:00 AM)

The Bay Area's most in-demand rhythm section returns to back up an All-Star lineup of the Bay's freshest vocal talent all in one continuous mix... Oct. 3: EPMD live at Club 6 for Kevvy Kev's bash
(09/29/08 - 12:00 AM)

Kevvy Kev, host of the longest-running hip-hop radio show in the world--KZSU Stanford's "The Drum"--celebrates his 30th birthday on Oct. 3. For this occasion, he's bringing out the legendary EPMD to bless the stage at Club 6 in SF...

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