Oakland in the news again
Previously in this space, I lamented a news story that focused on the violence in Oakland. Well, the producers at NPR must be reading my blog, because All Things Considered recently ran a story about our upcoming mayoral race with hardly a mention of the murder rate. It's a pretty interesting piece that primarily focuses on Ron Dellums, but gets into the personalities of all three legitimate candidates as well as the impact the changing demographics of the city have on the race.
posted by Mark at 6:07 PM
2 Comments:
this is Roger
I heard this piece yesterday, and was totally entranced. I've been thinking about Oakland a lot lately what with Hyphy blowing up (I've never seen Oaktown get so much play on MTV before...I mean, even Too Short's latest is getting heavy rotation).
Mark, far be it from me to dictate what you blog, but I would love to hear about the whole hyphy thing from Oaktown's finest (you). Like, I dunno if you know about it at all, how much you know, how apparent it is (for example, are dreads really popular in the Bay these days?), etc. Holla back at ya boy in a town with little to no hip-hop scene
5/25/2006 6:46 PM
To be honest, most of what I know about hyphy comes from what I read in the East Bay Express. I feel so out of touch when I'm riding the bus with the high schoolers on their way to Oakland Tech and I think "I can't name a single E-40 song." I try to get in the loop by listening to KMEL, but it always seems to be playing hos and Escalades rap, and I can't listen for very long. I'm such a curmudgeon.... One group that I've heard a fair bit about but that may not be on the national radar screen yet are the Frontline, so you might want to check them out. They're actually from Richmond, but at least they're from the East Bay.
If you want to check out some music from the O that isn't necessarily hyphy, I'd recommend the Crown City Rockers and the Coup. CCR (not to be confused with another CCR from the East Bay) are really talented musicians with a solid MC and are great live. We're actually going to see them on Saturday night at the Independent (you may remember it as the Justice League) with Chali2NA from Jurassic 5 hosting. Should be fun. Boots Riley and The Coup should need no introduction, but in case they do, imagine Public Enemy only funkier and more socialist. They've got a new album out that's supposed to be good, although I don't have it yet.
Sorry to dissapoint with the lack of hyphy knowledge. I've always wondered what it would be like to live somewhere with a music scene that's blowing up, and I guess it's a lot like living there before the music scene blew up. But I am happy to report that dreads are very popular in the Bay these days (though I won't be rocking them anytime soon).
5/26/2006 8:50 PM
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