#bay-area-hip-hop

#bay-area-hip-hop

Spice 1 is a Bay Area rap legend. Born Robert Lee Greene Jr., he first became interested in rapping after watching Ice-T in the 1980s movies Breakin' and Rappin'. As a teenager, he was taken under Too Short'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 Platinum O.G. 2.

Despite all of that, McPhly and company built something special, and the people are pulling up. Expanding on his approach, McPhly says over the phone, "You take Sleepy D," referring to the East Oakland lyricist, known for making turf anthems. "When you take him and put him on the 30th floor, surrounded by views of the city that he's from, and allow him to express his art," says McPhly, "now it's an art form."

Though Stunnaman had already had certified hits like "Big Steppin'" (which even has an official 49ers' remix), his catchy 2024 ode to his love of leafy greens, "Eat a Salad," is what put him in the pantheon of health-conscious Frisco rappers. In the song, Stunnaman extols the nutritious properties of fresh ingredients like "lemon, lime, honey ... agave if you're vegan." To promote the single, he posted videos of himself performing custom verses that were essentially recipes for different salads he would prepare on camera -

Since the creation of hip-hop in the '70s, the genre has developed regionally. The SF Bay Area scene refined that regionalism to an impressive degree, and no group embodies the Bay's own thing more than RBL Posse. Founded in 1991 in SF's Hunter's Point, the group reached instant success with the self-produced "Don't Give Me No Bammer Weed." Though RBL Posse followed up with further successful records, tragedy followed as well.

It's because of these connections, as well as the wide-reaching influence of Native Tongues - a bunch of MCs who made it acceptable to be heady and overly lyrical - that Sunday's event is significant, with its onstage visuals, stories and music.