July 07, 2006 @ 11:54 am

Hyphy Kids: Building Blocks of the Bay

by: Katie Patterson

If you enjoyed Vibe's "Dumbed Down" Hyphy article (July 2006), here's a more detailed rundown of some of the artists that make up and extend past the Bay Area’s hyphy movement.

F.A.B. Love The Kids
MISTAH F.A.B.
ROOTS: Oakland
MOMENT OF TRUTH: Signing with Mac Dre’s Thizz Entertainment in 2004.
FLAVOR: Half hyphy, half backpack.

“The commercial audience is not as much my main motivation as connecting with my audience based on similar experiences,” says Mistah F.A.B., 24. “Growing up where I did, if you didn’t do something positive, you became the typical stereotype that young black males get.” After F.A.B.’s mother became addicted to drugs and his father was killed by HIV, he easily could have become that stereotype; instead he wrote poetry, eventually turning stanzas into rhymes. The self-described class clown has used his celebrity to motivate kids to follow in his footsteps. “You really can’t go more stupid than the yellow bus, and it’s not meant to offend anyone, we’re trying to make it cool to go to school,” he says. “We want to promote entrepreneurship.”

The next stop on the Fabby Davis line is Yellow Bus Rydah, a double CD set for a September release. “The back of the bus is the hyphy side of me, and the front of the bus is the backpack side,” he explains. It promises to be a colorful debut to what F.A.B. calls ‘hip hyphy,’ with appearances by a curious mix of Bay Area backpackers (Casual, Murs, Zion I) and hyphy cats (E-40, Keak Da Sneak). Or as F.A.B. calls it, ‘going dumb with your backpack on’.

Listen: “Super Sic Wit It" feat. Turf Talk & E-40, “Shaboobalaboopy”, and “N.E.W. Oakland" feat. G-Stack & Bavgate.

The Fillmore Kid
SAN QUINN
ROOTS: San Francisco
MOMENT OF TRUTH: Starting his own label, Deal Done/Done Deal, in 1999.
FLAVOR: A taste of reality in the party anthem world of hyphy.

right While hyphy often comes off as a wild and out of control lifestyle, San Quinn, 28, is the calm amongst the chaos. “I dropped out of school to do this, so the game is going to pay me,” says Quinn. From his days of peddling 4,000 tapes of his debut, Don’t Cross Me, back in the 10th grade, to earning a spot in the Guinness Book of World Records for the largest number of guest appearances in a year, to starting his own label, Quinn has been through the highs and the lows of the industry and stood tall. “I’m a hustler,” he says. “You’re not going to stop selling dope cause there is a drought, your just going to pay a higher price for whatever your trying to cop, and you continue to push.”

And as for why you are more likely to see him with a bandanna across his face than a pair of stunna shades on, “My music just reflects me. I mean I couldn’t be caught out of character, but you know we all hyphy in our own way.”

Quinn is currently pushing his album, The Rock: Pressure Makes Diamonds - a work he considers his best to date - along with his DVD of the same title. After all, he’s gotta get paid.

The Ghetto Celebrities
DEM HOODSTARZ (Scoot Dogg and Band-Aide)
ROOTS: East Palo Alto
MOMENT OF TRUTH: Their “Grown Man (Remix)” surpassed The Luniz’s “I Got 5 On It (Remix)” in airplay.
FLAVOR: Bringing the hood to the party.

Hailing from the smallest city in the Bay, Scoot Dogg, 27, and Band-Aide, 26, have spun their experiences of growing up in the nation’s murder capital into a creative one. “Anytime you went outside you didn’t know if a bullet was coming your way, and we were just trying to go to school,” said Band-Aide. “Through our music we try to turn the negative into something positive.” Coming up under the fame of the notorious E.P.A. crew, Totally Insane Empire, Hoodstarz suffered numerous setbacks, including both members being locked up.

With the past behind them and their debut, Hood Reality, released on their own label, Lawless Records, making noise all over the Bay, the duo recently secured a distribution deal with AMA/Warner Records. “Whether you’re a star that made it out of the hood or you are the star within your hood, we represent for you,” said Scoot Dogg. Dem Hoodstarz have got their hands full as they have launched a magazine, are working on two indie films and are preparing to release their SMC Recordings debut, Band-Aide & Scoot. No matter what they do, they’ll be forever repping the hood.

Listen: “Getz Your Grown Man On (Remix)”, “East Side” w/ The Game & Allen Anthony.

The Insider
BALANCE
ROOTS: Oakland
MOMENT OF TRUTH: Bringing the Bay’s mixtape scene to the forefront.
FLAVOR: Classic West Coast.

Balance has got an edge on the competition. As the urban music buyer for the Cali-based indie record store, Rasputin Music, he hears straight from the horse’s mouth what’s hot and what’s not. “Three or four years ago Bay CD’s wouldn’t even make the top 10, maybe a Mac Dre or E-40 every now and then,” he says. “But if you come to the store now there would be like 6 or 7 Bay CD’s in there.”

As a kid freestyling at lunch tables, Balance, 25, never saw rapping as career—that is until he hit high school and the studio. After hearing artists like DMX and Jay-Z blow up off of mixtapes, Balance noticed a drought in the Bay, and the potential to quench it with his own. Earning the title of “The Bay Area Mixtape King,” it got to the point where a Yay mixtape wasn’t hot unless he was on it. Taking it to the next level, Balance released his SMC Recordings debut, Young & Restless. “My goal was to make a classic West Coast album that you can play from start to finish, no skippin’.” Needless to say it's in the top 10.

Listen: “Gotta Get It”, “Bring It Back” feat. Erk tha Jerk.

The Champ is Here
BAILEY
ROOTS: San Francisco
MOMENT OF TRUTH: Hooking up with J.Valentine in 2005.
FLAVOR: The fly side of hyphy.

Bailey’s introduction into music was a smooth one. Back in 1999 he was a member of Fully Loaded, and his older brother and ‘direct inspiration,’ Bay legend San Quinn, started his own label to release the group’s debut. After seeing the respect his brother gained from rapping, Bailey desired the same. “If a brother is doing something positive with his life, the younger brother is going to want it too,” says Bailey, 20. But hooking up with childhood friend J. Valentine (J Records) was the result of Bailey venturing out on his own. The duo released one of the hottest mixtapes in the Bay, Hide Ya Breezy, and quickly followed up with his debut, Champ Bailey. Stay tuned.

Listen to "F*ck Yo Couch."

Most Valuable Players
THE TEAM (Clyde Carson, Kaz Kyzah, Mayne Mannish)
ROOTS: Oakland
MOMENT OF TRUTH: The release of “It’s Gettin' Hot” launched them as Bay mainstays.
FLAVOR: A sound out of left field.

If hyphy goes against the grain, then The Team fits right in. Carson, 23, Kyzah, 26, and Mannish, 22, came out of left field—much like their sound.

With no producer to co-sign or major artist to back them, the longtime friends emerged on the town’s music scene with their own infectious style, and, like many greats before them, selling albums right out of the trunk of their car. “We always like to go against the grain. We try to do a universal sound while letting them know we are from the Bay,” says Carson. With their latest effort, World Premier, two years in the making, the group is concentrating on its new energy drink, Hyphy Juice, and building a roster on Carson’s Moe Doe Entertainment. With an appearances on a DJ Whoo Kid mixtape and rumors of talks with major labels (Black Wall Street and G Unit), the Team’s universal sound has the potential to take them beyond the borders of the Bay.

Listen to "Hyphy Juice (remix)."

Addicted to Slapp
TRAXAMILLION
ROOTS: San Jose
MOMENT OF TRUTH: His creation of Keak Da Sneak’s anthem, “Super Hyphie”.
FLAVOR: Classic hyphy sound with bit of East Coast swagger.

Known as the Slapp Addict, Traxamillion, 24, went from his bedroom closet—that doubled as a studio, with clothes pushed to either side and a mike slung over the rod —to being given free-reign at a state-of-the-art studio in downtown San Jose; from selling cell phones in the mall, to having his music transformed into a ring tone; from a making beats on a $100 Casio keyboard, to working in a Triton Studio with Pro Tools. It is off of those tools that he has created some of the Bay’s hottest hyphy bangers. “Hyphy was just what was happening in the streets, and I like to think my contribution was giving it a soundtrack. I mean Rick Rock, he’s the originator, but I was able to put my own sound to the movement.”

With his eye on bigger ventures, Trax is preparing to release The Slapp Addict, which he refers to as the "Chronic 2001 of the Bay,” and boasts guests spots by Keak Da Sneak, Too $hort, The Team, F.A.B., Quinn and Hoodstarz. It’s safe to say he’s come a long way.

Read more vibe.com online exclusives.

Article tags: HYPHY, Hyphy Movement, Building Blocks Of The Bay, E-40, Keak Da Sneak, Traxamillion, The Team, Dem Hoodstarz, Balance, Bailey, Mistah F.A.B., San Quinn 

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