Mixtaped

S1: You are now listening to Meridian Arts story you're.

S2: About to hear is true. It takes place in the wild world of rap , and contains mature content that may not be appropriate for all audiences. Like N.W.A said.

S3: Parental discretion is advised.

S4: That evolution. When you start rhyming , you grow and then you understand. And then once we became ourselves and became the San Diego rap group , is when things just went , oh yeah , just skyrocketed.

S5:

S2: Right piece. My name is Parker Edison. I'm fascinated by the impact of rap writers. Hip hop's 50th anniversary yielded a bounty of articles and interviews , and being the black rap nerd that I am , I started to notice certain cities were special. Their contributions sit differently. Some places have something about their contribution that makes them unique. San Diego is one of those cities for a couple of reasons. I tapped in with some close friends I've been discussing rap with over the years. We put together this series to break it all down for you. I'm gonna map the whole thing. But this is the deal. This isn't the history of hip hop. This isn't a complete timeline. But it is what happened ? Some details will be left out when we talk about the first man to walk on the moon. There's little mention of who gassed the rocket. We hit the important parts. The takeoff , the landing. One step for all mankind. Keep that in mind as you listen to this. This is about San Diego rap and the incredible way it got to where it is today. You ready ? This is a San Diego story. If you're a witness for episode one , you're in the loop of how one small independent record label begat another , leading to one of San Diego's earliest rap records worldwide. DJ Gil and integral player in San Diego. Rap was making moves in the city. But I don't know if you understand how big some of those moves were or the pedigree of the people involved. Well , there was the group , which is the first rap group in San Diego to sign a major deal. It was a group called the Vicious Beat Posse. It was a compilation with like 4 or 5 groups in the crew. DJ Gil , you heard of DJ Gil , San Diego DJ. He was the producer , but before it was that it was a DJ crew called MidCity Productions , and I was part of that crew and we were doing like house parties around San Diego , but doing it in a big way , like we all had jackets and we had a like a big truck with crazy speakers and deejay coffins with the turntables in them and all that , you know what I mean ? We just had the whole week show up with like 4 or 5 DJs to do a house party here. So that came out of that was DJ Gill and the Vicious Beat Posse. That's DJ jam. Born in Maryland and raised in San Diego. You might recognize him from the Up in Smoke DVD , which documented the legendary West Coast tour selling out arenas in 47 cities. You'll hear his name come up for a few reasons throughout this series. I was doing my mixtapes. Doctor Dre used to do a mixtape at the end of the year , and he would have like all the hits of the year in a mix , like little portions of each song over different beats. So it wasn't like you just heard one song after another. He was master mixing for tracking. I think he did that the first 1 in 1985. So after I heard that I had already started emulating what Dre was doing on his four track mixtapes , how he would have rappers on it. That's how Ice Cube and N.W.A and all those guys got , you know , people knew about them because of those mixtapes , because he had them rapping before his master MCs at the beginning of the tape , and nobody had done anything like that before. And as a DJ just coming up , that was it to me , you know what I mean ? I was like , whoa , how did he do that ? You know , I went and got me a four track. You know what I mean ? I started tracking my mixes , doing master mixes. Then I got MCs from San Diego. You know what I mean , and start putting mics on it , doing the same thing Dre was doing. And then I started doing the gangster mixes , probably probably 87 , 88 swooped up Black Mikey.

S6: I dropped my mom on All of Mankind. I write and recite my position like the heretic Kevin when I.

S2: Started putting him on. That's how people knew about Black Mikey on that level , because my tapes were selling from here to the Bay area. You know what I mean ? That all the mind power swap meets , all that. Eventually you hear Ice-T talking about the old school mix and all that. You know what I mean ? Those old school mixtapes. I did five volumes , and they were all around L.A. and and on my old school mixtapes , they were master mixes. At the beginning of those two , I didn't just limit it to my hip hop mixes. I did all my mixtapes like that just to make sure that you're keeping up with this , because we're not just talking SD rap history. This is West Coast rap history. Doctor Dre is the first and DJ is the second person doing these kind of mixtapes out here on the West Coast. Well , I was telling you , they started selling my mixtapes at swap meets in San Diego , right ? People were were copying , duplicating them , right , and giving them to the homies. And then of course , they would do me and copy in for all their friends. And they just got all over the high schools in San Diego. So there was a guy from Oceanside , I think his name was Chris , if I can remember. He had the record booths at Spring Valley Swap Meet , Kobe swap meet by the the Sports Arena and Oceanside swap meet. At that time , my they were really selling and he was like , man , I need to introduce you to Steve Yano. Right ? And I was like , who was that ? And he was like , that's who I get Dre tapes from. He's the source. Steve Yano was the dope. Do what the what ? The record booth at the rhodium swap meet in LA. You couldn't. You know what I mean ? They didn't sell them at the mom and pop shops. Nowhere. Except for the rhodium at Steve Yano. Steve Yano was also the person who had , um , the recording studio. That's where Dre recorded all of this stuff. It was also the recording studio for DJ Quick and Second and none in high C Steve , youknow , managed all that. He was the manager. He was like , hey , man , you know , go talk to him. I think he might be interested in picking yours up. So I drove to the rhodium swap meet , saw his operation. I introduced myself to Steve , youknow , he was waiting to meet me. I gave him my end of 86 master mix on the spot. It was busy. So he didn't have time to , like , put it in and play , you know , and he was selling , so. So he was like , cool. I chopped it up with him. And then that following week , Steve Yano called me and he was like , man , I listened to your mixtape , man , this is fire. I would love to start carrying your mixtapes and boy , that was it. And then that's when Ella got her dose of who I was. You know what I mean ? They didn't know who I was because I was , you know , I wasn't from there. But they heard that the rhodium exclusively DJ jam enjoyed a powerful promotional tool. A mixtape is a collection of music recorded onto a cassette tape or CD. These days , they can also come in the form of an MP3 or streamable link like SoundCloud. Smooth , seamless transitions blending one song to another are a trademark because of this inability to skip from song to song. The mixtape requires the listener to consider the tape in its entirety.

S5: He , uh , he wants to go live with my uncle and , uh , in Long Beach. When he came back after after the summer , he came back and he was locking and popping and we're like , what the hell is this , man ? You know , he's all telling us this is a new dance and this and that. He had bought a record , which was a Sugarhill Gang year after that , he brought home a Dougie fresh. Record the show. Dude , it was like , before anything. And we're , like , tripping out , like , dude , what the hell is this ? And he started telling us that this is beatboxing , this is this and that , and he got it from where it was. It was he lived. He was living in Long Beach.

S2: That's DJ Mike Skee of LD. Recognized by many as the first big rap group in San Diego. They hailed from San Isidro.

S7: Go go go go go go go go go go. Straight from Skid row.

S2: Geographically , the most southern community in California , and even they were influenced by those rhodium swap meet mix tapes. But the inspiration might not have gone just one way. According to Mike ski's brother and fellow group member Lawrence LSD de Gracia , there may have been an interesting give and take between San Diego and LA with Lod.

S5: The only person that came down was N.W.A.

S4: No way. No it was. It wasn't even N.W.A at that time. It was. Oh no.

S5: It was a wrecking.

S4: Crew and CIA. CIA.

S5: CIA. Yeah. Yeah. That was the.

S4: CIA was Ice Cube.

S5: Uh , sir Jinks , sir.

S4: Jinks and their cousin was like the DJ. And they opened up for Dre and the Wrecking Crew at the Sweetwater Roller skating rink. Yeah.

S5: See , right there , we were already a group , huh ? Yeah , we were.

S4: Already a group. Yeah , but we were right there. We were always. Ever since we started the group , we were always wearing San Diego gear. We used the San Diego Padres jerseys and stuff. When they became the NWA and all.

S5: That , they started wearing all the LA so.

S4: That they were from LA cause they started wearing LA stuff.

S2: What they're saying may land a little farfetched to some , but it's really not. If you're aware how closely the underground scenes intermingle.

S4: Like you said , we go , we go to LA and we literally be doing like what we're doing right now. We'd be at insight , we'd be at Barrios House in this room , just chopping it up. That's how we would get the game with what's going on at the labels , because the artists were telling us , yeah , and they got signed. They were tripping out that we'd have. Yeah , they would come to San Diego and they go , you guys need signed sign yet.

S2: Elodie consists of rapper Willy , Will Laurence , Elodie de Grazia and Miguel DJ Mike ski. Degrassi. The Degrassi is older brother MC Robbie Robb acted as a mentor to the group from its inception.

S8:

S2: One San Diego rap life and San Diego street life run very close together. Two. San Diego has a knack for being criminally ahead of the mainstream. Three. SD rappers today excel because our art and business acumen are often equally sharp. Now add this to the list for our love hate relationship with record labels. Everybody in the entertainment world knows if you want to make it big , you got to go to LA or New York. Imagine those two places are parents and they really believe in record labels. San Diego is sort of like the kid who rebels against things their parents believe because we're so close to LA. We know how the industry works and either want nothing to do with it , or we know exactly the way we want to move with it. LODs mentor Robbie Robb is the latter.

S4: Man , and Robb was. Robb was. It was basically business. Yeah. The way to make money is the the record companies are the ones that make all the money. The artists just get a percentage. I'm gonna start my own record company. Then we can get artists on our record company and we get paid off of their their records. We pressed our own records. Yeah , we did everything. We we we even distributed our own records.

S5: We we let everything recorded. We went to LA to record our record. When we got got our masters , uh , we came down here and we had , uh , what was that one in Bonita ? They pressed our records.

S4: And this is what I meant by when it took off. What was happening is we was bringing them , like , let's say we would go to the swap meet and drop off , like , 20 or 15 cassette tapes. And then the warehouse , we would drop off 20 cassette tapes. And then by the time we would get back to the pad , they'd be like , hey , we need more tapes. You sold out. We need more tapes.

S2: Growing up with L.A. does have its perks. Even if we choose to abstain from the industry politics , it's because we know how they work vis a vis. We know how to work them.

S5: You know , it started getting out because we got we got played on all four radio stations , which was a 106 Z , 90 , 91 X and 92.5. And you were the first. We're the first. Yeah.

S4: The smile on my face. We get to the swap meet. We're dropping off the tapes because we just had dropped them. And the guy goes , yeah , you guys are out selling MC hammer right now. And we're like , yeah.

S5: We're out selling like a lot of the major , major artists.

S4: Like , a lot of people were asking for our record and they didn't know where to get it. And , you know.

S5: We were getting on so much that you remember the white House music. You know that we're the first independent label to get into the warehouse music. Wow. Without a without a major distribution.

S2: Safe to say load was holding it down from the South Bay. Let's take a quick break. And when we come back , we'll hear who else was cooking in the city.

S5: That I remember. There was a group of in North County , too , that it's funny , man , because they they're the first day they are on a major record label. They're called Vicious Beatbox. Beatbox. You'll be.

S2: Right back. Welcome back. Remember DJ Gill ? He was doing remixes at the radio station , did his own demo and got offered a record deal at the end of episode one. Let's see what happened next.

S9: So I had four acts that ended up getting signed to MCA , which was Marv , Marv Vicious , M.C. , dub , DB and then this is Beef Posse.

S2: This should.

S9: Be spicy.

S2: Okay , so this is be posse is for small crews , all connected. And then you're doing production.

S9: All the production except for one song.

S4: Ala Olive.

S2: The Riza. Yeah. Gil is naturally cool , and I don't know if his chill disposition conveys all the excitement that was wound up around these groups at the time. Gil is the producer , though if his view is from behind the scenes , it might be helpful for us to hear from someone who was center stage.

S4: Starting from freestyle dancing. I throw , um , events call like the sniper though. Um. Kumba Festival for years got numerous dance competitions I've been seeing on , um , Pump It Up with De Barnes. We've been on uh bet done tour , 28 city tours , we've done shows with , uh , did a couple shows with Big Daddy Kane.

S2: This is dancer Michael Gift. His AKA is pokey. He's one half of the legendary rap duo Gumby and Pokey , who in the last few years were namechecked by hip hop historian Dart Adams for their legendary skills on stage.

S4: You had Vicious Beat Posse. We were signed to MCA records and our labelmates , which was was , which was heavy. We had like heavy D recipes and we had , um , bell bib devo bbd.

S2: Hey , you mentioned a bus tour when we were talking earlier.

S4: Um , we went to Philly and I remember my suitcase was lost with all my all my clothes and all my dad's clothes. That's being from the West Coast. We're finding out how , you know , like , what's up ? Remember that ? Uh , everybody should rock the goose down jackets. But we were like , you know , it was true. It's crazy , but a fun time.

S2: Pokey , DJ Gill and the rest of Vicious Beat Posse were red hot , a label deal. National tours , the group's high energy states showing upbeat rhythms were packing venues. Their legalised dope video looks like it could have been filmed in New York City. The group was perfect for TV.

S4: But all of a sudden we got it. We got a phone call saying that they wanted us to pump it up.

S2: The show was rooted in the culture , and it's possible these sensibilities led to Pump It UP's choice to play the vid in the midst of a quiet controversy.

S4: Pump it up , I believe they did. They played it because MTV wouldn't. If you listen to the song Legalize Dope. Uh , they go non-stop.

S10: So I'm doing it to you , fool me and.

S4: Saying it's just like I'm giving you information , not dope. Meaning it was a metaphor , not dope. Meaning the drug , but dope. Meaning once you get the information. Dope. So with the terminology back then it was it was too , too much and they wouldn't , they wouldn't , um , play the video on MTV , which is very sad because they had they had millions of viewers back then , millions. And we were just like , uh , I think that actually hurt us in our career a little bit. Wow.

S2: Band on MTV has nutty. So what what would you say ended Vicious Beat Posse.

S9: DJ Gill management , the guy. That's what he was pocketing all the money. That's all he would get. You know , when you release a single , you get 25 grand for it and it's supposed to go towards your marketing and all the other stuff. That's a lot back then. Mhm , mhm. There's a lot more now. But I'm saying he wasn't doing any of that. He was you know whatever his girlfriend's whatever that kind of stuff was doing , what he was doing , I.

S4: Was so hyped on just to go on tour and just dance in front of people. Right. I had No representation. I had no nothing on contract chain. Okay , pokey beach city , you're getting two grand or three grand. I had nothing , and , um , that's one thing I tell people. Like , now , if you go , if you're dancing or you're rhyming or things like that , you make sure you have a manager and you make sure that he dots the I's and cross it , cross the T's because , um , you , um , you like Michael Jackson ? Industry rule number 4080. Record company people are shady.

S2: From Meridian Arts and KPBS. This is episode two of Rap Diego A San Diego Story. And our next episode , we see the start of Chicano.

S4: Rap , because everything after.

S11: That was Chicano rap by default , and everything before that got retrofitted into Chicano rap.

S2: And we meet a gangster legend that leaves too soon.

S9: But gangster was always coming and said , hey man , I'm gonna rap. I'm this , this and this. Now if you if you want to know who gangster Ernest. Um , he's every sense of the word of the gangster part.

S2: Rap Diego is a co-production of KPBS and Meridian Arts host and co-creator Parker Edison. Episodes. Written by Jay Smith , Chris Reyes , Don Jaeger and Stephen Fleck's extra. Special thanks to guest writer Melody Harold. Editing by Platform Collection music soundtracked by Monday Adams , executive producer for KPBS is Lisa Jane Morissette , KPBS director of audio programming and operations. Technical and operational support provided by KPBS technical producer sound designer Adrian Villalobos and KPBS producer Julio Ortiz Franco. This programming is made possible in part by the KPBS Explore Content Fund. Shout out in no particular order to Dan Posse , Bomb Rush Posse , emcee Debbie and Demo Records. Talk soon.