New Classics

S1: You are now listening to Meridian Arts.

S2: The story you're 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 NWA said , parental.

S3: Discretion is advised.

S4: I've got a question. It makes me wonder about what's the difference between graffiti and hieroglyphics besides the felony offense ? The first clue should have been the color on his fingertips.

S2: I'm an artist. I'm fascinated by the impact of rap writers. Hip hop's 50th anniversary yielded a ton of articles and interviews on the subject. Being the black rap nerd that I am. I started to notice certain cities have something about their contribution that makes them unique. San Diego is one of those cities for a couple of reasons. I played my share of shows all over the country. Many a night has been spent in a van , taxi , or green room with my crew in a shouting match about where S.D. sits in the world of rap , and why I tapped in with some of those close friends I've been discussing rap with , and we put together this series to break it down for you. I'm gonna map the whole thing out. But here's 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 if we talk about the movie Friday. We're talking about Craig and Smokey. Maybe day to day and pops. There's lots of people involved , but that's who we follow to find out what happened. Keep that in mind while you're listening. This is about San Diego rap and the incredible way it got where it is today. You ready ? Then let's go. This is a San Diego story.

UU: Albums are top to bottom. I got this piece for y'all in my name. Hip graffiti on the wall. Every lyrics. My dad gettin up.

S4: Is the call. So I'm saying.

S5: Name and graffiti on the wall.

S4: This is what I ignite. In the dead of the night. Is like my name and graffiti on the wall. You already know that I'm tight. So every time I recite , it's like.

S5: It's like saying my name is graffiti on the wall I exude fresh.

S4: Remarkable in every way. Elude the best. There's no contest on any day. I go back to page records and blockbuster videos. A pillar of hip hop. As far as this city goes.

S2: The track in the back brings us smoothly into the year 2015. Produced by Steve Vicious , it's an ode to graffiti art called Fresh Burner. It's from the Audio Graph EP by rapper Frosty the Nomadic , real name Chris Whitehead. Frosty gained prominence as a frontman in well-established hip hop crew The Icons. He and his fellow mic partner sketch showcased immaculate skill in the craft of emceeing. Writer Jay Smith chopped it up with him about the business of music.

S4: You know , from an outsider's perspective , man , you guys icons , you know , had the 2000 a lot , you know what I mean ? From from where I was sit you know what I mean ? Um , what you kind of touched on it a little bit. What was it about , you know , your sound , your approach , your business acumen , etc. , that allowed you all to be successful ? Back when we started , you could always tell the local rapper , right ? Like the tape came out , Whatever things had a certain look , the quality wasn't always there. Um , the show wasn't always up to par. So literally what I did is I looked at the industry. It didn't even matter if it was rapper , to be quite honest with you. I looked at what the industry was , what did they do , and then what could I afford to do on my level so that I could look as much like them as possible , so that when you went into record store , you didn't pass me by just because you were like , that's local. So I have flats up in the stores. Boom. I look like every other artist when you walk into a record store. Got that ? Uh , go to the counter , you see stickers. Boom. We got those. Uh , you walk around town , we mobbed , and we we got taggers. We got us. Whatever. We bomb the city everywhere. You win. Boom boom boom. Any club. Even if we got kicked out , we were hitting up the spot. He was getting bombed. So we tried to be ubiquitous. We were everywhere. And then our packaging. We tried to make look as impeccable as possible. And then last but most importantly , the quality of the sound of our music , regardless of what you thought of our music , was going to be on point. I wasn't going to put anything out that didn't compete sonically with something that you would hear from a major label. You mentioned the commercial. Uh , can you tell me a little bit about that ? When we were getting set to drop our third album , Needles Mikes ? Um , I got the flats out , the stores rocked with it. Blessing boom. We were in there. Multimedia was everywhere , and we weren't that savvy yet. But television was still hidden. Rap city was huge , so I found out how to put a commercial together , found out the technology that was necessary. Like , you know what the grade of the tape had to be when it all goes into that part. And we did that and we were blessed enough to have enough in the kitty , you know , in the budget to make that a possibility. And I was able to get circulation on Wrap City for a month. So for a month , every time you saw Rapid City , every single day you saw I can't. Damn , I did not know that , man. Yeah , man. That's yo yo. That's a I gotta highlight , man. I gotta highlight that one.

S2: Once again doing things at a Hollywood level. Frosty said basically he hadn't figured out how to get his video on the air , but a commercial was the next best thing. That's incredible when you realize there are whole wings of record labels dedicated to getting a video on the air , this local rap group was halfway there just by themselves. In contrast to the traditional hip hop release route taken by others , rapper adequate , whose real first name is Bethany , employed an unconventional strategy to successfully break into the industry.

S6: You were talking about. You toured with Cat powers.

S7: It was so scary at first. It was intimidating. Um , because I would buy her albums for , I think , eight years prior to me doing a show.

S6: Were you playing like arenas ? Were you playing clubs ? What was the atmosphere like ? How was.

S7:

S6:

S7: Okay , okay. It's sold out because she'll that's what she'll do. You know , a lot of the feedback was they were like , what is she doing rapping. They thought I was her.

S6: Oh wow. Okay.

S7: It happened often. Different venues , different years , different albums. Ridiculous.

S6: Do you ever think like you were ahead of your time ? You know what I mean ? Now that you have , like , you know , acts like Doja Cat. Um , yeah.

S7: You just drop it and could it ? It would sound like it came out today. I feel like it's like Billie Eilish , like all these contemporary people doing it are a part two. They are. They're the commercialized version. We were the , you know , indie version. It's like every succession , you know , we had to do the grimy work. We had to fight for it.

S8: Tell me , I keep saying this because I'm black under all this shit. Be this. And no , I still am. This is the season we are focusing on each twist. Keep all the drama out.

UU: The whole time. To go with the sweetness , to shake it down. Hook me up. If I sound water like.

S7: How come I feel like I felt like bun B in my opinion , like that. That's what I feel like when that song. Yeah.

S6: Yeah. Listen , you gave me a copy. You gave me a copy years ago that. That's a.

S7: White leather.

S6: Right ? White leather is incredible. That's just. That is incredible.

S2: Both adequate and frosty recorded much of their catalogs in the early 2000 , but their influence is continued to grow over time , and they've extended their artistic lives by rereleasing their underground hits to make them new classics in a similar vein across town. A seasoned vet who started releasing music at a young age continues to do so , delivering some of his best work yet , sir.

S9:

S2:

S9: He. At 16 , he took me up under his wing. He was the executive producer of my first single. Uh , took me around the world , you know what I mean ? I was , like , 16 , 17 years old by 95. I met , like , all the artists , you know what I mean ? I bumped into Snoop Dogg , uh , DJ quick , and then , um , you know what I mean ? Okay. Okay. Yeah.

S10: Yeah.

S2: Where did you sell your first tapes ? Um.

S9: Fan mart ? I ain't gonna even lie. Fan Mart , parking lot. We. Man. I sold probably over a thousand tapes in that parking lot alone. Ah , yeah , we was in that parking lot , like , really getting it in , like , little cars. I think he made , like , a million out the trunk sales detail. Brown. Mhm. Yeah. We didn't we didn't give a damn about no colors or nothing like that. You know what I mean. Like it was wartime but you know those that was making money was making money. And you know we salute. You know what I mean. And keep it pushin like yes , sir. Yeah I'm big Jim Young G's sporting brown and black Dickies sagging southeast and printed on my back. You know what I mean ? Like , hey. And then the the world took to that like San Diego rather. Yes , yes , they took to it. Every man I be riding down the street like National City. I hear people pulling up next to me , bumping it like it was no better feeling than that to me.

S2:

S9: You know what I mean ? And it's basically God carrying us. You know what I mean ? Footprints there. You know what I'm talking about.

UU: There was two sets of footprints in the sand. It was then it was two sets of.

S4: Footprints in.

S5: The sand.

S4: Yeah , they've been around.

S9: Have made it through some of my most difficult times , from shootouts to getting caught behind enemy lines when they died. I seen all the the people in LA like Bloods , Crips. It was over a probably 100,000 people in the middle of the street Bloods , Crips and everybody. And I just wanted to bring that to San Diego , you know what I mean ? Like , so it was just like , yeah , you know what I mean ? And then , um , it came from it came from God. It wasn't me that wanted to do it. It was sent to me , you know what I mean ? And I just did what I was told , you know what I mean ? And then I got the , uh , footprints in the sand , which is not the non-profit organization we call Fitz , because back in the days , you know , people just be walking and , you know , you know , the dudes that walk with the main mug and then they toss , they sign up. Mhm. Not knowing that he , you know where he's from. He tossed it up. Now it's the whole fight. Mhm. So the right pocket and left pocket was just to let people know I'm wearing this. But I'm a general , I'm , you know what I mean. I'm not tripping off the bus. Mhm.

S2: Hey this is. Huge.

S4: Huge.

S2: Traditionally announcing your gang colors are a way of challenging your opposition , thusly refusing to announce your affiliation as a sign of cowardice in either or situation. Big June's Footprints clothing made it so people could signify their gang members without being confrontational. I don't know if you understand how big this is. He essentially made a neutral flag both sides could use.

S9: You know , and I just ran off with it , believing it in the Most High , you know what I mean ? Like , right , right. If he wants you , who can be against you ? You know , where where wearing those footprints and pushing the way I push is in a positive. You know what I mean ? So God was really carrying me through a lot of situations when I had no money. Like he was putting the the ground up under my foot. And , uh , I was making something out of nothing. You know what I mean ? Like like some of my homies , they kind of like , I don't I don't I ain't gonna say they backed up off me , but they didn't know what I was , what it was for or what a what it was about. Like , they won't know until their car breaks down in the neighborhood they ain't going to be in , and they let them up out of there , you know what I mean ? And they ain't going to no till then. Okay. June was , um , was really , really on his , you know , on his dove , like.

S2: Man , that was deep. Can I hit a quick break real fast ? When you get back , we'll look at a local fight for freedom of speech. Stick around. Welcome back. Ganji Sufi is an original member of the esteemed Masters of the universe crew , along with rappers Orko Elohim and Odesza Khan. In 2010 , his album A Sufi and the killer made noise on the LA beach scene. He scored a big win in 2013 when Jay-Z closed his album Magna Carta Holy Grail by rhyming over the instrumental to Sufis. Nickels and dimes.

UU: Nickels and dimes. Sticks to my mind. I know. You have my friend.

S2: Ganja Sufi is another artist you would have copped at Access Music at that time. If you remember , Access Music was San Diego's flagship hip hop spot. The number one go to for backpack wrappers and DIY types. An independent record store in Pacific Beach , where everyone from true schoolers to left field outliers could sell their music and merchandise on consignment. And while it was a hot spot during the first decade of the new millennium , it wasn't the only one on the other side of town where the freeways boxed people in. In southeast San Diego , Fan Mart , a long standing indoor swap meet operating since 1985 , had music vendors selling local music to the street. Stuff is what.

S6: They specialized in rap music for and by San Diego's G's , hustlers and gangster rappers.

S2: That's writer Jay Smith. He's deeper in this part of the scene than I am.

S6: Artists like Zigbee , Lil B , Stone , lunch , Meat Blog , Cricket Losses , and Essential Health Favor with labels like Grimy Records released an album. Compilations CDs.

S2: The city's second wave of gangster rap was in full swing by the early 2001 of its most popular acts , Wrong Kind Records. Mitchy slick would go on to become not only one of the period's most successful rappers , but also one of its most enduring stars. A career two decades and counting that began with the release of his debut album , Trickeration Station in 2001.

S6: I think Sugar Racing Station is one of those seminal kind of albums in terms of San Diego rap is a classic. It's one of those projects that captures a time and a sound from the production to the features , is a perfect distillation of what was going on at that moment. And in the larger sense , I think Mitchy Slick is the perfect embodiment of San Diego in the same way that schoolboy Q is LA or Goodie Mob's Big hip is Atlanta. They're quintessential prototypes of distinct regional identities , like here on Regular Nigga from Trickeration station , where Mitchy Slick articulates his hometown makeup via Mexican food and Padres baseball cap. Regular southeast like road tacos with.

S8: Cheese , like the.

S6: Brown Padre hat with the orange. The second I probably get the.

S8: Set cooking up , I have a key and I'll be late to one of my shows. If you want more than Tempe , cause I keep recalling.

S6:

S2: Hella accurate. And if we're talking about Mitchie , then this is a good time to introduce you , the listener to Tiny Do.

S4: When I go by Tiny dude. I grew up in southeast San Diego.

S6: District four , to be exact.

S2: How did you get your start in rap.

S4: My boy , Mike Nitti. Um , he just got out of jail to say welcome home , Mike Nitti.

S5: Uh , he , uh.

S4: Just called me one day to the studio , like , hey , man , you should , uh , I'm.

S11: In the studio with me. I'm like , bro , I don't know how to rap. You know what I mean ? Like , man , I'm telling you , I got you. I'm gonna show you how to do this , man. He sat me down. You know what I mean ? He taught me how to write bars. He taught me. But then I actually start rapping. Rapping , um , like , do some skyline , put my name in the song instead of going back over there trying to do something. You know , we make a song to. You know what I mean ? Yeah. So keep the bees off the streets. You know what I'm saying ? We , uh , kept it on wax , you know what I'm saying ? And I made a song back , and the song that I made , I guess , was , I'm saying pretty dope or whatever. So it was catching the ears of different people , you know what I'm saying ? And then , um , Mitchy Slick ended up hearing , um , one of the verses that I did from there just progressed. And , you know , I just , I never stopped , you know what I mean ? I just kept going. Mhm. Yeah.

S2: Who , who if anybody were you listening to locally at that time. Ah.

S11: Local big June I was big on Big June. I love Big June's raps of course Joe , you know here and there. But I was super big on East Coast music , you know what I'm saying ? I never was , I never was really too into other than the norm , like Snoop Dogg and Ice Cube and , you know , the norm. But I was a big I'm a big , like , East Coast buff , like Benny Seagull. I like , like what I call bully rap. Benny seagull , uh , mop , uh , Lloyd Banks 50. You know what I'm saying ? It means like my dudes fab. I'm kind of like , big on that. Punchlines and bars , you know what I'm saying ? That's what I come from. Yeah , that early 2000 era. You know what I mean ? When in bars is intact. Yeah.

S2:

S11: We do it all so you can get the backpack rap and you can get the , you can get the gangster music. We go , we have , we have a little bit of everything , aren't we. It's like a melting pot , you know what I'm saying ? Because we got dope. Dope back. Oh , that's a cane. Come on , man , Parker Edison. Come on man , let's go like we got. So we we have it all , which is beautiful. You know what I'm saying ? So it's like , whatever you want , you can get from San Diego.

S2: What was fam. Art.

S11: Oh , man. That's what you get all your stuff from , man. That's what we used to sell all our CDs till we got used to take the CDC send you after you print it up. You know what I'm saying ? You got your stuff. You see , these is ready to go , man. You go up to fam marchin by the beat. The he if he going to buy he going to buy a box. If you if you dope don't see him buying the box , he want a whole box he went. He might want 2 or 3 boxes if you dope. But if you ain't dope , he going to tell you give me five and he'll holler at you later , you know what I'm saying ? So that was the spot to go to the seller CDs to get your t shirts to get you. You know what I'm saying ? Your fresh kicks. You know what I mean ? Anything that you needed. You know what I'm saying ? You can give him. Family member. Uh , I don't know if you remember. Um. Dito Brown , remember dito Brown. Come on , bro. Dito Barrow had the most hustle I ever seen in my life. Bro is his crew was. So they was. I'm talking about Savage when it came to selling his his music man shouts out to Dido Brown man right.

S6: He tells about.

S2: Selling a million out the trunk.

S11: That part. And he and I , and I guarantee you he really did that. He ain't put no extras on. He probably sold a few million because he used to be grinding. He was , man , I'm talking about he had his little sons and everybody had their own on CD and they were selling CDs. Man.

S2:

S11: There's no major labels in San Diego. You know , you take a New York , you know what I'm saying ? You take a la you know , they have all the major labels there. You know , I feel like that keeps us from being at that. You know , that hard position in hip hop. You know what I mean ? That's why I spend so much time in LA. Because you can run into the people that you need to run into. You can talk to who you need to talk to. You know what I mean ? Like just being out there and you know what I'm saying ? Where , you know , plays is called. So you just can't be sitting in a room , bro. And , you know , what I'm saying is exhibit my turn around and say , hey , bro , you got something for this ? You know what I'm saying ? That's how I ended up on his album.

S2: On whose.

S11: Album ? On exhibits. Yeah. I mean , so , yeah , I got a , I got a , um , I record on exhibit new album produced by Rick Rock.

S2: What's the closure Ayers documentary.

S11: A documentary about , uh , the First Amendment. Like hip hop people , um , going to jail for their rap lyrics and just basically told my story on , you know , everything that happened to me as far as me going to jail for the one day 22.5. Basically being kidnapped , which is what I call it. I was kidnapped by the city of San Diego , uh , stuck in jail for eight months over rap lyrics I was , um , June 19th , Juneteenth and crazy day , right ? That's the day they come grab up. Uh , what was it ? 15 black males in a gang conspiracy case.

S2: On 619 , which is the area code for San. Diego.

S10: Diego.

S11: Six 9690. And and it was it was Juneteenth , you know what I'm saying ? Come on. So yeah , it gets deep. So they came and grabbed this up on that day , um , threw us in jail , told me I was basically being held , uh , for murder charges , murders and shootings that , um , they didn't even have a shooter for these cases because they felt like , you know , Lincoln Park has something to do with it. And I was a documented gang. I could be held liable for those crimes. You know , I stayed in jail for like , eight months , so for about eight months. Yeah.

S10: So the listener understands.

S2: The weapon was the gun that they were saying that you had.

S11: No , they were the gun in my in my and my sense was a mixtape called uh , No Safety which had a cover. The cover had a gun on the cover , you know what I'm saying ? Which it was a metaphor , obviously , because they didn't know it was a revolver , which a revolver has no safety. Right. So you don't know. You don't know. You don't know our our culture. And you're trying to , you know , depict our culture to be a negative when really it's just a metaphor , bro. It's a gun with no safety on it. Wow. You hadn't said basically the stuff that I was talking about in his music was gang related , and I had made a bunch of money off of a free mixtape. Wow.

S10: Wow. Right.

S11: Right. So yeah , that's what 180 2.5 is. It's a it's basically a state Rico case. Yeah.

S2: US prosecutors have used rap lyrics in criminal cases before. In 1989 , Broward County , Florida attempted to ban two live crews as nasty as they want to be for obscenity. The case reached the Supreme Court in 1994 , where it ruled in favor of two Live Crew , recognising the value of protecting music as free speech under the First Amendment. This line of litigation is particularly frightening , as it seems to become more damaging with each iteration. What started as an obscenity case in the 90s has ramped up to racketeering by Brandon Duncan's case. Less than a decade later , rapper Young Thug is indicted because of his rap lyrics. Fortunately , his cases jumpstarted the conversation about the unjust scrutiny rappers face.

S11: So this is , uh , deserve this. A song that I did when I first got out of jail or whatnot. And I just wanted to , again , paint that picture and tell the story on. I was asking the prosecutors , like , what did I do ? You know what I'm saying ? Basically , to deserve the situation , you know what I'm saying ? It was put me in which I knew what I did. You know what I'm saying ? It's in my melody.

S10:

UU: Let's do it as the prosecutors themselves do not say that he had anything to do with those shootings.

S11: What I do to deserve this. Mixing it around. The worst talking I seen and brains left on the curve.

S4: Talking about the flights , the nice cooking , the birds.

S11: Goddamn they only worse.

S4: What I do to deserve this. Each I like three in the morning. You would think I left my mother and morning got my stick. All of the rules would be crazy and counting the ain't going in like I got you , boy.

S11: With school. Where the truth is I was running about the place I was born.

S2: Cause any less than me. From Meridian Arts and KPBS. This is episode 11 of Rap Diego A San Diego Story. The last episode of our season introduces you to the latest generation of talent.

S12: Because back in the day now , a lot of people had studios. Now it's like everybody has a studio. I have a studio in my house , you know ? And it's like back day. You really had to find somebody that had the equipment or even knew how to run the equipment.

S2: Wrap 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 Harrold. Editing by Platform Collection. Music soundtrack by Monday Adams. Executive producer for KPBS is Lisa Jane Morrissette , 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 outs in no particular order to Broken Dreams. Lyrical Schoolyard , Arlo , cipher one , the Federales , Diego Braves , Old English Liquid and Napalm Funk. See y'all soon.

S1: Now playing kill Bill by Rob Stone , 2016. Well.

UU: Well. I. Lost on two damn phones. Babylon's can't crack the note. You still sip out styrofoam , but figured I should stick to drunk backwoods overload. Don't like to smoke them. Swishes. Hold up. If you hit my liquor store , it's $0.50 for a single pulse. You wanna roll with me and smoke up on my way I said baby just bout that cheese. Cause you can't smoke for free I got some love but no money baby buy me a Fiji.

S4: She said you.

UU: Need a job.