The 80s

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 N.W.A said.

S3: Parental discretion is advised.

S2: I'm 46 years old and a real rap aficionado. As I'm sure you know , the culture of hip hop has four major tenets deejaying , breakdancing , graffiti , and rap. I studied them all , but I'm really interested in rap. Breaking is for the body. Graffiti that's visual. Deejaying is what you hear. Rap is what we think or say. I'm a lyricist and I'm fascinated by the impact of rap writers. I've played my share of shows all over the country , and one thing that allows you is a ton of conversation about the art and history of rap. Many a night has been spent in a van , taxi or green room with my crew and shouting matches about where San Diego sits in the world of rap and why. these conversations were thrown into overdrive this past year as a bounty of rap lists , interviews and celebrations rolled out in 2023 for the 50th anniversary of rap. Me being the black rap nerd I am. I noticed certain cities were special. They fit differently into the puzzle of rap. If you're familiar with my show , The Parker Edison Project on KPBS , you've heard me speaking about New Jersey's number of great lyricists. Another example of a city that sits different is Long Island. It's not given its credit for a variety of groundbreaking emcees that have come out of there Chuck D , political , De La Soul , artsy , Busta Rhymes , animated. Rakim the greatest. Some places have some thing about their contribution that makes them unique. San Diego is one of those cities for a couple of reasons , but if I just start listing them , they won't make as much sense. You kind of got to see them in action. I tapped in with some of those close friends I've been discussing rap with. We put together this series to break it all down for you. Let's start here. Everybody's celebrating hip hop's 50th , but San Diego rap isn't as old as New York rap. San Diego rap , it's closer to 40. We had things happening in the 70s , but things started bubbling for us in the 80s. We sort of are like the little brother. 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 when we talk about the Boston Tea Party. There's little mention of what else they did that day. We hit the important parts. The boat , the tea , the conflict. 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. San Diego rap grows in the 80s , but the seeds were planted in the mid 60s with a rare indie soul label called Musette Records. It wasn't an inspirational labor of love , but a sideline project , a tax write off for four prominent black doctors here in the city. It was located on Logan Avenue , next to the Sportsman's nightclub. As a label , musette may have blazed the trail that later led to Lions Den Records on National Avenue and National City. Roy Lyons envisioned the label to be the San Diego version of Motown , which is why he selected his location to be in the heart of the then black community. However , like the earlier mentioned Musette Records , Lion's Den Records ended up being just a tax write off and disappeared after only a year or so. Lyons did get local airplay with his artist Soulful Ernie. His single party Rock , Rock the parties. Released in 1982. The song name checked Oceanview Park , a local hub for black culture at the time. Its length , perhaps coincidentally , is six minutes and 19 seconds. The first thing I wanted to do was get in touch with Ernie to find out if that was intentional , but I had zero success. Not only could I not find him , I couldn't find much info on him. That's what friends are for. AP. I found this article by John Applegate from The Reader on September 2nd , 1982. It's about the Black Frog , a black owned restaurant slash nightclub that featured Soulful Ernie as a DJ. That's Jay Smith , aka two , 19 , San Diego native and longtime rap fan. He's one of those tour mates I've been having an ongoing debate with for years. So it says the success of The Frog appears to depend largely.

S4: On how soulful Ernie can draw customers with his music and personal popularity. Ooh , hey , he said , looking up at one of the frogs waitresses one night as he slid into a booth to be interviewed. He pointed at an unlit pot candle on the table. What ? She said.

UU: Sure , she said.

S4: Dragging an eager flame from a matchbook. I like you can't afford you , Ernie. There you go. Anything you say , Ernie. Then she turned and asked the interviewer if he would like another drink. He declined. I'm okay to settle for Ernie , but she had already left. Since I've been here , they've been listening to me , he said , meaning the management. And I'm trying in every way to make this the ultimate class club in San Diego with entertainment , variety. We got jazz , top 40 , dancing , drinks , jukebox , you name it. We got foam for you , Ernie. Long distance to Glen Smith passing by. And to be honest , uh , it doesn't say who Glenn Smith is , and I am not really sure.

S2: Fair enough.

S4: Want me to go to L.A. ? All expenses , plane , hotel , what have you to audition ? This band called King Tut. So you see what I'm doing here ? I handle all the talent coming and going. I entertain 24 hours a day. That's the end of the quote.

S2: There's a lot there , man. Kind of seems like Ernie was trying to.

S4: It says the frog book. Jazz. The clientele found it closer to home than Chuck's Steakhouse in La Jolla. And I think that passage goes , uh , it goes far to highlight what soulful Ernie was trying to do. You know , I think he was trying to establish a place that was , uh , upscale , middle class , sophisticated , particularly for black folks who are living in southeast San Diego. I think that juxtaposition , you know , is really highlighted by the fact that Market Street downtown was considered unsafe.

S2: Things were hectic at this time. The street element was in full swing all over the city , maybe 20 streets away. The mighty Qi gang were ringing bells with their single Crisis on Rap West Records. We.

UU: We. Feel the. Air.

S3: Air. We got car bombs everywhere. The people alone. They just don't care. Gonna bring it to your home.

S2: You don't have to know. Within a year , the group will receive national attention from their connection to a controversial incident involving the San Diego Police Department.

S5: Today , the second Pan Defense Committee is presenting petitions to the District Attorney's office demanding that all charges against second Pan be dropped immediately. It's okay. It's okay.

S3: It's okay. It's okay. We're headed for a home from the park. That day , we had no intention that the day would stay with me in the US for the rest of our lives , because what happened that day just wasn't right. Because me Jones got a big surprise when all we really wanted was to catch a ride. Was this meant to be just bad enough ? What Rick and I witnessed on the back of a truck ? Because when they pulled , pinned over and that's his ID , the rest of that story is just the real escape.

S2: That was a piece of a mini documentary we found from 1988 titled I Claim Myself The Sagan Pin Incident. In 1985 , driver Sagan pin was pulled over during a traffic stop near Encanto by two San Diego police officers , Thomas Riggs and Donovan Jacobs. An intense physical altercation occurred that resulted in pin shooting and killing one of the officers , and shooting and injuring another was in need of assistance. Prior to this traumatic incident , pin was recognized as a martial arts expert and community leader known for mentoring children in southeast.

S5: There's one officer sitting on top of him , holding him down and giving him the same time. Was that Officer Jacob ? Yes.

S6: What did you observe , Officer Riggs ? Yes.

S5: He was standing above him.

S6:

S5:

S2: Pin was tried not once , but twice , and was eventually acquitted.

S6: This is the verdict with regard to count one , the charge of first degree murder. The verdict reads we , the jury and the above entitled cause , find the defendant Sargon Pin , not guilty of the crime of first degree murder.

S2: Now there's more to this story. But as NAS would say , there's some ghetto.

S3: Secrets I can't rhyme in this song. There's some missing pieces I had to leave out.

S2: These are complex situations with real life circumstances. If you want to know more , look into them. This incident is our first appearance of two things you'll hear come up repeatedly throughout this series. One San Diego rap life and San Diego street life were in very close together. Two. San Diego has a knack for being criminally ahead of the mainstream. Mighty Key Gang's documentary rap predates NWA's F The Police by three years , and Tupac's Oakland Assault by six. That was a lot of info real fast. I'm gonna take a quick break , so let some of this set in. I'll come right back to introduce you to a world famous DJ from right here in our backyard. Stick around.

UU: Come on , y'all.

S2: Welcome back. I just walked you through a 1985 police incident that parallels and precedes the Rodney King incident in the same year , Saigon Pin Street life would be a catalyst for rap and another part of town. Thankfully in a less severe way. So by.

S3: The time I got.

S7: I was getting out of the military , went back , came back to San Diego , and then , um , I started , uh , I was still I still reserve. So my little reserve money I would take in by records and all that other stuff , I , you know , moved back home or whatever to my parents house or whatever. I was still like 23 , 24 , 23 and so , um , bought a drum machine , everything else , and learn how to , you know , program the drum machine. And I was , you know , getting all these records I was heavily into , like , Culture Club and all these , you know what I'm saying ? Um , so , um , me doing that kind of stuff , I end up doing my first house party and got all my equipment stolen. That's DJ.

S2: Wait , I let him introduce himself.

S7: My name is James Guillory , James de Guillory. I'm professionally known as DJ Guild Worldwide DJ some. I'm a DJ and producer and had some some success at being in doing that.

S2: Gill is a good guy. And what seems like an unfortunate event in the moment turns out to be the start of something good. Gill's lack of DJ equipment led him to linking up with two old friends , Jeff Nelson and DJ King Arthur.

S7: Who then ran into a friend of mine. We went to high school together. His name was Jeff Nelson and so we ended up I. I ended up giving him the bug as far as like deejaying or whatever. He learned how to deejay. He's learning how to emcee. We end up that's how we ended up making this crew. Mhm. Um , guy that grew up up the street from me , his name was King Arthur. He was deejaying way before I was. And I would go up to his house because I didn't have any equipment anymore and just kind of watch him DJ or whatever. And , and um , we ended up forming this crew , which ended up being a Mid city crew. So we started doing all the high schools or whatever , started doing city college , that kind of stuff. With Jeff Nelson getting the bug. Um , he end up getting like a loan from his mom. She gave him $10,000. We bought , like , a trailer , put this trailer together to get all our speed. We had all these speakers that we built , read speakers. Whatever. We we we took these , uh , the design from Sarah and Vega make these huge red speakers because our colors were red and white. Mhm. And then , um , became this big crew around San Diego and along with him buying all this stuff we bought like a drum machine. And so we decided it was Dimensity was going to do a song. I couldn't find any rap. So we just decided to , um , we had another young lady that went to high school with us. Her name is Stephanie Payne.

S8: Nasty pain. And I'm not ashamed to say the man upstairs , he ain't playing , okay.

S7: She rapped on it too. And then I rapped on the little bars too. But , um , how we came across the the guys who actually put the record out , which is San Diego International , I mean , this guy up the street , we had like a little band called Jam Ability. His brother had a partner who had a recording studio that was on Highland Avenue , and they needed somebody to come in so they could do a sound test. So we went in there and we did what we did and recorded for the first time , and that's when I really got to recording.

S2: But while Gil was feeling our budding underground scene new music , he simultaneously sharpened his professional skills at a daytime job with radio station 92.5. If you're keeping a list , write this down as a third thing that sets San Diego apart from other cities. Typically , rappers are one sided , either good at art or good at business. San Diego artists to know excel because our art and business acumen are often equally sharp. This has everything to do with our proximity to Los Angeles , but we'll get to that.

S7: 92 star five , which is 92.5 now. Um , I was an on air mixed jock. So like , you know , we did like the traffic jams , mixed songs or whatever. They were pre-taped or whatever. And then , like any remixes they wanted for the station later on when remixes became a thing. Um , they wanted us to do a lot of the remixes on the air so they would sound special and special for that station.

S2: Redoing it live like on air mixes.

S7: No , I would , I would , I had to like a little eight track studio and I would , you know , do some overdubbing or whatever.

S2: And as you were recording these , these remixes for the radio station where you recording your own music on the side. Yes.

S7: Yes. Yes.

S2: I was that balance of art and business is recognized and utilized by the mainstream often. It's one of the things that we're unofficially known for.

S7: We helped Hamer get his song played on the radio. He may or may not admit this , but he sure will remember me. I took him around to not only 92.5 , but the Z 90. So by hammer actually tapping into this market and getting added into those stations. Hammer was able to get his record deal. You look at let's get it started. They did his first video here in San Diego and actually recorded here in , uh , one of the clubs , which is Rasputin's. We had a club called Rasputin's. They were waiting to see if they was going to add them in any other market. So we got him in San Diego and he got his record deal , and he was supposed to actually come back and say , either help us do our thing or , you know , let me do some production on this.

S2: On his album in radio , breaking a record refers to introducing a listener to a new song they wouldn't have heard otherwise. Today , MC hammer is a multi-platinum selling artist , and Gill just explained how he helped him break one of his first records here in Southern Cali. He then takes what he did with hammer and brings it back to his crew. DB.

S7: It was weird because no one actually told us , hey , you know , produce the song. So we just said , hey , we're just gonna make a song , which was this group called PBX. We put it together as a group. The original guys was Bobby Graham and the other guy was Marcel Branch. We recorded this song. The station was was playing a lot of our remixes , so we thought we would slide that in and it was playing on the radio before we even actually had any things pressed up. So and it actually kind of took off a little bit. Which is another story that aligns with MC hammer , which is a little weird , but we did we kind of took a note from hammer and started going around the radio station. So we we drove in my little truck all the way up the coast to like , hey Emil , all these different radio stations and stuff , and put the records there and was pushing it. Now we started selling some records. Problem was , we had an initial investor and he just wanted all his money back. So we were kind of left holding the bag , so to speak. So the record kind of just died at that moment. It did make some noise , and I got a manager to come in and say , hey , you know , I can get you a record deal and all that other stuff. And he had like another act that he was trying to break in. So he said , you do some demos for him and you help him get a deal. You know , if you got any other acts , then I'll hook you up. Which he. Did.

S2: Did. Do you remember the gentleman's name and the acts that he wanted you to work with.

S7: The gentleman's name is Darryl Sutton , and he had another partner by the name of Dalton Dormer. And in the act he wanted me to help him with is.

S2: This is Beat Posse.

S7: This is Bishop's posse.

S9: So I'm doing it to you.

S2: In our next episode , we learned what was happening on the other side of town.

S10: We're the first ones even before any L.A.. Yeah , any before NWA , specifically , is the one that's cited all the time that you guys did it before NWA.

S3: My name , Super Slam raps. My addiction is dope breaks for my deejay to mix in. Whenever I hear boom , I gotta dance to it , grab a girl , clap my hands to drop the bass and I'll be looking on the dance floor. One hit in enough , I need more I'm a musical junkie. That's a bass. Go ! It's not a pipe , I don't suck , it's a mic and I blow super rhymes I release that the tune is high. So feeling the swing on the mic like a psycho sweetness. Candyman adds flavor to the dope. Me , my producer DJ D.J. Gill got Me sprung on track. The dope groove and lay my tongue. Now I'm rocking my jewelry truck. And it's time for Candy man to.

S2: Get his cut. 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 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.