San Jose's hip hop scene is in desperate need of a facelift
Story by Kefing Aperto-Berry // art by Manuel Ramirez
http://www.siliconvalleydebug.com/story/032905/stories/TheGame.html
New day, same hustle. It's a rainy weekday afternoon and I'm sitting in MACLA's front office waiting for a not so familiar business appointment to get underway. This meeting is different because it's between Tommy Aguilar, the MACLA Events Director who's a long time local Hip Hop promoter/community outreach worker, and Gizza -- a hard nosed, hungry, hustling CEO of the San Jose based independent record label Metal Mouth Productions. Both men represent two different, and some say opposite, sides of the South Bay hip hop spectrum. Tommy's involved in the more artsy side of Hip Hop, working extensively with younger visual artists promoting creative expression, unity, self respect, and the upliftment of the Hip Hop culture. Tommy wears glasses and dresses in polo shirts, jeans, and pumas. Gizza who stands at about six feet two inches has a much harder appearance always than corn-rolled up sporting various Bay Area appeal showing pride in the place where he and his folks are from. Gizza is down with the more thugged out side of Hip Hop. He and his camp are all about the rap game, working with many famous Bay Area vets who have big money invested, forever on the grind striving to make that meal ticket and come up fat. Both Gizza and Tommy have arrived though at the same conclusion – If San Jose's hip hop scene is to really take off, there needs to be an end to the segregation amongst South Bay rappers.
Unification would probably be a cold day in hell to your average San Jose hip hop head since MACLA is not known for working with Gangster rap artists. Well wake up, it's 2005, time to kill the hate, and support all local artists, including our harder game-spitters as well as our conscious rappers to create a viable hip hop network in San Jose.
Tommy and Gizza are is some ways ambassadors to two of San Jose's largest, yet isolated rap scenes – Tommy with the “backpackers” and Gizza with “gangster rappers.” Both groups have growing followings, but a separation based on stereotypes of the other, has limited the tremendous potential of the collective San Jose rap scene.
A “backpacker” or conscious rapper is someone who creatively expresses their views on life and rap music without involving themselves in the sexism and materialism of the Hip Hop culture. They believe their music is for people who are more in tune with the soul and politics of things rather than boasting about 20 inch rims and luxury whips. They often perform locally at venues like warehouses, community centers, galleries, and smaller bars and nightclubs. Lot's of shows in the mid 90's used to go down at Hank Lopez Community Center, The Works Gallery and The Cactus Club. More well-known conscious rap artists are folks like Boots from the Coup, Mos Def from Black Star and Common from Chicago have started to get a lot of main-stream attention.
Backpackers sometimes feel they are intellectually superior to their gangster counterparts because of their lyrical content, life values, and their contributions to the hip hop movement. I remember people always funking at house parties and shows over rap. Conscious rappers would hate on the Gangsters because they felt they were too ghetto, and the Gangsters would not accept the conscious MC's because they thought they were too soft.
Gangster rappers on the other hand feel they are the true elite because they are self-made hustlers who are all about their paper, forever on the grind. People who take no shorts and who are always ready to sav up if the moment calls for that. Gizza let me in on his own experience and what it takes to make real moves in the music industry, “Real talk, it takes at least $15,000 just to get one project off the ground up and running with full promotion, radio play and paid performances.” G rappers perform locally at all the mainstay nightclubs. Contrary to what many people might believe G's don't really even trip on conscious MC's, they just feel all music artists should be about their money. That's what I don't get -- gangster rappers and conscious MC's are both street entrepreneurs who are doing all they can to sell their music to the public, so why the division?
It has been like that forever in San Jose. Conscious rappers and Gangster rappers have been segregated, have had limited relations, and don't support one another because of stereotypes, and a lack of knowledge about the other group. Nowadays a few artists from both sides have come to realize the importance of working together and creating a business network within the scene. That's why this meeting as MACLA is groundbreaking.
Like any stereotypes, similarities are just beneath the surface. Just because some MC's choose to rap positive does not mean that they are squares and are not hip to the codes of the streets, just as if a rap artist is hard does not mean they are heartless and not thinkers. Though styles, mentalities, and subject matter may very well be different, it all comes down to expression. Whether we like it or not there is no real division between conscious M.C.'s, backpackers, playboy Mac's, and gangster rappers -- it's all expression through hip hop.
Since fifteen, I have been a fan and an artist involved in the San Jose hip-hop scene, and only seen this cultural segregation deepen. On the top of the separation though, San Jose as a city has been widely criticized and under dogged as not being a credible “Real Big City” in a cultural sense. Kenny May of Funk Lab, an organization that has been putting on hip hop events for a decade now, says, “People here will be quick to go see rap shows in Frisco or Oakland before they are willing to pay to get in a show here, and most folks are quick to support out of town artists more than their hometown folks.” The lack of support within the rap scene plus a self-created segregation among artists has lead to the stagnation of the local Hip Hop scene.
When hip hop first hit San Jose some rappers had hard styles, some were about the ladies, and some promoted positively, but it was all one in the same people in the struggle searching for an outlet to express themselves. We lost that understanding some where along the way. Networking within the San Jose Hip Hop community will naturally create an increase in productivity, business, and opportunities for all San Jose artists.
By the end of the business meeting both Tommy and Gizza were extremely excited and confident about working together. They are now looking to start an ongoing event series called, “Hyphy Saturdays” which will be a testimony to their collaboration.
I recall Tommy telling Gizza before leaving the meeting “It's all on you guys, you got the green light go from me to make these shows happen.” Looking into the future this move was the best thing that could have happened to preserve the San Jose Hip Hop scene
Story by Kefing Aperto-Berry // art by Manuel Ramirez
http://www.siliconvalleydebug.com/story/032905/stories/TheGame.html
New day, same hustle. It's a rainy weekday afternoon and I'm sitting in MACLA's front office waiting for a not so familiar business appointment to get underway. This meeting is different because it's between Tommy Aguilar, the MACLA Events Director who's a long time local Hip Hop promoter/community outreach worker, and Gizza -- a hard nosed, hungry, hustling CEO of the San Jose based independent record label Metal Mouth Productions. Both men represent two different, and some say opposite, sides of the South Bay hip hop spectrum. Tommy's involved in the more artsy side of Hip Hop, working extensively with younger visual artists promoting creative expression, unity, self respect, and the upliftment of the Hip Hop culture. Tommy wears glasses and dresses in polo shirts, jeans, and pumas. Gizza who stands at about six feet two inches has a much harder appearance always than corn-rolled up sporting various Bay Area appeal showing pride in the place where he and his folks are from. Gizza is down with the more thugged out side of Hip Hop. He and his camp are all about the rap game, working with many famous Bay Area vets who have big money invested, forever on the grind striving to make that meal ticket and come up fat. Both Gizza and Tommy have arrived though at the same conclusion – If San Jose's hip hop scene is to really take off, there needs to be an end to the segregation amongst South Bay rappers.
Unification would probably be a cold day in hell to your average San Jose hip hop head since MACLA is not known for working with Gangster rap artists. Well wake up, it's 2005, time to kill the hate, and support all local artists, including our harder game-spitters as well as our conscious rappers to create a viable hip hop network in San Jose.
Tommy and Gizza are is some ways ambassadors to two of San Jose's largest, yet isolated rap scenes – Tommy with the “backpackers” and Gizza with “gangster rappers.” Both groups have growing followings, but a separation based on stereotypes of the other, has limited the tremendous potential of the collective San Jose rap scene.
A “backpacker” or conscious rapper is someone who creatively expresses their views on life and rap music without involving themselves in the sexism and materialism of the Hip Hop culture. They believe their music is for people who are more in tune with the soul and politics of things rather than boasting about 20 inch rims and luxury whips. They often perform locally at venues like warehouses, community centers, galleries, and smaller bars and nightclubs. Lot's of shows in the mid 90's used to go down at Hank Lopez Community Center, The Works Gallery and The Cactus Club. More well-known conscious rap artists are folks like Boots from the Coup, Mos Def from Black Star and Common from Chicago have started to get a lot of main-stream attention.
Backpackers sometimes feel they are intellectually superior to their gangster counterparts because of their lyrical content, life values, and their contributions to the hip hop movement. I remember people always funking at house parties and shows over rap. Conscious rappers would hate on the Gangsters because they felt they were too ghetto, and the Gangsters would not accept the conscious MC's because they thought they were too soft.
Gangster rappers on the other hand feel they are the true elite because they are self-made hustlers who are all about their paper, forever on the grind. People who take no shorts and who are always ready to sav up if the moment calls for that. Gizza let me in on his own experience and what it takes to make real moves in the music industry, “Real talk, it takes at least $15,000 just to get one project off the ground up and running with full promotion, radio play and paid performances.” G rappers perform locally at all the mainstay nightclubs. Contrary to what many people might believe G's don't really even trip on conscious MC's, they just feel all music artists should be about their money. That's what I don't get -- gangster rappers and conscious MC's are both street entrepreneurs who are doing all they can to sell their music to the public, so why the division?
It has been like that forever in San Jose. Conscious rappers and Gangster rappers have been segregated, have had limited relations, and don't support one another because of stereotypes, and a lack of knowledge about the other group. Nowadays a few artists from both sides have come to realize the importance of working together and creating a business network within the scene. That's why this meeting as MACLA is groundbreaking.
Like any stereotypes, similarities are just beneath the surface. Just because some MC's choose to rap positive does not mean that they are squares and are not hip to the codes of the streets, just as if a rap artist is hard does not mean they are heartless and not thinkers. Though styles, mentalities, and subject matter may very well be different, it all comes down to expression. Whether we like it or not there is no real division between conscious M.C.'s, backpackers, playboy Mac's, and gangster rappers -- it's all expression through hip hop.
Since fifteen, I have been a fan and an artist involved in the San Jose hip-hop scene, and only seen this cultural segregation deepen. On the top of the separation though, San Jose as a city has been widely criticized and under dogged as not being a credible “Real Big City” in a cultural sense. Kenny May of Funk Lab, an organization that has been putting on hip hop events for a decade now, says, “People here will be quick to go see rap shows in Frisco or Oakland before they are willing to pay to get in a show here, and most folks are quick to support out of town artists more than their hometown folks.” The lack of support within the rap scene plus a self-created segregation among artists has lead to the stagnation of the local Hip Hop scene.
When hip hop first hit San Jose some rappers had hard styles, some were about the ladies, and some promoted positively, but it was all one in the same people in the struggle searching for an outlet to express themselves. We lost that understanding some where along the way. Networking within the San Jose Hip Hop community will naturally create an increase in productivity, business, and opportunities for all San Jose artists.
By the end of the business meeting both Tommy and Gizza were extremely excited and confident about working together. They are now looking to start an ongoing event series called, “Hyphy Saturdays” which will be a testimony to their collaboration.
I recall Tommy telling Gizza before leaving the meeting “It's all on you guys, you got the green light go from me to make these shows happen.” Looking into the future this move was the best thing that could have happened to preserve the San Jose Hip Hop scene
