{"id":391378,"date":"2026-07-09T00:54:10","date_gmt":"2026-07-09T00:54:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/391378\/"},"modified":"2026-07-09T00:54:10","modified_gmt":"2026-07-09T00:54:10","slug":"the-mekanix-and-20-years-of-bay-area-blaps","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/391378\/","title":{"rendered":"The Mekanix and 20 Years of Bay Area Blaps"},"content":{"rendered":"

The computer screen displays photos of rap luminaries. On a nearby wall hang news articles, vinyl records and memorabilia from the likes of Shock G and Tupac Shakur.<\/p>\n

This is the East Oakland studio of Kenny Tweed <\/a>and 4Rax<\/a>, who during a recent visit sat in office chairs around a large, custom-made rug bearing the name of their production duo: The Mekanix<\/a>.<\/p>\n

It may seem like a humble setting for such an influential duo. For more than 20 years, The Mekanix have made blap after blap after blap, casting their name into the debate over the most prolific production team from the Bay Area.<\/p>\n

Summarizing their winning formula, 4rAx says, simply, \u201cEverything is about alignment.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"TwoWith more than 20 years of production credits to their name, The Mekanix are one of the most prolific production duos to ever come from the Bay Area.<\/p>\n

Throughout their career, despite health concerns, technological shifts and the ups-and-downs of the music industry, The Mekanix have maintained their sound and honed their craft. Driven by an ambition to see the Bay properly represented, they consistently show what can be done with the bare essentials of 808s and willpower.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve been together for more than 20 years,\u201d says 4rAx, laughing as he adds that such a milestone is rare for people in \u201cregular relationships,\u201d he says, \u201clet alone business.\u201d<\/p>\n

\nMentored by the best\n<\/p>\n

Tweed and 4rax may have come into the game from different angles, but they complimented one another immediately.<\/p>\n

Tweed is the son of jazz musician Kenny \u201cBig Kenny\u201d Tellers. A multitalented instrumentalist who focused mainly on the saxophone, he would gig around the Bay, and even did shows with Tower of Power. \u201cHe instilled music in me,\u201d says Tweed of his father, who encouraged him to play the drums, piano and trumpet.<\/p>\n

Tweed was also childhood friends with Keak Da Sneak, and gravitated toward hip-hop. Spice 1 and RBL Posse spoke to his heart, but it was Too Short who really left his mark \u2014 until one day, when Tweed forgot to take a Short tape out of his dad\u2019s cassette player.<\/p>\n

\u201c[Pops] fully supported me in being a musician,\u201d says Tweed, \u201cbut he just didn\u2019t want that playing in his house.\u201d<\/p>\n

Years later, Tweed\u2019s residence would become a hit factory.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you pulled up to High Street and Fairfax,\u201d 4rAx says of Kenny\u2019s home studio, \u201cyou would\u2019ve thought somebody was out there selling bricks.\u201d There were all kinds of cars and walks of life, a who\u2019s-who of the Bay Area hip-hop scene, he says.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen me and Tweed hooked up,\u201d 4rAx reflects, \u201cI had the door open to the industry through Shock G and Money B,\u201d the two Digital Underground founders he refers to as \u201cambassadors of hip-hop.\u201d 4rAx, who came from a family of auto mechanics in Chicago, fell in love with hip-hop before moving to the Bay as a young teen.<\/p>\n

Once he touched the soil, he explored every aspect of the culture. A visual artist and barber, he was also part of a duo named Funky From Birth. They soon crossed paths fellow dance duo Razzle Dazzle (who\u2019d appeared in Digital Underground\u2019s \u201cHumpty Dance<\/a>\u201d video), and 4rAx became a backup dancer for the late actor, rapper and former Digital Underground member Saafir<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Around the same time, 4rax befriended the late East Oakland rapper Plan B<\/a> and legendary graffiti artist Mike \u201cDream\u201d Francisco<\/a>. They\u2019d all hang out at the Shirtique store in the Hilltop Mall, where Dream airbrushed shirts. And \u201conce or twice,\u201d 4rAx recalls, \u201cthey had me DJ a backyard party for them, off cassettes.\u201d<\/p>\n

Matriculating through \u201cthe crazy labyrinth\u201d that led to a career in music, 4rAx held tight to his ambition of becoming a DJ. Through Digital Underground, he was introduced to producers and audio equipment. \u201cAnd now I\u2019m around turntables,\u201d he says, \u201cand I\u2019m nice!\u201d<\/p>\n

Sure enough, when D.U.\u2019s DJ Fuze<\/a> took some time away from the crew, 4rAx stepped up.<\/p>\n

\"\"4rAx and Kenny Tweed of The Mekanix perform at Hiero Day on Monday, Sept. 5, 2022. <\/p>\n

\nLinking with J. Stalin in the 2000s\n<\/p>\n

Kenny Tweed and 4rAx first combined forces at the turn of the millennium, working on a project for a group named IRS and then later for the collective Hittaz on the Payroll<\/a>. But it was the debut project for an artist from West Oakland that solidified them as a production duo.<\/p>\n

\u201cOne day,\u201d says 4rAx, recalling a studio session at The Grill Studios<\/a> in Emeryville, \u201cwe were mixing on some shit, and then J. Stalin<\/a> came in and heard us playing some beats.\u201d Young, brash, still one foot in the streets and fresh off of a record deal that had fallen through, Stalin started rapping. \u201cWe stopped the session,\u201d 4rAx exclaims. They left the studio where they were mixing, went to a different studio and made the song \u201cSo Cold<\/a>,\u201d the first track for Stalin\u2019s standout 2006 project, On Behalf of The Streets<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a Toys R Us commercial,\u201d says 4rAx of Stalin\u2019s innocent-sounding tone that masked malicious lyrics. \u201cHe turned it into some street shit.\u201d<\/p>\n

In addition to creating a staple sound with West Oakland\u2019s Stalin, The Mekanix have produced tracks for local stars like Philthy Rich<\/a> and Lil Blood<\/a>, as well as Ice Cube and Snoop Dogg. Their latest project Under The Hood 2<\/a>, which dropped earlier this year, features Keak Da Sneak, Nef The Pharaoh, Kamaiyah and E-40, in addition to Devin The Dude, Icewear Vezzo, Suga Free, Mozzy and Scarface. (Years after his dad banned Too Short\u2019s music from Tweed\u2019s childhood home, the album also has \u2014 you guessed it \u2014 Too Short.)<\/p>\n

It\u2019s this mix of names, nationally known artists and local hood legends alike, that exemplifies The Mekanix.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s intentional,\u201d says Tweed. \u201cWe want to put together dope collaborations that haven\u2019t been done before,\u201d he says, \u201cand we just want to keep making it better and better, and bigger and bigger.\u201d<\/p>\n

That urgency is rooted in something that happened in 2019. Their most recent project, a follow-up to their 2016 album Under the Hood, almost didn\u2019t happen at all.<\/p>\n

\n\u2018Everything got blurry\u2019\n<\/p>\n

\u201cEverything that went on with me,\u201d 4rAx reflects, \u201cthey can\u2019t even find it in my body no more. It was fucking the weirdest shit ever, bro.\u201d<\/p>\n

In 2019 4rAx found himself experiencing headaches and dizziness. Six months of doctor\u2019s visits and lab tests yielded no results. \u201cThen,\u201d he says, \u201cone day I was watching TV and my eyes\u2026 everything got blurry.\u201d At the emergency room, medics found an immense amount of pressure on his brain. He wound up getting surgery \u2014 if he hadn\u2019t, doctors told him, there was a chance he would have gone blind.<\/p>\n

The following year, as COVID-19 spread across the globe and 4rAx was reeling from his medical condition, Kenny Tweed\u2019s father was diagnosed with cancer. Soon after, in spring of 2021, 4rAx\u2019s mentor from Digital Underground Shock G passed<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"ShockShock G of Digital Underground performs during the BET Hip Hop Awards in 2010 in Atlanta.<\/p>\n

A dark cloud fell over the production duo, recalls 4rAx. Then his immune system was compromised, and things only got worse. \u201cI had to be intubated,\u201d says 4rAx, who was subsequently diagnosed with pneumonia in both lungs.<\/p>\n

He spent 26 days in a coma. When he emerged, he learned that Tweed\u2019s father had succumbed to cancer. 4rAx left the hospital in shambles. \u201cI lost all my muscle mass,\u201d he recalls. \u201cI couldn\u2019t walk, so I\u2019m on a walker, plus a breathing apparatus.\u201d<\/p>\n

Worst of all, he says, is that through the whole ordeal, he never got a conclusive answer as to what caused his initial ailment.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s 2026, and now I barely have any doctor appointments,\u201d says 4rAx. \u201cI\u2019m not on any medicine. But they don\u2019t know what the fuck happened, bro. And it doesn\u2019t sit well with me because it could happen again.\u201d<\/p>\n

\nKeep showing up\n<\/p>\n

4rAx credits his workout routine for still being alive today, plus his belief in \u201cstaying ready before you have to get ready.\u201d Both 4rAx and Tweed are brawny guys with regular workout schedules. Their devotion to health, making music and supporting the culture is almost spiritual.<\/p>\n

\"OneKenny Tweed and 4rAx of The Mekanix in front of their East Oakland studio. <\/p>\n

\u201cI was a Christian Youth Fellowship president,\u201d 4rAx says with a laugh, noting that it didn\u2019t last long. Kenny Tweed adds that his father was also \u201cheavy into The Word.\u201d<\/p>\n

Whatever seeds were sown in those early years, both producers took the morality of scripture and applied it to what they\u2019re doing with music.<\/p>\n

Giving praise to the powers that be, 4rAx says, \u201cIt\u2019s a bigger play going on that we have no idea about. \u2026 You just got to keep showing up, and trying to be your best self in the moment, so that eventually it grows and becomes exactly what it\u2019s supposed to be.\u201d<\/p>\n

The duo are currently at work on a documentary about the rich lineage of music producers from the Bay, in which they\u2019ll be included. In addition to making more music, selling merch and beat kits, they\u2019re also keen on teaching and mentoring the Bay Area\u2019s next generation of music makers.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m gonna go ahead and say it,\u201d declares 4rAx, tipping his hand and showing the production duo\u2019s cards. \u201cOne of our next projects is called Alignment,\u201d he says, noting how much of his life has been kismet. \u201cI can\u2019t make this shit up.\u201d<\/p>\n