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\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\nLooking back, Oakland rapper Mistah F.A.B. said he sees hyphy as an engine of community-building. When hyphy artists had local shows, their peers came out, creating a scene that reinforced a sense of unity and mutual support and an intensity among hyphy\u2019s fans, who participated in the culture, emulating its style and aesthetics, even as major labels never fully got on board the yellow bus.<\/p>\n
To this day, F.A.B. believes hyphy could have gone national, comparing it to ratchet music in Shreveport, crunk in Atlanta, and chopped \u2018n\u2019 screwed in Texas, \u201csimilar local movements,\u201d he said, \u201cthat was pushed on us nationwide.\u201d<\/p>\n
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Mistah F.A.B. outside his streetwear boutique, Dope Era, in January 2022. Credit: Nastia Voynovskaya\/KQED<\/p>\n
While that may be true, none of those other musical genres were as subversive as hyphy or had such a developed subculture. Crunk only existed within nightclub spaces. Ratchet didn\u2019t have a dance or car culture component. Chopped \u2018n\u2019 screwed was a music production technique, not a lifestyle. Each proved easier to co-opt and market to mainstream audiences.<\/p>\n
When commercial radio support of hyphy faltered<\/a>, so did major-label investment in hyphy\u2019s young upstarts. That collapse of support resulted in a lot of finger-pointing, but multiple factors were responsible: contractual entanglements, sample and licensing issues, the public safety controversy over ghost-riding, and an industry-wide decline in rap sales.<\/p>\n F.A.B.\u2019s aborted album for Atlantic, \u201cDa Yellow Bus Rydah,\u201d for example, was the casualty of a feud with KMEL\u2019s then music director Big Von Johnson, sparked by KYLD\u2019s decision to air the Oakland rapper\u2019s \u201cYellow Bus Radio\u201d program directly opposite Johnson\u2019s prime-time evening show.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cI got banned from the radio,\u201d F.A.B. recounted. \u201cThe label is looking [at me] like, \u2018Bro, what the hell happened?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n Two decades after helping lay the blueprint for a new Bay Area sound, F.A.B. has also helped spearhead a revival, boldly reclaiming the term with numerous albums revisiting the hyphy era. He\u2019s made several tribute songs delivered in the rap styles of Yay Area icons Keak Da Sneak, E-40, Too $hort and Mac Dre. For him, the 2006 vibe is now a badge of honor he wears as resolutely as he once sported that yellow safety helmet. On \u201cHyphy Story<\/a>,\u201d released in 2018, he reminisces over a version of the Beastie Boys\u2019 \u201cPaul Revere\u201d beat.<\/p>\n Here\u2019s a little story, I gots to tell The truth is, hyphy never really went away. Even when it was considered played out locally in the early 2010s, it subsisted through underground, indie label turf rappers like Keak, D Lo, J. Stalin and The Jacka, whose core audiences remained loyal to the soil.<\/p>\n Hyphy\u2019s influence can be felt in 2011 hits like Georgia rapper Tyga\u2019s \u201cRack City,\u201d LA emcee 2 Chainz\u2019 \u201cI\u2019m Different\u201d and Toronto-based Drake\u2019s \u201cThe Motto,\u201d which achieved mainstream success by tapping into what had been a regional sound. As a 2014 USA Today story noted<\/a>, \u201cthe Bay Area\u2019s sound was re-introduced nationally\u201d \u2014 but not by Bay artists. DJ Mustard, the LA producer behind 2 Chainz and Tyga, told USA Today he grew up in the hyphy era, listening to E-40 and Mac Dre, but stopped short of crediting the Bay for inspiring his production style.\u00a0<\/p>\n In 2012, Clyde Carson\u2019s single \u201cSlow Down<\/a>,\u201d featuring East Oakland hyphy pioneers The Team, became that year\u2019s most-played song on KMEL and went to No. 1 at LA\u2019s Power 106. \u201cSlow Down\u201d was essentially a hyphy track, its rough edges slightly smoothed over to make it more accessible for commercial radio. The song charted on Billboard, then got featured in the video game \u201cGrand Theft Auto V.\u201d<\/p>\n The post-hyphy era has been largely defined by a new generation of young Bay Area artists including IAMSU!, P-Lo, Sage The Gemini, Jay Ant and Kehlani, who formed North Bay hip-hop collective Heartbreak Gang, or HBK, back in 2008. They built on the hyphy template, evolving the sound and developing national followings as independent artists through tours with G-Eazy and Wiz Khalifa. An early hit, Sage the Gemini and IAMSU!\u2019s 2013 \u201cGas Pedal<\/a>,\u201d showcased P-Lo\u2019s production style \u2014 smooth and minimal, with EDMish synths and resonant bass, evoking hyphy beatsmiths Young L and Traxamillion.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m hyphy as f*ck so that energy shows through my music,\u201d P-Lo told<\/a> the East Bay Express. \u201cThat\u2019s what needs to be put in the forefront, the free-spirited energy to express how you feel.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n Kamayiah and G-Eazy both grew up attending turf dancing battles at East Oakland community center Youth UpRising<\/a> and became successful major-label acts during the 2010s \u2014 again focusing the national spotlight on Bay Area hip-hop. G-Eazy took HBK artists on tour, while Kamaiyah\u2019s \u201cAin\u2019t Going Home,\u201d which told the story of a girls\u2019 night out partying Town-style, became a hit<\/a> in 2016.<\/p>\n You know how we do it, we get Oakland live Public conversation around hyphy\u2019s cultural legacy deepened after a 2015 Beats by Dre commercial recreating E-40\u2019s iconic \u201cTell Me When To Go\u201d video, featuring Golden State Warriors star Draymond Green. The ad, which aired nationally during that year\u2019s NBA Finals, transports Green back to the 16th Street train station in Oakland, where he\u2019s surrounded by the dread-shaking Turf Feinz and swerving muscle cars.\u00a0<\/p>\n A year later, Complex magazine published \u201cAn Oral History of Hyphy<\/a>,\u201d a look back at the movement\u2019s rise, fall, and growing influence.Part of hyphy\u2019s legacy, $hort told Complex, was its influence on artists from outside the region. \u201cPeople were on that vibe of what the Bay music sounded like, and without even acknowledging it,\u201d he said. \u201cThey kind of incorporated the best, commercial elements of Bay Area music.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cEverything I hear now is what we started,\u201d Keak said. \u201cBut I can\u2019t say they bitin\u2019 us. What I call it is paying homage.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n In 2017, veteran Bay Area production duo Tha Mekanix \u2014 whose resume dates back to the Digital Underground era \u2014 produced an entire Keak Da Sneak album, \u201cWithdrawlz.\u201d The album stands as one of the Rolling 100s rapper\u2019s best over a career that\u2019s spanned four decades. A video<\/a> for the single \u201cZippin\u201d celebrated the muscle car culture still revered in East Oakland.<\/p>\n Reach for the D, I\u2019m on the gas, right foot heavy Another Keak x Mekanix collaboration, the 2020 single \u201cSteal My Word<\/a>,\u201d offered a rambling discourse about Keak being \u201chyphy-ed out\u201d since his Fremont High School days, over a replayed version of $hort\u2019s 1988 classic \u201cI Ain\u2019t Trippin.\u2019\u201d The song strongly argues for an Oakland\/Bay Area foundation for West Coast rap.<\/p>\n All of these developments illustrate that hyphy was never dependent on record label executives. It was an organic culture birthed in the streets of Oakland, whose lifespan has outlasted the movement\u2019s corporate dalliance.<\/p>\n Those knocks, blaps and slumps<\/p>\n As hyphy elements have appeared in songs by artists from other regions over the past 15 years, the Bay Area has responded by updating the sound into the broader genre of \u201cslap music.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cSlap\u201d is the slang term for beats with deep bass, minimalist melodies, and prominent handclaps or hard kick drums, synonymous with \u201cknocks,\u201d \u201cblaps\u201d or \u201cslumps,\u201d terms all derived from the physical impact of playing the music at loud volumes while driving in a car outfitted with a system loud enough to vibrate the entire vehicle. The obsession with the slap sound has been a driver for West Coast rap, transcending even lyrical content in importance. Back in 2006, Keak explained to MTV\u2019s Sway Calloway that new recordings were scraper-tested as a matter of routine.<\/p>\n Over the past nine years, songs like F.A.B.\u2019s \u201cStill Feeling It,\u201d P-Lo\u2019s \u201cPut Me on Something,\u201d E-40\u2019s \u201cThe Bay\u201d and \u201cBay Area Anthem,\u201d and LaRussell\u2019s \u201cI\u2019m From the Bay\u201d \u2014 to name a few \u2014 all either evoke or directly reference hyphy. Regional pride in the Bay is trending, and hyphy\u2019s legacy is at the center of it.\u00a0<\/p>\n Video treatments for many of these songs again make Oakland seem both glamorous and dangerous. \u201cBay Area Anthem<\/a>\u201d juxtaposes drone shots of the Grand Lake area and the port\u2019s loading cranes with stripper-pole twerks, ATV wheelies and lowrider hydraulics.<\/p>\n \u201cStill Feelin\u2019 It,\u201d F.A.B said, aimed to \u201cbring that \u201806 Fabby back,\u201d honoring the memories of Mac Dre and The Jacka, while reasserting sovereignty over the sound and swagger that started in the Bay.<\/p>\n Now can I get a YEE, for who I\u2019m in the building with? E-40\u2019s \u201cThe Bay<\/a>\u201d video updated the hyphy formula while evoking 2006\u2019s \u201cTell Me When To Go,\u201d with Las Vegas-certified dance act the Jabbawokeez standing in for original turf dancers the Arkitechs.<\/p>\n We gon\u2019 make \u2019em bring out all the candy toys In short, intergenerational respect has been a hallmark of Hyphy 2.0.<\/p>\n LaRussell name-drops iconic Bay rappers who came before him on \u201cPop My Collar\u201d and \u201cI\u2019m From the Bay\u201d; P-Lo updates Too $hort\u2019s \u201cSideshow\u201d lyrics on \u201cE-40\u2019s \u201cBay Sh*t,\u201d also featuring $hort. Many recent collaborations have featured rappers from different eras of Bay Area hip-hop \u2014 OGs like E-40, B-Legit, Spice-1, and Too $hort and hyphy era stars like Keak Da Sneak, F.A.B. and Clyde Carson, all mixing it up with post-hyphy prodigies like P-Lo, G-Eazy, and IAMSU!\u00a0<\/p>\n The collaborative nature of Hyphy 2.0 has also resulted in more regionalism and less territorialism in Bay Area hip hop. While videos like P-Lo\u2019s 2025 \u201cHad To<\/a>\u201d project a lavish, international player image, they\u2019re rooted in the grit, grind and hustle that has characterized Bay Area rap through its many eras.<\/p>\n A high point in hyphy\u2019s sonic revival came in 2017. That\u2019s when the F.A.B.\/Traxamillion reunion, \u201cCan\u2019t Kill Hyphy<\/a>,\u201d responded to Keak surviving a robbery and shooting.<\/p>\n \u201cYou know what would be crazy?,\u201d F.A.B. says in the song\u2019s video. \u201cIf we brought that \u201806 sh*t back one time.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cOn some hyphy sh*t?\u201d,\u201d Trax responds.<\/p>\n They were dusting off swag and attitude, getting the band back together again to honor a fellow OG and reclaim the thing that was taken.<\/p>\n Hey, I don\u2019t think they know, they some nerds That same year, P-Lo\u2019s \u201cPut Me on Somethin\u2019<\/a>,\u201d featuring E-40, referenced F.A.B.\u2019s 2005 \u201cSuper Sic Wit It\u201d; in the chorus, the Filipino-American rapper from Pinole scolds doubters and forecasts a Bay Area resurgence.\u00a0<\/p>\n If they hatin\u2019 got a price to pay As P-Lo would later tell<\/a> Maekan magazine, \u201dIn the Bay we\u2019re living in the future with all the different ideologies and backgrounds. With HBK, there were so many people that came together and created something that was unique, multicultural, and progressive.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n By the time E-40 released his quadruple album last weekend, on August 29, efforts by Bay Area artists to reclaim hyphy and its legacy were pronounced.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m From the Bay<\/a>,\u201d released earlier this year, immortalizes hyphy\u2019s peak year, while bigging up\u00a0 the Bay Area as a place of vibrancy and inspiration and acknowledging those who came before.\u00a0<\/p>\n This ain\u2019t nothin\u2019 you ain\u2019t heard before And the self-referential verses of Lyrics Born\u2019s 2026 single, \u201cI Love Myself<\/a>,\u201d featuring P-Lo on the song\u2019s hook, infuses the spirit \u2014 and humor \u2014 of Mac Dre\u2019s \u201cFeeling Myself\u201d with the wry irony of a stylistic chameleon who doesn\u2019t have to try too hard to make a relevant song.\u00a0<\/p>\n I ain\u2019t gotta be witchu The brilliance of \u201cI Love Myself\u201d lies in its simple, plaintive aesthetic. The Skyline High alum toes the line between narcissism and self-care, eschewing the funk and classic hip-hop trappings of his prior material in favor of a minimal, pulsating beat perfect for ghost-riding the Prius.<\/p>\n Lyrics Born was a hyphy observer 20 years ago. This time around, he wanted to get involved. \u201cIt just felt like it had been bubbling in the culture recently,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd I was like, Okay, well, this gives me the opportunity to fully participate and not just be adjacent.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIt was meant to be a hyphy throwback,\u201d Lyrics Born said of the song. \u201cIt just felt like a hyphy revival was in the air and it was ripe.\u201d<\/p>\n \u2018In retrospect, something was up\u2019<\/p>\n The revival has unlocked hyphy\u2019s deeper meanings. It\u2019s become the subject of doctoral dissertations, documentaries and podcasts exploring themes of generational trauma, socioeconomics, and the politics of the flatlands.\u00a0<\/p>\n An older and wiser F.A.B. certainly sees things differently than he did at age 25. Had his major-label deal worked out then, \u201cI wouldn\u2019t have had the mental fortitude to deal with it,\u201d he said. Refusing to stay resentful, he\u2019s focused on all that he\u2019s been able to accomplish by staying rooted in Oakland. He\u2019s become a parent, a community activist, a clothing designer, a club owner, and a mentor to inner-city kids, all while still releasing music independently, getting featured on records by West Coast titans E-40 and Snoop Dogg, writing for other artists and re-establishing himself on the battle rap circuit.<\/p>\n Most importantly, he says, he was able to spend time with his mother before she passed. His Oakland nightclub, Dezi\u2019s Lounge<\/a>, which he opened in 2021, is named after her.<\/p>\n His retail shop, Dope Era<\/a>, originally in North Oakland, now stands out as a Black-owned business in a post-gentrified downtown. The brand, known for its limited edition runs, has become synonymous with Oakland street credibility. Before it was shuttered due to a fire in the apartments above, the store had become a gathering place for local and visiting hip-hop celebrities.<\/p>\n And then there\u2019s the program F.A.B. created in 2023 after he went public about his debilitating anxiety attacks. Called \u201cThug Therapy\u201d \u2014 the acronym stands for \u201cTeaching, Healing, Uniting, Guiding\u201d \u2014 the program is a recurring safe space where Black men can address mental health challenges, share experiences, and engage in supportive community discussion. It may be the most significant development in the hyphy revival to date.<\/p>\n \u201cIt was like, \u2018Yo, I know I can\u2019t be the only person going through it. Now let me be the voice for the voiceless, let me be the voice of the village,\u201d F.A.B. told<\/a> NBC Bay Area.\u00a0<\/p>\n Held at various locations, including Dezi\u2019s Lounge, Merritt College and Oakstop, Thug Therapy has featured speakers ranging from hip-hop journalist and educator Davey-D to former drug kingpin Lil D to \u201cSinners\u201d director Ryan Coogler. \u00a0<\/p>\n The free community events are a 180-degree turn from hyphy\u2019s aggressive, hypermasculine aesthetic. Instead, they encourage emotional openness and even vulnerability.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019d never take those years and disregard them,\u201d F.A.B. said. \u201cThose years helped formulate what is today. I was able to use the platform that those years created to create a brand that connects with the people. I was able to dive deep down into the community and create grassroots programs\u2026organizing, galvanizing. And it was all based off my popularity from that time.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWe Were Hyphy<\/a>,\u201d which aired on PBS in early 2023, starts out as a love letter to hyphy, from the perspective of those who participated in it. \u201cFor us Bay Area youth,\u201d says Benjamin Early Turner, the narrator, \u201cit was everything.\u201d By the end it gets deep, as Dr. Andrea L. Moore, an associate professor of Ethnic Studies at Cal State Sacramento, explains that the hyphy generation was made up of \u201cthe children of families impacted by the crack epidemic in the \u201880s, who are now in the streets. They\u2019re the people who began to release unbridled anger and frustration, but also joy.\u201d<\/p>\n Photographer D-Ray, who\u2019s originally from Hayward but has attained All-Bay status, chronicled hyphy from its inception in the early 2000s. She recalled being contacted by the documentary\u2019s producers, who used several of her images in the film. She said she agreed to be interviewed for the film \u201conly if I could talk about The Jacka,\u201d a rapper and personal friend of hers who was murdered in Oakland in 2015. She appears in the doc in a purple Jacka hoodie, and she\u2019s brought to tears as she speaks about him.<\/p>\n \u201cI didn\u2019t know what I was doing,\u201d D-Ray told The Oaklandside of those years. \u201cI didn\u2019t know I was documenting a whole movement.\u201d<\/p>\n D-Ray was Thizz Entertainment\u2019s staff photographer and worked at Youth UpRising; she was present at the \u201cTell Me When To Go\u201d video shoot. She was all-in for hyphy\u2019s best years, documenting tours, video shoots, live performances and casual hangouts. But she stopped shooting regularly after losing too many loved ones.\u00a0<\/p>\n The death of The Jacka in 2015 was a crushing blow for D-Ray. Grief led her to pull back from the intensive engagement she\u2019d had for years with Bay rappers.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cWho would want to hurt Jack?\u201d she said. \u201cHe\u2019d give you the shirt off his back. It really bothered me that I was outside taking pictures of people that didn\u2019t love my loved ones.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n Her grandma\u2019s passing in 2024 was a final straw. \u201cIt was too much,\u201d she said. \u201cI just don\u2019t have the passion to go outside and take pictures anymore. I\u2019ll go to a community event and I might not take my camera out of the camera bag.\u201d<\/p>\n Still, she\u2019s assembled an archive of some 15,000 of her hyphy-era photographs honoring fallen icons Mac Dre, The Jacka and Traxamillion, along with living artists like The Team, F.A.B., and Keak Da Sneak, as well as turf dancing participants, whips being ghost ridden and fearless donut matadors. And she\u2019s got a new Nikon Z8 that may see some action yet.<\/p>\n The same year the PBS documentary came out, KQED released \u201cHyphy Kids Got Trauma<\/a>,\u201d a podcast hosted by Pendarvis Harshaw, with sound design by Trackademicks. Over four episodes, Harshaw recounted how 2006 impacted him and his friends in ways that were both grievous and exhilarating. He got perspective from rappers such as Tajai Massey of the Hieroglyphics, who recalled how he almost singlehandedly lowered the crime rate in the Murder Dubs by opening up his studio there to local turf rappers. For real tho.<\/p>\n In an interview with The Oaklandside, Harshaw recalled his first hyphy experience: a house party he attended during seventh grade. He remembered getting a lap dance as \u201cAlright Cool<\/a>\u201d by Keak Da Sneak played in the background. Suddenly the plastic chair he was sitting in broke and he and the young dancer tumbled to the floor.\u00a0<\/p>\n Hyphy giveth, and hyphy taketh away.<\/p>\n As a teenager, Harshaw grappled with far bigger losses \u2014 including the deaths of friends and comrades in the midst of the hyphy maelstrom.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cWe didn\u2019t have the terminology to express mental health crises,\u201d he said. \u201cIn retrospect \u2014 looking at the high rate of homicides, our indulgences in substances, be it pills, alcohol or really strong marijuana, and just showing out, wanting attention, for some pretty wild reasons \u2014 something was up.\u201d<\/p>\n Years later, he saw the words \u201chyphy kids got trauma\u201d inscribed on a wall, and it resonated. \u201cI\u2019m like, Oh, ok, I\u2019m not the only one who realized it. That was a very traumatic time.\u201d<\/p>\n A gangster and a trickster<\/p>\n Keak Da Sneak owns a large portion of hyphy\u2019s mystique, as the originator of the term and one of its most diehard adherents. But he\u2019s never discussed his accumulated trauma publicly, like F.A.B. and Harshaw. Instead he\u2019s doggedly soldiered on, living by the turf code, an unwritten law of inner city do\u2019s and don\u2019ts.<\/p>\n The consequences of that life caught up with the Walnut Street griot in 2017, when he was shot multiple times during a robbery, after leaving a casino. The shooting left him paralyzed from the waist down; since then, he\u2019s used a wheelchair.\u00a0<\/p>\n Keak embraced the street lifestyle as a youth, beginning his professional rap career guesting on Sacramento hardcore rapper C-Bo\u2019s \u201cThe Autopsy.\u201d As a member of 3xKrazy, he was prominent in the mobb music era before transitioning to hyphy in the early 2000s, never wavering from his raw and uncut approach.\u00a0<\/p>\n His rap persona embodies aspects of both the badman and the trickster archetypes in African American folkloric tradition. The trickster is evident in his wordplay, rife with coded language, slippery syntax, and declarations that he has no idea what he\u2019s talking about. And his gangsterish aesthetic represents a modern, urban take on the ambiguous morality of bluesmen of prior eras.\u00a0<\/p>\n His lyrics frequently describe outlaw behavior \u2014 driving with expired tags, selling and consuming controlled substances, slapping rival rappers, engaging in sexual conduct with other people\u2019s girlfriends, and generally acting like a badass \u2014 that\u2019s not so different thematically from John Lee Hooker\u2019s vengeful cuckold on 1966\u2019s \u201cI\u2019m Bad Like Jesse James<\/a>\u201d or Sonny Boy Williamson II\u2019s trapped philanderer on 1961\u2019s \u201cOne Way Out.<\/a>\u201d<\/p>\n What\u2019s changed, mostly, is the environment: post-Great Migration, the South\u2019s rural shacks and backwoods roads have been replaced by concrete housing projects and Backwoods tobacco leaves used for rolling marijuana cigars.<\/p>\n The majority of Keak\u2019s lyrics are about hustling, balling, riding and partying, delivered in a unique cadence that feels almost stream-of-consciousness. His raspy vocal tones, made-up words and random references perplex listeners \u2014 until the punchlines connect at the end of the line. Out of all of the hundreds of raps he\u2019s recorded, only a handful have attempted anything resembling social awareness \u2014 a marked contrast to F.A.B.\u2019s numerous \u201cconscious\u201d songs.<\/p>\n Yet Keak is beloved by his fans and considered an Oakland legend for just that reason \u2014 he\u2019s always \u201ckept it one hundred,\u201d as the saying goes.<\/p>\n During a recent live performance at Yoshi\u2019s, Keak delivered what amounted to a career retrospective in front of a sold-out audience. Though he never attained the mainstream success that seemed within reach in 2006, here he was, 20 years later, receiving his flowers at one of \u00a0Oakland\u2019s most distinguished music venues.\u00a0<\/p>\n As F.A.B. and the Delinquents\u2019 G-Stack watched from the audience, Keak took the stage in his wheelchair and gave a performance that seemed to animate and energize him. After a few songs, he took off his dark sunglasses, maybe to get a better look at all the people showing him love.\u00a0<\/p>\n Backed by a live band, the \u201cKing of the Super Duper Hyphy\u201d ran through crowd-pleasing favorites like \u201cAlright Cool,\u201d \u201cHere Come Keak Da Sneak,\u201d \u201cSuper Hyphy\u201d and \u201cOn Citas.\u201d<\/p>\n When his roaming hype man called out, \u201cCan I get a yee!\u201d the crowd roared back.<\/p>\n Keak himself occasionally addressed the crowd, telling a story at one point about the first time he heard the \u201cSuper Hyphy\u201d beat and was smitten. He also announced a new album with Black C of RBL Posse, before bringing the Hunters Point rapper onstage.\u00a0<\/p>\n The two performed a new song, \u201cGet It Cracking,\u201d before Keak took a breather and Black C ran through the mobb music classics \u201cBounce Ta This\u201d and \u201cDon\u2019t Give Me No Bammer Weed\u201d as people sang along and shouted out \u201cHP!\u201d<\/p>\n Keak returned to land his set with the hyphy anthem \u201cWhite T-Shirt, Blue Jeans and Nikes\u201d and his verse from \u201cTell Me When To Go.\u201d<\/p>\n The show, however, wasn\u2019t over. The house lights dimmed to near pitch-black and Agerman and Bart came out to celebrate the 30-year anniversary of 3xKrazy\u2019s \u201cStackin\u2019 Chips.\u201d Their performance of the hit single \u201cKeep It on the Real\u201d drew the biggest audience response of the evening. The entire crowd, it seemed, was singing along, word-for-word, to both chorus and verse.\u00a0<\/p>\n It be astoundin\u2019, formatix around it, it paint drank down it It was gratifying to see an entire audience of grown folks revert back to their days of cruising through Oakland boulevards and avenues on their way to the club on a Friday night. Hyphy\u2019s energetic vibe took parking lot pimps inside the clubs, opening up a world beyond the streets. Now it\u2019s been reincarnated as a sonic reference point and cultural lodestone for the present generation of East Bay rappers.<\/p>\n In Bay Area hip-hop circles, 2006 now holds the kind of reverence 1988 does on the East Coast \u2014 a legendary year identified with an incredibly fertile period for new and innovative music. Go ahead and put that on something.<\/p>\n “*” indicates required fields<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The sound that we started, they stealing itBut that just let us know they still feeling it\u00a0\u2014Mistah F.A.B,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":454074,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[177018,143,145,144,177019],"class_list":["post-454073","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-oakland","tag-hyphy","tag-oakland","tag-oakland-headlines","tag-oakland-news","tag-oakland-rap"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/454073","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=454073"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/454073\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/454074"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=454073"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=454073"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=454073"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
About some boys from the Bay you know so well
It started way back, we made history
It was DJ Fresh, Traxamillion and me
Keak Da Sneak is how it got started
Hyphy movement is what they really called it
R.I.P. to the homie Mac Dre
Somethin\u2019 terrible, tell \u2018em how we coming in the Bay<\/p>\n
I\u2019m just riding, chilling; this is how I\u2019m living
Watch me swerve and get no ticket
Put your blunts up if you feel it\u00a0<\/p>\n
Dropping low low breaking down corners in the Chevy
I\u2019m not pulling over on ever, plus I got warrants
No L\u2019s and I\u2019m dirty strapped with thirty Astro fluid joints
On point, checking size in my rear viewing
Daredevil, all the shit they told me don\u2019t I\u2019m doing
Bust a U and whip runnin\u2019 got me cuttin\u2019 up
Left hand swinging donuts, right pinky throwing Hunnids up\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
Who I came with is who I\u2019m still chilling with
The sound that we started, they stealing it
But that just let us know they still feeling it\u00a0<\/p>\n
This slap right here is hyphy on steroids\u00a0<\/p>\n
Shaboobalaboopy, that\u2019s my word
Did on my first win what n*ggas don\u2019t do until their third
Hyphy ain\u2019t dead, them n*ggas just scared
Hands on the clock gettin\u2019 turned back
Year 2006, where the herb at?
The Bay fell off? N*gga what? I heard that
Been gettin\u2019 lit, tell the world we want our word back\u00a0<\/p>\n
California on my license plate
Last year they ain\u2019t even like the Bay\u00a0<\/p>\n
I put a new twist on a slap from \u201906\u00a0<\/p>\n
I got myself
I was cheating on me
I caught myself
I\u2019m drippy, I\u2019m pretty
I\u2019m hot myself
Slidin\u2019 in my own DMs
I blocked myself
I don\u2019t need more drama
I\u2019m a lot myself\u00a0<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/PHOTOS-BY-DRAY-FABBYSB-DAYWEEKEND-266-1600x1067.jpg\")
Mistah F.A.B. performs with Kuzzo Fly at the old Club Ibiza in East Oakland in 2006. Chopper Young City, from MTV\u2019s Making The Band, is in the red hat. Rapper Pretty Black is at left in the white hat; he was shot and killed in Oakland in 2008. The Jacka is in front, holding the bottle; he was shot and killed in Oakland in 2015. Credit: D-Ray<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Hus-Jack-1-1600x1067.jpg\")
The Jacka at the Milk Lounge in San Francisco, September 2005, with East Bay rapper Husalah, at left in the brown hat. The Jacka\u2019s friend, the photojournalist D-Ray, snapped the shutter just as he reached out to hug her. Credit: D-Ray<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/DSC01652-1600x1067.jpg\")
Keak Da Sneak performs at Yoshi\u2019s, July 9, 2026. Credit: Eric K. Arnold for The Oaklandside<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/DSC01614-1600x1067.jpg\")
Keak Da Sneak on stage with his hype man at Yoshi\u2019s, July 9, 2026. Credit: Eric K. Arnold for The Oaklandside<\/p>\n
Off the sound then you poundin\u2019, laugh and loungin\u2019
Tryin\u2019 to get lit, I\u2019m sposed ta meet my folks at the club
A cutie I tryin\u2019 get that sneaky hit this bud<\/p>\n