Hey Bay Area hip-hop fans: there's still time left to nominate your favorite new Bay Area hip-hop artist in the prestigious Bay Area Freshmen 10 Class of 2112  that will determine who will follow in the footsteps of such previous winners as  Kreayshawn, Roach Gigz, Moe Green, and DaVinci. The cut off date for nominations is May 21st and just before then, on May 17th, there will be an invite only Bay Area Freshmen 10 "tastemaker mixer" event at which local journalists, DJs, producers, and tastemakers, including myself representing the Amoeblog, will gather at SOM Bar in San Francisco and further review many of the nominees and prepare to post our collective votes based on the sum of nominations from Bay Area hip-hop fans who've been submitting their picks for best new artists from the Bay either online @ Thizzler's website or else via Twitter or Facebook.

Not surprisingly, like all music industry awards, the Bay Area Freshmen 10, the annual hip-hop by the Bay event that presents awards to the the most noteworthy & promising ten up-and-coming rap/hip-hop artists, is both embraced and dismissed. Those who don't make the cut dismiss it saying it doesn't really make any difference to sales or their careers while those who are lucky to make the grade lavish praise upon the institution and make a point of including their win in every press release they send out. But whatever side of the fence you are on, and provided you are somehow interested in Bay Area rap/hip-hop music, you should weigh in and nominate your favorite new Bay Area hip-hop talent.



Now in its third year the Bay Area Freshmen 10, which took its cue from XXL magazine's similarly themed annual national Freshmen event, is organized by Thizzler.com and DJ Amen of KMEL who, in video above, explains what goes into the nomination process in which the general public nominate their favorite artists who are in turn voted on by "Bay Area professionals and tastemakers." 

Past year artists selected have included Loverance, iamsu!, Lil Rue, DB Tha General, Young Bari, Symba, and Jay Ant. Join the thousands of other Bay Area rap/hip-hop fans who have already nominated their favorite artists (the long list includes the likes of Shady Blaze, and K-I-D and make your voice heard in this year's Bay Area Freshmen 10 Class of 2012. To make your voice heard nominate either on the Thizzler website, via Facebook, or Twitter.