Oakland Rap Top Ten 1990

01) Too $hort / "The Ghetto"
02) Richie Rich / "Don't Do It"
03) Mhisani / "Y.O.U.T.H."
04) 415 / "Groupie"
05) Mac Mill / "Dangler"

06) D-Loc / "Ace In The Hole"
07) Digital Underground / "The Way We Swing"
08) 2 Bigg MC / "He's the King of Hype"
09) Freddy B / "Why"
10) MC Valentine, K-Cloud & Crew / "Have You Seen Her?"

Digging in the Bay Area archives today I came across this Oakland Rap Top Ten chart from eighteen years ago. The list is a subjective singles/songs based chart that I had originally tallied based on a combination of artists I was writing about at the time for my Bay Area column in Source magazine and on radio airplay on the weekly Sunday hip-hop radio show (Hip Hop Slam) I did at the time. The show, on KALX 90.7FM, was co-hosted along with G-Spot (now heard on KPFA late Saturday nights) in addition to, invariably, a ton of guests (a great many of them Bay Area) rolling through the Berkeley studios each week, including all of the artists in this top ten. Note that back circa 1990, DJs and writers generally used the word "rap" to describe these artists rather than "hip-hop," even though it was recognized as a part of hip-hop.

AMOEBA MUSIC SAN FRANCISCO HIP-HOP TOP FIVE 07:18:08

1) Lil Wayne Tha Carter III (Cash Money/Universal)

2) Messy Marv Hustlas Motivation Mixtape

3) Jean Gray + 9th Wonder Jeanius (Blacksmith/Warner)

4) Immortal Technique The 3rd World (Viper)

5) Nas Untitled (Def Jam)

This week's number one seller at the Amoeba Music San Francisco store should come as lil surprise. It was Tha Carter III by Lil Wayne, which, despite advance leaks and rampant downloading of its tracks, still managed to sell big numbers (by today's music industry standards) and hit the number one spot on countless charts (both airplay & sales) from Billboard (3 weeks straight @ #1) to KMEL to Amoeba etc. Luis in the hip-hop department at the Haight Street Amoeba, who kindly supplied this week's Hip-Hop Top Five, said that Bay Area music buyers love Lil Wayne just as much as national audiences (especially considering the historic Bay Area/Dirty South connections), but that their dedication to Bay Area rap/hip-hop, including this week's chart's number two album, is unbridled.

According to a report posted on the website Baller Status dot com longtime Bay Area Rapper Spice 1 was shot earlier today (Monday, December 3rd) and is reportedly in critical condition.  Apparently the legendary East Bay rapper, who was originally from Texas and was discovered by Too $hort when he went by the name MC Spice and was part of The Dangerous Crew,  was shot in Hayward during the early hours of this morning but so far specific details of the exact attack are sketchy and incomplete.
       
According to the website the rapper's manager, Six, confirmed the shooting but said that despite rumors, the rapper is still alive but in critical condition at an unspecified area hospital.  According to the manager two shots hit the rapper - one in the chin and another in the chest, missing his heart by only inches.  Ironically the attack on Spice-1 who referred to himself in lyrics as the "East Bay Gangsta"  mirrors the lyrical content of many of his popular gangsta-themed tracks like the classic '93 Trigga Gots No Heart from the Menace II Society soundtrack.
       

       

      

This is the second half of the two-part series of photos taken in Oakland, CA (aka "the O") shot over the past few months. Like the previous set most of these are simply shots of random objects and things that grabbed my attention at the moment I snapped them. One of the reasons I love taking photos is that it offers me fresh new insights into everyday objects and things.  Whenever I look back at a photograph of some scene or image, no matter how commonplace or how many countless times I might have walked by and noticed it  with the naked eye, I always manage to view it in a whole fresh new light after capturing it on camera. And so for me taking pictures is not just a fun hobby but it also enables me to start looking at life's little objects, and hence life itself,  in a whole new light.

These photos were taken in and around downtown Oakland and near the lake (Merritt) including the above shot of the beautiful outdoor ceiling near the ticket booth of the Grand Lake Theater.  Not only is the Grand Lake an absolutely beautiful structure both inside and out, complete with its own mighty Wurlitzer organ, but its politically aware owners regularly post some topical and relevant message on the marquee outside in letters large enough to see as you drive by on 580.  Meanwhile below among the dozen more photos is another one of the Grand Lake's outside sign. Also in the pictures below is a shot of the sign above the nearby legendary Oakalnd greasy burger spot - just down the block a bit from the Grand Lake Theater, Kwik Way which some longtime music fans might remember was also the name of a short-lived Bay Area mid-eighties punk band Kwik Way who jacked not just the name but also the logo of the take-out only eatery as the cover art for their sole album back in the day. 

Have you noticed how many cool in-stores Amoeba has been having lately? Well add tonight (Friday Sept.ember 14th)  to that list when the wonderful Kinski play for free at 6PM at Amoeba Music San Francisco in support of their recently released SubPop album "Down Below It's Chaos."  For more information on tonight's show and the new album (which was recorded in their hometown of Seattle, WA) click here. And if you miss the free show you can always catch them later tonight at San Francisco club Bottom of the Hill with Unnatural Helpers opening for them. This show will probably sell out so get to the club early and/or better still, try and make it to the Haight Street Amoeba at 6PM.


Unfortunately the scheduled White Stripes NorCal show at the Greek Theater in Berkeley on Sept 21st has been canceled, along with several other Stripes' tour dates including San Diego and Inglewood, because drummer Meg White is reportedly suffering from acute anxiety and consequently unable to travel.  "We hate to let people down and are very sorry,"  Meg is quoted in a statement on the White Stripes website. Ticket holders should return tix to place of purchase........In other artist-burnout news after last  Sunday's VMA MTV show it seems that Britney Spears has generated the most ink. And perhaps the most compelling editorializing of all on the topic of Britney's career status comes from blogpshere-YouTube star Chris Crocker whose posting from a few days ago (below) has received a stunning five million plus viewings to date!  Plus it has generated a ton of responses and spoofs on YouTube. Now if  Ms Spears label Jive Records could sell even close to five million copies of Britney's next album (as they have with past Britney hits) all concerned parties would be happy.  Maybe they should sign Chris Crocker.

Many years ago when I was interviewing Too $hort he told me how an important part of his recording            process involved testing every track, as the new album recording session progressed, by taping it onto cassette and then bumping the tape at full volume in his ride. "Cos this is how most fans will listen to it...in their cars," he explained at the time.  Traditionally many studio engineers would do a similar playback-test by listening back to tracks on a small tinny speaker (akin to an AM radio) with the assumption that this would be how many folks would listen back to the songs being recorded. But these days recording engineers/producers/mixers are gearing their music for iPods (or MP3s vs CDs) and as such are radically changing how the music sounds. On Wednesday the Wall Street Journal (of all places) ran a wonderful piece on this new trend (the compression of music files onto MP3 format) that most audiophiles find most disturbing. The article is well worth reading and can be found online here.