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After three and a half years chasing rappers for the Guardian, I've met, photographed, and finally interviewed Keak da Sneak, but never all at once. Getting ahold of E-40 is a breeze compared to tracking down Keak. One of the only Bay artists whose singles routinely play on KMEL, even hitting number one locally with 2005's "Super Hyphy," Keak is perpetually hot and therefore elusive. Read more »

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**Update: The Paid Dues Independent Hip Hop Festival has been cancelled. See below for more details.

I'm not accustomed to receiving rappers at my home at 8 a.m. — an hour most rappers have only heard of — but I made an exception for Tajai Massey, member of Souls of Mischief and Hieroglyphics. Read more »

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I'm typing this with one hand, because I'm patting myself on the back with the other. According to Eddi Projex himself, I'm the first writer to ever interview him, back in 2003 when he was a member of Hittaz on tha Payroll, who'd just released their retail debut, Ghetto Storm (Hitta). It was the tail end of the Bay's turn-of-the-century commercial drought, yet the group — including Polo, Curcinado, and Fletchberg Slim — sold almost 4,000 copies. Read more »

When I first heard Digital Underground in 1989, via "The Humpty Dance," little did I imagine it would someday fall to me to announce the group's end. After a 20-year run — including five albums, one EP, one rarities disc, solo albums by Shock-G and Money B, and a helluva lot of touring — DU are calling it quits. Their Feb. 22 show at the Red Devil Lounge may be your last opportunity to see these putf8um Bay Area OGs. Read more »

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Even the short list of elite Bay Area rappers — say, Too Short, E-40, Keak Da Sneak, and Mistah FAB — must include the Fillmore's own Marvin Watson Jr., a.k.a. Messy Marv. Read more »

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This ain't the hyphy movement, bra-bra.

Beeda Weeda, "(I Rep Oakland) I Don't Rep the Bay"

It was a strange year for my long-running obsession, Bay Area rap. After two years of steady building, the scene reached a plateau in 2007, for various reasons. On the one hand, many of the hottest acts — from OGs San Quinn and E-40 to youngsters J-Stalin and Beeda Weeda — dropped discs in '06 and have spent this year prepping follow-ups. Read more »

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I meet B-Legit in Concord for lunch at the Elephant Bar, an appropriately massive venue for a rapper of his stature and talents. With three albums by the Click — a group including his cousins E-40, D-Shot, and Suga T — and five solos under his belt, B-La hardly needs an introduction. Along with Too $hort, the Click started the Bay's independent hip-hop scene, beginning with their 1989 12-inch under the name MVP. Read more »

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So if you see me, I be where they don't battle rhyme

28 and zipper or Eighth Street and Adeline

— Shady Nate, "Banga Dance (Remix)" (Zoo Ent.)

I meet up with Shady Nate at Eighth Street and Adeline, in the Acorn neighborhood of West Oakland, where he spent his youth. As we scout locations for photos, a man walks by peeling a tangerine. "I survive in West Oakland," he mutters, more to himself than to us. Read more »

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You can't imagine all the types of shit I've seen in my life

You can't imagine all the pain 'til you look in my eyes

Ike Dola, "This Is My Life"

I met Ike Dola two days after his father died. Not only did the 23-year-old East Oakland MC keep our appointment, but he'd also performed the same day his father succumbed to cancer. Read more »

SUPERLATIVE Most Likely to Get Nasty

QUOTE "I'm about to eat your ass like soul food."

If you're looking for the future of hyphy, vocalist J.Nash is already there. Never mind that his versatile vocals link the two hottest Bay Area rap albums this year: Mistah FAB's Da Baydestrian (SMC) and Turf Talk's West Coast Vaccine (Sic Wid It). His own album, Hyphy Love (Soul Boy/Urban Life), is a genre unto itself, a fusion of hyphy and R&B that Nash calls R&Bay. Read more »