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Oh Dang! features

On Set: Alexander Spit's "No Baking Soda Allowed"
By Lorenzo Escalante

We take you behind-the-scenes on the set of Alexander Spit's "No Baking Soda Allowed" music video, directed by Josh "F-22" Couto...

Dessa Darling Sings the Blues
By Kimberly Turner

Maggie “Dessa Darling” Wander, the lone female emcee of Minnesota hip-hop collective Doomtree, is showing fans she can do more than rap...

Featured Video: Hopie Spitshard's "Yummy"
By Oh Dang!

There's a lot of elements at work here: you've got raw, unmatched lyricism provided by the sister Hopie Spitshard + the homey 6Finger's futuristic blapper + a really ill visual depiction of the song by Kid Heroes Productions and Xylophone Films...

Flickin': Photos from A Special Entree at 111 Minna
By Oh Dang!, Photos by Lorenzo Escalante, Krisana Horachaikul and Ekevara Kitpowsong

On Jan. 31, we had six of our favorite Bay Area artists come through to 111 Minna Gallery to get down...on half-naked women. Check the highlights...

FEATURED DOWNLOAD: iLL-Literacy's iB4the1.1
By Zo

iLL-Lit's put in serious thought and work into honing their craft. Already known for killing crowds with their witty, reflective and energetic live show, they journey into sound with a series of free EPs. And it's an honor to present you with their initial offering, iB4the1.1...

Flavor for your Ear: BRWN BFLO bring the musical potluck
By Kimberly Turner, Photo by Matt Mills

Oakland’s BRWN BFLO is taking Oscar Zeta Acosta’s message and name (nabbed from Acosta’s semi-autobiography) and setting it to a really loud MPC...

Backstage Confessions: Fashawn talks album sales, sticky strippers and Halloween havoc
By Jessica Barcenilla, Photos and video by Jan C. Ferrer

What was supposed to be a proper Q&A with Fashawn backstage during Ghostface Killah's Wizard of Poetry Tour turned into a drunken group discussion on the success of Fashawn's debut album, the tour, Boy Meets World (the TV show, not the album), his recent birthday escapades, and Halloween ideas. Check out an exclusive video interview, photos and live performance clips...

Grizzly City Gusto: Fresno emcee Fashawn rises from the minor league
By Jessica Barcenilla

Fashawn is part of a new breed of young talent emerging in the hallways of hip-hop. Artists like Kidz in the Hall, Wale, Kid Cudi and Blu represent the resurrection of the cool and conscious. But if these artists are the leaders of the new school, Fashawn is the transfer student...

Oh Dang!'s premier issue has arrived...
By Oh Dang!

Our premier print issue is finally here! Get it while it's hot...

Hella Hankering with Reflection Eternal
By Jessica Barcenilla, Photos by Patrick Kawahara

I introduce myself, awkwardly excusing myself for being a geeked-out fan, and sit down. For the next 10 minutes I’m squeezed in between Talib Kweli and Hi-Tek, bursting into a series of laugh riots over my spazzed-out vernacular...

Top Sidin' with Trackademicks
By Lorenzo Escalante

Trackademicks is a Bay Area staple. Promoters, artists and party people alike know that if you want a packed club, a hot track, an ill verse or a dope show, Trackadeezy and his Honor Roll cohorts are the crew to call...

Exile: The Soul Provider
By Phalary Long

Exile is living proof that there are unlimited variations to the new west coast sound. Oh Dang! sat down with the beatsmith and talked with him about his latest release Radio; how he met Blu, his upcoming projects for 2009 and his rap album...

Jake One: Mmm...Mmm...Beats
By Chasen Paper

It's eight months after the release of Jake One's highly praised first official album, White Van Music, and he is still humble. He's produced for hip-hop's heaviest hitters and most underrated emcees alike, and is currently a member of the good Dr.Dre's personal in-house beat production camp. To put it in layman's terms, the dude's got mad stripes...

Mayer Hawthorne: An Unsuspecting Soul
By Ninoy Brown, Photo by Jayne Liu

In the latter half of 2008, a falsetto soul song entitled, “Just Ain’t Gonna Work Out” helped Stones Throw artist Mayer Hawthorne develop buzz. The nostalgic feel of the track and subsequent internet releases earned the Ann Arbor, MI native a following of fans yearning for more...

Gettin' Prophetic with Diz Gibran
By Ninoy Brown

With the recent release of his free download album, Soon You’ll Understand, LA rapper/business man, Diz Gibran, is making marks as more than a hyped up rapper in the “New West” movement...

J-Billion: "The illest rapper with a day job"
By Chasen Paper, Photos by Patrick Kawahara

Take a deep breath. Now say every synonym in the English language thinkable for the word swagger. Bay Area emcee J-Billion, or simply "Billion," should be the first word from your lips as you exhale...

Shinganist: Life & Death in the eyes of Usugrow
By Krys Simon, Photos by Patrick Kawahara

Usugrow’s foundation of creating punk rock flyers and designing his own shirts has led him to major collaborations with Vans, Famous Stars and Straps and Upper Playground. I got a chance to merge heads with him in between book signings...

Behind the Scenes with Tanya Morgan: "So Damn Down"
By Lorenzo Escalante

We catch up with Tanya Morgan on the set of their "So Damn Down" video shoot to give you a sneak peak of the music video and find out more about Brooklynati...

Curt@!ns: Return of Dope Boy C
By Chasen the Crate, Photo by Jan C. Ferrer

The young and ambitious Curt@!ns and his crew blew through 5024SF's Haight Street gallery for a quickstrike interview...

An Evening with Keelay
By Lorenzo Escalante

We caught up with Keelay in his San Francisco apartment to talk about Ridin' High, his influences and plans for the future. Watch the video...

SXSW Debriefing Pt. 2
By Zoneil Maharaj (Words) and Ariel Zambelich (Photos)

We were originally gonna post a day-to-day report of our adventures at SXSW (South by Sausage West), but obviously that didn't happen. So here’s the rundown of the rest of the week at SXSW, as concise as we could make it…

SXSW Day 1 Debriefing
By Zoneil Maharaj (Words) and Ariel Zambelich (Photos)

We knew going in that it would be madness, but linking up with some friends killed the anxiety and nervousness. Check photos from our first day at SXSW...

Photos from the peaceful protest against the murder of Oscar Grant
By Kirstina Sangsahachart

Those demanding justice for the murder of Oscar Grant by a BART police a officer held a successful peaceful protest on Wed., Jan. 7 at the Fruitvale BART station. Freelance photographer and Oh Dang! contributor Kirstina Sangsahachart shares her photos...

New School Principle: Mic Terror is setting the new standard for rap
By Joshua Weitz, Photos by Suzy Salazar

Mic Terror's trademark "Hi-Ooooo!" call, along with his smooth, lascivious and boastful rhymes have been making their way across the planet. Don't believe it? Check the colossal Adidas ad in Hollywood...

It's a bird...it's a plane...it's...The Mighty Underdogs
By Kimberly Turner, Photos by Steven Simonetti

Move over Justice League—there's a new super group in town. Collectively known as the Mighty Underdogs, Blackalicious' Gift of Gab and Lateef the Truth Speaker of Latryx have teamed up with Crown City Rockers producer/bassist Headnodic to deliver listeners a swift kung fu kick to the knees...

Pussy Prevails: Weekend Warriors bring unfiltered femininity to street wear
By Phalary Long, Photos by Tim Mar

There's a dynamic blend of femininity and edginess in their designs. For instance, their first tee was a statement that read "Pussy Prevails," taking femininity to a new level...

Untouchable: Ruby Veridiano-Ching takes the crown with her new book, Miss Universe
By Phalary Long, Photos by Suzy Salazar

Ruby Veridiano-Ching shines so vibrantly that eyes squint to catch a glimpse. A poet, arts educator and VJ for MYX TV, she now adds author to her list of accolades with the recent release of her debut collection of works, Miss Universe...

Detroit Dangerfield: Veteran emcee Elzhi gets his due respect
By Austin Walsh

It's Elzhi who made "Selfish" a hit while superseding Jay Dilla as the third member of Slum Village in 2001. Detroit's MC Dangerfield is finally beginning to make moves towards gaining the respect he deserves...

Free Reign: DJ and producer Million Dollar Mano breaks free of the hip-hop norm
By Joshua Weitz, Photos by Suzy Salazar

Only 24 years strong and filled with the vigor that youth provides, Million Dollar Mano's hand skills are now acceptable as a worldwide currency. To his plaudits, his music reflects touches of electro, house, and rock but still maintains a core that is unmistakably hip-hop...

Getting the Skinny on Do D.A.T.: Talking music and politics with the Oakland emcee
By Brittany Stewart, Photos by Suzy Salazar

With the recent release of Do D.A.T.'s latest EP, The Skinny, Oh Dang! was given the opportunity to sit down and get the skinny on him, his love for music, working with the youth and a few things in between...

God's Son: An interview with New Jersey emcee Hasan Salaam
By Ahmad Majid

As names go, New Jersey hip-hop artist and community activist Hasan Salaam has an excellent one. His first name means "handsome," "manly," and/or "good"; his last name means "peace." When he isn't recording or touring, he spends time in a classroom and recording studio as an instructor...

Creative Recreation: The Bay Area celebrates Independent Artist Week
By Craig Young

During the week of Sept. 7-13, creative events and production company Infin8 Sync celebrated Bay Area artistry, uniting the community for San Francisco's inaugural Independent Artists Week. We caught up with founders Melonie and Melorra Green...

48 Laws of Obama: An Interview with Strategy Expert Robert Greene
By Adisa Banjoko

In watching Barack Obama's rise, it is hard to not see a pattern of his victories closely connected with The 48 Laws of Power and the 33 Strategies of War. At times Obama appears to have been playing a magnificent game of political chess from the start of his bid for the Oval Office...

Rhyming is a Girl’s Best Friend: Hopie Spitshard rips through the repetitive rap repertoire and hip-hop’s stereotypes
By Jessica Barcenilla, Photos by Kirstina Sangsahachart

The 24-year-old college graduate is better known as Hopie Spitshard, a hungry female emcee out to prove that she is more than just a pretty face...

Talking Shop with Nina Parks: Anthony Marshall
By Nina Parks

Anthony Marshall, co-founder of the legendary Lyricist Lounge, sits down with photographer Nina Parks at West Side Cuts in the Fillmore to discuss the progress and state of hip hop as a business...

Pacific Division: F.A.T. and hungry for more
By Jamaal Johnson

Tucked under the L.A. gravel, the new west coast movement is emerging with a nostalgic sound of old school awareness blended with a splash of new school swag and rhyming prowess. Enters Pacific Division, the So Cal rap trio looking to rattle listeners’ heads a bit with what they call "honesty rap"...

Higher Learning: New Design High School uses its scenic rooftop to help save arts programs
By Gabrielle Wooden

New Design High School, located in the Lower East Side of Manhattan, is the school every kid wishes they went to. Imagine that way cool art school in the movie "Step Up," minus the posh reputation and the whole, you know, “ballet” thing...

Planet B-Boy: Headspinning to make your head spin
By James Woodard

Break dancing, once the hallmark of underground urban culture and thought to be a passing fad of the 80s, is alive and well. The spastic dance cousin of hip hop has exploded onto the world stage of pop culture, with rabid fans and b-boy crews coming from every corner of the globe...

Touring for the People: Kiwi raises awareness about politically-motivated killings in the Philippines
By Donna Tam

Kiwi just couldn’t stand by and do nothing when he learned about the kidnapping and killings of progressive Filipino Americans in the Philippines by the Filipino government. The San Francisco-based rapper, formerly of the group Native Guns, decided to use his music to express his frustrations...

Snoop's Survival: An interview with The Wire's Felicia Pearson
By Suemedha Sood, for Wiretapmag.org

Felicia Pearson weighed only three pounds when she was born. She was a crack baby with no parents. Her biological mother and father were both incarcerated at the time of her birth. Just by surviving, she defied all odds...

Character Development: Saul Williams gives life to Niggy Tardust
By Asiana Ponciano, Photos courtesy of Evan Cohen

"With Niggytardust, I’m looking at race and identity, which is a crucial time considering the political climate to have raised that in an album and say I believe race is a social construct that even to call myself black is reactionary..."

Youth Media Blog-a-Thon: L.A. Emcee Bambu Speaks on Violence
By Zoneil Maharaj, Photos by Kirstina Sangsahachart

This month’s Youth Media Blog-a-Thon topic is violence. Oh Dang! caught up with Bambu, a former gang member turned emcee and activist, to discuss violence in his community and in the media. He currently counsels at-risk youth in L.A. while providing the soundtrack to the revolution. After gaining acclaim with the now-defunct Filipino hip hop duo Native Guns, he refocused his energy on his solo career...

In My B-Boy Stance
By Craig Young

It reminded me of high school fights from a bygone era: A circle forms and rivals start jawing and gesturing at each other until one throws the first punch. Some of the b-boys could backup their taunts with dance moves. Others were all bark and got dismissed after the first round...

Delicious Drips: A Toy Story
By Oh Dang!, Photos by Craig Young

Lief Storer, founder of Delicious Drips, paints a 60-inch vinyl toy for his upcoming exhibit, Live or DIY. Storer coined the term "2.5-D" to...

The Duality of Dahlak Brathwaite
By Jamilah King

It might be easy to compare Dahlak to folks like Mos Def or Lupe Fiasco, but perhaps the most apt comparison would be to -- well, no one. Dahlak has a style all his own and his lyrics reflect the most honest parts of himself...

Born Into It: Young women struggle to break free from street life and incarceration
By Craig Young

Seventeen young women gather inside the Center for Young Women’s Development, a non-profit organization in San Francisco. Society has deemed these women unreachable, untreatable and unchangeable because of generational cycles of incarceration, gang and family violence...

In God We Trust: Chief Holyfire Strives to Bring Faith to the Masses
By Len Vinas, Photos by John Coyne

Chief Holyfire doesn’t want to be labeled a “Christian rapper.” He fears he'll be boxed into the religious music category, making it difficult to have a larger fan base, or make it into mainstream hip-hop consciousness.

Time To Get Ill
By Zoneil Maharaj

The Brooklyn duo Iller Than Theirs is not better than anyone, they’re just iller.

The Truth Is Here: Brother Ali Takes an Honest Approach to Hip Hop
By Zoneil Maharaj, Photos by Gretchen Robinette

Brother Ali is the new, unique voice in hip hop, an honest voice of revolt that doesn’t follow the contemporary standard of what hip hop should be. He’s known for showing an honesty that’s often neglected in the hip hop world of alter egos and fake thug personas.

Check Yourself: The Hip Hop Chess Federation Makes History with their First Annual Chess Kings Invitational
By Zoneil Maharaj, Photos by John Coyne

Hip hop’s dirty secret is out the bag…cats is nerds, yo! On Oct 13, the Hip Hop Chess Federation held the nerdiest event in hip hop history, and the coolest event in chess history: the First Annual Chess Kings Invitational. The event featured a panel discussion on hip hop, chess and martial arts, an eight-man celebrity chess tournament and a 16-student scholarship tournament with $10,000 divided between participants.

5 Questions With Nicacelly
By Summer Sewell, Photo by Nathan Weyland

Nicole Markoff, founder of Nicacelly, gained notoriety for her one of a kind handmade women's garments. In 2008, she'll launch her men's line. (Photo...

"The Smartest Black Rapper I Know": A conversation with Hip-Hop Presidential Nominee Murs
By James Monroe Adams IV, Photos by Gretchen Robinette

I am backstage fiddling with my photographer's camera. After four hours of asking, waiting and chain smoking, I will have Murs' attention for at least 30 minutes. He walks into the room, still dressed in his Citgo coveralls, introduces himself, and takes a seat...

Love For the Bay: Ivy Leegue’s Niko Villamor talks about his new singles and his Bay Area beginnings
By Troy Espera, Photos by Kyle Monk

Born in Berkeley and raised in San Francisco, Niko Villamor still claims the Bay with native pride despite living in Atlanta for the past decade. Representing one-fourth of Atlanta hip-hop collective Ivy Leegue, Villamor returns to his roots charged with a mission.

Dissecting the Incipient American Apocalypse: A conversation with El-P
By James Monroe Adams IV, Photos by Gretchen Robinette

El-P is seated in front of me. He is nursing a new tattoo. He is obviously wanting to be anywhere but here. However, I have his attention for 15 minutes, and what follows is what arose from our encounter...

A dream deferred?
By Zoneil Maharaj, Photos by Angelica Flores and Steve Wake

East Oakland Community High School, a school with a progressive perspective and radical approach to education, has had a tumultuous three-year history. This is their saga, broken into four parts...

Sisterz of the Underground
By Dylan Silver | Photos by Steven Simonetti

The Sisterz of the Underground, an all-female hip hop collective of b-girls, DJs, artists and designers, build a support network in a male-dominated culture.

Heroes in Razorblade City
By Zoneil Maharaj

It's not just kids who can learn something from the Lifesavas. The trio continues their mission as humble, positive, socially conscious artists whose creativity stretches wider than the collective overgrown egos of today's pop-rap stars. If you haven't already, start taking notes…

Cleaning blood, brains and bird shit: Somebody's gotta do it...
By Anna Elledge & Photos by James Monroe Adams IV

Dan Lombardi’s first week at Crime Scene Cleaners, Inc. involved removing 20 years and nearly 70 yards of pigeon guano from an abandoned theatre. The next week it was picking up the gray matter of a roofer who had slipped and died…

KEEP IT ALIVE: An Interview with Kero One
By Len Vinas & Photos by John Coyne

OH DANG! sits down with producer, rapper and deejay Kero One to talk about his musical career, influences and growing up in a Korean household

The Mystery of Chess-Hoppin'
By Zoneil Maharaj

In this battle, it doesn’t matter how fast you can freak a fader or how quick-witted your punchlines are, it comes down to patience, logic and precise decision-making. This is Hip Hop, Chess and Life Strategies – the world’s first hip hop chess tournament…

Boac: Still Banging Out the Classics
By Donna Tam & Photos by Constance Cavallas

BOAC’s a man that’s got spunk. He spews energy and he just can’t stop cheesing for the camera. As we talk, there’s a video camera...

Hip hop gets a symphonic mash-up
By Gary Moskowitz & Photos by Colleen Cummins

Musicians on turntables, saxophones, clarinets, congas, trombone, upright bass, electric bass, samplers, drums, keys, violins, viola and cello perform for audiences what the group’s MC calls “a mash-up of everything we can cram into hip hop.”

Destroying submission, one band at a time
By Gary Moskowitz & Photos by Nathan Weyland

Skerik has chops for days. He can play for hours, and thinks nothing of playing a gig until three in the morning. The tenor saxophone, in his hands, is strong, loud and powerful. It can also be soft and melodic, then spastic and distorted.

A Palestinian State of Mind
By Kimberly Castillo and Erika Estrada & Photos by Alan Fackler and Joanne Toth

Members of the General Union of Palestinian Students at San Francisco State University use hip hop to convey a message of Palestinian struggle.

Another Sound Mission
By Asiana Ponciano

Crown City Rockers go through their soundtrack as if it were a memorized dance. The perfect sound each group member is trying to strive for by undergoing a tedious sound check results in what the group feels propels their success – a rocking hip hop show...

Superhero to save Oakland...and mankind
By Gary Moskowitz

Orlando Harding did something nobody’s ever done before. The Bay Area native created a comic book superhero that fights evil in Oakland.

King Dork
By Gary Moskowitz, Photos by Nathan Weyland

Frank Portman aka "Doctor Frank," is the lead singer of the Mr. T Experience and has the band he played in for more that twenty years. A friend who had seen his band play as a kid and was a fan of the lyrics suggested Portman try writing a book. Suddenly things changed for Doctor Frank…

Sky's The Limit
By Summer Sewell

With support and admiration for his art on shirts, Skyler Clay was building a solid reputation in the clothing industry, and creating a signature style for Kama 4k. More importantly, he was painting for himself and still making profit. His days as a talented servant with a brush were behind him, so he thought...

Revolutionary Rap
By Zoneil Maharaj

Immortal Technique encapsulates the same radical voice as the political pioneers of hip hop within his stout and stocky frame. Hip hop, as he says later, is not the end-all agenda for Immortal Technique. He aims to educate and inform listeners about the issues that mainstream media are afraid to address, and hopes his message gets to the public by any means.

Reinventing the Steel
By Zoneil Maharaj

The Native Guns are more than just another rap group in the oversaturated genre of hip hop – they’re radical activists with the hammer cocked, taking aim at the struggles facing today’s youth by utilizing their past experiences to promote social change.

Shootin' the shit with P.O.S.
By Sam Devine

P.O.S stands for several things, among them Piece of Shit, Promise of Stress, and Pissed Off Stef. But if you really wanna know what and who P.O.S. is, you better click here!

Civil Service: An interview with the Typical Cats
By Zoneil Maharaj

Don’t let the name fool you, the Typical Cats are anything but typical…

Bunnies and skulls and skateboards, oh my! A Q&A with Jeremy Fish
By Zoneil Maharaj

An interview with artist Jeremy Fish discussing his artwork and his recent collabo with Aesop Rock.

RECENT STORIES

On Set: Alexander Spit's "No Baking Soda Allowed"

Dessa Darling Sings the Blues

Featured Video: Hopie Spitshard's "Yummy"

Flickin': Photos from A Special Entree at 111 Minna

FEATURED DOWNLOAD: iLL-Literacy's iB4the1.1

Flavor for your Ear: BRWN BFLO bring the musical potluck

Backstage Confessions: Fashawn talks album sales, sticky strippers and Halloween havoc

Grizzly City Gusto: Fresno emcee Fashawn rises from the minor league

Oh Dang!'s premier issue has arrived...

Hella Hankering with Reflection Eternal

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