After leaving his beloved hometown of San Jose, Hip Hop artist Shamako Noble speaks about his return and the changes of the local hip hop scene
I returned to the San Jose Hip Hop
scene in late November of last year. Some people gave me the impression
that the San Jose scene was wack. Some people were married to the
notion that the their wasn’t a lot of unity or dope art being produced. I
know that when I left, it didn’t seem like there was a lot of
creativity popping off. The promoters ordinance had just hit, and cats
felt like they weren’t getting the opportunities that they deserved. I’d
spent over a year in Seattle, about half the year traveling the
country, and about six months in Atlanta. A year after that return, and
I have to say that a lot of these statements seem untrue to me in
today's Hip Hop environment. In fact, I would say that the San Jose Hip
Hop scene looks healthier and more poised to make moves than it has in
years. There are some areas where we could stand to improve, and over
all I’ve seen a lot of folks making tight moves that I want to take the
time to recognize.
First, I want to take a moment to recognize a lot of the young
cats that are out on the Block and making moves right now. I know that
he’s on the same label I am, and it’s been great to see
YDMC recognized
as the South Bay’s most booked artist. His upcoming album, “Under the
Radar” has among the South Bay’s most anticipated projects. Baylingual
and the Metafysics have been putting it down real hard. And
C Note is a
cat that’s making waves with both his song construction and his
production. And who can forget the beautiful
Songstress Anya, who has
been kicking down doors as of recent.
Of course, you can’t forget about the tried and
true.
Dirtbag Dan has continued his beastly ascent, dropping mixtapes,
videos and battles all around the world. He’s repping SJ to the fullest,
no doubt about it. Cats like the
Bangerz put it down super hard last
year, accomplishing the monumental task of being a featured Hip Hop
group in music in the park. They were literally the first (and possibly
last) to ever be featured considering the death of Music in the Park.
And who among us can say that
Rey Res didn't absolutely kill it last
year. Dropping videos, hits and and raw production. On the real,
IL
Twice came with some heat, and I found myself bumping
Black Sancho every
morning for like a month. One of my favorite things to see has been
one of the home town heroes’
Dem-One really focus on smashing with
universally appealing, wholesome and fresh tracks and Mixtape releases.
Isolated Wax has been on the grind for real, and
Megabusive,
Dave Dubb,
Sean Blak and many others are poised to continue planting their
indelible imprint on the South Bay scene. Last year heralded the hyper
return of Sub Ren, with the release of their mixtape and a series of
well killed shows. I had the honor of performing with them on the most
recent #SWAG bill. That was a dope night and I was glad to be a part of
it. Rumor is that we can expect to see big things out of
Boogieman this
year, which is fresh because he’s been putting on the grind for sometime
and he’s more than due. And San Jose veteran and female emcee
extraordinaire
Persia is working on releasing her new album and a video
with Bring it Back founder Fritz. When I asked Persia about the Hip Hop
scene, she reflected, “I see more support and unity among artists and
promoters. Not to say its all roses and love but its a hell of a lot
better.”
San Jose's long history of organizing, education and activism
has ebbed and flowed. Right now, there’s all kinds of great things on
the horizon. Coming up on Feb. 11th, the Bay’s own
Adisa Banjoko will be
hosting the HHCF 5th Anniversary celebration at the Alum Rock Youth
center. This event will host some of my
RonDavoux records brethren
DLabrie and
Rahman Jamaal along with
Asheru, the creator of the
Boondocks theme. I’m pretty pumped about that event myself.
I am bearing witness to various levels of interactivity, growth
and collectivity. And while there remains some challenges to overcome,
things are looking pretty good from where I’m sitting. Recently, Strong
Arm, a DJ and host of the #SWAG show stated, “Some people may want to
paint San Jose as a place where everybody is hating and nobody is
getting along, but look at tonight’s show. We’ve got Sub Ren, Isolated
Wax, KSJS, Zulu Nation, Hip Hop Congress, Clout, Funk Lab, all working
together. I think that we’ve come a long way.” I really felt where he
was coming from. Without a doubt, we are still struggling with venues,
we are still finding our collective voice, we are still waiting on the
“big blow up.” For all intents and purposes though, I like where we are,
and I like where it looks like we’re headed. I hope that we can all
continue to play our roles, stay in our lanes while exploring new areas
of creativity, and find sustainable and inventive ways to support each
other, the movement and the art without creating or sustain divides that
may or may not even exist. At the same time, I hope that we continue to
challenge each other’s skills, ambition’s and integrity in an
appropriately Hip Hop iron sharpens iron fashion. It’s time for vision
over division. Matty Slim’s says it best, “The creativity in SJ is
crazy. I've never seen so many different kinds of artists here. The
unity has as much room to grow as the creativity does. It's not up to
anyone it's up to everyone to keep building and showing what is being
made here.” Let’s keep it pushing SJ! Bay United, Bay Universal. B.U.!
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