New Video: Ziri Live Interviews G-Eazy (@zirilive @g_eazy @robloblahkop @thedepotsf)

New Interview: Casha Speaks with Bay Area Compass (@casha408)

Direct from that #408, East San Jose, Casha speaks with Bay Area Compass about his Don't Worry album and recent album he is currently working on, Casha also touches on how the Bay Area music scene is and how it should be and much much more!

New Interview: 3Dison Speaks with Bay Area Compass (@King3dison)

3Dison speaks with Lex of Bay Area Compass about his new connection, the music movement in Sacramento and his latest music.

New Video: Mistah F.A.B. Speaks with GK Ent.

GK kicks it with Mistah FAB to talk with him about what keeps him inspired in music. Mistah F.A.B. also gives advice to new artists, as well as shares a BRAND NEW FREESTYLE!!! and much more!!!

New Video: Rick Rock Interview with DubCNN

Rick Rock got them slumps! Peep the interview hoe!

New Video: Rick Rock Interview

Rick Rock speaks about his up coming projects and past projects as well!

New Interview: Mistah F.A.B Speaks with Morgan Lee

resh off the release of his street album, I Found My Backpack Vol.2, Mistah F.A.B. is comfortable. He’s been able to travel and perform for fans all over the world while still influentially working with his community at home. Coming up on the battle circuit, he has been a long-standing figment on the Bay area Hip Hop scene, at one point even ranking as it’s most nationally recognized artist, seemingly embodying the area’s budding hyphy movement of the time.

Now in 2012, F.A.B. has witnessed the ups and downs of being the face of a trend and plans to utilize his knowledge of the game and skills as a versatile emcee to continue a lucrative career for himself as well those coming up under his wing. I got a chance to speak to “The Baydestrian” about his new project, his side endeavors, and the things that are most important to the man as well as the artist.

Morgan: I know a few years ago, the Bay Area was at one if it’s highest points ever as far as Hip Hop goes. What direction is the game moving in out there now?

Mistah F.A.B: My perspective of Hip Hop in the Bay Area is that it is relevant to a certain extent. Artists in the Bay have always gotten support from the home crowd and been buzzing within the Bay even if the rest of the nation isn’t hearing it. We’ve been able to accumulate a steady fan base and careers have been created out of our local demographics. It’s important for these cats to realize that being a regional star is a big step in the process of being a successful artist, but in order get to that next level you need to expand and expound your music beyond the city limits. Once they reach that potential, it can be very lucrative for their careers as well as productive for the whole music scene out here.

Morgan: Are you speaking on any artists in particular?

Mistah F.A.B: There are a lot of artists coming up. I’m not sure how familiar you are with the new Bay movement and cats like IAMSU! or Love Rance but collectively they have a movement going on called the new Bay and are dope. There are a lot of those guys.

Morgan: I’m still stuck on the old Bay dudes like [Mac] Dre, [Too] Short, PSD and cats like that, but I’ll make sure to look into the new movement. So you say it’s a sort of a collective… are they a group or just individual cats from all corners of the Bay pushing the same idea?

Mistah F.A.B: Yeah they are from all over. I actually got a chance to see one of their shows before I went on the road because I had been hearing about it. I went to go see and I was like whoa! Blown away by the support they had for their followers and small committee of associates. It was dope…they rocked and are very talented and marketable. If they utilize those things to their advantage they will be very successful. Then you have cats like J.Stalin who embodies a movement, similar to the thizz movement, you know the genre of music may be different but they’ve taken their Livewire Gang brand and expanded it. It’s humbling to see where these guys are taking it while still maintaining that Bay Area pride. At the end of the day, it’s a lot of taking it all upon yourself and that’s good to see.

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New Interview: 93.1 Jamz speaks with Bobby Brackins

KingFusion speaks with Bobby Brackins about his new release and whats coming in the future.

New Video: Rux Speaks with YolaB TV

Yola B interviews Vallejo Native rapper Ruxamillion. Known for working up and close with artists such as K.O.B, Indecent the Slapmaster, Young Dru and other artists as Mistah Fab. Rux new album is set to be released soon! get familiar with the artwork below!

New Interview: San Quinn Speaks with HipHop DX

One of the Bay's most consistent veterans drops his new album to say that he still has his eyes on a Grammy Award and thinks Messy Marv shouldn't have gone after a godfather like Too Short.

As A Hustler's Hope, San Quinn's latest, proves, inspiration is something that can come to us at all points in life. Twenty years into a Rap career, one that has established him as one of the Bay's greats, San Quinn's next career move wasn't to crank out another solo project. Instead, he decided to play teammate and mentor for new signee Tuf Luv, with whom he collaborated on A Hustler's Hope. As Quinn admits, Tuf Luv was a breath of fresh air when he first heard him, probably because he heard so much of himself. Both have a very blue collar approach: no frills, no lies, just truth. While they may be two men at different points in their lives, they complement each other well on Hope.

San Quinn speaks with the insight of a veteran but still possesses a youthful hunger to keep pushing for greater goals. He wants Grammy Awards to ensure his legacy is lasting. The Fillmore icon aiming to be a mogul, to build an empire that not only brings the focus to the Bay Area but keeps it there. Citing successes in cities like Houston and Atlanta, he sees the potential for that success to head West, and even offers a few pointers that could help the Bay Area gain visibility. With a revamped roster at his label, Done Deal 772, only time will tell if he's sowing the seeds to become the Bay's version of Master P.

HipHopDX caught up with San Quinn last week by phone. He spoke on the inspiration behind a few tracks on the new album, gave us his take on the Twitter beef between Too Short and Messy Marv, and explained a few reasons why the Bay isn't getting recognized as it should. He also told us how Ke$ha is essentially Hyphy in a nutshell.

HipHopDX: Why the decision to make A Hustler's Hope a collaborative album with Tuf Luv instead of pursuing another solo album?

San Quinn: Tuf Luv is a new artist signed to my label, Done Deal 772, and instead of making him come out by himself, I wanted to make sure that he came in getting a little bit of a look. There's so much music out now and so many people doing music that it's hard for anybody, and he's so talented. I mean, he one of the best rappers rapping, period. I wanted to make sure that he got the right look. My partner Pablo wanted me to bring back the Done Deal label because I didn't have no artists on there except for Lil Quinn and my partner Hollywood up out of Richmond, so a couple people convinced me to bring the label back.

DX: One of my favorite cuts from A Hustler's Hope is a song you threw up as kind of a teaser on YouTube a little while back, the song “Drunk In San Francisco.” It's a real catchy and playful track with a vibe you don't hear a lot in rap. How did that come about in the first place?

San Quinn: Dex Beats. Gotta give all the credit to him. He made the beat. You know, if you from the San Francisco Bay Area, who hasn't been [drunk in San Francisco]? You partying and you go out, that's where most of the clubs [and] the club life is. It was like a no-brainer. It was pretty easy to do once Dex created the beat and the hook. He really produced the record, you know what I mean?

We're just trying to bring a breath [of fresh air] into Hip Hop because you know, with Rap music nowadays, especially Bay Area music, the rapper is the kingpin. There's no humor to it, so I just wanted to go there because I know a lot of people have seen me drunk [and have said] “What the hell is going on with Quinn?” I just wanted to go ahead and make light of the situation.

Tuf is just a phenomenal writer. His family, the Dumases -- his last name – I believe his great-great uncle was responsible for writing The Three Musketeers, so dude is phenomenal with his pen. It just excites me every time I hear dude rap. Then we threw [B-Legit] on there because B-la the king of the club. If "B-la" ain't the king of nothing else, he's the king of being down, and he's never sloppy drunk or nothing like that but [when] he is in the club, [he's there] with not the little bottles but the big [ones], so it was an honor to reach out to B-la.

It touched the radio but it's bigger than the radio. We about to shoot a video real soon with a silly concept to it. It's gonna be fun and hopefully the world gravitates to it. You can never be too sure, but then you just gotta have faith to see if the record will catch. We gonna take it to MTV with the visual part of it. Hopefully they pick it up and it becomes a big hit for us.

DX: Another song I wanted to highlight is the track that comes right before “Drunk in San Francisco,” which is “Foolin' Around.” I even Googled the hook to try and track down the sample because I loved it so much. Great storytelling from both you and Tuf Luv on that track. Can you shed some light on how that track came about?

San Quinn: It was basically the life of me fucking around on my woman at the studio. You know, in the life [of a rapper] there's always a groupie or some extra bitch that wants to be around, and a man being a man, being an animal, you get high, you get drunk, [then] you want something that ain't yours, and you go right to feeling stupid.

With my girl, she always finds out every muthafuckin' thing, especially with these social networks and sites. A bitch wanna say “Well, I was with you last night.” They be typing on Facebook thinking they're writing to me and [they] be writing to her, or text my phone thinking they texting me [when they're] texting her, you know what I mean? [Laughs] It just ends up [with us] arguing and fuckin' and fighting over me fuckin' around.

It's the life of a rapper. The life of a rapper and the night life, and women that are attracted to you and women that you think that you're attracted to but it might just be a carnal thing. You just wanna fuck with a bitch for that night and leave that there, but they wanna take it further, ya feel what I'm saying? All of it is through experience. [The sample], that's Morris Day & The Time. The Time made the beat and that's Morris Day on the hook. The hook is from “Gigolos Get Lonely Too.”

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New Interview: Chillin With Tonka Boy Dre

Tonka Boy Dre speaks about his new release, Internet grind & video games.

New Interview: San Quinn & TufLuv by DubCNN

Dubcnn interviews San Quinn and TufLuv about their new collaborative effort "A Hustler's Hope", which is available now in stores and on all digital retailers.

New Interview: Goapele with The Washington Post

Macy L. Freeman with The Washington Post interviewed Goapele after watching a performance at the Birchmere Music Hall in Alexandria, Va.

Q: How would you say “Break of Dawn” is different from your previous albums?
A: “Break of Dawn,” musically, is still soulful and eclectic, but I think I opened up a little bit more vocally. It’s a little more intimate. It’s a little more sensual than before—and pensive.

Q: Of the nine tracks on” Break of Dawn,” which would you say means the most to you and why?
A: I would say “Pieces” and “Tears on My Pillow” and—you know—those are my ballads and their bluesy and sentimental for me.

Q: What do you hope listeners take away from the new album?
A: I want people to feel inspired. I want people to feel good. I want people to feel something. I want people to strive for what they want in their life, and I want them to heal from anything that’s hurting them.

Q: You once said, “Soul is kind of the root of the music that I do, but I want to keep redefining.” How do you go about doing that, and how do you feel about being placed into the neo-soul category?
A: I say that I do Soul, R&B music. I have so many influences from Billie Holiday, Nina Simone to Stevie Wonder and Prince and even Al Green and Bjork. And a lot of Hip Hop music has influenced me a lot—you know—De La Soul and Digital Underground and A Tribe Called Quest. So many different influences that when I’m in the studio, you know as a songwriter, I like feeling free and going with the vibe and letting the song grow as it should. Sometimes that doesn’t fit exactly into any category, so I have to keep redefining how to describe the music that I do. But I promise that it will always be soulful, because it will come from my soul.

Q: What inspired you to name the album “Break of Dawn?”
A: When I was finished recording everything and all of these songs are just glimpses of moments of different feelings and thoughts that I’ve had or different stories that are part my own and part collected that I want to tell. I wanted a title that would capture all of that and capture where I’m trying to go and I feel like the break of dawn is infinite possibilities for what that day will bring.

Q: When did you first discover that music was the path you wanted to take?
A: Well, I remember when I was in elementary school, maybe like 8 years old or something. I was around a lot of performing artists that were friends of the family and I just always felt like ‘that’s what I want to do.’ In high school I started training, singing with choirs and getting voice lessons and doing a lot of creative writing and decided that that’s really what I wanted to pursue as a career and that’s what I was going to study.

Q: What music are you listening to right now?
A: I’m listening to James Blake and Frank Ocean, Erykah Badu—Ledisi.

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New Video: Goapele Interviewed by Out Da Box TV

Out Da Box TV brings us a brand new interview with Goapele to talk about a variety of distinct topics, including her love for music, dealing with the youth, her outlook on life as taught by her activist parents, and keeping humble in the music industry. She also shared some of the responses, she received from the success of her famous single Closer. Goapele new album titled Break Of Dawn is set to be released on 10/24/2011.

New Interview: Rappin’ 4-Tay Still Standing by AllHipHop

It’s been almost five years since Rappin’ 4-Tay last released an album, but that drought is over as the San Francisco veteran independently released Still Standing Vol. 1 just this past September. 4-Tay is best known for bringing that smooth Bay Area pimp vibe to his early 90s hits “Playaz Club” and the remake of The Spinners classic, “I’ll Be Around.”
Even though he fell out of the national spotlight after those two hits, 4-Tay went independent and continued to release albums and sell units locally in the true fashion of a Bay Area artist. AllHipHop.com connected with the Frisco legend to remind the world that 4-Tay is “still standing” after all these years – even if the days of nearly guaranteed, national radio play may be long over. Who says one can’t have a long career after a major label contract is gone? Not 4-Tay:

AllHipHop.com: Mr. Rappin’ 4-Tay, how are you?

Rappin’ 4-Tay: I’m good. Rub a dub dub, I’m chillin’ here at the Playaz Club.

AllHipHop.com: Yes, I remember that song. It still gets played on the old school stations out here in Los Angeles.

Rappin’ 4-Tay: KDAY. We need a station like that out here in the Bay Area. I like how they stay dedicated to the old school.

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New Video: Mack 10, Young Buck, E-40, Kendrick Lamar Speak On #RIPTROYDAVIS

The hoods are still mourning the tragic loss of innocent death row inmate, Troy Davis. Rappers: Mack 10, Young Buck, Kendrick Lamar, and E-40 speak on their disdain for the death penalty at KDAY's Fresh Fest 2011 concert.

New Video: Goapele Interview With YouKnowIGotSoul

As Goapele prepares for the release of her third album "Break of Dawn" later this month, YouKnowIGotSoul had a chance to interview her to discuss the project. She talked about what to expect on the album, the creative process of her new single "Play", working with various producers on the project, collaborating with different songwriters for the first time, the gap between albums, working with Mateo on "Shoot Me Down", and much more.

New Video: Roach Gigz Interviewed by USD Radio

ROACH GIGZ INTERVIEW USD RADIO

New Interview: Mike Pre Interviewed by Dz Nutts Radio

Mike Pre & Coach Nubay interviewed by Sal O of Dz Nutts Radio. Download free music at www.mikerpe.com

New Interview: YMTK on his new Mixtape

Young Murph talks a little bit about his upcoming mixtape "Murphy Pan's Labyrinth", touching on what makes this mixtape different, his musical process, and goals for the future. This is a Cali King Film shot and directed by Cali King. For the full interview go to www.ymtk.me