Hip Hop Made The Bay is an annual hip hop music festival held in the San Francisco Bay Area showcasing the best local hip hop talent. The festival has become a highlight of the Bay Area music scene since starting in 2010, bringing together hip hop fans from across the region for a day of great music. This year’s lineup features some of the most popular up-and-coming and established Bay Area rappers, DJs, and producers.
When and where is Hip Hop Made The Bay happening?
Hip Hop Made The Bay 2023 is taking place on Saturday, October 21st at Middle Harbor Shoreline Park in Oakland. The festival starts at 12 noon and goes until 10pm.
Who are the headliners?
The main headliners at Hip Hop Made The Bay this year are:
- G-Eazy
- Mistah F.A.B.
- Keak Da Sneak
- P-Lo
Oakland native G-Eazy is closing out the festival with a set on the main stage. He rose to fame with hits like “Me, Myself & I” and “No Limit” and continues to be one of the most recognized rappers to come out of the Bay.
Veteran hyphy movement pioneer Mistah F.A.B. is another top billing, known for hustling mixtapes on the streets of Oakland in the early 2000s before blowing up commercially. Keak Da Sneak, another hyphy OG, will also be performing his signature fast-paced music.
Finally, P-Lo brings his cool bay area flow with catchy hooks to the lineup. He previously played Hip Hop Made The Bay in 2016.
What other artists are on the lineup?
In addition to the headliners, here are some of the other notable acts playing Hip Hop Made The Bay 2023:
Artist | Description |
---|---|
The Federation | Hyphy hip hop group known for the hits “Hyphy” and “18 Dummy” |
Mob Figaz | Husband and wife hyphy duo of Clyde Carson and The Jacka |
All Black | Oakland rapper part of The HBK Gang |
Rexx Life Raj | Berkeley rapper blending hip hop and R&B |
Nef the Pharaoh | Vallejo rapper repping the Sick Wid It crew |
Saweetie | Hayward rapper and singer who went viral with “Icy Girl” |
Rayven Justice | Singer/rapper known for his club bangers |
Laroo T.H.H. | Oakland hip hop duo Laroo and The Hard Hittaz |
The lineup aims to represent all the different sounds coming out of the bay – hyphy, gangsta rap, R&B, club – both throwback and new school. Hometown heroes like The Federation will take you back to the hyphy movement’s golden era in the mid-2000s, while newer artists like Saweetie show the bay’s sound continuing to evolve.
What else happens at Hip Hop Made The Bay besides the music?
In addition to performances by dozens of local hip hop artists across three stages, Hip Hop Made The Bay is an all-around celebration of bay area hip hop culture:
- Graffiti artists paint live murals on site
- Popup shop marketplace with local hip hop fashion brands, art, and craft vendors
- Shows by local street dance crews
- Hyphy music bumping throughout the festival grounds all day
- Bay Area lowriders and donks on display
- Food trucks serving up local favorites like tacos, pho, and soul food
- Beer garden for 21+ with NorCal brews
You can shop, dance, eat, laugh, and party with fellow hip hop heads from all over the Bay.
History of Hip Hop in the Bay Area
To understand the importance of Hip Hop Made The Bay, you have to understand the deep roots of hip hop culture in the Bay Area going back decades:
1970s – 1980s: Early Bay Area hip hop scene
During the 1970s, at the same time hip hop was just emerging in New York, a vibrant hip hop scene was also developing across the Bay. DJs like DJ Grandmaster Flowers and groups like the Disco Dreggs were some of the pioneers putting on hip hop shows and block parties in San Francisco and Oakland. Grandmaster Flowers is credited with helping spread the “Rocking the House” dance craze out of the Bay.
In the 1980s, the Bay Area’s first major hip hop acts started gaining national attention. Oakland’s Too $hort brought his raw, unapologetic tales of pimping and hustling to the masses starting with albums like Born to Mack. The witty political rhymes of Berkeley crew The Coup also turned heads. Too $hort, The Coup, and other acts like Rappin’ 4-Tay and Ant Banks laid the foundation for the Bay Area’s independent hip hop scene.
1990s: Golden era hip hop takes hold in the Bay
The Bay Area was a hotbed for golden era hip hop in the 1990s, launching the careers of some of the most influential names in West Coast rap:
- Tupac Shakur – got his start with Digital Underground in Oakland before becoming a hip hop legend
- E-40 – broke out nationally with The Click and put on an entire generation of Bay rappers with his Sick Wid It Records
- Too $hort – continued his reign as the king of Oakland rap
- Spice 1 – emerged out of East Oakland as the unapologetically violent gangsta rapper
- MC Hammer – blew up from Oakland as the first hip hop star to hit the mainstream
- Del tha Funkee Homosapien – brought his funky, cerebral rhymes out of East Oakland with Hieroglyphics
Throughout the 90s, the independent hustle pioneered by Too $hort lived on as Bay Area rappers sold tapes out of car trunks, pushing their local sounds to a wider audience. The Bay cemented its status as a major creative force within hip hop’s 1990s “Golden Era.”
Late 90s – 2000s: Hyphy movement
The Bay Area hip hop scene evolved dramatically in the late 90s and 2000s with the rise of the hyphy movement. Hyphy, short for “hyperactive,” was a wild combination of gritty gangsta rap and party music emphasizing chaotic energy (“going dumb,” or dumb hype).
Key players in the emergence of hyphy:
- Mac Dre – godfather of hyphy, pioneer of the “thizzle dance” and fast-paced hyphy sound with albums like Rapper Gone Bad
- E-40 – adapted his sound to the new hyphy style and brought it to the mainstream with hits like “Tell Me When To Go”
- Mistah F.A.B. – hometown hero in Oakland, pinoeer of the “ghost ride the whip” hyphy moment
- Keak Da Sneak – known for rapping over zany, hyper-fast production
- The Pack – young group out of East Oakland who had a hyphy top 40 hit “Vans”
Through the 2000s, hyphy culture defined Bay Area hip hop. The scene promoted local fashion styles like dreads, gold grills, and bright clothes, slang words like “yadadamean” and “ghostridin the whip,” and signature dances like “going dumb” and the “thizzle dance.”
For a time in the mid-2000s, hyphy music took over mainstream radio and clubs and established the Bay Area as the hotbed of West Coast hip hop.
Hip Hop Made The Bay Keeps Bay Area Hip Hop Alive
Though it evolved over the decades, one thing remained constant in Bay Area hip hop – the independent hustle and raw, authentic local flavor. Even as sounds changed, artists always stayed true to repping their city.
In 2010, young promoters Mark Mendoza and Trey Boyer came up with the concept for Hip Hop Made The Bay as a way to bring together generations of local rap legends along with today’s rising stars in a yearly concert celebrating the Bay Area’s unique contributions to hip hop.
Over the past decade Hip Hop Made The Bay has:
- Drawn crowds of 20,000+ hyped hip hop fans annually
- Featured almost every major name in Bay Area rap history, from Too $hort to E-40 to G-Eazy
- Given a platform to unsigned local artists to perform alongside legends
- Allowed both pioneers and newcomers to collaborate and push Bay Area hip hop forward
The festival has become a beloved annual event uniting all corners of the Bay’s hip hop community. While trends fade, Hip Hop Made The Bay pays respect to the past and puts the spotlight on the future. The 2023 edition promises another unforgettable experience celebrating the one-of-a-kind Bay Area hip hop culture.
Conclusion
From the foundation layers by Too $hort in the 80s, to the hyphy movement exploding in the 2000s, Bay Area hip hop has always stood on its own, independent from the rest of the West Coast and nation. Hip Hop Made The Bay honors the trailblazers who started it all and passes the torch to the next generation. The festival upholds the do-it-yourself spirit and raw flavor that has defined Bay Area hip hop for over three decades. From the first beat to the last, Hip Hop Made The Bay is a can’t miss event for any real fan of West Coast rap.