Read the notes Oaklanders are writing to their beloved city, and submit your own! Shoot us your story, celebration or plea to Oakland at with “Notes to Oakland” in the subject.
I used to rewrite Nas’ rhymes, replacing key words in his lines in order to make his verses apply to my life here in Oakland. On October 19th, 2014, I heard Nas make alterations to his own rhymes to make them apply to life here in Oakland. “Nothing […]
As children, very few of us wanted to eat our vegetables. I would try to convince my mom “my vegetable shelf (of my stomach) is full, but my dessert shelf is empty.” That never worked, but many of us still do our best to rationalize late night tacos at […]
![Mick Jenkins Fights The Drought with "The Water[s]"](/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/mick-press-billboard-650-280x150.jpg)
My little brother just put me on to the south side Chicago emcee Mick Jenkins. He wanted me to be as juiced about Mick as he was, so he led off by texting me a Boy Meets World reference. “It’s been tragic/ Ever since Boy Meets World, it’s Ben (been) […]
Friday night, as the line for Kris Bowers curved corners, my heart sank. After an hour drive, and months of being hyped, it looked like I wasn’t going to see my latest musical fave. There was about to be a problem. I forget when I discovered Heroes […]
When DJ Tap.10 dropped his Champagne Soul mix in 2011, he was introducing a sub-genre that he and his Honor Roll brethren had diagnosed years earlier. The 80s R&B that fit the bill is characterized by the smooth synthed-out romance of acts like Surface, […]
About a week ago, a few dozen folks took their seats in Hub Oakland’s Omni Gallery to watch trailers and shorts from the upcoming San Francisco Black Film Festival. The East Bay meet and greet also featured a panel and there was a random appearance […]
When I found out that Zakiya Harris would be releasing an EP called Adventures of a Shapeshifter, I was intrigued. I don’t have many friends with one job. Even the ones who have a main hustle have a multitude of passion projects and interests […]
Few groups of people are invisibilized in our society quite like homeless people. We avert our eyes when walking down the street, pat our pockets to show we have no money to give them, and look at our phones when we pull up next to them at freeway exits. […]
Once a year, people of all stripes gather in a Jingletown warehouse in East Oakland to explore the treasures to be had at a huge White Elephant sale. You can find pretty much anything there. There are entire sections dedicated to art, furniture, electronics, […]
