Pretty surprised at all of the responses on the mini Bay Area hip-hop quiz on my story yesterday prompted by a pic that @nicekicksvault had posted.
That sent me down a bit of a rabbit hole on youtube reliving memories of my childhood and all this music my parents didn’t want me listening to...I even hit up some high school friends (not on IG) and we started talking about albums again…my high school friends were trippin that @bootsriley himself responded to the question 😂
Having grown up in the mountains of Northern California...Bay Area rap was heavy in the rotation. I listened to rap almost exclusively, but the Bay Area was stuff I could put a name and a face to so it resonated a bit more than the LA or NY stuff. It was a short 2-3 hour drive to the Bay and we went down there often.
If you asked me who my favorite rapper of all time is - it’s 2pac. Hands down. Dude was just...unreal. And at that point of development in my life...his passion and the realness was unparalleled. But today...I’d have to say @killermike is probably my favorite. Not a Bay dude, but still the realness is what gets me amped. I still spin (new and old) albums by @e40 , @therealmacmall , Ray Luv and a handful of other Bay Area rappers because of the memories they prompt, but @officialandrenickatina is one of the dudes I will go WAY out of my way to support. I have multiple copies of each of his albums (including the super rare ones like Cocaine Raps Vol. 1 & Raven in My Eyes) and a bunch that have been autographed. I’ve been to see him in concert 5 or 6 times (more than any other rapper) and I’d probably go again if I knew he were coming through. He actually played with @theroots jam session in New York when I was living out there and I dragged one of my NY buddies with me to stand in line for like 3 hours to watch his 8 minute performance in like 2009...
Anyway, I was scrolling his IG last night...and I saw that he just released a pair of shoes called ‘the Killer Whales’. Personally, not my style. I DO, however, wish Nickatina nothing but success.
I am kinda surprised at the number of people getting into shoe design, tho. What do y’all think of ‘em?