In this installment of our award-winning documentary series, we take a look at how hip hop changed the Bay Area. The sound consists of a little funk, a lot of heavy bass and people want to get up and dance. Bay Area hip hop's moment started 40 years ago with fiercely independent artists who created their own sound and set their own rules.
There were no big name rappers from the Bay Area until the early 1980s when a young, foul-mouthed rapper named Todd Shaw moved to Oakland. Shaw, known as Too Short, pioneered a movement by recording, marketing and selling his music himself. Oakland made him famous before the world knew him.
Bay Area rappers are known for their self-made hustle - whether it is selling cassettes out of the trunk, starting their own labels or generating their own buzz on social media. They created their own lingo, got hyphy and started certain social trends.
This episode stars Bay Area hip hop legends Too Short and E-40, rappers G-Eazy, members of Hieroglypics, Saweetie, Kamaiyah, and Nef the Pharaoh. Other interviews include KMEL DJ Big Von, Q102.1 DJ Chuy Gomez and hip hop historian Davey D.
An encore presentation of "Bay Area Revelations: Culture of Hip Hop" airs this Saturday after SNL (1:02 a.m.).
