Messy Marv

Sizzle & Fizzle: Special Edition: The Best Bay Area Records of 2011

Sizzle & Fizzle: Highs and Lows from the Last Week in S.F. Music

SF Rapper San Quinn Reviews His Own Discography

What the shirt says.​ San Quinn is a certified Bay Area rap veteran. Since dropping his debut, Don't Cross Me, back in 1993, he's gone on to amass a 15-album discography, with his latest project, Can't Take The Ghetto Out A Ni**a, released in July. With that album's new single, "Big Bank," sti ... More >>

Berner Is San Francisco's Stoner Rapper Answer to Girls Gone Wild Creator Joe Francis

Berner.​There aren't too many local songs in seemingly heavy rotation on KMEL, but this annoying (and, to these ears, racially insensitive) one called "Yoko" is always on in the car. Turns out it's by San Francisco's Berner, with heavyweight national guest stars Wiz Khalifa, Chris Brown, and ... More >>

The Top 10 Bay Area Hip-Hop Albums of 2010

2010 has been a pretty good year for Bay Area hip-hop, if only because it saw the next generation of local rappers come into its own, eager (and maybe even ready) to put the Bay back on the national radar once again. Even after the death of hyphy, rappers here just continue to get weirder and weirde ... More >>

Can new Bay Area rappers step out of hyphy's shadow?

2010 has been a pretty good year for Bay Area hip-hop, if only because it saw the next generation of local rappers come into its own, eager (and maybe even ready) to put the Bay back on the national radar once again. Even after the death of hyphy, rappers here just continue to get weirder and weirde ... More >>

In Print: Classic Hip-Hop Albums Performed Live, Wavves' Surf-Punk, and Rappers in the Shadow of Hyphy

​The lineup for this year's Rock the Bells hip-hop festival has the likes of Snoop, Slick Rick, A Tribe Called Quest, Rakim and even the Wu-Tang Clan all performing classic hip-hop albums in their entirety. In our print edition this week, Tamara Palmer takes a look back at each album's considerabl ... More >>

SF Weekly Interview: E-40

By Tamara Palmer It's now been more than 20 years since Earl Stevens (aka E-40) put his first independent record out on the streets of the Bay Area and set out on a mission to put his hometown of Vallejo on the international rap map and his colorful phraseology into the mouths of society at large ... More >>

SF Weekly Letters

By Tamara Palmer It's now been more than 20 years since Earl Stevens (aka E-40) put his first independent record out on the streets of the Bay Area and set out on a mission to put his hometown of Vallejo on the international rap map and his colorful phraseology into the mouths of society at large ... More >>

Major-Label Misfit: Mistah F.A.B.

By Tamara Palmer It's now been more than 20 years since Earl Stevens (aka E-40) put his first independent record out on the streets of the Bay Area and set out on a mission to put his hometown of Vallejo on the international rap map and his colorful phraseology into the mouths of society at large ... More >>

SF Weekly Music Awards 2007 Program

By Tamara Palmer It's now been more than 20 years since Earl Stevens (aka E-40) put his first independent record out on the streets of the Bay Area and set out on a mission to put his hometown of Vallejo on the international rap map and his colorful phraseology into the mouths of society at large ... More >>

Mobbin' Thru the Industry

How SMC Recordings built an indie rap empire

The War Emcee

Messy Marv keeps it gutter

Black Steel in the Hour of Chaos

The misunderstood adventures of the Bishop of Hip Hop

Mixtape Shmixtape

Wherein we review Yay Area mixtapes of the day

Messy Marv

Bandannas, Tattoos & Tongue Rings