DJ Sniper

When DJ Sniper visited the Bay Area, the Dutch battle DJ surprised folks when he guested on local stations KALX and KPFA by spinning tons of classic West Coast gangsta rap. But that’s what happens when you grow up in a small Netherlands town and as a nine year are old bumping your older brother’s NWA and Ice T tapes. By age 15 Sniper had his first turntable (a Gemini) and an old mixer that his older brother (now DJ Vandal) had given him. Vandal also introduced him to the whole DJ battle/ skratch world and later invited him to join the SWOT Team DJ crew. After seeing the World ITF 1998 battles in Amsterdam Sniper just “went loose.” “After that I started practicing more and more and sometimes not paying attention at school,” he recalled. His first battle was a regional Dutch DMC in 2000 in which he placed runner up and made it to the Dutch Finals where he was crowned “Rookie of The Year” ( he had just turned 18). In that year’s Dutch DMC Supremacy battle Sniper placed runner up and went on to represent Holland at the World DMC supremacy battle together with the Dutch Supremacy winner. “Going to the world dmc battle was an incredible experience… meeting all kinds of DJs from all over the world, including legends like grand wizard Theodore,” he recalled. Sniper still lives in the north of Holland, where he practices on the ones and twos when not running the family restaurant. And although he lives in the land of hashish and skunk weed he doesn’t indulge.

Discography

2000 As part of SWOT Team the track “Dr. thumbs Theme” on Cues Hip Hop Shop vol. 2 (Stray)
2002 Solo track (“Theme of the Rookie”) on Global Turntables (Hip Hop Slam)
2002 Self-titled Mixed CD featuring a lot of west coast classics (Hip Hop Slam)

DJ Sniper's Top Five In No Particular Order

1. All NWA Related Records (group + solo) — "One of my first hip hop tapes I listened to was NWA’s Straight Outta Compton, from then I started collecting and listening to more hip hop music, especially the West Coast"

2. Battling at the 2000 DMC World for Supremacy Battle — "Although I got knocked out in the 1st round, it was a big experience for me to represent at such an event, thinking about the fact that 2000 was my first battle year! And meeting up with lots of DJs from all over the world, including bay area’s own Snayk Eyez."

3. D-Styles / Phantazmagorea — "The 1st all skratched album by D-Styles. In my eyes one of the most incredible DJ albums!"

4. My First Trip Alone to the Bay Area and San Diego (Jan/Feb 2002) — "Buying lots of records, meeting up with dope people like Marz, Billy Jam, Quest, Qbert, Happee, Dstyles, Flare, Pone and lots more. Cali feels like my second home!"

5. DJ Cue / Cues Hip Hop Shop Volume 2 — "Compilation album by BPSH DJ Cue. Me and my former crew were featured on this compilation. Thanks to Cue and this album me and my brother Vandal were able to meet a lot of good people in the Bay Area.

Fresh Joyce: Graphic Art and Production Assistant

A native of the East Bay, Fresh Joyce is currently a super senior at UC Berkeley majoring in architecture. She first dabbled in graphic art and film with her work in Loni Ding’s PBS series, Ancestors in the Americas. Fresh Joyce has also worked with youth at the Korean Community Center of the East Bay (KCCEB) and at various other Asian/Pacific Islander groups in the Oakland area. “Growing up I didn’t have any Asian American role models so I volunteered at KCCEB to become one myself and give back to the community,” said Joyce. It was during her time at KCCEB that she was introduced to hip hop as a tool for activism. Fresh Joyce looks forward to the opportunity to expand her creative wings through her collaboration with the Hip Hop Slam crew on projects that include live productions, posters, and album artwork. Stay tuned!

Fresh Joyce's Top Five Hip Hop Inspirations

1. Mainstream Radio — for making me search for music that’s enlightening, innovative—and doesn’t suck. (record store digging is her main source)

2. Qbert vs. D-Styles / "Hot Sauce in the Dickhole" — the work that introduced me to the art of scratching.

3. The Roots Come Alive album — The fact that they all play live.

4. The Red Tower’s stairwell at UC Berkeley’s Wurster Hall (painted over in 1999) — "At least 5 stories of this stairwell’s walls were covered floor to ceiling in a giant collage of graffiti that was as beautiful as any I’ve seen elsewhere."

5. Theresa Hak Kyung Cha "Dictee" — her investigation of language, its rhythms, and its role within identity links it to hip hop in more ways than most people might think.

DJ Platurn: Oakland Fader

Standing 6’ 5” DJ Platurn is not only the Bay Area’s tallest scratch DJ but also one of it’s top crate diggers/music aficionados. Known to most for his membership of the infamous Oakland Faders (along with DJ Spair) DJ Platurn wasn’t born in the East Bay, or even in the USA, but in Iceland where he grew up surrounded by records (his dad was a bigtime DJ there). At age twelve Platurn learnt guitar but later turned to the decks and has been DJ’ing ever since. When Platurn’s not DJ’ing or scouring his top-secret spots in search of rare vinyl (inc. lots of funk/soul 7” singles) he is often found sharing his musical knowledge with young, aspiring DJs at such places as the McBean Theater in San Francisco’s Exploritorium. Platurn’s long discography includes: Mix Tape Series (Rings Of Platurn Vol. 1-8), Oakland Faders Flea Market Treats with DJ Spair, Cuts for Order 12” (What You Hear, 1998), Beats and cuts for “Eviction Suite #3” — Highdivers EP (1999), Track on Cue's Hip-Hop Shop Vol. 2 (Oakland Faders, Dope Music, 2000), Cuts on Funkmaster 2000 LP (2000) - Icelandic funk band, Oakland Faders’ Fader Beats EP (Stray Records, 2001), and the MulaBaka EP.

Platurn's Top Eleven Hip Hop Thangs In No Particular Order

1. "Digging for breaks and beats I have been exposed to all this other music, thanks to hip hop"

2. Organized Konfusion / The Extinction Agenda (Hollywood)

3. Common Sense / Resurrection (Relativity)

4. Public Enemy live at the Fillmore in 1994

5. Nas / Illmatic (Columbia)

6. A Tribe Called Quest / Low End Theory (Jive)

7. Ramsey Lewis / Mother Nature’s Son (Cadet)

8. James Brown / “Funky Drummer” (Polydor)

9. Jam Master Jay — "the first DJ I heard cutting it up and that influenced me first"

10. Early Hobo Junction & Saafir cassettes

11. Pete Rock & CL Smooth / Mecca & The Soul Brother (Elektra)

Tall Paul Lowe: Hip Hop Slam, Ireland

Dublin’s Tall Paul Lowe was among the first wave of Irish diehard hip hop headz. In 1984 after seeing the films Beat Street and Breakin' he got swept up in the culture, first by getting into breaking, and soonafter all aspects of hip hop culture. Paul has been an avid fan/supporter ever since; especially of Irish hip hop and goes to more shows than anyone else in Dublin. In 2001 he began representing Hip Hop Slam in Ireland and as such has done such things as report on hip hop in Ireland and organize the two Irish DJ tracks on the recent Hip Hop Slam compilation CD Global Turntables.

Tall Paul Lowe's Top Seven Irish Hip Hop Moments

1. 1989 when Public Enemy played in Dublin, three gigs in one day: an a capella in afternoon, evening at McGonagles and also at the Trinity College Debs ball when I got all the guys autographs.

2. Seeing DJ Mek winning the Irish DMC Champion in the 90’s and also the emergence of the Scary Eire crew live on stage and the infamous lyrics “Fuck Ollie Dowling his baldy head and the DFC.”

3. June 3rd, 2001: witnessing Rahzael live and his amazing beat box.

4. July 6th, 2001 when we had the 20th Anniversary Tommy Boy tour swing through Dublin with such legends on stage as Arthur Baker, Afrika Bambaataa, Dan the Automator, and Maseo. What a night! What a party! And what great mixing!

5. 2001 July 10th The opening night of Fresh Mode run by Davey Splyce and O.B. with A-Trak on hand demonstrating the skills that earned him the title of the youngest ever DMC champ.

6. 2002 April 7th DJ Cash Money who displayed the skills that earned him his Technics DMC champion title. Too bad there was such a bad turnout for this event.

7. 2002 April 14 Grandmaster Flash, yes the main man himself, came to Dublin, Ireland and rocked it. Also that night watching Ireland’s own DJ Laz-E using the vocoder for the first time and displaying his turntable skills.

Bas-One: MC/Fifth Element

After years of diligently dedicating his life to hip hop culture (via his crew Style Elements and his various battle record samples: most notably on Dirt Style) Veteran Bay Area b-boy Bas-One, who is finally getting the kind of recognition he deserves (much in part to his recent instant hip hop classic debut (triple-vinyl) album For The Mentally Astute: Theory Of A Throw-Up (Heratik Productions) prompting an East Bay Express feature on the artist to dub him "The Fifth Element" of hip hop, is a key member of Hip Hop Slam. Not only is he one of the most vocal and recognizable personalities on the Scratch Attack radio show but he also participates in every Hip Hop Slam event such as hosting the Independent Sounds compilation instore/record release party/concert at Amoeba Music in January 2002. And like everyone else involved at Hip Hop Slam, hip hop is more than just music to Bas-One: it is a lifestyle!

Bas-One's Top Eight

1. THE GREATEST EMCEE GRAND MASTER CAZ

2. MY FAVORITE BREAKER KEN SWIFT

3. PHASE2 AND GRAND MIXER/MASTER DST FOR OVERALL SKILL

4. ALL ELEMENTS CULTURE

5. MEETING AND PERFORMING @ ZULU NATION ANNIVERSARY

6. ALL THE BAY AREA FOR MAKIN ME RECOGNIZE ALL OF THIZ IN OUR OWN SPECIAL WAY

7. DJ DARRYL FOR SO MANY SKILLS

8. BAS-1 STYLELEMENTS CRU/BASBOMB-N-SOUNZ

DJ Pone: DJ/Backspin Boy

DJ Pone, Fairfield’s favorite son, has won the 707-area code North Bay town great pride and notoriety as an accomplished global star DJ. To many DJ fans back home he may be known for things such as his part in the 1999 DMC US Finals but in the Far East DJ Pone is a household name, pinup, teen-idol thanks to his membership of the international DJ boy-band sensation The Backspin Boyz, who are Top Ten pop hit-makers in such countries as Singapore, Korea, Fiji, and Japan. “The fact that we are still unknown in America doesn’t bother me,” confided DJ Pone in an interview with TV Asahi backstage at Tokyo Concert Dome after The Backspin Boyz’ sold-out Summer 2001 Tour final show. “I like when we get off tour and I get home to the Bay Area I am able to walk down the street and not be noticed or mobbed by screaming girls.” This anonymity allows Pone to perform with his other groups. These include been a member of the ‘89 Skratch Gangstaz (featured on Return of the DJ Vol. 4, Turntables By The Bay, and Global Turntables), a DJ with the reggae band Dub F/X, and as the main house DJ/personality on the Hip Hop Slam radio show, Scratch Attack: I Want My Battle Record Back You Bastard.

DJ Pone's Top Five

1. NWA / “Express Yourself” 12” single (not the LP version) — Minimalist but funky—my favorite instrumental. And you can’t forget the bodybuilders and the dancer with MC Hammer pants in the video. Damn, it feels good to be a gangsta.

2. Early-mid 90’s Pete Rock productions — One of the few hip hop producers I’ve heard with a good ear for harmony. My favorites are the remix of House of Pain’s “Jump Around”, the Youngstaz’ “Pass the Mic”, and Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth’s “I Got A Love”.

3. The motion pictures Commando, Dawn of the Dead, and Star Wars: A New Hope — As a child of the VCR generation, these are probably some of the biggest formative influences on my personality. Dawn of the Dead left me especially scarred for life.

4. Miles Davis “Four” from Blue Haze (Prestige) — So I jumped on the jazz/turntablism-connection bandwagon about 4 years ago. I’ve liked any performance of “Four” I ever heard, but this is the best one by far.

5. Peter North — The “God of Gravy”, he inspired everything from a song ("Cut From Behind") to a trip to Las Vegas to meet the man himself—and I gave him his first skratching lesson.

DJ Stoic: DJ/Producer

DJ Stoic was born and raised in San Diego where he got into mixing at age 13 by using two cassette decks. Two years later he had saved up enough to buy his first set of turntables and a mixer and later by seventeen was DJing house parties and making mix-tapes and entering local battles at places like Behind The Post Office in San Diego. Simultaneously he became a hip hop journalist when he began writing under his real name, Mike Salamida, and consequently has written for such publications as Subculture, URB, GIG, and the San Diego Union Tribune newspaper. Even though he's made a couple of dozen mix tapes it wasn't until 2000 (by which time he had relocated to Oakland, CA) that he released his official release, the underground 5-song EP 1200 Theory where his radio hit "3PM Migraine" (off Turntables By The Bay) first appeared. Consequently he has worked as Producer for Hip Hop Slam on several projects including Turntables By The Bay (he has recorded and remixed tracks and engineered 8-Ball's "The Poetry of War of The Flies"), and the Shigger Fragger Beats Loops & Breaks and Don't Give A Fuck Style Battle Beats & Breaks. He is currently working on an underground EP and his much anticipated solo album, slated for a 2002 release.

Stoic's Top Five

"Everyone likes lists... my top 5 hip-hop albums/tracks & events."

1. '85, learning to beat match on two tape decks, feathering the play/stop/pause buttons to speed up & slow down the tapes. discovered my natural element in hip-hop.

2. '84-'85, staying up past midnight on Saturdays to tape the mix shows on old 92.5 (San Diego). I was a rugrat but had the dopest tapes in the neighborhood.

3. Skratchcon2000: like being in an orgy w/ your favorite porn stars.

4. Run-DMC, Run-DMC ('83): the album captures all that I admire in hip-hop.

5. B-boy Summit 95: back when they were small gatherings, being able to talk w/ living legends like Futura, Lee, Crazy Legs, Kurtis Blow & Qbert.

DJ Dank: Producer/Weed Connection

DJ Dank (real name Dan Kay) first arrived at Hip Hop Slam in 1993 during the Soulbeat TV years when his friends at Dawg Eat Dawg Designz introduced him to the crew. He instantly won the hearts of everyone at the Hip Hop Slam TV show by breaking off free twomp-sacks of some of the best, sticky-green, killer-Cali, weed ever smoked then or since. Consequently he has become, not only the organization's main weed hookup, but also a very talented producer (he produced the Turntables By The Bay CD). Additionally he recently unveiled his own (Hip Hop Slam distributed) vinyl-only label, Chip Shop Spam Records, whose first release is The Last Kreep's The Good Scratching Record. But what makes DJ Dank so unique is that 100% of the time he talks in (rap) tongues: meaning that every single word he says is a lyric(s) from some rap song (mainly Bay Area/West Coast ol' skool rap). "Since I was a youth I smoke weed out... so don't gimme no bammer weed," says Dank of his affinity to the chronic. When quizzed on the art of graf he responds: "Yes indeedy I wrote graffiti on the bus." Besides his uncanny method of only reiterating rap verse in conversation, DJ Dank has one other most unusual character trait. He is a comic-book, cartoon character and although he flatly denies being the slave to some illustrator's commands but rather in control of his own destiny ("Don't quote me boy. I ain't said shit... My hoe's name is Nina!") he does admit to living in a parallel, animated, hip hop universe hanging with other like-minded characters such as Red Worm and Lord Ook (from Wave Twisters), members of Gorillaz, and the Cat named Five. "It's a game and we in it... game recognize game in the Bay mayn," he said between bong hash'n'dank hits.

DJ Dank's Top Five

1. Dr. Dre (featuring Snoop Doggy Dogg) / The Chronic

2. N.W.A. / Straight Outta Compton

3. Too $hort / Born To Mack

4. Poohman / "Fuckin’ Wit Dank"

5. 11/5 / A-1 Yola

Frank Casiano II: Chief Editor (Literary Thug)
aka DJ Munkifunk

Frank Casiano II, (a.k.a. DJ Munkifunk) was born and raised in the East Bay. He began mutilating music at an early age after discovering the capabilities of the pause button on a tape recorder. Likewise, he started writing once he realized a pencil could be used for other things besides stabbing people. In addition to his DJ interviews and other writings on this website he is also working closely with Billy Jam on editing the ongoing QBert biography (slated for a 2002 publication). Under his "DJ Munkifunk" alias he has recorded/performed with the groups SoundtheFury and The Harvey Woos and also co-hosts the Hip Hop Slam radio show "Scratch Attack". In addition to scrawling curse words for Hip Hop Slam, his hit-man style of journalism has also bombed the pages of Inspector, Ventilator, SF Bay Guardian and Philippine News. He now lives in the Sucka Free City and is a terror to editors and musicians everywhere... including himself. "No fucker rewrites me."

Frank's Top Five

1. Run D.M.C. / self-titled debut

2. Egyptian Lover / On the Nile

3. Time Zone feat. Afrika Bambaataa & Johnny Rotten / "World Destruction"

4. Beastie Boys / Paul's Boutique

5. El Stew / No Hesitation

Yve-One: Production Coordinator

"Getting busted and thrown in jail is a very humbling experience. It puts your life in a whole new perspective," says Yve-One, speaking first hand in reference to the SFPD who busted the graffiti artist on three occasions over the past decade. Raised in Stockton but living in Oakland, Yve-One has been down with all aspects of hip hop culture for as long as she can remember. Not just a talented artist, the tireless Renaissance woman epitomizes the true hip hop spirit of "giving back to your community." She teaches a graffiti/mural workshop for young women of color and over the last six years has volunteered countless hours in the fight against AIDS with such street level organizations as the Glide Memorial HIV Testing Program and Proyecto ConstraSIDA Por Vida: Mobilization Against AIDS. "To me the fight against AIDS is a serious issue that we in the hip hop community cannot ignore," she states. As Hip Hop Slam's Production Coordinator, Yve-One's duties include overseeing all production aspects of putting together such Hip Hop Slam releases as the Turntables By The Bay CD compilation (including the comprehensive list of Bay Area DJs), The Last Kreep's The Good Scratching Record, and the Global Turntables compilation. Aspiring labels/artists should check out her invaluable Guide To Making A Record or CD.

Yve-One's Top Five

1. Gang Starr in concert at San Francisco's DNA lounge '92 (I think...)

2. Invisibl Skratch Piklz taking the DMC championships in the early '90's

3. Dream One — TDK bombin' the streets (Restin' In Power)

4. Q-Bert's Wave Twisters: the Movie

5. Going to NYC with Cypher (TMF), while we kicked it in Greenwich Village with PhaseOne and Daze back in '93.

Rocky Hanes: Video/Stage Production and Street Promotions

Rocky Hanes had been an avid listener of the Hip Hop Slam radio show (KALX & KUSF) for the few years before he joined Hip Hop Slam in late '93. Since then he has been the hardest working Hip Hop Slam member contributing on many levels including set design for all the Shiggar Fraggar radio/video shows and all the Hip Hop Slam live concerts (Justice League, Cocodrie, DNA, etc.) plus his tireless street promotions of each Hip Hop Slam release and event.

Rocky's Top Five

1. The first few BOMB Hip Hop parties at the DNA lounge in 1992 and '93 with all these incredible acts onstage like Freestyle Fellowship, The Pharcyde, Tha Alkaholiks, Charizma and Peanut Butter Wolf, House of Pain with B-Real, QBert, Apollo, and Mixmaster Mike. They were amazing nights that I will never forget like the one where it was sold out but fools were climbing up to the second floor of the club from 11th Street and squeezing in through the club's small windows to get in.

2. The Kennel Club. (now site of the Justice League) back in the early 90's with club nights like School that my boy Billy Jam used to DJ/VJ at before he got kicked out by the promoters for being too hardcore and politically incorrect. Fools be trippin!

3. The Beastie Boys' first album. It was in 1986 when I first arrived in San Francisco (from Grass Valley) and I was living on the streets. I ended up staying at the Larkin Street Youth Center. At this stage all I used to listen to was loud angry punk rock (groups like the Cromags) and then I heard someone at Larkin Street playing the Beastie Boys' Licensed To Ill and it totally converted me to hip hop.

4. Hip Hop Slam radio show on KUSF from '91 to '94. I used to listen and tape every show and make my own mixes from all this shit they played that I had never heard anywhere before including lots of Yay Area rap. I would also get all this hip hop information that no one else had. It wasn't until late in the KUSF show years that I finally met Billy Jam and Timi D... and J-Boogie when I came down to hang out on their "Blunted Hip Hop Special"—the one where we all nearly got arrested by the USF campus police for smoking weed!

5. DJ Pause. San Francisco DJ Pause has been a major influence on my appreciation of hip hop. I love that guy because he exposed me to so much great music: from straight up gangsta to every other type of hip hop... seeing him spinning at places like (long gone San Fran venues) Nightbreak and the Firehouse or DJ'ing with groups like MCM & the Monster. Pause is one of the most musically diverse and talented and underrated Bay Area DJs of all time!

Stevie K: DJ/Producer/Mastering Engineer

Stevie K has been down with Hip Hop Slam since the mid-ninties when he collaborated on several of the Pirate Fuckin Radio shows/mix-tapes and appeared on the air with his old rap hip hop crew Closed Caption (1994-1996). He has mastered every Hip Hop Slam label release to date. Stevie started as a DJ in 1987 performing at local schools, and later doing battles around the Bay Area. In 1990, he began building up his home studio, the infamous Ice Chamber. The Closed Caption albums he produced showed his unbiased approach to hip hop: with lots of him scratching in Bay Area/West Coast records (check for his "Young Mixdown" on Closed Caption's first album and also on Pirate Fuckin' Radio). After Closed Caption disbanded Stevie had totally upgraded his studio. Consequently he has worked with a long list of artists, in both production and engineering capacities, that include Fanatik, Boots, Shingo 2, Mystik Journeymen, Bas-1, Pinay, and Yvette Pylant. He is currently working on a new break record series for Chip Shop Spam Records. Visit his website: www.icechamber.com

Stevie K's Top Five

1. EPMD / Strictly Business

2. A Tribe Called Quest / Low End Theory

3. Eric B & Rakim / Paid In Full

4. N.W.A. / Straight Outta Compton

5. RBL Posse / A Lesson To Be Learned

Timi D...: Photographer

Timi D... started taking pictures as a young kid with a Mickey Mouse camera and hasn't stopped since. He joined Hip Hop Slam by accident when in 1991, after coming back from living in Japan, he came on the KUSF radio show armed with, not just great photos of Japanese hip hop, but also lots of Japanese hip hop to play. He never left and consequently has been the photographer for Hip Hop Slam taking thousands of incredible pictures. As well as gracing many of the Hip Hop Slam label releases' cover artwork, Timi's pictures have appeared in countless publications including: Billboard, San Francisco Chronicle, BAM, Bay Guardian, SF Weekly, URB, BOMB, 4080, SF Examiner, Strivin', Hip Hop Connection (UK), Stealth (Australia), and Top 40 (Sweden). Timi is also the main Hip Hop Slam videographer: he did camera for the "Hip Hop Slam TV" series on Soulbeat Television and the "Shiggar Fraggar Shows." A collage of Timi D's work appears in the Pirate Fuckin' Video set to Peanut Butter Wolf's music, and six of his ol skool still photos appear in the documentary Scratch (including one of Mixmaster Mike, QBert, Apollo, and Disk from '92). He is currently archiving his past ten years of hip hop photography for future publication.

Timi D's Top Eleven

Why eleven? "Because mine goes to 11!!!!" he insists.

1. The Hip-Hop Slam Show years on KUSF with all guest appearances 1991-1994!

2. BDP / Ghetto Music, The Blueprint of Hip-Hop

3. Andre Nickatina / Cocaine Raps Vol.1

4. Bush Babees / Gravity

5. Goodie Mob / Still Standing

6. Bomb Hip-Hop / Return of the DJ Vol.2

7. 11/5 / Fiendin' 4 Tha Funk

8. Boo Yaa Tribe / One Funky Nation

9. The Shiggar Fraggar Show! Vol.5

10. Some mix tape from Z-Trip in '94

11. The Hip Hop Nation exhibit at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts

Kate Wolfson: Director of Publicity

Kate Wolfson began her music career fresh out of high school with an internship in the publicity department of Interscope Records in Los Angeles. "I worked long hours doing lots of tasks including writing press-kits for the rock groups No Doubt and The Wallflowers. Consequently I learned a lot about the music business first hand," she said. After starting her Bachelor's Degree in Liberal Studies, specializing in communications, at Cal Poly in San Luis Obispo, CA Kate soon found herself at the college radio station KCPR where as well as DJ'ing her weekly hip hop show, worked in promotions, publicity, production, traffic, and for her final year was made Music Director (MD). "I loved being Music Director because I got to hear all this great new music before anyone else and made decisions that impacted a lot of people in terms of what was heard on the radio." In fact it was while at KCPR as MD that Kate first heard of Hip Hop Slam after reading an article in CMJ magazine. Kate graduated in Spring 2000 and spent that summer working as Promotions Assistant (radio) at Atomic Pop working with such artists as Ice T, Bahamadia, and Slum Village. In September 2000 she moved to the Bay Area where, in addition to working with Hip Hop Slam, has worked at ABB Records (publicity & promotions) and also set up her own independent publicity company working with such labels/artists as Ipecac/Eddie Def and Simba Music/Kofy Brown. [Kate relocated to Los Angeles, CA in May, 2002.]

Kate's Top Five

1. Mos Def & Talib Kweli / Black Star LP

2. Live Human, anytime they perform together live in the Bay

3. Smokin' Grooves Tour in LA / Summer 1999: The Flipmode Squad, MOP feat. Heather B., Wyclef Jean, Public Enemy, Cypress Hill, Black Eyed Peas, and Canibus!!!

4. Billy Jam's phat weekend BBQ's

5. DJ Eddie Def / Wax People LP

MARS: Visual Artist

Mars picked up his first can of spray paint at age 13, growing up in Fresno, and he hasn't stopped doing graffiti since. His work can be seen on all walls around the Mission and various other districts of San Francisco where he now lives. Besides walls Mars also works on canvas and computer. Miranda Gill, curator of the Mission District's Culture Cache gallery where Mars held his first exhibit in 2000, describes his unique style as "urban-Gothic dimensional grid of self-echoing harmonics... Sci-Fi abstracted quasi-organic form" (whatever that means :). He has done several Hip Hop Slam album covers including Eddie Def's Open Your Mind (Wax People II), All That Glitters Isn't Platinum: Amoeba Music Compilation Vol. I, Just Payin The Rent: Amoeba Music Comp. Vol. II, Turntables By The Bay Vol. 3, and Don't Give a Fuck Style Battle Beats & Breaks. He has also done album cover art for other labels including BOMB Hip Hop's Droppen The Bomb compilation.

Dawg Eat Dawg: Graphic Artist

Geoff Rantala and his successful, independent Oakland graphic company Dawg Eat Dawg Designz (which has designed numerous Bay Area rap/hip hop and drum'n'bass record/CD covers) has been an integral part of Hip Hop Slam since 1993 when he handled all the online graphics for the live, four-hour weekly show, "Hip Hop Slam TV" on Soulbeat Television. It was at this time he designed the hip hop dog character Dan K (pronounced Dan Kay), which originally was the code word for saying that it was time for the HHS crew to smoke a joint. Since '93, Dawg Eat Dawg has designed nearly every Hip Hop Slam flyer, mix-tape and many album/CD/video covers. Ever a humble fellow, Geoff is not just a graphic artist but also a talented music producer and beat digger. Recording under the names dawgisht and canis, he has a series of recommended underground breaks and beats CD compilations, and has also seen his music appear on the Drop Beat and XLR8R (as part of H.$.O.), and Thermal Recordings labels.

Geoff's Top Five in the Past Shit

1. Growing up in Oakland and always hearing beats everywhere ("Rapper’s Delight" in kindergarten, "Jam On It" and the Beat Street soundtrack all summer in '84, 75 Girls Too $hort fleamarket bootlegs, etc.)

2. Taping Beni-B’s KALX show every Saturday night in '90, and then trying to dub the records I heard off my friends

3. Getting an Amiga 4000, 8-bit sampler cart, and tracker program (OctaMED!) and starting to learn to make beats in '91

4. Doing video graphics for the live Hip Hop Slam TV show on Soulbeat in '93 (after growing up watching Soulbeat since '83), and getting to meet so many artists each weekend

5. Your Mama’s Cafe in '95-'96 (always someone spinning SOME kind of beats there... gave me ideas and started to get me more open to other shit)

Top Five Records

1. 415 / 41Fivin’

2. K.M.D. / Mr.Hood
   

3. Too $hort / Born to Mack
   

4. Organized Konfusion / self-titled
   

5. De La Soul / ... Is Dead

Billy Jam: Executive Producer

"I'm not old. I'm old school," insists Irish immigrant Billy Jam who fell in love with hip hop back in the late seventies when he first got to New York. Since then he has dedicated himself to supporting the art form of hip hop through various forms of media. "I look at media, be it print, radio, Internet, television, or whatever as all the same thing: just another way to get your message across," says Jam who in 1984 started as a radio DJ on KALX, Berkeley, CA. Consequently he has been on countless radio stations (many of them kicking him off their airwaves for "obscene content" in the hip hop music he played). He has also produced numerous Hip Hop Slam TV shows over the years. In 1987 he added journalism to his media assault, with publications including: The Source, BOMB, Vibe, XXL, CMJ, Hits, No Joke, Stealth, Rap Pages, BAM, Murder Dog, San Francisco Chronicle, SF Weekly, and The SF Bay Guardian. In 1998 he began producing music CDs, records, and videos with an emphasis on DJ/turntablist music. Along with Hip Hop Slam's Chief Editor Frank Casiano II, he is currently working on the authorized biography of DJ QBert.

Billy's Top Five

1. 1979: Getting my first taste of hip hop when I moved to New York City (seeing all the subway trains bombed with this graffiti art & hearing the music blaring out of boom-boxes).

2. 1983/84: These were the years that convinced me that hip hop was the most important music out there: going to rap concerts like Egyptian Lover & Uncle Jamm's Army along with Run DMC at Oakland Convention Center and Grand Master Flash at Berkeley Square, seeing b-boys breakin at Fisherman's Wharf, being inspired by movies like Wild Style & Beat Street, and being spellbound by records like Run DMC's first album, Egyptian Lover's single "What Is A DJ If He Can't Scratch," Malcolm McLaren's "Duck Rock," the Art of Noise's first album, and "Rockit" by Herbie Hancock with Grandmixer DST and getting started as a radio DJ who could play all this great music.

3. 1986-1990: "Hip Hop Slam" the KALX years, when hip hop was a rare thing on the radio so there was this electric energy with every show: with the live call-in raps and knowing that every new hip hop record would be a good record: and a time when every album had a DJ song.

4. 1990-1995: The golden years of Yay Area hip hop with amazing releases from such diverse acts as RBL Posse, The Click, JT Tha Bigga Figga, Dre Dog, 11/5, Cellski, Cougnut, Paris, 415, Filthy Phil, MC Pooh, The Coup, The Govenor, 2Pac, Digital Underground, Charizma & Peanut Butter Wolf, Too $hort, Mac Dre, X-Raided, C-BO, Herm Lewis, Saafir, The Automator, and Blackalicious.

5. 2001: Going to DJ events like the Scratch / Wave Twisters screenings, the Tableturns and Allies Beatdown events in NYC, and the U.S. Finals and Regional DMC battles in San Francisco, and just being blown away at witnessing how far scratch DJ/turntablist music has advanced as a fully recognized art form.