I am constantly amazed at how quickly the Bay moves (hah -oxymoron?) and how tightly things orbit around each other. Though when you zoom out on the map, the interrelations aren’t as surprising, considering that the people involved are in the same hoods, of the same cloth, and often hail from the same distant, abstract, virtual planets. Small worlds yield dense and overlapping connections and the San Francisco Bay is nothing if not an example of a crazy venn-diagram of people and cultures, both reallife and web.
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Just a few weeks before I got back onto a Monk One/NYCTrust tip (via a string of #SFNY, Props, HotWax FM, SOM, Wax Poetics references), it was actually our very own GrownKidsRadio that featured NYCTrust label head, E’s E (“easy,” get it?) on a special Edisode 19.
GKR Ep 19: E’s E NYCTrust Label feature: stream+tracklist | download
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GrownKidsRadio, since its establishment in March 2009, has been an awesome antidote to music stagnation and the continuing regression of hip hop music. * Diggers at heart, they’re also tasteful selectas, taking cues from the edges of J.Rocc and Dam Funk to Anticon and LuckyMe, blending the basis of soulbeat to its current and future forms, from smooth to blippy, groovy to cut up n grimy.
*Well, that’s a little harsh – I’d liken it to simply “slow uptake” in the mainstream world (obviously a running debate). In the current Okayplayer/G.O.O.D./StonesThrow/FoolsGold/PlugResearch world, it’s actually very hard to see hip hop as de-evolving – quite the opposite. And with the the SF Bay’s Massive Selector, Pacific Standard Time, Distortion2Static, and now theBrooklynCircus, it’s also apparent that music lovers are maturing by embracing their boombap-roots and looking to refine both their personal style, curation, and production as well as the overall perception of soul, r&b, funk, and hip hop lifestyle. GKR represents this desire to remain humble, playful, and honest by manifesting their trueskool Soulquarians as community educators and City fixie coffee drinkers, but also diving into space and rocking the cosmic sloppy, 8-bit blippy headknock that our brains have come to know so well. They know how to keep it controlled.
Coming from the rich heritage at KUSF‘s Beatsauce (one of the longest running college hip hop stations on the West Coast, and now on BrooklynRadio.net – bigups to J-Boogie, Raw B, Wisdom), the fellas of GKR have YEARS of experience behind the mic and sound boards, in addition to their musical experience on the decks, pads, and drums. Comprised of Sergio aka Brown Majik, Michael aka DJ Diversify, Eric aka EdaBoss, Spinnerty, Cyclyst, and PWest (since I don’t know their real names), this crew had been holding down regulars duties at EdaBoss/Egadz‘ Holy Thursdays @ UndergroundSF (bringing out heads like DevonWho?) and are currently at Eve Lounge, bringing their eclectic, future-forward fuzzy-soul to the happy hour SoMa set.
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From the About page:
Being a kid is easy. Being a Grown Kid is on some next level ish.
The Grown Kids are a rag tag crew of DJing, producing, beat making, bike riding, youth mentoring, in the cut laying individuals that are all making things happen in the ‘Sco on their own. When they combine like Voltron, it’s curtains for any wanna-be’s.
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Some must check episodes:
GKR EP07: ApSci (Live Set + Interview)
GKR EP13: DevonWho (Interview+Live Beat set)
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Also:
The ExRay’s band, a project involving Diversify and the fka “Ray’s Basement” crew.
souls on paper, wax, & screen. 