[the bay]

fat, lazy a** sea lions at fisherman's wharf, SF

I was quite lucky to have spent my birthday in San Francisco with my homegirl Nicky Nick Nic! Coming from upstate NY a week in the Bay area (in late January) is basically like a vacation in Barbados. I flew out of the Roc in a snow storm and stepped off the plane in sunshine and 70 degrees. After a brutal winter on the east coast SF felt tropical. Enough about the weather (which I will tell ya'll was perfect. Stayed around 70 degrees and sunny the whole week). If you're like me when you travel then you go to other places to experience the culture- music, art, fashion, food, and to learn how people do what they do in their hood. Music is an essential part of my life so I always make sure to pick up some mixtapes/cds/vinyl whenever I go someplace new. I especially like to hear what local musicians are doing and get that local flavor in my ear.

In SF I quickly realized that there aren't people slinging mixtapes on every corner like you find in NY or down in the subway in Philly. I asked around and ended up at Rasputin Music in union square. Here a very energetic employee (who reminded me of Jack Black) was literally jumping up and down with excitement to help me find some Bay area music to take back with me to the East Coast. Here are the cds i copped:
Outside Rasputin Music I talked to a dude named M.A. who was selling the "Been Official" mixtape hosted by DJ Mind Motion. I had heard Mind motion on 106 KMEL and he was pretty good so I flirted until M.A. gave me the cd for free. While I was on the west coast I also heard a bunch of tracks from this dude: Laroo. Now that I'm back in the Roc i'm delving into my new Bay area music collection and there's way more to it than just goin dumb, gettin hyphy, and thizzin with the homies. Yay area!