Gangsta Mittens
Words combined to express thoughts. Pictures displayed to convey emotion. Opening my brain to the world.

Ok so I told Dom I’d stop calling it that… but “Beat Off” sounds wayyyyyy better than “Beat Battle”

At any rate, tonight (last night) we traveled to the city of Oakland for this:

Now I’ve been to a few Beat Of… errr Battles in my day and this was like no other. First off the place was packed… but it was packed with all types of ppl… like not the typical beat battle in dc… but like a real live beat battle. Aside from that, though, what i liked most was that the beats tended to have the regional bay area sound. Now that’s not to say that I am a fan of the sound or that I think that it’s even a good idea for a producer to focus solely on such a niche sound… I’m just saying that it was nice to hear a sound that was distinct to a region and to see how local folks reacted to it. It made me think a LOT about being in a go-go.
Apparently, a large portion of the crowd was there to see/hear producer Rick Rock. Before tonight I knew a couple of beats he had done (like “Yay Area” off of E40s My Ghetto Report Card) but apparently I’m a bit of a Rick Rock fan as he’s done shit like “Change the Game” (Jay-Z), “Candy (Drippin Like Water)” (Snoop), “Bumpin My Music” (Ray Cash), and the fuckin KICKER… “If I Could Go” by Angie Martinez. I dunno why I liked that song… but it probably had something to do with Rick Rock. At any rate, it was a pleasant surprise to see him and to figure out I liked his music. I’m not even scratching the surface of what he’s done but i’m wiling to bet that if you do a little digging you’ll see you’re a fan too.

The weekend is almost here and all in all so far i’ve had a good first few days in the bay. I’m definitely looking forward to what the rest of the summer has to offer.

And now… a little Angie to take you into the weekend. You can thank me later: