“Whether it’s gentrification in San Francisco or what’s happening in Palestine, we see the establishment as people who continue to support the structures that are in place now that will put profit — put wealth, capital — over people’s lives.”
Baghead, KQED
Family Not a Group (FNG), the super tight community-powered SF-based hip hop crew, just took its friends-and-family-music-making to the next level with the release of Rent Check. The official soundtrack to the web series of the same name (written, co-directed, and starring comedian Mike Evans Jr.) features not just FNG’s 17 members but dozens of other rappers and collaborators, amounting to almost an hour of loving celebration, braggadocio, witty lyricism, social justice, passion, and poetry. It’s a reflection of the series plot itself—and of the lives of many artists trying to make it in San Francisco, one of the most expensive cities in the world. But though the politics and protest of the music sometimes comes front and center (as on “Cut the Stimmy”), it’s usually simply woven into the fabric, just a part of the music like it’s part of life here.
If you ever want to recite the alphabet using the names of underground Bay Area hip hop, here’s a comprehensive list of all the artists featured on the Rent Check soundtrack:
Afterthought
Allura Lex
Baghead
Cartel 360
Cello Miles
CIN
Cynny
Daylite
DJSAY
EaSWay
Frak
Isaiah Mostafa
Grand-O
HMZA.
JaaayStayTrue
Jada Imani
The Jealous Guys
Jordan Huez
Kaly Jay
Lehnen Raphael
Luna the Blooma
Maya Canales
MC Pauze
Mekkzou
Mike Evans Jr.
Mungo Baby
Nic Fury
Ozer
Qing Qi
Rio Westside
R$ire
Serg2x
Sin Q
Slim Collins
Stoni
Stunnaman02
SundaY
Teeko
Tongo Eisen-Martin
Vazh
Will Randolph V
XANUBIS
5iLL
