As my generation is forced to move out of the Town to find housing and some of the further cities like Antioch, Stockton, Tracy, and Modesto, the people that contributed to a culture here in Oakland aren’t even going to be here anymore to talk about these stories.”
Delency Parham
Quote taken from ‘Tales of the Town’ is a love letter to Oakland’s Black history, a new piece in the Oaklandside sharing the back story to a new compilation album, podcast, and multimedia project created by Parham and Abbas Muntaqim to tell a century’s worth of Black history through audio, film, photos, and music. Though only a half hour long, the EMPIRE-assembled compilation is packed to the brim with substance, poetry, and bone bare truth told by many of the best in Bay Area hip hop: Mani Draper, Rexx Life Raj, ALLBLACK, Kevin Allen, Pallaví aka Fijiana, 22nd Jim, JANE HANDCOCK, G-Eazy, P-Lo, LaRussell, Guapdad 4000, Shy’an G, Ian Kelly, and so many more.
