Another Filipino who's made his mark is Sir Mix-A-Lot's original DJ Nasty Nes. He is now the rap editor of the industry trade, Hits Magazine which is based in Los Angeles. For years. Nes put his native Seattle area on the map with his very popular 'Rap Attack Radio show' which most recently aired on Sunday Nights on KCMU.
Nes with his editorial position, followed in the footsteps of another Filipino named Brain Sampson who made his mark as the rap editor for another industry trade called The Gavin Report. During the early 90s Sampson helped bring National attention to the Bay Area Hip Hop scene when he helped stepped up the publications commitment to Hip Hop during their annual convention. Brian was the first to start doing large Hip Hop showcases and holding Hip Hop panel discussions during the convention. Later on people like Kelly Wu, Thembisa Mshaka, Ioka and now Ivan Rodriguez of the Pirate Djs built upon his ground work. Brian also hosted a popular Hip Hop show in Stockton, Ca for a while on KWIN. Currently he works as a record promoter for Noo Trybe Records.

While Sampson was blowing up the spot on the Gavin side there was at the same time another emerging Bay Area writer making some big moves. Initially she was putting it down for weekly newspapers like The SF Bay Guardian and was later named music editor for SF Weekly where she gave Hip Hop much love and exposure. Afterwards she moved to New York City and landed an editorial position with Billboard Magazine. From there she went on to even bigger heights as she became the editor and chief for Vibe Magazine. Big shout out to Danyel Smith who has some Pinay blood running through her mostly African veins...

Another person who's put in work is DJ Glen Aure who now serves as the music director for 106 KMEL in San Francisco. He may be the only Filipino in the country holding such a high position in major market radio. He also overseas the very influential Allstar DJs. A nod from Glen can make or break your record. In addition to his radio work, Glen did quite a bit of producing and remixes for a number of artist. Most notable is the megamix he put together for Ice Cube on his B-Sides and Bootlegs lp. A Platinum record sits in Glen's office indicating the project's success.

Included among the Allstar DJs are two Filipinos Rob Reyes and Franzen. Franzen is not only a well known popular air personality who holds the number one position for his 6-10pm time slot, but he also co-host a popular video show on California Music Channel. He's put out a couple of mix tapes and CDs has been featured in a couple of hip hop compilations including the very popular 'Paper Chase'

Downstairs at KMEL's sister yet competiting station Wild 94.9, we have folks like on air personality Freska and Hip Hop djs E-Rock, Chris The Rebel, Rick Laxana and Majestic Chris. Majestic Chris really has really made some noise over the past couple of years by holding it down on the Wild's Hip Hop Shows 'The Chop Shop' and the now defunct 'Bomb Show' which showcased local Hip Hop acts.

Finally we can't forget one of the Grand Daddies of the Bay Area Hip Hop scene-KK Baby. KK has been doing his Sunday afternoon show Soulful Sundays for over 15 years on popular community station 89.5 KPOO. He recently started spinning Hip Hop on Friday Nites. For those who don't know, KP00 is the only Black owned community station west of the Rockies. During his tenure, KK has not only broken quite a few acts, but he's also had a hand in helping launch what may have been Hip Hop's first magazine which was called 'Deep'. Folks from back in the 80s may recall this publication which focused on the Bay Area's emerging scene. Had the original publisher not passed away, Deep would've went on to bigger heights. KK along with his partner DJ G were among the first to set up one of the Bay Area's first independent Hip Hop record companies-HHARD Records.

On the rap side, everyone is well aware of Foxy Brown who is half Filipino. In addition to having a stellar rap career, she recently signed an endorsement deal with Calvin Klein. It's about time some of these rappers got hooked up as spokespersons for some of the gear they freely rap about in their hit songs. Here in the Bay Area, we have my KPFA radio co-host T-Cash who like Foxy is mixed. His new lp 'Late Night Riders' will be dropping at the end of this month so be on the look out. Of course we'll be featuring it prominently on the Friday Nite Vibe. Another local is getting ready to blow up the spot is female rap phenomenom, Realism of the group Complex. She just dropped her new CD entitled 'Realism On A Mission' The supplies are limited so you best hit her up at mailto:realemcee@hotmail.com . She may also have some of her material on MP3s http://www.mp3.com/6thward
http://bounce.to/thefunk
http://fly.to/therealworld

Last but not least we have to recognize the scores of Filipino Break dancers. Most notable was the KnuckleNeck Tribe who later turned their energie toward emceeing. They would often perform with the Skratch Piklz. Nowadays we have OA [Oversea Artist] who do more Hip Hop oriented performance pieces. They've been garnering quite a reputation for themselves over the past year.

Hip Hop has a long a rich history with Filipinos here out West.. Many have been down since the early 80s when huge Filipino DJ Crews would go head to head and battle each other's sound system. Those legendary parties of the early and mid 80s reminded me of the early sound battles that Kool Herc and Bambaataa found themselves in during the '70s.