The Bay Area is enshrouded in stereotypes. Some see us as huge proponents of pimp culture, others remember us as free love hippies, and still others know us as eclectic cool kids with a nose for the next. Well this Valentines season, we were treated to manifestations of all of the above via our local musicians.
You don’t love them hoes? And/or you love too many? Too $hort weighs in on how he handles the hallmark holiday below. You can at least assume the direction the embattled Oakland player is going in with this one. Be sure to check out his SEVEN new music videos, and pick up his new album No TrespASSing on February 28th.
Or perhaps you’re the type who promotes a different type of open love– a nondiscriminatory “everyone is beautiful and deserves validation and affection” sort of love. If that’s the case, then you’re in luck! Berkeley singer-song writer Adam Stern (pictured top) took to the streets of LA passing out roses to passersby and trading daps and hugs with the people. He even released a whimsically smooth and sunny mixtape for the occasion entitled Valentines Day 2012 Special Edition! Whereas this latest release is primarily about love and the beauty of the opposite sex, Adam’s latest full-length album, Cosmicology, has a more political and spiritual bent. He plays a brand of free-spirited acoustic music that he’s dubbed Organic Soul. Think of a Bay Area-bred G-Love or Jack Johnson with a hippie heart and a social uplift agenda. It’s Berkeley down to the socks feet.
Finally, you might be the type who knows how to take your girl out on a thoughtful romantic outing for the low. You kick it by the Bay, cook at the house, give her a Sponge Bob watch and hit a romantic night spot to see Oakland’s vintage songbird Mara Hruby for joog. It helps if you’re a bilingual lothario like Raka Rich, but it’s not mandatory. Rich and his cousin Dun even went to far as to drop a whole smoothed out free EP on V-day called Raka Love. That may have been their way to get the ladies swooning, but you might as well use the music to your advantage! This Aris Jerome directed video for “Copa de Champaña” sums up the thoughtful, cultured and cost-effective types of gifts many in my circle treat their partners to. “Everybody nowadays is very materialistic. We wanted to show the humble side of things, and how it’s the thought that counts,” Los Rakas told MTV Tr3s. “You see people giving expensive things they can’t afford…a Spongebob watch only costs $2.99 and it looks fly.” Sucks that blood got his girl took. That’s the other thing about the Bay.
