Back when I first got into rap from the San Francisco Bay Area, it didn't seem that different. In the early '90s I introduced myself to people like Paris, Too $hort, Digital Underground, N2Deep, the Hieroglypics, and adapted fairly quickly. But as time went on, the Bay began to produce a distinct style of rap music of which the infamous E-40 was only the tip of the iceberg. It took me many an intense listening session to get accustomed to the local slang, but that didn't prevent me from soon standing knee-deep in records by 3XKrazy, Dangerous Dame, RBL Posse, Dru Down, Mac Dre, Mac Mall, etc. To this hip-hop fanatic raised in the '80s, hearing mob music (as it came to be known), felt like being reborn, similarly to when I discovered old school hip-hop or when the Southern wave swept over us. It was hip-hop, it messed with your mind, it bullied your body, it soothed your soul, and it was fresh as f**k.

Since then, Oakland, San Francisco and neighboring communities have put out more rap records than the New Y