Tales Of The Town is a multimedia project that tells stories from Oakland’s rich Black history, commenting on the historical causes of issues that affect the community today. In the first music video from the recently-released Tales Of The Town album, three East Bay natives–FULLY, J. Stalin, and Koran Streets–channel revolutionary spirit in “BLACK JACOBINS.” Named after the book written by Trinidadian historian C.L.R. James about Toussaint L’Ouverture and the Haitian Revolution, “BLACK JACOBINS” uses the shimmering and haunting, yet undeniably funky aesthetic of Bay Area street music to salute radicals and pay tribute to the fallen.
Kicking off the proceedings with his hushed delivery, FULLY, a native of Oakland’s “Murder Dubbs” neighborhood, shouting out Black Panther Party leaders like Fred Hampton and Oakland native Bobby Seale in his verse. West Oakland’s own J. Stalin follows with an incendiary verse about the death of Oscar Grant at the hands of a BART transit officer, an act of violence that partially inspired the modern Black Lives Matter movement: “Shots fired, man down, Fruitvale Station/Only trainin’ these n****s got on the PlayStation/Shoot a black man down like it’s Call Of Duty,” spits Stalin. Mysterious Berkeley rapper Koran Streets takes the final verse with a defiant demand for better education, reparations, and prison abolition, and promising dire consequences if those demands aren’t met. In the video, the East Bay trio post up in an Oakland alley, their impassioned performances intercut with images of the historical revolutionaries mentioned in the lyrics.
“BLACK JACOBINS” is a highlight from Tales Of The Town, an 11-track album that emphasizes the depth and breadth of Oakland’s music scene. Though some songs, like the searing “F*CK 12” FREESTYLE ft. Guapdad 4000 & LaRussell tackle social issues that affect Oakland’s Black community, other songs like “GET DANGEROUS” ft. 22nd Jim & Lil Bean and “PARTY WITH THE GANG” ft. G-Eazy, P-Lo & FREDOBAGZ show how the community blows off steam. Featuring a cast of characters from all over Northern California, from Oakland artists like ALLBLACK, Rexx Life Raj, and ymtk, Sacramento street hero Shootergang Kony, San Francisco rhymer Lil Bean, Richmond native P-Lo, and many others, all of whom donated their verses to benefit the People’s Programs, Tales Of The Town is available everywhere via San Francisco’s own EMPIRE.
The new video arrives alongside the latest episode of the Tales Of The Town podcast. Episode 6 of Tales Of The Town takes an in-depth look at the housing crisis in Oakland, and the rising rate of houselessness in the community. There are over 500,000 houseless people in Oakland, and enough vacant housing to fit all of them plus more–Tales Of The Town investigates the systems and policies that prevent community members from obtaining affordable and comfortable places to live.
Hosted by People’s Programs’ co-founders and the co-creators of Hella Black Podcast, Abbas Muntaqim and Delency Parham, and produced by award winning documentarian and audio engineer, Maya Cueva, Tales Of The Town hopes to give an in-depth overview of what makes Oakland so special, and inspire others to research the fascinating history of their own hometowns.
Proceeds from the Tales Of The Town album will go towards supporting People’s Programs.
Listen to “Tales Of The Town” wherever you get your podcasts
Stream Tales Of The Town: https://music.empi.re/
Subscribe to “Tales Of The Town”: http://linktr.ee/
© 2022, Seth "Digital Crates" Barmash. All rights reserved.
