Although the North-Oakland-raised emcee T-Kash — who raps with the acerbic hip-hop agitprop group the Coup — discusses street life from the vantage point of racial uplift and community empowerment, he isn’t your typical rapping schoolmarm or message-barker, and he recognizes the mendacity in the “let’s make it conscious” hustle. In fact, T-Kash’s musical preferences include the hardest of the hard, the streetest of the street, and the realist of the real — emcees like Guce of Bullys wit Fullys, Curcinado of Hittaz on the Payroll, and Conscious Daughters’ own Special One the Mic Strangler, all of whom have appeared on his show, Friday Night Vibe. The late-night show features interviews with a bevy of local street reporters, some of whom you may have heard on KMEL’s Chop Shop; others — such as Pittsburg’s Nasty Nate — whom you’d never hear at all, unless you get down like that. Combining interesting, sometimes even compelling conversations about race, community politics, and the hip-hop biz with deliciously homicidal mobb music, this show will definitely appeal to anyone still longing for the bay’s now-defunct Power 92.7. Actually, Friday Night Vibe is a lot better.
Readers’ Pick:
Don Bleu, Star 101.3 FM
