Matt's Writing

Rafael Casal teaching the first #BARS Workshop #2 On Monday, July 18, 2016 eighteen poets, rappers, actors, beatboxers, and playwrights gathered at The Public Theater in New York City for the #BARS Workshop #2 . The instructor Rafael Casal said that when he was selecting the eighteen out of hundreds of applicants that he felt like Professor X with Cerebro peering out into the universe and assembling the hip hop theater X-Men. Rafael is an experienced theater instructor with a strong background in hip hop and spoken word. I interviewed him  for my book Oakland in Popular Memory . If you haven't seen his work, check out his videos on YouTube . #BARS Workshop 2nd cohort at the Public Theater The goal of the class is to produce a new theater piece that we'll perform and film at The Public Theater on Monday, September 5. We'll be joined by Daveed Diggs and other leading performers in the hip hop theater space for our final performance. The first class included an...

Daveed Diggs released his music video for Fresh From the Hood , the first track on his mixtape Small Things to a Giant . It features shots all throughout Oakland, starting with him and members of the Getback on BART, and then shots at Lake Merritt and other spots in Oakland. He also has a section in the middle of the video where he mimics famous album covers from Tupac, Jay-Z, Biggie, and Lil Wayne. Check out the video: Also check out my review of his mixtape Small Things to a Giant .

How many Oakland hip-hop artists fill their tracks with Gertrude Stein references and turn nursery rhymes into extended political allegories? How many tackle issues of gentrification in Oakland? Can't think of any? Let me introduce you to Daveed Diggs. His free mixtape Small Things to A Giant shows that a new giant has stepped on to Oakland’s trend-setting hip hop scene. <p><p><p><p><p><p>&am...

<p><a href="http://rafaelcasal.bandcamp.com/album/mean-ones-new-release">MEAN ONES (NEW RELEASE) by Rafael Casal</a></p> I first met Rafael Casal in 2002 at a Youth Speaks poetry workshop for Bay Area teens. We met at La Peña and the instructor Paul Flores gave us a writing prompt: to view the world through another person’s eyes. Casal began furiously scribbling into his yellow notepad. At the end of fifteen minutes, what he revealed were several pages written from the vantage point of his grandmother with Alzheimer’s looking back at him, and him wondering what she sees when she looks through her eyes. I had written a one-page poem. Not only did Casal’s output surpass mine in length, but its complexity dazzled the other high schoolers in the workshop. His piece had a tight rhyme scheme, meter, and it was bursting with imagery, wordplay, and double-meaning. He performed the piece ...

TheRumpus.net just published my interview with Rafael Casal , which is the final interview I’m including in my book . I spoke with Rafael on February 11, 2012 about his third hip hop album Mean Ones , how the Bay Area is similar to the world of Dr. Seuss, his thoughts on Occupy Oakland, and why he moved to LA. Read the full interview on TheRumpus.net .

The last 2 months have been filled with incredible releases from the Bay Area indie music scene. The Bay Area's indie and underground scenes have historically been engines of innovation, creating new musical styles and language. What's happening on the ground today in the Bay may take months or even years to reach "mainstream." Read at the bottom for more about this. Here are my favorite recent releases: Dave Smallen - Happiness Read my review . Daveed Diggs - Small Things to a Giant . Provocative freshman album. My review is forthcoming. K.Flay - Eyes Shut . Read my post . George Watsky - Watsky & Mody . This genre-bending album featuring bluegrass meets Bay Area hip hop is perhaps Watsky’s most experimental piece to date. Have you also seen Watsky’s Robot poem ? S for Lisp ? He's also a Wikipedia power user and can rap fast . Rafael Casal releases Mean Ones on Feb. 2nd. Read my review of the music vi...

Rafael Casal reps the Oakland Hills in his new Dr. Seuss-inspired music video Whoville . He raps while riding the Tilden Park Steam Trains (AKA Redwood Valley Railway) with Daveed Diggs and Chinaka Hodge of the Getback crew riding in small cars behind him. The end of the video features him walking up the Oakland Hills to the Chabot Space and Science Center where he looks into a telescope. Casal choosing to film the video in the hills showcases another side of Oakland that not many outsiders know about. The video captures Oakland's vibrant geography, natural parks, and wild landscapes along its border with Contra Costa County. The lighting in the video is superb. And given the conditions they were working with, shooting from a moving miniature train, pulling off a video like this is no easy feat. Casal and Nathan Lee artistically apply themes from Dr. Seuss into the Bay Area hip hop world. The attractive girl at the beginning hears a cry emanating from ...