On Sunday afternoon, hundreds filed in a line outside of downtown Oakland’s Venue in order to see their favorite Bay Area rap acts, such as Oakland’s Young Gully, San Francisco’s Show Banga, Richmond’s Kool John, and Vallejo’s quickly rising Nef The Pharaoh, who is riding the wave of his meteoric single “Big Tymin”. As the line continued to grow, spreading around the corner and down the block, many anxious attendees attempted sweet talking guards, flaunting friendships with performers, and using any other viable tactic to speed up their entrance.
Inside were 3 stages, all alive with talented DJs on the rise like SHRUGGS, up and coming hip hop performers like Nick James, and more established acts like Kool John, Erk Tha Jerk, and The HNRL Crew. At the Under The Bay stage, festival goers could find underground acts making a name for themselves. This included the San Francisco born, ATL trap enthusiast Larry June, the Vibe Magazine featured Janel Marisse, the student of internet rap trends and anime RAMIREZ, and many more of the Bay’s hidden talent.
Oakland Music Festival partnered with Thizzler.com this year to organize their own stage as well. OMF, who is throwing their third annual festival in downtown Oakland in September, gathered 8 DJs to keep the dance floor vibrant with danceable sounds. OMF’s stage featured known DJ crew Trill Team Six, Browntourage, and Dreafauxreal just to name a few.
But the On The Roof stage, located on the top floor, was the main destination for many of the fans, as it featured some of the new festival’s biggest draws. Sweating, excited fans stood shoulder to shoulder, packing the walls of Venue’s 3rd floor to see Show Banga, Kool John, Nef The Pharaoh and Mistah F.A.B. perform their hits. There was a strong sense of nostalgia, as the hosts and performers beckoned their DJs to spin Bay Area hip-hop classics from legends past including Mac Dre’s “Thizzle Dance” and “Feelin Myself”.
In a city like Oakland, there’s an underlying anxiety surrounding hip-hop events such as this. A question of public safety always manages to enter the conversation. What made Thizzler Jam such a success, aside from the high turn out, and great music, was that there was not a single incident of violence. People came out and enjoyed the music and each other. Thizzler Jam was good for the community and in turn, the community was good to Thizzler Jam.
Thizzler.com, the persistent Bay Area hip-hop blog that began in 2009, announced the festival as a celebration to reaching 100 million views on their YouTube channel. It now garners over 7 million hits monthly across the website, Youtube channel and Soundcloud account, and has continued to earn it’s title as the official home for Bay Area music. Despite pushback from OPD, last minute lineup changes and an underestimation of the work necessary to produce a full festival, the Thizzler team worked around the clock to see their infant festival happen.
“It was well worth the stress to see the turnout and the love reciprocated,” said Tyrese Johnson, Thizzler’s Head Of Security, “We feel strongly about Bay hip-hop and the artists who made the event possible. It felt good to see people come out and have a good time.”
Thizzler founder Matt Werner agreed. “The Bay needs more outlets for artists to be seen and heard. With the end of the Bay Area Freshmen 10, we wanted to create a new platform to showcase artists that we believe in to a larger audience. Hopefully our success here will show people it’s possible for them to do the same.”
If there’s any doubt of how successful the first annual Thizzler Jam music festival was, all it takes is a quick look at the hashtag #ThizzlerJam on Twitter and Instagram. You’ll see smiling teens taking selfies with friends, industry heads shaking hands and making new acquaintances, and performers taking photo ops with excited fans.
With one under their belt, the team is already looking forward to next year, with other, smaller community focused events in the works as well. “We were able to pull the first Thizzler Jam off with a skeleton crew and no prior festival experience,” says Werner with a smile, “There’s no way next year won’t be even bigger and better.”
Video shot by Evan Croker & Luis Montoya
