Ghetto... Bass... Quake...

I just got done djing in San Francisco's Bay View district for an Earth Day event.  It, along with the adjacent Hunter's Point, is a neighborhood that could be characterized by the word Ghetto. A neighborhood with a high rate of crime, a high portion of the residents are poor, the majority are non-white, and it's probably the last neighborhood in San Francisco with a high percentage of African-Americans. There is the threat of redevelopment and displacement.  There is a presence of drug use and trade.  And, there is environmental racism,  hence the need for "the people's Earth Day," (the sign that greeted me at the entrance of the event.)

But beyond that familiar and all too common description of a poor people's community, or Ghetto, there are other, more hopeful things that go along with such an area.  The people have a spirit and an intellect that goes beyond what most people strive for in the upscale neighborhoods.  Faith is strong, the bonds between families are strong, the culture is strong, and every moment is creative, because you must invent and re-invent in order to survive.  I, as an outsider, but yet a participant in that community, see the value in those things that are often overlooked by the people in power.

Bass is often associated with such areas.  I did a mix awhile back called Bass Began in Africa.   I was trying to poke at the prevalence of bass across cultures in the African Diaspora.  I hear it when my friends play their hand drums at the club.  It permeates throughout Ghettos of the descendants of Africans throughout the World.In Bay View/Hunter's Point, Low End Theory is all over.  Cars rumble past with a West Coast thump. At the event, the rappers blew out my speaker with their bass heavy performance.  The rumble of an urban space itself, in the lower frequencies.  A constant tremor before the inevitable big Quake!  That is California and that is my life right now, and it is with that preface that I would like to introduce myself to the Ghetto Bassquake community as a contributor.  After all, community is what this is all about anyway, and I would like to contribute as positively as possible without "redeveloping" the home that Vamanos has created.  So I'll take my Ghetto Pass, and I hope I carry it well.  I'll leave you for now with this track, and look out for more Ghetto Bassquake updates from me in the future.-DJ Chief Boima-Traxamillion-SF Anthem feat. San Quinn, Big Rich & Boo BangaTraxamillion Myspace