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Hyphy gets a bad (ha) rap for excessive … everything, but when it comes to the hometown heroes you gotta show support where you gotta show support, you know? Fans at Rasputin Music lined up around the block early last week to see E-40, hyphy kingpin and proud owner of a Fatburger franchise in Pleasant Hill, California, perform songs off his latest album. But that’s not the point! Because the point is this: Matt Price was there, and Matt Price was a Berkeley student who graduated with a degree from Cal’s Classics department in 2002, and Matt Price was the man who made that one Akon and E-40 collab, “Wake It Up”.
Pretty cool, right? Price said he got name-dropped by Oakland emcee Big Dan at the show (”Hey everybody, you know who this is? That m*therfucker made ‘Wake It Up’!”) — whereupon he was accosted by fans who wanted his autograph and a picture and all that good stuff. Cal was a while ago, but here’s what he got up to when he was here:
* played upright bass in the campus chamber orchestra
* studied contemporary electronic music at the Center for New Music and Technology
* played gigs around town with small jazz combos and a salsa band
* wrote a ton of Latin papers while making beats on the side
Post graduation, Price became a full-time hip-hop producer. Now an established player on the scene, he’s still pretty downbeat about his prospects in the Bay Area–things are looking bleak because there aren’t that many Bay Area rappers hitting the big-time jackpot, and because the inflating numbers of amateur producers are exerting competitive pressure on producers like Price. Recently, the man packed all his worldly belongings in preparation for a move down to L.A., where he hopes the scene will be sprightlier. Fingers crossed, man.
Image Source: joehughes under Creative Commons
Priced Out [Easy Bay Express]
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