Ghostride ya scaper, put ya stunna shades on, shake dem dreads, go stupid and ride the yellow bus. These are all terms associated with the Bay Area rap phenomenon known as Hyphy, which is beginning to garner national attention.

By Maya J. Pope-Chappell

After more than ten stagnant years since MC Hammer and the Luniz hit "I Got 5 On It," the Bay Area rap scene is back. With E-40 and Keak Da Sneak at the forefront of the movement with the Billboard top-40-rated anthem "Tell Me When to Go," the nation has taken notice through coverage by MTV, top-40 radio stations and print media, of a sound, attitude, fashion, and vocabulary that has been evolving in the Bay Area for several years.

This breed of Bay Area rappers and its audience, shaking their dreads, "thizzin," and "going dumb," has taken the country by storm. Some call it a movement. Others call it a disgrace. But they all call it "hyphy."

Often described as the cousin to crunk, hyphy is a high energy form of music, often distinguished by aggressive, high-tempo drum beats, infused with funk. Hyphy is also a type of dance, fashion, and lifestyle attached to Bay Area youth.

"Hyphy is the way you talk, the gold teeth, shaking your dreads, wearing oversized glasses, ghostriding your whip, and putting $3000 rims on your scraper," said Brett Badele, also known as DJ Quest, a Bay Area DJ. "It's letting yourself go and getting as wild as possible. It's being free. It's the whole energetic atmosphere."

Although the Hyphy Movement has garnered national attention in the past year with contributions from artists like E-40, Keak Da Sneak, Too Short, the late Mac Dre, and Mistah F.A.B., the music has always been a major part of the Bay Area rap scene.

"The Hyphy Movement is the Bay Area finally finding a way to get on the map," DJ Quest said. "We've been getting our slang snatched for years and we've come up with something that can't be taken away because it's so original. [Nationally, people] are going to gravitate toward it like they did crunk."

The Movement

Hyphy, a perversion of the word hyper, coined by Keak Da Sneak, is not a new phenomenon. Hyphy is simply a manifestation of activities that have been going on in the Bay Area for several years, particularly in Oakland.

Sideshows, for example, began in the 1980s in East Oakland parking lots and continue today throughout the Bay Area. At sideshows, mostly young African Americans gather to socialize and compete, show off their cars, swing donuts and figure eights, and defy police. It is an opportunity to release inhibitions and have fun, despite the violence, drugs, and alcohol that go along with these events.

Although many artists have termed hyphy as a movement, some find the labeling of this Bay Area phenomenon inaccurate.

"I don't think it should be called a movement because it's a bit ridiculous and disrespectful to past movements such as the Civil Rights Movement, the Women's Suffrage Movement, etc.," said Whitney Dwyer, University of California at Santa Cruz fourth-year and Bay Area native. "I think it's just being dramatic. E-40 just uses words loosely for shock value. Saying 'movement' has caught on."

However, Boots Riley of the socially conscious rap group The Coup, contends that hyphy is a movement in the sense that it fosters unity and a rebellious attitude toward authority.

"It is very much the essence of the bay," Boots said. "It's a movement because there are a lot of people that are affected by the same culture that is creating the music. A movement doesn't necessarily mean a political movement. There are movements in art [too]."

According to E.A. Ski, Oakland-based producer and rapper who has produced hits like "Hell Yeah" and E-40's "QuarterBacking," says that this youth-oriented movement encompasses a culture of limited resources and opportunities in the urban spaces they inhabit, including declining public schools systems, a lack of activities, drugs, and violence.

"There's nothing for these urban kids to do," Ski said. "That's why you have hyphy. That's why they get hyphy. That's why they shake they dreads. When [youth] get together with other kids, whether they smoking or drinking, or popping ex [ecstasy], or they out there just hanging out, and they going hyphy, those things are created from being bored and having nothing positive in their community to look up to."

"Going Dumb" ...Literally?

With the national success that Bay Area rappers are enjoying comes an increase in criticism and controversy surrounding the Hyphy Movement. Some question the negative repercussions that the terms and ideas promoted in the music are having on the youth.

For example, in many of the songs that promote the Hyphy Movement, there are references to the use of ecstasy, a mood-altering, anti-depressant, which is often called "thizz" or "thizzing." Both ecstasy use and smoking "purp" or marijuana, was popularized in songs by the late Vallejo rapper Mac Dre. "Going stupid" or "going dumb," are terms often used to describe a type of dance or state of being under the influences of drugs and/or alcohol.

According to David Muhammad, respected Black activist, youth mentor, and executive director of the Mentoring Center in Oakland, hip-hop music, and the Hyphy Movement specifically, promotes what he calls a "culture of death."

"In one sense, [the Hyphy Movement] is Bay Area artists' attempt to have something break national from the Bay Area," Muhammad said. "I have no problem with Bay Area artists breaking into the national scene, in fact I support that. But the vehicle they're currently using has very detrimental impacts. The Hyphy Movement promotes a whole series of irresponsible, delinquent, and criminal behavior."

Though Muhammad is adamant in arguing that hip-hop did not create the problems many urban communities face, he argues that the music perpetuates them.

"I get little to no argument from parents, people who work in schools or juvenile justice systems about the detrimental effects of hip-hop because it is clear that its pushing a deliberate destabilization of poor and Black communities," Muhammad said.

"The hooks of many of these songs and the anthem 'Tell Me When to Go,' have quite literally spawned a whole series of dumb and stupid behavior. Some of the worst aspects are alcohol consumption and drug use."

Boots offers a different perspective on terms such as "go dumb," which he believes is meant to show power, strength, and unity.

"It doesn't actually mean 'I'm going to all of a sudden not know how to add,'" Boots said. "In a sense, the term 'going dumb' is about expressing their power. Hyphy is an out-growth of sideshow culture which is about a call for unity of the people and a need for people to identify their own culture in the face of the oppressive police department."

Like other musical movements such as bebop or rock & roll, which were once ridiculed for promoting drug use, interracial contact, and corrupting youth, Boots says that the Hyphy Movement is being attacked in the same way, in that Black youth are being criminalized.

"The attack against hyphy is an attack against youth of color in the Bay Area because any music - when is comes to style, form, or fashion that has to do with young folks of color, especially Black youth - it's always said to be a problem," Boots said.

Although LockSmith, of the Richmond-based rap group Frontline, concedes both Muhammad and Boots' points, he steps away from associating hyphy with particular actions. Instead, LockSmith emphasizes hyphy's meaning of having fun.

"Hyphy music is just something you can move to," LockSmith said. "At one point in time, hyphy just meant a dude that was getting a little out of control and out of hand in a violent way. But now its 'hey, we're getting hyphy. We're getting Crunk, we're having a good time.' There is the use of alcohol, drugs, and violence that come with it, but that's prevalent in all other kinds of music too. I don't promote people being dumb."

Although DJ Quest sees no problem with getting Hyphy, he believes that people must exhibit self-control.

"You have to go dumb, not be dumb," DJ Quest said. "In order to go dumb, you have to be able to control your dummy-ness. Everything about hyphy is not good. It's smoking weed, drinking, and popping pills and that's not good, but it's Hyphy. Hyphy wouldn't be Hyphy without those [negative] things. Hyphy wouldn't be hyphy if it was controlled."

Muhammad says he has witnessed first hand the negative repercussions of the Hyphy Movement through his work with youth who have either been expelled from school or are coming out of the juvenile justice system.

"Part of what the Mentoring Center is doing is not just me pointing out the disturbing aspects of radio rap, but in addition, we have started a 'Go Smart' campaign [which includes] 'Go Smart' T-shirts," Muhammad said. "We want to promote positive images and positive ideals so that young people have alternatives to this 'culture of death' type of music."

Although Muhammad says that rap artists must exhibit social responsibility in the things they rap about, he says that the music industry itself is to blame for the promotion of negative behavior, which he argues has detrimental effects on youth.

"The rap artists have to take responsibility because they are the new leaders of these young people," Muhammad said. "They have the ear and often the heart of the young people and we as a conscious community must create accountability for these rap artists which often begin with their corporate entities that are not run by [Black people] and do not have our interests in mind."

Perhaps it is too early to tell whether hyphy will garner the same success as crunk, but one thing's for sure, the Bay Area is long overdue its credit and attention from the rest of the nation. The Bay has waited patiently as artists from Snoop Dogg and Three Six Mafia, to Usher and Mariah Carey, seized our slang, phrases, gestures, and style. Being an Oakland native and fan of hyphy music, I'm glad to see the Bay finally gaining some type of recognition and attention. This is the first time in the Bay Area that artists have been on the same page, working toward a common goal which is upholding the movement and moving hyphy forward.

However, we must be aware of the effects that this movement will have on our youth. There are signs that hyphy could spawn positive things for the Bay Area rap scene such as unity, respect, and recognition, but we must also be aware of the message we're sending to our youth through the slang and lifestlye promoted in the music. Enjoy the music, but don't let it define or consume your life to where all you live for is getting hyphy or going dumb.

Hyphy Handbook

Going or getting dumb/stupid/ignorant/retarded/Hyphy/yellow bus- having a good time; letting yourself go and act as wild as possible; being free; going against societal norms

Ghostride the Whip- Driver walks alongside his/her car while the car is still in motion with the doors open.

Scraper- Vintage four-door American sedans often equipped with bass in the trunk, whistling pipes, and rims 20in and above, sometimes spinning

Gas, Break, Dip- Driving while quickly alternating between slapping on the gas and the brake

Stunna Shades- Oversized glasses, often aviator style or more elaborate like clown size glasses.

Thizz- term used for ecstasy pills coined by the late Mac Dre. Thizz can also be a state of mind or action i.e. thizzle dance, shaking one's dreadlocks, etc...

Yadadamean- coined by Keak Da Sneak which means 'Do you know what I mean.'

Maya J. Pope-Chappell, a staff writer for whatchusay.com, writes about arts and culture for this site. Her column will soon debut on whatchusay.com