Dregs One Turns ‘History of the Bay’ Into an Epic San Francisco Day Party

There aren’t many artists in the Bay Area stitching the fabrics of community more colorfully than rapper, graffiti writer and historian Dregs One.

The proud San Francisco lyricist and social advocate has undertaken one of the more important preservation projects in recent memory with his podcast History of the Bay. The series invites an intergenerational cast of Bay Area personalities — including P-Lo, Rocky Rivera and Magic Mike — to discuss their experiences in Bay Area hip-hop, culture and politics with a laid-back, in-the-know flavor.

Having received attention for archiving largely untold Bay Area rap stories, Dregs is now expanding his platform to community events with the inaugural History of the Bay Day Party. From the looks of it, it’ll be a real-life Bay Area Player’s Holiday.

In the spirit of connecting the Bay Area’s vast galaxy of hip-hop, the event includes a multitude of guests. Oakland rap legends the Luniz headline the stage, with Keak Da Sneak, Nef the Pharaoh, Mac Mall, San Quinn and Dregs One himself rounding out the afternoon lineup. (Also on stage is a panel on women in Bay Area hip-hop, moderated by KQED’s own Nastia Voynovskaya, an editor for KQED’s Bay Area hip-hop history series That’s My Word.)

Beyond music, the day showcases the many subterraneous layers in hip-hop: graffiti artists (featuring a real-time mural painted by Crayone); disc jockeys (with DJ sets from Juice, Sean G and Family Not A Group’s Jenset); and traditionally unheard voices (CMG from the Conscious Daughters and D-Ray discuss their roles as women making waves in the scene). Throw into the mix food, ice cream from Mitchell’s, a live podcast recording, and vendors such as Derby of San Francisco and Dying Breed purveying wildly localized merch — think Starters-esque windbreaker jackets with “FRI$CO” and “415” stitched onto them — and you’ve got a full-on function.

With this summer marking the 50th anniversary of hip-hop, it’s a more fitting time than ever for Dregs One to champion the musical genre and cultural lifestyle in block-party fashion. At its core, hip-hop is — and will hopefully always be — an empowering intersection for jubilant expression, self-love, knowledge and the occasional thizz dance  in a space filled with other hip-hop heads who, like anyone, want to be seen and appreciated. There’s no better moment to tap in.

The History of the Bay Day Party gets underway Sunday, July 9, at 2 p.m. at The Midway in San Francisco. Details here.

The ‘History of the Bay’ podcast airs regularly with periodic live recordings at Amoeba Music in San Francisco. Abbreviated versions can be seen on Dregs One’s TikTok.