At NBA All-Star Weekend, True Bay Area Culture Thrived — If You Knew Where to Find It

On Wednesday afternoon, hundreds of basketball fanatics snaked around San Francisco’s Chinatown, awaiting the limited edition release of Nike’s Kobe Bryant “Year of the Snake” sneakers. Red and gold lanterns dangled above the narrow streets — where the city’s Lunar New Year parade would commence just days later — providing a natural and calculated backdrop for the shoe behemoth’s latest Asian-inspired drop.

To celebrate the moment, a nearby mural was unveiled by local artists TDK Vogue and Twin Walls, depicting the late Bryant surrounded by Asian children, a black mamba and Chinese iconography. This clash of a global corporation and the multicultural, street-level talent of the Bay served as a bold reminder of the Bay Area’s vibrantly diverse, creatively imbued enclaves and intersections — just in time for NBA All-Star Weekend.

Spanning three days, the annual showcase of the most skilled basketballers in the world completely took over the Bay Area this past weekend, with hundreds of high-profile events scattered throughout greater San Francisco and Oakland. It provided no shortage of after-hours shenanigans that showcased the most eccentric — and most embarrassing — elements of today’s Bay Area culture in a series of concerts, parties and “activations” for fans visiting from around the globe (the NBA reported 34 nations in attendance at the weekend’s games).

The weekend kicked off with the Rising Stars Game on Friday, which saw the NBA’s youngest talents going head-to-head against each other, with the victors facing off against the league’s most established stars in Sunday’s big game. Vallejo’s own rising star, LaRussell, stole the show with a halftime performance of a previously unreleased song based on All- Star Weekend. “I used to watch All-Star from the house, now we here” he announced to the crowd, before performing an acoustic version of “GT Coupe” from his extensive catalog.

In fact, LaRussell was a major force throughout the weekend, popping up as a guest at Jordan Brand-sponsored events, and delivering a cathartic, out-of-body live performance for a VIP crowd at Stephen Curry’s Club Thirty — the 11-time All-Star’s pop-up lounge hosted at Splash, a mega sports bar that just opened next door to Chase Center. With appearances from Saweetie, Too Short, P-Lo, Money B of Digital Underground, Mistah F.A.B. and Richie Rich, LaRussell lifted the predominantly Bay Area crowd with live-band renditions of regional anthems, including 2Pac’s “I Get Around,” P-Lo’s “Put Me On Something,” Mistah F.A.B.’s “N.E.W Oakland” and Mac Dre’s “Get Stupid.”

The rest of the weekend contained Bay Area Easter eggs and overt hat-tips alike to the region’s unique sound and history. Visuals of the Bay’s iconic bridges and architecture flashed on the arena jumbotron while Bay Area classics from Tony Bennett’s “I Left My Heart in San Francisco” to E-40’s “Tell Me When To Go” blared from the stadium-capacity speakers. Subtle touches, like ongoing audio clips of Too $hort instructing referees to “blow the whistle” during Saturday’s Three-Point Contest, added to the thoughtful incorporation of Bay Area culture.

For Sunday’s marquee game, a skit by onetime Bay Area resident Katt Williams about the Golden Gate Bridge set a comedic tone. E-40 and hall-of-famers Chris Mullin and Barry Bonds followed by introducing Raphael Saadiq for a pregame performance of Bay Area music, including covers of rock legends Metallica, Steve Miller, Santana and the Doobie Brothers. Oakland R&B legends En Vogue joined Saweetie, Too Short and E-40 for the halftime show.

But it wasn’t all as smoothly executed as a Steph Curry layup in the paint; there were plenty of hollow moments and figurative air balls, too. The weekend’s most-publicized events and primetime headliners hinged on sauceless “meh” celebrities like Flo Rida and the Chainsmokers rather than utilizing the Bay’s rich plentitude of local, fan-favorite artistry.

This meant the best happenings transpired off-site, often by invitation from local figures and entities who made a genuine effort to appease the Bay Area audience.

A Marshawn Lynch event in Alameda featuring Hueman, Seiji Oda, and Sydney Welch. Larry June’s (free) sold-out show at August Hall with his latest collaborators, 2Chainz and the Alchemist. San Francisco designer Paolo Cui’s involvement with Nike Tech Fleece to make customized, Japanese sashiko-sewn gear for NBA All-Stars like Victor Wembanyama. Jubo Clothing’s “For The Soil” drop. Filmmakers like Mohammad Gorjestani and rappers like P-Lo (who just released an album with the Golden State Warriors) appearing at the Union and Jordan Brand sneaker release party at the St. Joseph’s Art Society.

Despite the quick-thrill moments of seeing a towering NBA legend like Tracy McGrady casually strolling past you on the street, the weekend’s magic was most palpable outside of the high-altitude stratosphere. Those priced out of the arena populated smaller experiences and All-Star themed parties at satellite venues, helping the Bay Area’s endlessly divergent culture to stand out.

Finding genuine community in a time of perilous, unyielding, AI-boosted capitalism feels harder than ever. For every community-centered, person-to-person interaction I had with local clothing designers, artists and advocates, I received an invitation from a faceless PR account for a brand-sponsored champagne tasting or corporate-funded afterparty.

At its worst, NBA All-Star in the Bay Area felt like “a big-ass commercial” (as my colleague Pendarvis Harshaw pointed out during Saturday’s Dunk Contest). Picture a high-culture experience nefariously mixed with big-business interests, plus influencers like Mr. Beast and Kai Cenat, and packaged as sports entertainment. It’s harder than ever in our world to tell what’s for profit and what’s for poetry. Who does it for the love of the game of basketball, and who’s doing it to play the game of networking and market share?

When I congratulated a local friend in the arts community who’d just finished a big brand sneaker collab for All-Star Weekend in their hometown of San Francisco, they responded with a somber reality: “Meh this was kinda wack… but I’m sure [visitors] can watch the influencers play.” As a voracious consumer of the NBA, and its constellation of stars and brand identities, to hear a trusted community member say their work was undervalued, even dismissed, gave me pause. That feeling was amplified throughout All-Star weekend, and that’s part of what we navigate daily as Bay Area people.

But it still felt hella good to see people come together like a giant regional family, proudly flaunting on a national stage our art, our spirit, our showmanship and our care for collective Bay Area success. I romped around in a newly released Grateful Dead All-Star snapback, dapping people up in a city that felt more activated than I can remember in years.

“It’s a chance for us to show the industry what we have to offer,” LaRussell shared on stage. “Our light and our love.”

When stripped away of all the corporate elements, that’s exactly what we did, and continue to do, as a community: supply enough game and hustle to remain long after the NBA leaves town.