Rightnowish

"Been through it all but I feel like it was worth it, not a perfect man but I feel like I am worthy," sings musician Rob Woods in a raspy yet uplifting tone that's reflective of the sentiment in his trademark song, "Worthy." Woods wrote the song in collaboration with Ricky Jassal, who he met while incarcerated in a California state prison. Since his release, Woods has been traveling around this st...

"Turfin' is a way of life for me," says Telice Summerfield, a dancer who has the ability turn a BART platform into a stage where she can glide, tut, bend and bone break on beat. She exchanges energy with onlookers; they get entertained and she gets empowered. The dance is an art. It's also a political act, as she takes up space at will. Today we discuss how the hyphy movement opened her eyes to th...

From global issues to community conflicts, Boots Riley has had a foot in a number of the major current events of the past year, and he says he's not done yet. So we're kicking off 2024 by talking to someone who has their finger on the pulse of the culture, and a hand in directing the future. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Marisol Medina-Cadena takes a tour of the American Indian Cultural District. It was founded in San Francisco's Mission neighborhood in 2020 to serve as a home base for the Urban Native community.  This episode originally aired on July 22, 2022. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week on Rightnowish, we talk to librarian Mychal Threets about what it's like to be a social media star and how the public library system is a place for all. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week Pendarvis Harshaw talks about how the music he grew up listening to, plays into how he and his daughter bond over music now. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Angelica Medina’s first memories of dance are from when she was five years old doing steps to a Selena performance on TV. Her wife, Jahaira Fajardo, remembers being a New York club kid in her late teens, when she thinks of her earliest dance experiences. That’s because dancing felt very heteronormative and exclusionary, and as a lesbian growing up in a Dominican household, dancing seemed just not...

Born and raised in Oakland, Helixir Jynder Byntwell did drag as a hobby until August 2022. That's when they quit their job, won the SF Drag King of the Year competition, and became a professional king, all in the span of a week. Since then, they’ve joined the Rebel Kings of Oakland, a performance troupe based at the White Horse Bar. They’ve also participated in several well-attended performances i...

Inside of a classic Queen Anne Victorian in West Oakland, photographer Traci Bartlow displays beautifully framed images of the people who shaped hip-hop culture here in the Bay Area, and across the nation. Photos of Outkast and Queen Latifah, Busta Rhymes and ODB, hang alongside images of the Luniz and Shock-G, as well as E-40 and The Click. While the photos tell a story about what life was like i...

Despite the uptempo party music and the perception of free-spirited fun, it's clear that 2006 was a violent year in my Northern Californian community. But until recently, I hadn't stopped to consider the issues impacting the kids of the Bay Area in the early 2000s, during the hyphy movement: violence, crime, poverty, sexism, racism, and other forms of discrimination. These are no different from th...

In the early 2000s, the underground DVD business was a major conduit of culture. Those documentaries showed the backstory of hip-hop artists and street culture all across the United States. One of the films Hood 2 Hood: The Blockumentary,, also included an early depiction of hyphy culture as I knew it to be-- hyper aggressive. But as the "hyphy movement" spread, the way the culture was shown drast...

Before the "hyphy movement" and even prior to having its own name, the style of dance now commonly known as Turfin' or Turf Dancing, provided an outlet for young folks in Oakland to party to their favorite music, have fun by physically telling stories and express themselves while taking up room on the floor. In this episode, we talk to Jeriel Bey, the person credited with coining the term, "Turfin...

The Hyphy Movement was often looked at as goofy, but there was a lot of pain behind those big sunglasses and oversized airbrushed t-shirts. Welcome to Hyphy Kids Got Trauma, a four-part series about the Bay Area, and the significance of the year 2006. In part one we land in Oakland and meet host Pendarvis Harshaw, a budding journalist at 18 years old. We see the highs and lows, the songs and scars...

Rightnowish Presents 'Hyphy Kids Got Trauma' - A four part exploration of a transformative year in Bay Area music history, 2006, through the eyes and ears of Pendarvis Harshaw. As a college student and burgeoning journalist at the time, Pendarvis navigates the shifting tides of a culture in transition, all set to the seminal sounds of the Bay Area’s “Hyphy Movement.” It was an era fueled by uptemp...

Hey Rightnowish listeners, today we’ve got a special bonus episode to share with you. It’s from our friends at Ritually, a new podcast, from Brazen Media hosted by London-based journalist Nelufar Hedayat. She’s reported about all sorts of things — human trafficking, the war in Afghanistan (where she was born), the climate crisis and more. Now, she’s looking inward, and trying to answer some big qu...

What began as a personal quest to get out of this rut (or flop era as the chronically online people say) that I was experiencing, quickly developed into my focal point for work. So, I enlisted the help of my podcast department colleagues to help me figure out how I would translate this self help journey for our Rightnowish podcast. I know this was my idea but still... I was lowkey nervous about st...

Jewelry designer and brand creator of Wyphys, Chelsea Macalino-Calalay exudes fierceness, but also serenity. Rocking bleached brows that match her shag-mullet, a crystal blue gem on her canine tooth, delicate rings, and a thick gold chain, heart pendant choker, that was inherited from her auntie, Macalino-Calalay’s style is all encompassing. If her style and brand aesthetic was personified in a do...

The dahlia is San Francisco’s official flower and it’s also a favorite for the Excelsior raised floral designer, Jessica Alicia Cotrim. Her love for San Francisco and her neighborhood is on full display when you walk into her cozy shop, Beija Flor Flower Gallery. Between the hanging dried roses, there’s Muni inspired artwork and pieces flaunting the 415 area code. The register table is adorned wit...

When Sophia Mitty first started to sew, she was making it work from her bedroom. She’d place a wooden board on top of her bed as a makeshift table in order to cut out patterns. Nowadays, Mitty has her own work space to really spread out and create. Located in South San Francisco, her studio complete with heavy duty industrial sewing machines, affectionately dubbed “Sew City” (or “The Stu” for shor...

The Bay Area is home to enchanting ecosystems. For starters, we have sand dunes, golden grassland hills, redwood forests, and the pacific coast. Whenever I get a waft of the marine fog or the cool Bay breeze, I feel cleansed. Now imagine being able to take in that smell whenever or wherever you are. That’s precisely what the fragrance, Memoria, by Mauricio Garicia conjures.  The perfumer’s fascina...

In a city that gives the cold shoulder to working class people and creative folks that aren't backed by trust funds or tech money, Medicine for Nightmares Bookstore opens their doors to those who still care about the artistic soul of San Francisco. It's a place where you can walk in and be greeted with a warm "Hey hermano, Hey prima, Hey familia," and strike up a conversation with the booksellers,...

On today's show we're passing the microphone to Dr. Felicia Gangloff- Bailey and Karega Bailey, hosts of the SOL Affirmations podcast. Karega and Felicia are both educators, and members of the R&B-soul-hip-hop band SOL Development. They're also a married couple who’ve navigated the harsh realities of losing loved ones to gun violence, as well as the unfortunate passing of their first child, who wa...

Elena Pinderhughes has been around the East Bay jazz scene since before she learned how to walk. Since recording her first published work as a kid, she has gone on to share stages with Herbie Hancock and work with Carlos Santana. She's also played NPR's Tiny Desk with Chief Xian aTunde Adjuah (formerly Christian Scott) and even rocked onstage with Future at Coachella . But Elena says she wouldn't...

Raised in musical family, Giulio Xavier Cetto's musical influences range from his Venezuelan-Italian heritage to Bay Area rap. Giulio can play multiple styles and genres with ease, but at the intersection of jazz and hip hop is where his artistry truly shines. He brings an electric energy to his performances, encouraging audiences to not only vibe, but to get up and dance. Playing tribute to these...

Dr. Angela Wellman’s musical journey traces back to her upbringing in Kansas City, MO. As a young person involved in a music training initiative that was backed by the CETA (Comprehensive Employment and Training Act) program, she found the trombone– or rather, it found her. In 2005, after music carried her around the map, Angela founded the Oakland Public Conservatory of Music as a way to assist B...