It's June 16, 2024, 07:49:47 PM
REST IN PEACE - FRIDAY NIGHT FLAVAS"Saying Good Bye to "Friday Night Flavas" - What it meant to LA Hip Hop, NYC Hip Hop and our Culture across the Globe".By Byze One Jan 6 (14 hours ago)History lesson: Do you remember back in the early 90's when Hip Hop was only on cassette and only in your walk man? When you used to get soo frustrated when you turned on the radio and could only hear Dance Music with corny DJ's talking fast as hell trying to act "not so urban"? When everyone was saying "No one wants to hear Rap music on the radio, it's not even music, they don't even use instruments"Well in March of 1993 LA's own 105.9 "Power 106" wanted to give it a try so then PD, Rick Cummings recruited the 2 brothers from Bakersfield CA named Eric and Nick Vidal aka The Baka Boyz to move to LA to test out the waters. If you grew up in LA then you remember the then slogans were "Pure Energy" and "Dance Now" with the format to match. Hip Hop was no where to be found except on the underground scene, at house parties and back when the original KDAY was one but for the most part, mainstream radio was too scared to let Hip Hop in until the Baka Boyz brought it.When they arrived in LA the Baka Boyz were put on the air to do a 7pm-12am night shift where from 10pm - 12am on Friday Nights they were able to play "Real Hip Hop". Their very first guests that they had on the air where B Real of Cypress Hill and Son Doobie of Funk Doobiest, the 2nd week was Ice Cube...Week number 3 was the House of Pain and the list just grew on from that point making this new show the place where Hip Hop now had a home on commercial radio.After the first month on the air this Friday Night show was still a show without a name, so they ran a contest. They took callers idea's to come up with a name for the show and this is where the name was born. Although the callers name slipped Nick's memory he told me that Eric V liked the name one listener gave him and it was "Flava Fridays", The brothers flipped the title a little bit and came up with "Friday Night Flavas". The Winner was awarded with a "Def Jam Catalog" for his contribution to naming the industries most successful and respected Hip Hop show to date.With the streets of LA was buzzing like crazy about this new show and these 2 DJ's from Bakersfield that were bringing it and bringing it right Power 106 started to take Hip Hop more seriously and shortly after the success and response from the show the station let it's doors open to Hip Hop and the station dropped it's "Dance Now" and "Pure Energy" from the slogan and thus spawned "WHERE HIPHOP LIVES", sounds familiar huh...Yes my friends this slogan that was bitten like a move from Beat Street was invented in LA, at Power 106, by the Baka Boyz and it came from "Friday Night Flavas"From this point on Power 106 was now "Where Hip Hop lives" it's sister station, NY's Hot 97 was still playing dance music and not giving NYC, the birthplace of HIP HOP any kind of love. Nick recalls telling Steve Smith, the consultant for the station "You need to start playing Wu Tang Clan and other Hip Hop artists, their music is changing the face of Hip Hop and it is working for us here in LA". Imagine that, LA Radio is showing NYC's Hot 97 how to break "Hip Hop Music" in the very place that gave birth to it. So once again, Friday Night Flavas paved the way for Rap to get on New York City Radio and you never would have known this until now.The show not only gave birth to Hip Hop on the radio but it also made way for Power 106 to build the very foundation that it sits on today, how you ask? Let me run a facts passed you. 1. E Man, the current Music Director of the station was discovered by the Baka Boyz in 1995 when they ran another contest for local DJ's to send in a mix tape with the winner to be added to the Power 106 "Power Mixers" rosters that already included DJ Enrie, Humpty Vission and Tony B as they were strictly Dance and House DJ's.One month following EMan being added to the list the Baka Boyz came back home and recruited the 2 next best secrets in Hip Hop, Mr Choc and DJ C Minus aka the Almightly Rough Nexx. Yes more DJ's from Bakersfield coming to the rescue and helping Hip Hop gain it's ground in Los Angeles. With Choc and C Minus holding down the "overnight shift" at Power for a little of a year then they were asked to come join to "Friday Night Flavas" show to hold down 2 hours. You see the show was becoming so big for the station that they extended the 2hr slot to a 4 hr slot. So from 10pm-12am the Baka Boyz rocked the turn tables with guest DJ J Rocc of the World Famous Beat Junkies, then the last 2 hours (12am - 2am) was given to the Rough Nexx to do there thing as Nick and Eric trusted they could since we all came from the same cloth.By this time if you knew anything about the music industry or had to work records WE ALL KNEW that no matter what happens you had to book your artist promotional tour to land in LA on a Friday so that they could walk in the doors of the " First and Most Respected show in Hop Hop" and if you didn't then it was just not going to happen. You had to see the Baka Boyz and the RoughNexx on "Friday Night Flavas" or you just simply didn't know what the fuck you were doing. Bottom line.At some point in the summer to come KPWR decided to cut off all of the specialty shows for the summer and Flavas was off of the air for a few months and during this break once again everyone was upset. Hip Hop's first show was gone and the listeners let it be known that they wanted their show back on.. While KPWR was trying to figure what to do with itself it seemed like a no brainer, bring in more mixing because it made for more inter-action with the listeners and it kept them listening longer. Along with the idea Eric and Nick helped create a slogan that was going to change the face of the mix show and it's place in the music industry from Coast to Coast. Do the words "Cali Caliente Mix Weekend" mean anything to you? Well if you live in the West Coast or have visited you most definitely have heard that phrase and yes it was made up by Nick V while he was in my car in Oakland talking on the phone with the Consultant trying to come up with a game plan and a name for this new "mix show" theme that Radio was trying to test out, again.So once the name was in place the specialty shows were coming back and in that line up with the "Return of Friday Night Flavas", damn I remember this soo vividly because I made up "The Return of Friday Night Flavas" shirts to pass out to the streets and homies of the crew. If you have one of those shirts hold on to it because it's a classic.So a few months later was the official " Return of Friday Night Flavas" and upon it's return to the airwaves came a classic show with Jurrasic 5, Dilated Peoples, B.E.P (before they popped), Tha Lixx and Shaq (O'Neil) feat Jay Z" all performed to show their support for the show that created their radio careers. To support the show that created Power 106's success and little did they know it would get soooo BIG. Speaking of Big, yes even Big Boy and Fuzzy were discovered on Friday Night Flavas. Big was then the body guard for the Pharcyde and used to call up and talk ideas with Nick and Eric. He even had a segment added to their show called "This Be It or Frisbee It" where they tested out new records with the listeners to see if they likes it or not.Once Big's relationship got closer with the Baka and Fuzzy made his debut from working at Warner Bros to jumping on Friday Night Flavas as a guest with Mr Choc and C Minus they were then introduced to the Bosses to give them a shot on the air. So the foundation of this stations success was built on "Friday Night Flavas' and the crew that created it. Whether anyone will ever admit to it or not The Baka Boyz founded the show that introduced LA to Mr Choc, C Minus, Fuzzy, E Man and Big Boy as they all came from this show. And we can even trickle over to when the Baka Boyz discovered Tito as he was the janitor of the building and when they invited him read the top songs of the day in his broken english to making him the ..1 slot in his time.After the departure of the Baka Boyz in 1998 and with little to no credit for them building the foundation that Power stands on today the show was officially handed down to Mr Choc and C Minus by Eric and Nick and then with their blessings came the change of the name and the new additions to the show. 1998 was there year that the officially called it "The Fantastik 4our Show" with Mr. Choc, C Minus, Truly Odd and DJ J-Rocc. LA was able to live on with the show remaining true to itself, the cast being that of the most respected DJ's in the History of Hip Hop. Mr Choc and J Rocc are still holding it down for the World Famous Beat Junkies, Truly Odd has been holding down Hip Hop since the college radio days in the early 90s, to the Heavyweights Record Pool that gave birth to all of the DJ's the run the streets/clubs of LA now and C Minus, Hip Hop's first DJ to bring the sound of Rock an Hip Hop together years before Limp Bizkit was cool enough to play on Power 106 and as a matter of fact it was C Minus that brought them to KPWR's attention and eventually got records added into rotation like Limp Bizkit and Linkin Park. Shit this was year before Jay Z was even thinking about rapping for a Rock group.Shit, although the Bio is written up one way the TRUTH BE TOLD Eminem, Americas BIGGEST Rapper was discovered on "Friday Night Flavas" and this is the real. Back when he was on a small promotional tour from Vegas to LA, I was asked by his then manager "Zues" to set up a few radio visits and the first stop was "Hip Hop Site" with Warren Peace in Las Vegas and the 2nd was "Friday Night Flavas". After DJ EMan dropped the "Phone Tap" beat for him to freestyle on the phone rang and Dre's people reached out to Fuzzy to make happen what we all know is history. So irregardless of what anyone says, bio or not...Rappers like Cypress Hill, Ice Cube, B.E.P, Jay Z, Wu Tang and Eminem where all given their shot on this show and then everyone else followed. This show was home to the Hip Hop Kings and Queens of our Culture. This show created a lot of Rap and Radio careers and this show built the very foundation that allowed Hip Hop to be tested and accepted by the Radio Industry and this past Wednesday this show was put to Rest by the very station that it built.Before Kevin Lyles was running Def Jam and now Warner Bros he was passing out Flyers at a Baka Boyz remote in Beverly Hills, before Scoop the Fat Man was hyping up Missy records he was calling Mr Choc to play his Tommy Boy records, Before Biggie was Notorious he was busting freestlyes on Friday Night Flavas and riding shoot gun to the station in Jen Norwoods little blue Toyota....Back when Rob One had the illest record collection and road the city bus to bring records to the crew and please believe he was drinking a 40 of Old E and tagging up the bus all the way everytime.It is this show that until the very last time it was ever heard was able to showcase true and raw Hip Hop like no other, ask any commerical, underground or independent rap group out and they will let you know that it was an HONOR to get your records played on this show. It was an HONOR to be let upstairs to be interviewed. It was an HONOR to be an HONORARY member of this family. P-4 is legendary, the stairway is classic, the sessions out front until the Sun came up where some of the best times we all had.This show was more than just a slot that KPWR gave some DJ's to play some records, it was the HOMEBASE for LA's truest HipHop DJ's and scene. If you listen to the way mixers blend in and out of records you will find the formula that was birthed by The Baka Boyz, Mr Choc and C Minus. DJ Vice graduated from the Cali Kingz (Baka Boyz) Record Pool on to mixing on the air, DJ E Man came in thru the Baka Boyz, Virman, Echo and Rawn came in thru E Man...See the pattern? Ok good I just wanted you to know to remember just in case you forgot.I know the guys would love to BIG UP everyone that supported the show from the day the doors opened to the day that they closed. If you never heard of this show then you do not understand how much this hurts the true family of this show. I know for a fact the list of honorary members will now feel homeless because we have no place to call home anymore.Make room for another 50 Cent record now that the last Hip Hop show is gone, yes they even played his records before he got shot, back when Irv Gotti was DJing for Mic Geronimo way before they would become enemies. Eric V Nick V Mr Choc C Minus JRocc and Truly Muthafuckin Odd.....WE WOULD LIKE TO THANK YOU FOR WHAT YOU HAVE DONE FOR US....I can speak on behalf of Myself, Kelly Woo, Ray Tamara, Jenn Norwood, Rod Edwards, Minus, MONA LISA, the Fat Beats crew from Vermont Ave, Tommy Gun, Mong, Bigga B (REST IN PEACE), Chace Inifinite, Krondon, Jay Are, DJ Rob One, Cheeks, MC Serch, Beni B and Peanut Butter Wolf when I say Thank You to all 6 of you for what you gave us because without you and your show none of those names I listed would have loved what they do nor had a place to go and break real Hip Hop....
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