Welcome to the Dope Game

by Andy Rust

photos by Olga K.

The instore was at five, their plane landed at 6:09, and they made it to our signing table at 7pm. Most people managed to wait around til they showed, and once they were there, it was all good. Who are they? They are Dope Game, the Bay’s rap collective, the forefront of what it is to be rap music in the Yay Area. Keak didn’t make it, but Verstyle (now known as Pretty Black), Frank Sticks, Husalah, S5, Hardnox and more all made it down to say hi to the fans, the day Dope Game 2 was released.

And what can I say, y’all, the album is bangin’. OK, we all know about “Superhyphie”, but the rest of the shit is happenin’! This is aactually the album we’ve all been wanting to come out of the Bay. You’ve got Keak, E-A-Ski, Mac Dre, Jacka, Lee Majors, BA, Sean T and more. Serious bizzznass.

Manifesto: Explain what Dope Game is

Pretty Black: Originally, Dope Game was the Jacka. Jacka’s first album was Dope Game. Then BA wanted the name, and he said, you gotta go get the Jack and the Husalah. That was mandatory. Ever since we go the Jacka and the Hussalah it’s been love ever since, you know what I’m sayin’?

Husalah: Clump, Sticks, we started a whole mob, feel me? It’s a movement. It’s not about any single person, it’s a movement. A way of livin’. It’s the way you wear your pants, the way you wear your shoes.

PB: A renaissance of original Bay Area style, you know what I mean. They way you talkin’, they way you wear your shoes, they way you wear your pants. What’s the Dope Game mean to you Frank?

Frank Sticks: Dope Game, it’s.. it’s… it’s.. beautiful… To me, all I can say… I been doing this with BA, we go back. He was doin’ his thing, and I was trying to do my thing, so in order to put myself in the game, I had to pretty much leave everything else alone. We got a great family. We just want it to stay strong

PB: The whole thing is that Dope Game is not just the people you see on the fliers. It’s hood. I got cats in the industry, I got cats from Chicago. It’s a movement.

H: Urban coke!

PB: Urban coke!

H: I’m like the black Tony Robbins!

PB: You might not see a lot of cats on the flier, but I got thirty cats in Chicago right now who got Dope Game Mafia T-shirts. We got New Orleans.

H: You might see anybody on the cover, with the Dope Game stamp. You might see a Pretty Black mixtape or sumthin, you might see his ugly face…

PB: As long as his girl likes it, I don’t care!

H: He’s mostly upset about what happened between me and his main lady.

PB: I told you you could have her!

H: We tradin! We tradin’! My girl might like him, his girl might like me, we ain’t trippin’.

PB: Dope Game is like life to us. Getting’ money, takin’ care of your family, takin’ care of your business. Man, that’s what Dope Game is.

H: Everybody here got to eat off it.

Manifesto: What you all got droppin’ next?

PB: Every month, every month.

FS: I drop October, yeah. The whole solo album. I want to see everybody come with me. This is Dope Game, we all gonna break.

PB: What I love is that there’s a cat that might not like me that likes Hustla. They might not like Frank, but they like Clump.

H: But there ain’t nobody that don’t like Husalah!

PB: That’s why I love this click, though. Everybody brings something different ill to the table, in their own exquisite way. Keak, Bart, Husalah, Frank Sticks, Verstyle.

PB: The thing about Dope Game, is that when it’s big you got to expand. It wouldn’t make no sense to stand still when there’s other cats that’s out there who are hot.

H: The Bay is comin’ back! It’s lit!

PB: I got a new project comin’ it’s Pretty Black, it’s no longer Verstyle.

Manifesto: How do you feel about the Bay Area scene?

H: People are getting excited, you know what I mean. A lot of the frontin’ went away, and you had cool people like Dre who come out and just be yourself and rap. It made the whole area feel a little more steam. You hear a banger on the radio, then they’re gonna go do them a banger, next thing you know it’s just banger city out here! It’s lovely like that, you know what I mean!

PB: I just look at it like this, the Bay was happening, what, like ten years ago? JT got the same deal Master P got. A lot of people don’t know that. What it was was that everybody had a business back then, so it made a lot of labels scared to mess with the West Coast.

H: The whole thing is like the Olympics. Instead of a four year wait, it’s a six or seven year wait. Everybody tryin’ out. You got the trials and the finals. But you gotta go all the way to get that medal. You may not even get invited!

PB: I just love everybody. Everybody that got that Dope Game stamp on them is the next thing comin.

Manifesto: What advice do you got for people that’re up and coming?

H: My advice, is don’t bite. But if you do bite, bite somebody dope. Like me, I’m like the new Big Daddy Kane or something, so I can’t tell somebody not to bite somebody else, but be as creative as you can be with it and keep it as real as you can be.

PB: My advice is don’t be scared of grind.

H: Just be yourself. What works for you, do that. I’ll come with a beat and they’ll all be, “That’s old school 1989!” But I’ll be like, that’s hot to me!

PB: What’s hot to this dude is twelve hours of reggae, playing on road trips! Every reggae hit you never heard before! He’s in there!

H: It’s for the kids, man!

PB: Hey, I’m talkin’ about the reggae! It’s ridiculous!

H: But be yourself, that’s the only way it’s going to work. This guy handed me a demo the other day, it was Shoot Fifty People in the Head Records! I was like, hey, I can’t really believe this man. He killed it off for me. He’s leanin’ to the side and talkin’ about a hundred kilos!

PB: I’m gonna shoot your daddy, I’m gonna come outside and pop your momma! Nigga, that’s all nigga! Funk on sight, nigga!

H: Stay in the lab. If you stay in the lab long enough, and you makin’ bullshit, you’re gonna realize your makin’ bullshit sooner or later.

FS: Concepts. Come up with concepts. You gotta learn in this business, you gotta come with something that’s gonna make people feel you.