Oakland rapper walks through controversy
Mistah F.A.B.'s new single "Ghost Ride It" brings some buzz in advance of his show in Santa Cruz
By MARC CABRERA
Herald Staff Writer
Oakland rapper Mistah F.A.B. (which stands for "Faeva Afta Bread") is making the news for all of the right, and sometimes wrong, reasons.
His new album, "DaYellow Bus Rydah," will be released nationally in March, while the first single, "Ghost Ride It," has already brought a large buzz. Monterey County urban radio stations have kept it in constant rotation since its release, and Mistah F.A.B. has become a popular figure in his native Oakland.
But the single has also spurred controversy. The song is a reference to the dangerous car stunt known as "ghostriding." The song gives some instructions on the stunt, which calls for daredevils to stop their car on a deserted street, step out of the vehicle, place it in neutral or drive and proceed to dance or walk alongside the car while it is in motion, unmanned.
One Associated Press report blamed the stunt for at least two deaths in recent months, including one in Stockton. The stunt is an extension of the "hyphy music" and car culture popularized in the San Francisco Bay Area. The music and car scene includes dangerous stunt-driving set to a throbbing hip-hop beat.
That has not phased Mistah F.A.B., who celebrates his hometown scene through his music while also calling for stunt-drivers to take responsibility for their actions. He spoke to The Herald in anticipation of his Saturday night show at The Catalyst in Santa Cruz.
Q: First off, thanks for taking time to talk to the Monterey Peninsula readers.
A: I appreciate that. I got a strong fan base out there. I can't let them down.
Q: You came to the Peninsula last year?
A: I was out there at (a) Monterey car show. I just love Monterey. Monterey is the city you take a girl to and she thinks you took her somewhere far. You give her a Valium so she goes to sleep when she gets in the car. You wake her up when you get to Monterey and she thinks she's in, like, paradise, it's so pretty. The water, take her to the aquarium and stuff. It's a beautiful city. I love it.
Q: And you're out here Saturday night in Santa Cruz
A: The Catalyst. That's one of my favorite spots to be.
Q: Is the new album still slated for release in March?
A: The end of March. It's going to be a crazy album. I got a lot of people on there. It's gonna be pretty hot -- "Da Yellow Bus Rydah." It's gonna be something that the fans have been yearning for, some good music on an all-around note.
Q: I read that you are thinking of making it a double album, with one side street music and one side more conscious, hip-hop stuff?
A: The idea is definitely looming around in my mind. It's up to me and my team what we want to do and how we want to market it, what vibe we really want to go with. We don't want to oversaturate ourselves. At the end of the day, we want to give the fans what they've been wanting, and that's good music from both sides.
Q: It looks like 2007 will be a breakout year. The single "Ghost Ride It" won't stop on the radio.
A: "Ghost Ride It" is definitely, not only on the radio, getting a lot of political views from higher-ups who feel that I'm responsible for people ghostriding and injuring themselves. It's sparking a lot of controversy. Anytime you have controversy in music, that's actually good because that keeps you current in the minds of people and they continue to talk about you.
My momma always told me, "When they stop talking about you, that's when you get worried." As long as I can continue to keep the conversation going, it's definitely going to work in our favor.
Q: For the uninitiated, can you give a brief explanation of what ghostriding is and the dangers involved?
A: Ghostriding is a car stunt popularized in the streets of Oakland that has spread out to many different places now. What it is, is, you come to a complete stop in your car, you exit the automobile and you put the car either in neutral or you let it roll in drive --under 10 mph, no faster than that.
The purpose of having the car was for the flamboyant, flashy, like-to-show-off type. You got a new car and you want to show off. You feel like people aren't looking at you, and you want to do something to gain their attention. When you get out your car and you're walking and dancing on the side of your car, everybody's going to be looking at you, like, "whoa."
You're definitely showing off your car, showing off your style, and you drive off. That was the purpose of it, like you just rolled down the window and just, like, "Hey look at me look at me!"
The danger of it is that some people don't understand the speed limits that you have to go to do that. They exceed the speed limits and they try to ghostride the car going 20-30 mph. That's called deathriding. You're definitely playing with your life when you do something like that.
And (another danger is) just not being able to handle the certain automobile you have. You do that and the car takes off or you don't get out the way soon enough and the car runs your foot over. There's definitely a lot of dangers that come with that.
If you want to do it, be responsible, but know the dangers of it. Be aware it's not the safest thing to do. It can go wrong, when ghostriding goes bad.
Q: Do you ever caution people on the dangers of ghostriding? How do you address that professionally and personally?
A: Wrong is wrong and right is right. A person has to be able to look at something like ghostriding and realize it's not always the right thing to do. Like we said earlier, location has a lot to do with it. We haven't been given an opportunity to do this in a controlled environment yet. Ghostriding, the stunting itself, we're not saying it's right and we agree with it, but we are saying that if it was put inside of an arena, if it was in a controlled environment, it would be very successful and lucrative.
People realize the dangers of it. The fact that you're getting out of a moving automobile weighing over a ton, anything can go wrong. At the end of the day, that's at your own risk. To answer the question, that's what I put out there.
I'm not telling you to ghostride if you don't know how or forcing you to do it. You do it at your own risk. But be conscious and aware of the dangers that come with it. Anyone that's doing things, they should be responsible for their own actions and be responsible for the repercussions that come with it.
If you break your leg and you're, like, "You did it. You told me to do it." When is it that you're going to be held accountable for your own actions? I'm an artist. At the end of the day, I only paint visuals and am just somewhat of a reporter of what goes on in the world I know. And I can introduce you to it through my music. At the same time, it's up to you if you do it or not.