“Like living inside one of your favorite rap songs”: History of the Bay Day hypes local hip-hop’s diversity

The first History of the Bay Day event in 2023, organized by San Francisco hip-hop artist Dregs One. Photo: Nathan Oliveira The transition from summer to fall in the Bay Area has typically been the season for celebrating local hip-hop’s legacy. Yet the cancellation of September’s yearly Hiero Day festival in Oakland for the first time in over a decade left fans with a noticeable gap in their calendars.  Lucky for them, San Francisco emcee, artist, podcast host and lifer Dregs One returns with his second annual History of the Bay Day in the city. A celebration of hip-hop’s core elements, the mini-fest of sorts honors some of the most important names in the local scene, features others on the cutting edge and is doubling in size from its inaugural edition. “I’m big on experiential events,” Dregs One, who lives in the city’s Lakeview neighborhood, said.  “I want to take people somewhere and leave them with a memory, feeling or a vibe. I want to create a hip-hop Disneyland for adults, putting all of these different elements together in one place so that people really feel like they’re living inside one of their favorite rap songs.”  Kamaiyah performs on the...