Undiscovered SF block party to celebrate 50 years of hip hop

  The Parks at 5M venue for Undiscovered SF Season 7. CONTRIBUTED.

SAN FRANCISCO – The nation’s largest Filipino creative market, Undiscovered SF, returns for its seventh season in the form of three, free and all-ages, block parties on Aug. 19, Sept.16, and Oct. 21 in SOMA Pilipinas Filipino Cultural Heritage District.

Produced by Kultivate Labs and Make it Mariko, Undiscovered SF’s Filipino American block party theme honors the 50th anniversary of hip hop, celebrating “hip hop’s past, present and future influence and impact on Filipinos and how Filipino Americans have also influenced hip hop respectively.”

The first block party on Aug.19 from 12 p.m. to 6 p.m. features on the Main Stage the internationally renowned DJ Armstrong, rapper Rocky Rivera with DJ Rosa, DJ Icy Ice of the Beat Junkies, Franboogie, DJ Rosa, Cuts, Celskiii, Mikey Vee, and Amiihan. Performing at the Kapwa Stage are DJ Asthmatc, Balisong Musik, DJ JoSQRD, Tracy Cruz, DJ Broad Srokes, and Phil Q.

With the main entrance on 5th and Minna Streets, the seven different areas for the block party are: the Parks at 5M with the Main Stage; Kapwa Gardens with the Kapwa Stage; CAST building, hosting Balay Kreative’s resident artists exhibitions; the Barangay Tunnel on Minna Street (between 5th and Mary Streets) with local small businesses; a Kids Korner; Sarap Street (along Natoma Street) with Bay Area Filipino food trucks; and Executive Order, a Filipino owned bar and lounge on Mission Street a block away from the festival grounds, for the after-party.

Among the wide selection of food and drink vendors are: Ube Area, Street Stix, Korner Kitchen and Bar, Fairy Bites & Delicacies, Tasty Tings, Fely’s Siomai, Drae’s Lemonade, EatsChaChaCha, Harina Baked Goods, Señor Sisig, Cafe 86, The Purple Mix, Sugar Bros SF, Respectable Bird, Tracy’s Butter, Crisps and Crackles, Victory Hall, Lady Victory, and Jungle Dog.

Featured retail and small businesses are Archipelago Books, Native Sol, Hey Lay!, All Season By Mae, Bayani Art, Bongagung Supermarket, ChellasCreations, Craylie’s Crystals, Studio Damili, Filiflavors, Pili & Blu, Hatzumomo, Barkada Baby, Niana, Baba’s House, Farol, Barong Barkada, INA Botanicals & Tea, Kristian Kabuay Art, Legacy Filipino Martial Arts, Love Letter, Mie Makes, Oodaalolly, YAS Queen, Soobiumi, Wounded Healing Art, Handmade By Pmaccay, Sparkle My Bubble, Kapuwaco, Avenoir, and Malaya Botanicals.

Seven years ago, Gina Mariko Rosales, CEO of Make it Mariko, formed a partnership with Desi Danganan, executive director of Kultivate Labs, with the goal of creating awareness of and uplifting SOMA Pilipinas. “That it exists and that it is a space for community to come together and build together. Our answer was Undiscovered SF.”

She adds that the purpose of Undiscovered SF “is absolutely more than just a food and music festival.” Other than to “generate awareness of SOMA Pilipinas” the main goal of Undiscovered SF was to be a vehicle in creating the first Filipino American commercial corridor in the district on Mission Street between 4th and 5th Streets.

“Over the past six years, Undiscovered SF has brought over a million dollars in economic activity to SOMA Pilipinas and to our small business vendors,” says Rosales.

Undiscovered SF was on a roll, from its grand beginnings at the Mint Mall to other venues in SOMA Pilipinas. But the COVID-19 pandemic placed a damper on the festivities including the ongoing development of the commercial corridor in SOMA Pilipinas.

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San Francisco’s unremarkable post-pandemic economic recovery along with worsening street conditions in certain parts of the city plus a series of store closures, including those of major retailers and businesses, have contributed to so-called “doom loop” fears.

“These are all problems that we knew were bubbling to the surface before the pandemic, and now they have really come to life, into fruition, into a nightmare scenario that we have for San Francisco,” says Danganan.

But Danganan, who came to San Francisco in the summer of ‘99, had experienced the city’s resurgence from several “boom and bust cycles,” from the dot-com bubble that eventually burst to the effects of the Great Recession. “I don’t think the doom loop is going to stop San Francisco.”

He shares that one of the city’s plans to bring San Francisco back is to transform the area on Mission Street between 4th and 5th Streets into an arts, culture, and nightlife destination. “Undiscovered SF and SOMA Pilipinas are on par for filling that void and redefining what San Francisco should be in the future.”

Danganan recalls how in recent years, “I saw all my creatives, people of color, getting pushed out for tech greed.” He stresses the need to “come back to a new city that needs to be rebuilt on different values.”

He offers the solution of a revitalizing strategy of taking over empty storefronts and installing “pop ups and new retailers” coupled with the Filipino community’s “bayanihan culture” of “arm raising and coming together and being super resilient that we can actually be that cornerstone for San Francisco to really reinvent itself, and it’s going to happen here on Mission Street. It’s really going to transform San Francisco as we know it.”

Marissa Lim and son of Street Stix serving “authentic Filipino street food.” (Photo By Wilfred Galila) Toro y Moi donating the Mahal jeepney to SOMA Pilipinas. CONTRIBUTED

Speaking at the press preview for the seventh season of Undiscovered SF held at Executive Order last August 1, SOMA Pilipinas Director Raquel Redondiez thanked “ the work that Kultivate Labs has done to really bring back and support our small businesses, entrepreneurs, creatives, and cultural artists to be able to come back and really stake claim to the city.”

She added, “SOMA Pilipinas is really about the fight for the Filipino community to stay here, to make home here, and to continue to thrive here.”

Singer-songwriter and producer, Toro y Moi donated his Mahal jeepney to SOMA Pilipinas, handing over the key to Redondiez at the press preview.

The Mahal jeepney was featured in the cover of Toro y Moi’s seventh studio album aptly titled Mahal (which translates to “love” and “expensive”) as well as a short film and music videos.

“I’m really excited to have it move on to a new family that’s going to take care of it and use it to its full potential, use it as the icon that it is,” says Toro y Moi. “It’s all about bringing up and elevating this community.”

Toro y Moi was looking for a vehicle for his Mahal album campaign. He searched for “jeep” on the internet and what later became the Mahal jeepney popped up on e-bay. Originally a 1942 Willys Jeep, it was commissioned and converted into a jeepney in the Philippines in 1967 by a property owner in Minnesota and it eventually ended up in Ohio. “That’s where I found it on e-bay. So I shipped it out to the Bay and we pretty much got it running.”

Undiscovered SF block party poster. CONTRIBUTED

A postcolonial symbol of Filipino culture, art, and identity, originating from the American colonial period until the end of World War II, the addition of the Mahal jeepney to SOMA Pilipinas has brought Filipino history full circle in San Francisco.

“To have a jeepney in the cultural district is so special because the jeepney is such an iconic symbol of Filipino creativity and resilience,” says Redondiez  “This is such a beautiful, important, and impactful addition to our cultural district.”

The Mahal jeepney will be displayed at the Undiscovered SF block party.

The seventh season of Undiscovered SF that honors 50 years of Hip Hop matters a lot to Rosales because she grew up with Hip Hop culture. “I’m Filipino-American-Japanese but Hip Hop was a huge part of my culture.”

Rosales, who was also a Hip Hop dancer, admits that she did not feel “connected to Filipino culture” while growing up. “I didn’t think it was mine to claim, until Undiscovered and SOMA Pilipinas came along. I finally found a place where I was like, ‘You know what? This is me and this is my expression of Filipino culture.”

She recalls how, during Undiscovered SF’s first year, it was a challenge to find and bring together Filipino artists and entrepreneurs and how this has changed after generating more awareness of Filipino culture and pride in SOMA Pilipinas.

“Now everyone is claiming Filipino pride, and that’s a huge success.”

Undiscovered SF is connected to Filipino American culture and it is also connected to music and hip hop. Rosales mulls over the question of creating “a festival that celebrates that so other people could feel welcome as well.”

To which she answers, “Like we say at Undiscovered, no one should even have to ask, ‘Am I Filipino enough?’ The fact that you’re Filipino is enough.”