« 2010 Bay Area Freshmen 10 Recap: DB Tha General »

With nominations for the 2011 Bay Area Freshman 10 coming to a close this past Friday, and the new Freshman 10 set to be announced soon, I thought now would be an appropriate time to look back at our 2010 Freshman and acknowledge the grind that they put in since being included in the inaugural list. So for the next 5 days we’ll look at one MC at a time and highlight their careers up to this point, as well as what they have done since becoming a Bay Area Freshman. Every artist’s career plan and philosophy is unique, but no matter who you are, taking advantage of legitimate buzz can never be wrong. Because in this fickle, over saturated world that we like to call hip-hop, the second you stop releasing content and doing shows, unfortunately seems to be the second many forget that you ever existed. So let’s see how the first Freshman class performed since they were named some of The Bay’s top prospects.

DB Tha General:

While at some point all MC’s probably dream about being known on a national level, The Bay has a strong history of making local celebrities out of our rappers, regardless of whether the rest of the country is aware of them or not. It’s great to see that a handful of The Freshman 10 are close to reaching that status, but if there’s one that I hear people talk about the most, or whose music I hear knocking out the trunks the most, it’s got to be DB The General.

His ultra aggressive style, and ruthless street oriented content, seems to perfectly embody the East Oakland streets that raised him. And while there has been many local rappers throughout the years that have spit extra hard about the hood, what attracts people to DB’s music is his charisma, his consistency and the fact that he sounds like he’s having fun every time he touches a mic. 

In 2010 The General worked over time. In March he dropped The Young OG, and then quickly followed it up in May with The Hardest Out, which featured one of the biggest local hits of the year in “Nobody Gas”, and Yo Favorite Rapper. He then finished out the year with The Active Tape which was a compilation of sorts that featured songs from him, Sleepy D and Prince Lefty. In 2011, he’s shown no signs of slowing up either. The Young OG II came out in January, and April saw the release of Friendly Fire. That’s 5 solo albums in 12 months, which is pretty unheard of. As a result, not just the local fans have started to notice DB’s prowess. In October he was featured on Glasses Malone’s Drive-By Muzik free EP,  “Real Pain” ft. The Husalah landed on Pitchfork in November, he dropped a video of him going out to Florida to work with Briscoe, Poe Boy and Billy Blue in January, and just this month he landed himself a feature on E-40’s Revenue Retrievin’: Graveyard Shift. I don’t know whats next for The General, but if the next 12 months are anything like the last 12, the whole Bay is going to get pretty used to hearing his voice. 

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Albums For Pay:

Friendly Fire (2011), The Young OG II (2011), Yo Favorite Rapper (2010), The Hardest Out (2010), The Young OG (2010), The Active Tape (2010), Welcome To The Navy (2007)

Videos:

Nobody Gas:

I B On:

The Danger Zone ft. Kurt Diggler:

If Anybody:

Knock Ya Down ft. Rico Tha Kidd:

Guilty By Association ft. Quise The Criminal:

The Diary:

Gas For Sale:

If You Ain't Livewire - Stevie Joe ft. DB The General:

We Ran You - Lil Kurt ft. DB The General:

Better Day - Lil Mikey ft. DB The General:

The Set Up - Rico The Kidd ft. DB The General:

Hands Up - Kurt Diggler ft. DB The General and Rico The Kidd:

Got Real Money - Kurt Diggler ft. DB The General

A Day With DB The General and Kurt Diggler: