The Bay Area is not only known for the many artistic personalities that it has bred, but also for many of these people’s continued involvement in their local communities. Recently, one such artist came to Berkeley High School (BHS). Rapper, songwriter, activist, and entrepreneur Mistah F.A.B. visited BHS’s Hip Hop Studies class on Tuesday, November 14.
F.A.B. is known for being the central figure of the Hyphy movement in the Bay Area and leaving behind a major record deal with Atlantic Records to start his own independent label called Faeva Afta Music in Oakland. Known as the Prince of the Bay Area, F.A.B.’s most famous songs include “N.E.W. Oakland” and “Super Sic Wit it.” Mistah F.A.B. is an acronym which stands for “Money Is Something To Always Have. Forever After Bread.”
F.A.B. had a free form conversation with the students, giving them everything from personal anecdotes about life to artistic advice.
He explained how he had known he had a passion for music from early on. “I used to drive my teachers crazy, never paying attention and just writing in class,” said F.A.B. “My focus point was: this is what I’m gonna do and I’m not gonna do nothing else. And I let that be known from the swag, the style, the attitude. I ain’t gonna do nothing else but music.”
Although Oakland native F.A.B. did not attend BHS, he said he used to skip school and come to BHS, pretending he went there. He encourages students to always follow their dreams. F.A.B. compared dreams to a baby, saying that you have to apply similar love and care to both.
“Your dreams are like your babies. When I had my daughter, I was very overprotective of my child. And that’s how it had to be with your dreams. You’ve got to be overprotective of your dreams. You got to hold on to that so tight, no one else can get to it.”
F.A.B. said that youth need to take advantage of the resources that they have. “Y’all have so much access to being independent. If you can curate and cultivate something through independence, you’ll never have to work for nobody.”
He said that you have to be proud of who you are and live your dreams. “You can just be you. You don’t have to worry about anybody else. You can just be like ‘I am unapologetically me.’”
He continued, saying that you have to maintain a positive attitude. “No matter what you do in life, someone is gonna hate on you. You can’t escape it. That’s the balance of life, you got love, you got hate, no matter what.”
“I don’t like negative people at all. Be my blessing, don’t be my burden,” he said. “I’m not accepting anyone else’s burden. You are what you entertain. If you entertain messiness, if you entertain ignorance, if you entertain pettiness, that’s what you become.”