Oakland’s hip hop forecast: Ovrkast, with a good chance of success

Sporting a pair of gray, paint-splattered, vintage jeans, a teal thermal shirt, two gold chains and a brown beanie, rapper and producer Ovrkast is dancing atop an old pick-up truck on Oakland’s Lakeshore Avenue as a sea of fans swirls around him. 

It’s a warm, early October night, just past 9 p.m., an hour when this snazzy strip of restaurants and vintage clothing stores is usually quiet. But tonight the rising rap star and East Oakland native has drawn a proud and excited audience of about 200 to help shoot a video for “Cut Up,” a new song he calls “my anthem to the Bay Area.” 

When he raps the line; “Yes, I’m from the Bay,” the crowd goes wild. 

As he steps down from the truck, fans shove bottles of prosecco into his arms and line up to take pictures with “The Town’s” new star. Lota Amamgbo, a 19-year-old fan, sums up what drew him to Ovrkast’s music.  “It’s in the genre of stuff I feel like we need more of, especially in the Black community,” he says. “He’s able to describe how it feels for me living in Oakland, being young.”

Oakland was once considered a small but potent source of hip-hop talent, churning out hitmakers like MC Hammer, Too $hort and Digital Underground. But in the last decade the city’s small hip-hop scene has been struggling against the perception — held both by some fans and music industry executives — that Oakland’s creative streak was over. Last year, the influential music streaming service Bandcamp abruptly shut down its Oakland headquarters, which had been home to a popular live music venue that was a hot spot for new artists. Bandcamp never explained exactly why it left, but hip-hop fans gathering on social media heard a message: The Oakland market had gone cold.

Against this backdrop, Ovrkast’s emergence is exciting hip-hop faithful, not only in Oakland but beyond. Last year, the East Bay Express placed Ovrkast at the “top of the list” of artists to watch. Rolling Stone described his musical style as “mesmerizing,” and Pitchfork said his lyrical style “fits a wealth of words into a small space.”

Ovrkast (born Silas Wilson) attended West Oakland’s Ralph J. Bunche High School, where he found his love for music. He described himself as a “headphone kid,” covering his ears and immersing himself in sounds he loved to escape the noise of the world around him. 

One of his teachers, Pendarvis Harshaw, said immersing himself in his own world is probably what led Ovrkast to create his own sound by the time he was 15. He described it as “music made for headphones” that offers something different than the traditional Oakland bounce and bass sounds. 

“It’s not necessarily made for gigging on the dance floor; it’s not made for riding around in an old school Delta ‘88,” said Harshaw, who is now a podcast host at KQED. “It’s real cerebral. It differs from what the Bay Area tradition is even branded as.” 

That sound has helped push Oakland hip-hop toward a new identity. Ovrkast’s 2021 debut album, “Try Again,” was an intricate and emotional look into his life as a 23-year-old Black man struggling to find his way on the mean streets of the city. Ovrkast bared his soul over soulful sampled beats and touches of jazz.

On the single “Vent,” he raps about looking for a safe place to express his feelings:
I came from the place of many shapes and spinning blocks around
I came from the shaky fingertips when I hear popping sounds.

Fans connect with the vulnerability. 

Now Ovrkast appears poised for a breakout. The day before the Lakeshore video shoot, he released a new album called “KAST GOT WINGS,” a joint collaboration with Grammy-award-winning producer CardoGotWings, and performed new songs at The New Parish concert venue in Uptown.

Unwinding shortly after the concert, he appeared amazed by the embrace his city has given him, admitting to feeling imposter syndrome. “But once I grow older, I’ll be like, ‘Oh wait, I kind of understand why that was like that.’ It’s a blessing,” he said.

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