"[Our] group is kind of an answer to a lot of the stagnation that happens on all fronts of hip-hop. Like in the underground people are trying to be so insanely grimy and pissed off all the time and on the above ground they're just doing, you know, MTV, they're just doing that, doing basically what MTV and big business lets them do. We hope our music will reflect all the motion in humanity. There's no reason why a full human voice can't be heard in hip-hop. A lot of times people are like, "I'm this MC, and I rap stories about whack MC's", or "I'm this MC and I'll rap about politics and nothing else, and I'll never smile 'cause that'll undermine everything I said." Hopefully we can give a breath of fresh air for people who want versatility in hip-hop."

"[We] hope people take away from our shows what [we] take away from the hip-hop that we were listening to when growing up. Which is a full spectrum of inspiration for music. [We] learned a whole lot from hip-hop and feel really, really indebted to it. So hopefully what people get when they listen to our lyrics is some sort of knowledge, whether it's spiritual or conscious, or if it's just the flow of the words...We hope that people have a good time at our shows, but also go home and with a little broader perspective of the world and events going on. We are trying to give a message, but with sugar with the medicine-type thing."

"[Our] perspective on the hip-hop movement within the Bay Area? Its just the community out here has a wider social awareness, and reaches towards a betterment of all people, and keeps their eyes on the world. There's a lot of cultures that come to the Bay. They're all appreciated and respected. More so than Wisconsin.But, the music I think reflects that, so this is a good place for us to grow, and kind of expand on the concepts that we want to, and experience other cultures, and try and get that flavor into our thing."

"La Peņa has to offer a good outlet for art, for music, poetry, art, they're not geared for selling alcohol to people so it's not like you're going to get the 21+ crowd, you're not going to get the people who just stumble in because that's where they drink. Lots of times we play other venues and people just show up regardless of who's playing. They're not really there for the music, they're there for the booze and to pick up men or women. Here it's about poetry, art, and music and culture and awareness and mobilizing for social change. There's a strong, strong scene in Berkeley for that, and La Peņa is at the center of it. We'll always be playing here, and hopefully La Peņa will always be here."

Photo by Francisco Villaflor