The Oakland hip-hop collective Hieroglyphics has been a major player in the East Bay’s underground rap scene for more than twenty years, and its members have enjoyed long and prolific careers. Many of their tracks — such as Souls of Mischief’s iconic hit “’93 til Infinity” — defined the Nineties conscious hip-hop movement on a national level and remain hugely influential today. The crew continues to bolster local hip-hop culture with its annual music festival, Hiero Day — which takes place during Labor Day weekend and features several generations of underground artists — and its DJ night, Wax Poetics, at Legionnaire Saloon. During Wax Poetics, rotating DJs spin sets that feature new, obscure hip-hop, Afrobeat, and funk. Don’t come to Wax Poetics expecting to hear Nineties nostalgia or current radio hits: “No Top Forty. No Golden Era,” the night’s flier proclaims.
.Wax Poetics Hip-Hop Night
A Hieroglyphics production at the Legionnaire.