Equipto is a San Francisco emcee who has been making music as a member of Bored Stiff and a solo artist for years. He’s collaborated over the years with artists like Otayo Dubb, Opio, and Andre Nikatina, amongst others. His latest collaboration is with a producer also from San Francisco, Brycon. Together, they have created a group called The Watershed, and now release their first album.

One of the first things that will become apparent about this album is that this project is all about San Francisco. It’s a very interesting area with a lot of history to it, and a great tradition of hip hop, but most importantly, it’s where these artists are from. Brycon produces the album, but he gets additional help from G-PEK, Micah Aza, Baghead, Mcstravick, and Maitre’D. The beats acknowledge the deep musical history of the city, drawing upon the rock, soul, blues, funk, and jazz that has been made in the city for years, turning those samples into some fat West Coast boom bap. A subtle way in which Brycon is really able to shine is the way that all of these key dialogue samples are spread throughout the album. Each one is very directly in dialogue with the music on the album, and each one talks a little bit about the city, whether it be general culture, history, sports, music, or in the case of the closing track, “The Sco,” a sample from a news broadcast talking about Equipto running into the mayor at a coffee shop and giving him a piece of his mind. It creates a great give and take with the rhymes that Equipto is laying down, which are just what you want from a veteran emcee talking about his hometown. This isn’t just a love letter to San Francisco, and it’s not just about an emcee railing about gentrification and the rising cost of living. This is about the complicated relationship with all of the ups and downs and twists and turns that comes from living in a city with a rich culture that’s in so much flux. There are a lot of friends along for the ride, such as Monk HTS, Professa Gabel, MC Pauze, Lightbulb and Lotek 1200, and each get to add their own flavor, but it all works because Brycon and Equipto clearly had this vision for this album that shows all the sides of a city. You get a song like “Timmy the Wino,” which gives this great narrative about the homeless issue in the city, or “You Can Walk” discussing the history of activism and how the fight continues. “We Need Help” talks about how with the growth of the city and everyone looking out for their own interests, whether it be politicians, corporations, or non-profits, it’s easy to feel ignored and helpless when it comes to dealing with real issues. On the flip side, you’ve got songs like “Hella Records,” that celebrate crate digging in the city and the joy of discovery and the building of community that comes with it, or “Still Beautiful,” which talks about finding beauty where you can, even in the small moments when you’re making your way through a bustling city. And of course, you have “Hella San Francisco,” in which Equipto lays out how he’s going to fight to keep the city he loves alive.

A lot of the time these days, we just hear about the Bay Area in general, or just get pieces about how expensive San Francisco has become, but we don’t get a lot that talks specifically about the day to day life in the city. Equipto and Brycon have done a great job of painting that complicated portrait in their first album as The Watershed.