So part of the Bay--and the music world--has been raging over a young white female rapper from Oakland, reportedly born and raised in the DEO,  whose videos are full of street talk. Bitches, hoes, niggas, swagga, the girl goes on and on. ( Is this a novelty act or what?)

We've always been big fans of Lyfe - ever since his turn on Def Poetry Jam a few years ago - but having Lyfe doing five weeks of shows right here in Oakland is about as good as it gets, even in the rich mix of Oakland's vibrant arts scene.

Oakland’s native son and spectacular spoken word artist Ise Lyfe is back in town and thankfully for us, he brought the must see play of the summer with him. 'Pistols and Prayers' is everything that is righteously artistic, condensed into two acts.

What do you get when you mix things that don’t usually go together? You get a weekend like this one: astronomy and coffee, urbanites and kitchens, guns and god.

It’s exactly this paradoxical thinking, this stretch of imagination, that makes our Oakland the best city on earth.