Billy Jam

Billy Jam has been a historian of Bay Area hip-hop culture since the 1980s. As a radio DJ (KALX, KPFA, KUSF, Wild 107, Free Radio Berkeley, and WFMU) and journalist (The Source, VIBE, XXL, Bay Area Music, BOMB Magazine, San Francisco Bay Guardian, San Francisco Chronicle, and New York Press), Billy Jam has defined and promoted contemporary urban street culture, from graffiti to MCing to turntablism to b-boying. Born in Ireland, he is a longtime resident of Oakland and also lives in New York.