"The more we work together - the stronger we become as a community and culture." - Fritzo       

2011 in Review

2010 in Review

2009 in Review

Our Team Members
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The Meaning Behind the Movement

Bring It Back is not only the tour's title and main slogan; it's everything the movement stands for! Bringing hip hop fans and the community back to a grassroots connection with its four father elements: Break-dancing, Graffiti, Turntablism, and Emceeing; and adding the support of local business, education, and charity organizations.

Conceived and founded by Tyler Stark, a veteran whose experience on the Vans Warped Tour since 2002 inspired a passionate vision encouraging artistic expression and its relation to a community's local resources, the Bring It Back Tour reaches into prime circles of fellow artisans, musicians, activists, and local business and pulls them together to represent the best of our culture to youth in need of positive role modeling. The major goal of this tour is to "bring it back" to the feel of old block parties where negative issues magnified through the lens of everyday struggles can get put on hold to enjoy the art of life and the beauty of working together for a common cause.

After wrapping up the longest-running U.S. summer tour for the fourth time in six years, Stark was struck by the idea of organizing a national hip hop//reggae/art festival while on the Vans Warped Tour in 2008. In the months to follow, he utilized his resources and network to organize the first Bring It Back Festival which took place in five cities around the Bay Area.

Starting in San Francisco, the Element Lounge held a graffiti exhibit inside on over 100 feet of wall space. Santa Cruz's Cypress Lounge - a venue that had never previously given hip-hop culture a chance to succeed - hosted a very successful night of break-dancing, live art, and hip hop performances, which opened the door for future showcases and tours in the Santa Cruz area. Two in-store performances, one at at leading local record shop in Berkeley and a second in San Jose, were important for two reasons: many venues are not available to all ages so in-stores are a way to involve young people while supporting local businesses that keep doors open for independent artists to share their music. The first in-store in Berkeley was at B Side Records, then it was down to Rasputin Records in Campbell. Two borrowed cars and a bunch of rappers were able to pull off both shows without a hitch. The final destination of performances took place at Johnny V's, which hosted a $250 DJ battle - something that had not been seen in San Jose for quite some time. Along with local live art and multiple MC performances, this grand finale of the tour packed the house. The festival concluded with an artist party for all the performers at the Zen Ultra lounge in Mountain View as a way to thank everyone who worked so diligently to "make it happen". We displayed all the 20 live-painted pieces done on tour and had DJ's spinning so every performer could groove and enjoy themselves on the last day of the tour.

2008 set the tone for Bring it Back 2009, which was a 2-day festival that took place at four venues in the city of San Jose, CA. One city was chosen to host the tour on its second year to further consolidate artists & contributors to their local community, and vice versa. The events included performances from reggae bands and hip-hop groups, featured local artists, a live graffiti exhibit, a break-dancing competition, DJ & emcee battles, freestyle competitions, and local clothing vendors. The proceeds from these events were directed towards the Sacred Heart Community service program and Second Harvest food drive.

Bring It Back '09 exemplified the return of values to the artist community. Networking and communal support were felt all around, whether it was during the day time events at the Artisans Guild where members themselves cooked food for attendees, and the Art Ark Gallery where children of all ages enjoyed the paint/photography galleries alongside the break-dancing competition; or nighttime shows at The Cellar, which featured local musicians rocking the crowd with artists from as far away as Detroit to give it that national tour vibe, and the Voodoo Lounge where awards were presented for the Best Local Promoter and Best Radio Show Host to publicly acknowledge individual commitment to keeping the grassroots culture alive.

Bring It Back 2010 was no letdown as we teamed with San Jose's premiere music and art festival, Left Coast Live, in its 2nd year. The Bring It Back stage brought more talent to the fold featuring live drum circles, capoeira demonstrations, and the best of San Jose's independent talent. The week-long list of events included panel discussions; live concerts; a hand-crafted, 18 piece, 50,000 lb. interactive kinetic sculpture set atop a 6,500 square-foot game board known as the "Life Size Mouse Trap"; a street disco complete with fog machine, disco ball, and lighting using only wireless headphones and an FM transmitter to deliver the DJ-spun grooves called "The Scion Silent Dance Party"; the City Hall Rock n Roll exhibit; and the "Left Coast Motel" featuring a vendor in each room on the 1st floor of the Ramada Inn.

Bring It Back is proud to share its own stage, and the very first hip hop stage on the Vans Warped Tour, with Grind Time Now in 2010. Grind Time Now operates the largest rap battle site in the world and its video content is on YouTube's most viewed content list. The Vans Warped Tour has an excellent 15-year reputation based on its consistency as both a music and extreme sports festival. It presents an appealing mix of headliners along with breaking artists emerging from the underground music market, with 60 bands playing on 10 stages on a single date.

In 2011, Bring It Back is planning its first national college tour. With the support of national educational networks like Hip Hop Congress, we are positioned to take the model of hip hop cultural awareness to a never-before-seen level, through scholarship and education. Engaging young people in our country is more important than ever before, and the momentum is in our favor. We hope you consider teaming up with the Bring It Back Tour to help create this fresh new vision for the future.