San Jose’s Opski Chan has been putting in work for a long time, even if it took him a while to recognize his talent. “I’ve been rappin since ’91, active with recording since ’98 & convinced I was good at it since ’06,” he tells me via email. “Now I’m just rollin with the punches. Can I say that?” Unfortunately, I didn’t come across his work until last month when I saw his video for “Stay Gold”, off of his 2011 release Pushers & Prophets.

Opski tells me he was introduced to hip-hop via “Wipeout”, a collaboration between The Fat Boys and The Beach Boys, and has been hooked on rap ever since. “I know good ol’ rap, that’s my thing, that’s what I fancy,” he explained. Despite a love for the classics, “Stay Gold” has a completely modern feel to it. With its hilarious and bizarre stop motion art and a blistering double-time flow, I find myself watching the video over and over. The video features Opski’s drawings and animation, while Bryce Grimm “conceptualized, manipulated, destructed, and reconstructed” it with the rapper, and shot it. After the video, listen to Opski’s most recent release, “The Butt” and a collaboration with fellow San Jose native Antwon on the track “COMATOAST”.