San Francisco son Rich Iyala resurfaces to the mainstream music market with “DAMNWELL,” the first single featuring Mars Today and Krikit Boi, off his upcoming album Camp Mendocino. For the past few years, Rich has immersed himself in uplifting the Bay Area community and social justice campaigns, expressing his support through on-the-ground action and utilizing his platform and reach to its full potential.

Bur Rich’s activism was through music first. It’s been a long hiatus since the rap veteran first emerged as sayknowledge in hyphy’s heyday, but Camp Mendocino is a promising take on SF hip-hop reacquainted with its funk and soul heritage. Rich (who changed his name from Ayala to Iyala, as a play on technology) brings his everyday communal passion into his art, an effective hometown homage that reinforces the area’s age-old mantra of being loyal to the soil.