I started off in radio really young. Sweet Sixteen and thrown into the mix of the biggest and baddest Top 40 radio station in Bakersfield, California. KKXX was a powerhouse for awhile.
I, was a total brat asshole, punk rock kid who thought spinning Spice Girls records at 2 in the morning was beneath me. I didn’t know shit, at all.
(This was the logo when I worked there.)
I worked with legends in the radio world, including the still relevant and awesome Brothers V, The Baka Boyz.
(Seriously, these dudes are on the radio all over the country and they are straight up legit)
But I also met some people a long the way that may not have reached Seacrest levels of fame but were just as effin’ gangsta, if not more so.
My friend Alex Gee was one of those dudes.
Alex was O.G AF. The sun never set for him, he worked his ass off all the time, be it on the air, DJ-ing, mentoring or even on his cars. He loved his cars. He was a low rider guy through and through. Alex was one of my many Radio Big Brothers. My Hermano. When I was an annoying teenager, a little white girl on a station trying to be a hip hop station (spoiler alert, we completely failed even after trying to move the damn station to another spot on the dial and change it’s name… didn’t matter KISV cleaned our clocks hard…) Alex was always around keeping my head in the game.
(Anyone else remember this? I barely do and I was there!)
Alex had a heart as big as the entire planet. He also mentored a big handful of my friends, including my former boss at WiLD 106, Jojo Lopez. Like Alex was everyone’s hermano. If you needed a ride, a talk, a gig, a couch, there was Alex, he’d make it happen.
Our worlds crossed later in life when he got into a band with my good friend Ty Elam from Videodrone and Cradle of Thorns. Together with a few of my other friends had this band called Karmahitlist and it was hands down my favorite thing musically to come out of Bakersfield in the last 15 years. Alex was a huge part of creating that sound and I think a lot of people gloss over this part of his life… Hip Hop Old School Low Rider truck dude was also a fucking rock star.
If you don't listen to this record, you are just hurting yourself
(Karmahitlist. Alex is the very far right, Ty is in the center.)
We lost Alex this week. It’s not my story to tell how he passed but it IS my story to tell about what a huge hole it leaves in our lives.
Alex was everyone’s hermano. He never gave up on his dreams. He never stopped kicking his friend’s asses to make us keep trying to live our own dreams. He was loved and respected in the radio world and the local music scene in Bakersfield AND the low rider community. If I needed a damn thing in the world I could pick up the phone and he’d answer. Alex was that guy.
I found out he had passed last night while I was at work and I really wanted to go home and cry and lose my shit… but I thought “What would Alex tell me to do?” And Alex would have told me to Rise and Grind, get paper and keep going. So I popped Karmahitlist up on my phone and kept on pushing.
I love you Hermano. I wish you an easy rest and I know I’ll see you on the other side.