Davey D is a nationally recognized journalist, adjunct professor, Hip Hop historian, syndicated talk show host, radio programmer, producer, deejay, media and community activist. Originally from the Bronx, NY, Davey D’s been down with Hip Hop since since 1977 where he started out as an emcee for two crews TDK [Total Def Krew] out of Co-op City and the Avengers out of the Marble Hill Section of the Bronx. He moved to California and graduated from UC Berkeley.
Davey D is the co-founder and host of several of the most cited Hip Hop radio and online news journalism projects of all time. Hard Knock Radio (HKR) is an award-winning daily syndicated prime time afternoon show focusing on Hip Hop culture and politics. One of the first of its kind, the show originated in 1999 on KPFA 94.1 FM in the San Francisco Bay Area, and now can be heard in Seattle, Atlanta, Portland, Fresno and is streamed live on KPFA.org, reaching close to a million listeners daily. In 2003, HKR was cited as best on air show by the East-Bay Express and Davey D voted Best On Air Personality. He was awarded The Profiles in Excellence Award by ABC 7 in the Bay Area (2005). He was recently awarded ‘Thank You Award’ in 2009 for Independent Artist Week.
He is the founder and webmaster of Davey D’s Hip Hop Corner, which is widely considered to be one of the oldest and largest Hip Hop sites on the web, www.daveyd.com. The writings on his website are frequently referenced and quoted by journalists, scholars and professors and fans around the world. Davey D’s most recent radio effort is Breakdown FM which can be heard through downloadable podcasts, live streaming, radio stations features, and now cell phone outlets. Davey D is the co-founder of the Bay Area Hip Hop Coalition which started out as one of the first Hip Hop radio deejay collectives in the country.
Davey D serves as the managing editor of The Southern Shift which is a media project/website designed to change the political landscape in Texas by continuing to engage many of the first-time and infrequent voters who were inspired by the historic aspects of the 2008 election and voted in record numbers. As an independent expenditure campaign, Southern Shift, then known as Texas Stand Up, helped flip Harris County, the third largest county in the nation from Red to Blue. This was the first time in 44 years this happened. During the ‘08 campaign Texas Stand Up now The Southern Shift shot a series of commercials and vignettes involving local celebrities, politicians and community members on voting. Southern Shift also produced as a full-length documentary Called ”Turn Texas Blue” which were distributed via DVD to 3000-5000 households of targeted voters in the Houston area.
Davey D is the co-author of 2 books ‘How to Get Stupid White Men Out of Office‘ (Soft Skull, 2004) and ‘BAF-Be A Father to Your Child‘ (Soft Skull, 2008). He also contributed to Project Censored’s Media Democracy in Action-Censored 2004 (Seven Stories Press, 2004).