Who Is Davey D?
Dave ‘Davey D’ Cook is a nationally recognized journalist, adjunct professor at San Francisco State, Hip Hop historian, political commentator, syndicated talk show host, radio programmer, media and community activist.
Originally from the Bronx, NY and now along time resident of Oakland, Ca, 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 to attend college at UC Berkeley where he gradutated
He’s 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). He’s on the advisory board for the recently released book Anthology of Rap (Yale press)
Davey D has been featured as an expert commentator in more than 30 documentaries and TV shows including; Letters to The President, Beef, Thug Angel, American Gangster and the Award Winning PBS Rap City Rhapsody.
He’s also been featured on shows like: Democracy Now, the Tavis Smiley Show, BET, Air America, Fox News, CNN, the Ayona Show, The Al Sharpton Show, Roland Martin Show, Grit TV, Free Speech TV, VH1, Nightline, America’s Black Forum and numerous other outlets.
Davey D is a strong proponent of media justice and has spoken around the country at conferences, FCC hearings, Congressional briefings and at the Congressional Black Caucus on matters ranging from Media Consolidation to Radio Royalty Rates to Political Activism within Hip Hop.
Davey D is the co-founder and host of several Political and Hip Hop oriented media projects both on and off line including Hard Knock Radio (HKR), an award-winning daily syndicated prime time afternoon show focusing on Hip Hop culture and politics where he is the co-host.
One of the first of its kind, the show originated in 2000 on KPFA 94.1 FM in the San Francisco Bay Area, and now can be heard in Seattle, Atlanta, Portland and Fresno. It is streamed live on KPFA.org, reaching close to a million listeners daily.
Here listeners are treated to a daily offering of who’s who in music and politics. Guests could be Chuck D of Public Enemy, Q-Tip from Tribe Called Quest or MC Lyte one day and Congressman John Conyers or Congresswoman Maxine Waters the next.
In 2003, HKR was cited as best on air show by the East-Bay Express and Davey D was voted Best On Air Personality.
He was awarded The Profiles in Excellence Award by ABC 7 in the Bay Area (2005).
He was awarded the ‘Thank You Award‘ for Independent Artist Week (2009).
Davey D is the founder and webmaster of Davey Ds 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 website was founded in 1992 and is considered an archival site with much of its contents still in intact as it was original published. The writings on his website are frequently referenced and quoted by journalists, scholars and professors and fans around the world.
Davey Ds most recent radio project is Breakdown FM which can be heard on podcasts, cell phones and various radio stations. Its streamed on outlets like ALL Day Play FM and Swift FM.
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.
He is former columnist for the San Jose Mercury News in the area of Hip Hop music, culture and politics.
Davey D currently 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.
For more info contact: mrdaveyd@gmail.com
