Now, the track will blast through the Coliseum speakers as Roots players jog onto the field. It’s just the latest example of the Bay Area’s cross-pollination between sports and hip-hop. Too $hort will perform at halftime during the Roots’ home opener on March 22. Along with Green Day’s Billy Joe Armstrong, the rap legend also recently purchased an ownership stake in another upstart team, the Ballers, who began competing in the Pioneer baseball league last year.
E-40 — whose 2014 song “Choices” is an unofficial Golden State Warriors anthem — has become a high-profile supporter of the Bay Area’s new WNBA team, the Golden State Valkyries, whose debut season begins at Chase Center in May. The Warriors also recently launched a music and film division, Golden State Entertainment, which teamed up with San Francisco label EMPIRE to put out P-Lo’s latest album, For the Soil, the soundtrack of last month’s NBA All-Star Weekend.
man in teal jersey with mic on green soccer field
Dee Dot Jones performing at an Oakland Roots vs. Monterey Bay match in 2024. (Oakland Roots SC)
While sports teams and local pride go hand in hand, the Roots take repping Oakland a step further. Since their beginnings in 2018, community service is baked into what they do. The Roots and their sister team, Oakland Soul, work with a long list of youth sports leagues, after-school arts programs and organizations that champion gender and racial equity.
Soccer might not be as popular in the U.S. as it is in other parts of the world, but there are plenty of immigrant diasporas in Oakland from Latin America, the Arab world, Africa and Asia who grew up with a deep love of the sport. And with several other sports leagues now gone from Oakland, the Roots have an opportunity to expand appreciation for soccer and its culture in the Town as the team grows.
Jones is here for it. “The story that we’re telling is definitely my favorite part of it,” he says.