Messy Marv

Messy Marv epitomizes the Bay Area ethos: flood the streets with banging, hard-hitting product. The rapper from San Francisco's gang-ridden Fillmore neighborhood has released so many albums and mixtapes and made so many guest appearances that even his sizable following has trouble keeping up. His career dates back to 1996, when he released his debut, Messy Situationz, as an enterprising teenager. His career accelerated with Explosive Mode; the 1998 collaboration with fellow "Fillmoe" rapper San Quinn proved so popular that it led to several sequels. Messy Marv has built his street rap empire while logging various stints in jail, including a year in 2007 for a weapons charge. That same year, he formed a supergroup with Keak da Sneak and P.S.D. for the standout album Da Bidness.