Private Project

We Were Hyphy

In the summer of 2006 the San Francisco Bay Area was Going Dumb! And Ghostriding the Whip!

“We Were Hyphy” is a music documentary about Hyphy, a thumping subgenre of hip hop, famous for its pounding bass, humorous slang, and insane dances! Whether you were there or not - you’ll love We Were Hyphy!

The documentary is a love song to "Hyphy" artists, dance, music, slang, clothes and, most importantly of all, the people who came of age during the "Hyphy Movement".​

We Were Hyphy recreates the excitement of the times while showing the impact Hyphy had on millions of people in the Bay Area and beyond. The film is a fun, nostalgic experience for those lucky enough to experience Hyphy the first time around, and a tantalizing introduction to those discovering it for the first time now.

And whether you "went dumb" or have no idea what that means, We Were Hyphy will excite, entice and entertain you!

  • Larry Madrigal
    Director
  • Jason O'Mahony
    Producer
  • Project Type:
    Documentary, Feature
  • Runtime:
    1 hour 24 minutes
  • Completion Date:
    March 17, 2022
  • Production Budget:
    75,000 USD
  • Country of Origin:
    United States
  • Country of Filming:
    Ireland, United States
  • Shooting Format:
    Digital
  • Aspect Ratio:
    16:9
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    Yes
  • Student Project:
    No
  • Digital Cinema Package:
    Unavailable
Director Biography - Larry Madrigal

Larry is a 3rd generation, San Francisco Bay Area native, or “Baydestrian”, as they say in the Bay! Larry has been passionately in love with music since he was a young boy running around Antioch, a small city in the East Bay! High school is a formative part in every one’s life and Larry was no different. He was heavily influenced by Hyphy, a subgenre of hip hop which is native to Oakland and the San Francisco Bay Area.

Larry has directed a handful of short documentary projects, music videos and a short documentary series featuring Golden State Warrior, Kevon Looney. The series documented Kevon’s journey through the 2018 NBA postseason.

Larry is currently putting the finishing touches to his feature debut, We Were Hyphy, a love song to the Hyphy Movement. It will be completed in early fall 2021.

Add Director Biography
Director Statement

As far back as I can remember I always wanted to be a filmmaker! I’ve been drawn to films and storytelling since watching movies sitting on my Grandmother’s knee. She’s Mexican and grew up as a first-generation Bay Arean. Her love of movies and music was ever present in my childhood. If I close my eyes now I’m drawn back to that joyous time, watching It’s a Wonderful Life playing on AMC when I was only 8-years-old or watching The Godfather for the very first time when I was only 10!

From this embryonic love of movies and music, and with encouragement from my Dad, my younger brother and I started making short homemade films in middle school. Larry Potter is one that stands out in my mind and while those early efforts were pretty darn poor, the good folks at San Francisco State Cinema spotted a little raw talent and invited me to join their prestigious program when I was 18. It not only provided training in practical skills, it broadened my horizons and gave me the critical skills to really examine my love for film, for music and for the Bay Area, which deepened my appreciation even further.

What had always thrilled me emotionally and viscerally now also spoke to me on an intellectual level and I was determined to make a documentary film that would share my love of the San Francisco Bay Area with the whole world!

My formative years were in the mid-00s and Hyphy, a subgenre of hip hop, was bubbling up from the streets of Oakland and taking over the whole Bay. The music had a huge impact on me and my friends during our teenage years. It was a seminal time and young Bay Areans were so impacted by seeing folks for their communities create music, style, culture, fashion and dance that had such a deep rooted impact.

We Were Hyphy is a universally appealing documentary love song to the Hyphy movement, and to the wonderfully diverse people that live in the Bay Area. It has always been a special place, an insane amalgamation of drug-fueled lunatics and all-American apple pie. The Hyphy movement was a similarly dynamic convergence of hypocrisies with gun loving gangsta culture and peace-loving, ecstasy-taking hippies coming together to create something incredibly unique.

We Were Hyphy is a lyrical and poetic exploration of the diversity and energetic creativity that birthed a musical movement and proved a fervent breeding ground for talents like Kamaiyah, Ryan Coogler, Daveed Diggs and Rafael Cassal.

The documentary is both a nostalgic look back and a hopeful look to the future. It is an exploration of the embryonic beginnings of great artists. And an affirmation of the belief that art and creativity may yet prove a bulwark to the scourge of tech gentrification blighting the Bay Area.