On His New Single, Rapper Bocha Reflects on Growing Up in Gresham

Oh, hip-hop…this is why I love you.

When civilians express concern with the behaviors of the police in their communities, they are often offered a chance to participate in a “ride-along” with a publicly competent officer, giving them a firsthand view of what it’s like to be a cop—underresourced, undertrained, overanalyzed, overextended, and constantly at risk—in the hopes that civilians will gain a better respect for the job and concern themselves less with the harm caused by officers who are just doing their best.

Portland rapper Bocha’s newest single, “Ride Along,” produced by Yellow Trash Can, offers a front-row seat without the chance of being mistaken for a narc. Hailing from Rockwood, one of Gresham’s most dense, diverse and underresourced neighborhoods, Bocha wants you to ride along with The People.

“I was on my way to school when I saw my first body/I ain’t know what to do,” he raps less than a minute into the song, immediately introducing his audience to a form of trauma that often gets overlooked and goes unresolved. A seasoned artist who finished in the top 10 of WW’s Best New Bands in 2019, Bocha boasts a level of artistic maturity, stating his purpose before sharing a pair of short adolescent tales calling attention to trauma, the related confusion, food insecurity, mental health and, perhaps most importantly, the difficulty of delivering resources needed to address these factors in our most vulnerable before the risks manifest.

“Know my granny stressing when I’m out running these streets/Barely ever eat I know she see it in my cheeks,” Bocha raps of a parental figure who struggles to find the right time to intervene before he crashes out, nailing home the concept that those with the best proximity to help, are not always the best equipped. But it sure does help just to listen.

Fresh off the August release of WHAT’S THE MATTER, his third collaborative album with L.A. producer Corey G, Bocha has spent zero time resting on his laurels, instead pumping out high-energy singles, such as “Better Now//Pay Ur Rent” and “HighAsHell,” with Portland duo Yellow Trash Can—which comprises rap-grunge producer-artists Jason Navarrete and Jitta on the Track—at Burn Money Studios in Southeast Portland.

I noticed around Thanksgiving that the Bocha and YTC tracks started popping up in my “Recommended New Tracks” list on Tidal, so by the time “Ride Along” popped up, I knew something was up. Keeping up with the socials, they have also been garnering online attention with a deluge of visuals meant to help capture the energy of the project. Asked if he and YTC were teasing an album, Bocha signaled that we might expect something “in a few months.”

“With YTC, it just sounds like us,” Bocha says of the musical process, referring to the landmark entrance to the staple Portland studio. “It’s artistry in the garage.” He describes working with Navarrete and Jitta as a sort of jazz ensemble, with everyone bringing ideas and then narrowing down and refining the best ones. But where the first few songs with YTC felt more irreverent, “Ride Along” stood out as driven and intentional. Bocha says we can expect that mix.

“Not too sunny, not too rainy,” he says. “We want it to sound like outside.”