Sunspot Jonz: Hip-Hop Icon, Cultural Strategist, and Oakland’s Champion for 2024

Living Legends’ hip-hop star, Sunspot Jonz (Corey Johnson), just signed on as a Cultural Strategist for The City of Oakland, and he has big hopes and dreams for what he’ll be able to accomplish in 2024. As a published author, a fresh advocate for Oakland through the city, and an underground Hip Hop legend, he’s showing some serious love to the city that raised him in a bunch of awesome ways while also achieving numerous personal goals. He’s one of those folks with a bunch of projects going on, and you can’t help but ask, “How does he manage to do it all?”

Sunspot Jonz – photo by Marissa Joy Clark

A little bit about Sunspot Jonz – Corey Johnson

Sunspot Jonz is the stage name for rapper Corey Johnson. If you’ve been living under a rock, you may not know about Corey and everything he’s accomplished in his career as a rapper but his resume is impressive. As one of the founding members of Living Legends, a collective of underground hip-hop artists hailing from California, he also forms one half of Mystik Journeymen alongside Luckyiam and has a prolific career as a solo artist and producer.

He’s beloved by many and for good reason. He’s talented, filled with boundless energy and loves giving back to his community on and off the stage. As Living Legends grew in popularity, Sunspot Jonz simultaneously crafted a series of solo albums during the 2000s. When not busy with Living Legends, Sunspot Jonz continued his solo ventures with a ton of amazing collaborations “Galaxy of Dreams” and “Galaxy of Dreams, Vol. 2” dropping in 2010 and 2011, “Skywalkers” with Boac (2013), a solo album called “Legend 1” (2015) and “Stoneyhawk 1” with hip hop icon A-Plus from The Hieroglyphics (2015). Continuing to make hit after hit – we saw more collaborative efforts with A-Plus in in 2019 “Stoney Hawk” and 2023’s “Stoney Hawk 2”. And, with all that said, we talk about what Corey is up to now further on in the article but nowadays Sunspot Jonz is promoting Living Legend’s latest album “The Return” and ready for his own releasing early in 2024 with “Bad to the Bonez”.

Sunspot Jonz is such an icon in the hip hop scene that his bio is a long amazing list of achievements and accolades, and if we tried to spill every detail, we’d never get to the mind-blowing stuff he’s up to right now. 

Sunspot Jonz – photo by Marissa Joy Clark

Oakland’s Newest Cultural Strategist: Corey Johnson

Corey has been bringing people together for decades through hip hop. This past year he helped organized a yearly event called Hiero Day in Oakland—a celebration of community and music that takes place every September and has been running for over 10 years. While it was his first year organizing the event, he was able to bring in their headliner, Common, helping to make it the event with the largest attendance at any Hiero Day ever! An epic event, to say the least. Furthermore, Corey played a crucial role in facilitating the recognition and presentation of several city awards bestowed upon local hip-hop legends. This initiative was an integral part of Oakland’s commemoration of 50 years of hip-hop celebration throughout 2023.

Alright, what’s the deal with being a Cultural Strategist? Well, Corey got hired by The City of Oakland to improve the city using his unique skills within Oakland schools. It’s part of a special program called The Cultural Strategist-in-Government Program (CSIG Program) which is similar to an artist residency program where the practitioners work with City departments to infuse City problem-solving with new perspectives and creative thinking from communities historically under-represented in the City’s policy-making staff.

CSIG Program is all about finding fresh ways to make the city awesome. They program teams up with smart folks from communities who are most impacted by inequities. Cultural Strategist are contractors who can bring a whole new perspective to the mission of creating a fair and kick-ass city.

As Cultural Strategist for Oakland schools “…I want to show kids that they have options and show them what’s possible when you follow your dreams,” Corey said when asked about his plans for 2024.

Giving hope to kids who don’t see the full spectrum of options they have in front of them in their life is a wonderful way to give back to Oakland’s vibrant community. In light of disconcerting trends discussed in an article highlighting the impact of social media on escalating violence in Oakland, where children as young as 9 or 10 are drawn into gangs, the necessity for positive role models to intervene becomes increasingly critical. The grim reality underscores the urgency of providing mentorship, guidance, and inspirational figures who can engage with these young minds, instilling in them a sense of hope, purpose, and the belief that there are myriad avenues beyond the challenging circumstances they may face. For Corey, he emphasized with me that he wants to show people the “realness of your heart” as he empowers Oakland’s youth to be better versions of themselves.

Sunspot Jonz with his first book The Dentist and the Fire Breathing Dragon – photo by Marissa Joy Clark

Life as an Author: The Dentist and the Fire Breathing Dragon

More recently, Corey has become a published author – launching his first children’s book in a series called Bubbles the Brave “Braveheart” that he’s illustrated himself. His first book in the series, The Dentist and the Fire Breathing Dragon, is a lovely story about Dr. Toofus Sweets and his quest to help out a firing breathing dragon with an awful toothache. While on the surface this might seem like a typical children’s book, it has a deeper meaning tied to Corey’s own childhood.

Corey was raised in Oakland’s foster care system. He’s used his voice and story to pen stories that give hope to kids in the system. According to stats published by The National LIbrary of Medicine, “approximately 44% of youth with a history of foster care reported at least one dental problem, compared to 32.2% of youth with no experience of foster care. Youth with a history of foster care had lower odds of seeing a dentist for a dental problem (58.2% vs. 71.2%) or for routine dental care (69.6% vs. 84.4%), than their peers with no history of foster care.” Corey’s doing his part by writing books on dental hygiene for kids, aiming to help them grasp the importance of taking care of their teeth and reassuring them that there’s nothing to fear.

Sunspot Jonz reading his newest book to us – photo by Marissa Joy Clark

As an artist, I was particularly impressed that Corey not only wrote the book but also illustrated it. He explained that he creates every page and illustration with Adobe’s Illustrator. Giving me a sneak peek into his newest book that is in the works, Corey showed me how he creates each illustration one vector stroke at a time. Doing it this way is time consuming but Corey knows this means he can scale his drawings beyond the pages of his books and into graphics for events he organizes.

It was at one of these events that I met Corey for the first time. I went over to Hip Hop Fairyland & the Healthy Dragon last year to meet up with my friend and learned that Corey was one of the two people behind the event’s main sponsor, Hip Hop Scholastics. Hip Hop Scholastics organized a full health fair for attendees and a full line up of performers including The Alphabet Rockers. I’m working with Corey and his partner Itoco Garcia Ed.D. to learn more about the programs that Hip Hop Scholastics has for Oakland youth in 2024 and we’re looking forward to helping them continue to get the word out about what they are up to.

Sunspot Jonz is an author and community leader – photo by Marissa Joy Clark

What’s next for Sunspot Jonz?

Sunspot Jonz just toured with The Living Legends to support their latest album, The Return. Looking ahead, Sunspot Jonz has a new album, “Bad 2 The Bonez,” is set to release in mid-January, marking another milestone in his prolific career. As he continues to make waves in the music industry and contribute meaningfully to his community.

2024 holds the promise of a dynamic journey alongside Sunspot Jonz. As he continues to shape the cultural landscape of Oakland and inspire through music, literature, and community advocacy, the year ahead is poised to be a testament to his enduring legacy. Stay tuned for the exciting chapters Sunspot Jonz will unfold in the months to come!

Listen to a classic from The Stoney Hawk album featuring A-Plus from Hieroglyphics:

Find Sunspot Jonz Online Here:

His Book: The Dentist and The Fire Breathing Dragon
IG: @sunspotjonz
@livinglegends
FB: @OfficialSunspotJonz
Youtube:
Music Discovery: Spotify
Web:legendarymusic.net
hiphopscholastics.org

All photos by Marissa Joy Clark – @___tabula___rasa___

Sunspot Jonz and I cheezing – photo by Marissa Joy Clark