This aired on the August 4, 2025, episode of Crosscurrents.
We’re bringing you a segment from our Culture Keepers series – celebrating the Bay Area’s unique spaces and communities.
From influential publications, and generational car clubs, San Jose is one of the historical epicenters of lowriding culture. And a big part of that scene centers around the music booming from the tricked out cars.
Today, we learn about what it takes to preserve this culture’s musical legacy. We catch up with a duo of DJ’s and record collectors known as the Flipside Lovers.
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Story Transcript:
REPORTER: Old Soul music and Lowriders had a profound effect on my upbringing. My parents met while cruising East San Jose in the late 1970’s. They’d do laps around King and Story Road in my Father’s lifted ‘61 Impala. Slow and low, blasting groups like GQ, S.O.S Band or Earth, Wind and Fire.
The cars are monuments of mobile luxury, adorned with custom paint jobs. You might see script lettering of familiar song titles from the East Side Story compilation. The twelve volume set was a staple at home. But for me, growing up in the 80’s the new sound was rap… and I was hooked. I began DJ’ing in the late 90s. When I inherited my family’s record collection, I realized most of my favorite hip-hop records contained samples from music my parents would cruise to. There began a lifelong obsession with discovering old music I’ve never heard before.
Fast forward to the 2020s, I noticed this couple, cruising around town in their 62 Impala. And I heard that they specialized in playing these same types of old soul records in San Jose. When I finally caught their sets, I was blown away by the number of records I’d never heard before. They called themselves the Flipside Lovers. I wanted to get to know them better.
ANTHONY PEREZ: Yo, what up? What's up, dawg?
REPORTER: Yo, what's up, homie?
ANTHONY: What up, man? That was quick.
REPORTER: It took me a while but I finally got the invite to their West San Jose home.
ANTHONY: Got the mic already out. I like it. Come in.
REPORTER: Thank you for having me.
ANTHONY: Yeah, for sure. It's chilly out there, huh?
REPORTER: After stepping inside, I’m greeted with huge plants and a comfy green couch. Record shelves line the walls. I notice a beautiful vintage jukebox in their den.
STEPHANIE RAMIREZ PEREZ: I'm Stephanie Ramirez Perez, one half of Flipside Lovers. I go by Ambitious Outsider.
ANTHONY: I'm Anthony Perez. I go by Akro1. Uh, one half of the Flipside Lovers from San Jose, California.
REPORTER: Together, the Flipside Lovers are preserving tradition by sharing their rare collection. They travel to DJ parties all over the world…
STEPHANIE: We’ve played in Chicago, New York, Oregon, um, Washington, Mexico City, Paris, Stockholm, Liverpool, England, um, L.A. of course.
REPORTER: However, Anthony and Stephanie’s roots are in the South Bay, where lowriding has historically been part of the Chicano identity.
Lowriding culture began in the 40’s …by young Mexican Americans looking to define their own identity. It started with zoot suits, wearing baggy pants and oversized jackets, and driving old heavy cars slowly while listening to rhythm and blues.
As car shapes and musical styles evolved, so did the people with it. The era of music was tied to the year of the car. In the 50’s it was doo-wop, In the 60’s people played sweet soul music. In the 70’s it was time for funk and disco. So it comes as no surprise that this culture is what got them into record collecting.
How'd you guys meet?
ANTHONY: Downtown. Collecting records. Downtown. Maybe what? 2014 or something?
STEPHANIE: Yeah, like 14. 14 or 15. We both, like, had a passion and then met through the passion and kind of could support each other that way.
REPORTER: When they met, the scene was much smaller. From the late 80s to just a few years ago in 2023, California had a ban on cruising. It was a way to discriminate toward Chicanos and other people of color. People gathered less, so there wasn’t a lot of opportunity to cultivate the music scene.
ANTHONY: It was very small still. I mean, even as far as, like, the whole Bay Area, there was only like a group of us, you know? It's like, whatever it was, ten or fifteen people, collectors you know, really doing it
REPORTER: When the cruising ban lifted, the scene began to sprout. Collectors like Anthony and Stephanie would roam the Bay Area, digging for records at estate sales, flea markets, or being early birds at local record swaps.
ANTHONY: It takes a lot of work. You know, it's not, it's not happenstance. You're not going to find these down at the Goodwill.
REPORTER: As their collections began to grow, they also got better at the art of digging.
ANTHONY: I mean, I think the real trick with collecting is to not worry about the pricing and to buy with your ears and not your wallet, you know? It’s like eventually if your ear’s good enough you’re going to be ahead of the curve.
REPORTER: In addition to passion and persistence, it also helps to have friends.
STEPHANIE: Because, like, a lot of records I have that I never thought I would have is because someone's like, I know you were looking for this, like, do you want to buy it because I need to get rid of it.
REPORTER: To put it simply, San Jose locals are tight-knit.
ANTHONY: San Jose's got, we have so much here. It's like to me there's always been this, like, underground fabric of people that know what's up, there's been a long history of a lot of like, very talented art and music coming out of San Jose, but the light's not always shining on that.
REPORTER: They wish there was more support - like more funding for local musicians and artists - and investment in performance spaces.
ANTHONY: It does make it difficult because to be honest, we're footing the bill to do what we love, this isn't, it's not a money making enterprise, right?
REPORTER: Anthony and Stephanie have full-time jobs that fund their pursuits.
ANTHONY: We have to get out, and I have to do it on my dime, and my time, and my equipment, we gotta do it, because sitting at home waiting for somebody to call you up and say, come on down and do it, it's not gonna happen, you know?
REPORTER: So in response, they’ve tapped into a global community of collectors, who support each other through their social networks. This summer, they’ve been invited to play Liverpool’s Annual Soul Weekender, among some of the world’s foremost collectors. It’s another way they’re helping spread the Chicano sound abroad.
ANTHONY: We were in Sweden this summer and I bought records from a friend of ours who's from Germany. He sold me this really rare Texas Chicano record. And it's funny because it's like, this super rare Chicano record goes from Texas to Germany to Sweden back to California. What are the chances, you know? I think about that sometimes when I look at the record. I'm like, man, I wonder how many, like, parties this thing rocked. Like, if this, these could talk, like…
STEPHANIE: And somehow it made it here.
REPORTER: The real magic of finding a Chicano record in Sweden is bringing it back to the place where the journey started.
STEPHANIE: I think now, like they’re, everyone is a little bit more open to accepting, like, our Chicano culture, along with cars and music, more so than, like, in the past. My favorite things are to play community events that are all ages. And that younger kids or adults can, like, connect like a memory so it could be part of them growing up, part of what they're going to remember when they're older. So like we want to pass it along and make sure that, you know, we're doing our part to keep it alive.
REPORTER: So I wondered.. what’s going to happen to all of these records when they’re gone
ANTHONY: Where are they all gonna go? I even think about it already at my age. I'm like man, what am I going to do? Or do I just die with them? To just throw them all in the ground with me? This is going to be in my hands when they put me in the ground. You're going to have to go to my funeral. You're going to have to convince the undertaker to let you crawl down in the hole.
Hunting records around the world is just the A-Side of collecting; the flipside is where Anthony and Stephanie share their newest finds with eager ears. You can keep up with upcoming events on their Instagram at flipsidelovers.
