Who Cares was a Sacramento hip-hop group founded in 2002, known for a backpack-rap sound that grew into a full live band and for being, in its own framing, the perpetual opening act of the local rap scene.[1] Despite a name suggesting apathy, the group treated its music as a survival mechanism for "latchkey kids" and survivors of broken homes.[2][1]
At a glance
- Sacramento hip-hop group, formed 2002 by MC Ernie Upton (Ernie Fresh / Fernie Fresh) and producer Maxwell McMaster.[1]
- Built its identity around a sad teddy bear character with its mouth sewn shut, used on covers, shirts, posters and stickers.[1]
- Releases: Who Cares the LP (2004)[3], The Winter Came Back EP (2006)[4], Teenage Ego Trip (2010, called its official debut)[2][1][5], and a shelved Juvenile Hall EP.[2][1]
- Disbanded with a final show at Concerts in the Park, Cesar Chavez Park, June 17, 2016.[1]
- Closely tied to Sacramento producer Dusty Brown and vocalist Young Aundee (Andrew Southard).[2][6][1]
Origin and members
Ernie Upton traces the group's formation to 2002, when he was on the mic with Maxwell McMaster (also spelled McMasters) behind the boards.[1] A year later they cut a handmade CD-R release with cut-and-paste album art that they sold at shows.[1] The early Who Cares sound reflected backpack rap rooted in hip-hop's four elements (MCing, DJing, breaking and graffiti), drawing on artists like Atmosphere and Company Flow.[1]
The lineup expanded over time. By the mid-2000s it included Upton and McMaster with Ryan Hall on keys and Jammal Tarkington on saxophone.[1] Andrew Southard (Young Aundee) became a fan in 2005 at the Heritage Festival at Raley Field, then joined the group, adding R&B vocals and melodica and gradually becoming a more prominent member.[1] By the Teenage Ego Trip era the group had narrowed to a core three of Tarkington, Southard and Upton, with Dusty Brown as silent partner and executive producer.[1]
Upton credited Tarkington's saxophone with pushing the group beyond "nerdy backpack" material toward a more dexterous live sound.[1]
Local status
Who Cares was a local Sacramento group. Submerge describes it as one of "the best hip-hop groups in Sacramento" and a fixture of the local rap circuit, with members rooted in the region.[1] Vocalist Young Aundee is identified as Sacramento-based and a long-running partner of "Sacramento electronic impresario Dusty Brown."[6] In the 2013 Splash Music Festival lineup, Who Cares appears among the "regional talent" billed against the "international headliners."[7] Evidence quote: the group is named as one "of best hip-hop groups in Sacramento" and "the perpetual opener of rap shows."[1] Confidence: high.
Visual identity: the teddy bear
A graffiti artist by background, Upton conceived a character to serve as the group's calling card — a teddy bear with its mouth sewn shut, meant to embody nostalgia, teenage heartbreak and a latchkey-kid mentality.[1] He says his first attempt looked "cracked out" rather than sad, but it caught on; he committed to the bear during a graffiti outing at an abandoned Napa winery, redrawing it cuter.[1] The bear went onto album covers, T-shirts, posters and stickers, and Upton recalls cheaply mass-producing roughly 5,000 stickers via Kinkos.[1] As Southard put it, "People know the propaganda even if they don't know the music."[1]
Releases and sound
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Who Cares the LP (2004): The group's earliest album-length release, predating the 2006 EP. Released April 20, 2004, it is credited to Ernie Fresh, Jammal Tarkington, and Maxwell McMaster.[3] The LP contains 14 tracks — including "Latch Key Kid," "The Ghost of Friday Night," "November," "Dopeless Hopefiend," and "Scarecrow & the Magpie" — with a total runtime of approximately 49 minutes.[3] Its Bandcamp description, according to that page, reads "birth of the legends."[3]
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The Winter Came Back (EP, 2006): a six-song cycle that Submerge describes as demonstrating the group's growth, with tracks like "The Rain Song" and "Heaven Ain't That Hard" featuring saxophone solos and live bass.[1] The six-track listing is: "The Winter Came Back," "Teenage Love," "Freeze Tag," "Then it Rings," "Heaven Ain't Hard," and "The Rain Song."[4] The EP was made available for digital streaming and download in January 2020.[4]
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Teenage Ego Trip (2010): described as the group's official debut and, in Submerge's review, its finest work to date.[2][1] Dusty Brown joined as engineer, contributing producer and co-writer, which the review credits with resolving a long-standing identity crisis between "trans-European electro-party" material and "rainy-day self-reflection."[2] Earlier Who Cares efforts had circulated as a CD-R sold at shows.[2] Teenage Ego Trip was issued as an independent release and made available for free download online.[8][2] Named tracks include "Cherry Boy," "These Three Words," "Heaven Ain't That Hard" and "They Killed the Radio" (the latter featuring Egyptian Lover).[2] Vocals on the record came from Ernie Upton (as Fernie Fresh) and Young Aundee.[2] The full 11-track listing runs: "Lets Fly," "Sad & Grey," "Lucky Larry," "It's for You," "Cherry Boy," "Show Me Some Change," "Song For Our Fathers," "Growing Pain," "These Three Words," "Fan vs. Man," and a bonus track "Anarchy in the Family."[5] The album was released October 10, 2010.[5]
- A remix EP for Teenage Ego Trip followed on May 4, 2011, released via Simplify Recordings (catalog number SIMP042EP), featuring remixes by ZeroPointOne, Stylust, Samples, NastyNasty, Kat1lyst, Knight Riderz, Omega, Sugarpill, ill-esha, and Love & Light.[9]
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Juvenile Hall (EP, shelved): planned as a farewell album with guest appearances from Murs and Cosmo D, but ultimately shelved as the group came apart.[1]
Lyrically, Upton (Ernie/Fernie Fresh) maintained what Submerge calls "a deep connection with the disenfranchised and half-broken."[2]
Scene relationships
Who Cares was closely entwined with several Sacramento figures. Dusty Brown — a Sacramento electronic producer — served as engineer, co-writer and executive producer, becoming a figure Upton said he had difficulty disagreeing with.[2][6][1] Young Aundee (Andrew Southard) was both a member and an independent artist who maintained a long-running partnership with Brown.[6]
The group also had a strong relationship with Sacramento artist Neal Bergmann (Lopan 4000), described as a dedicated hip-hop head whose connections led to Who Cares opening for electro and hip-hop legends Egyptian Lover and Nucleus.[1] Through Who Cares, Young Aundee struck up a favorite collaboration with Egyptian Lover, the 1980s Los Angeles dance-scene figure, after Egyptian Lover heard the group's freestyle-style track "Space Love."[6]
Notable shows
Members unanimously cite an Aug. 4, 2006 show at the Mezzanine in San Francisco as their best ever — a bill with Egyptian Lover and Nucleus that Southard called "a full on Beat Street slamdown."[1] Lopan 4000 made a life-size poster parodying the Beat Street poster with the group's names on it.[1] Young Aundee separately recalls his first show with Who Cares as 2005 at the Mezzanine, where they first performed "Space Love."[6] (The two accounts differ on which 2005/2006 Mezzanine date counts as the first; the sources do not fully reconcile this.)[6][1]
The group was booked for TBD Fest 2014 and the 2013 Splash Music Festival at Rio Ramaza Marina and Events Center.[7][1] Who Cares also played the Knitting Factory.[1]
Decline and breakup
Ahead of TBD Fest 2014, saxophonist Jammal Tarkington — by then living in Reno — was T-boned on his Vespa by a drunk driver who ran a red light.[1] He survived but, in Upton's words, "is not the same saxophone player," and the injury took a toll on his playing and on the group, which went on hiatus.[1] Upton and Southard continued under the Who Cares name and completed the Juvenile Hall EP, but momentum kept eroding.[1] Dusty Brown eventually made what Submerge calls the executive decision, asking whether the two wanted to drop the pretense and move on; they resisted, with Upton turning down outside opportunities and guest-appearance requests out of obligation to the group.[1]
A turning point came in 2016 when Upton landed a collaboration with DJ Shadow (Josh Davis). The connection grew out of a Los Angeles session with Egyptian Lover that Upton and Southard attended with collaborator Mophono; DJ Shadow heard one of the resulting songs in a Mophono Boiler Room set and tapped Upton for a track on his album The Mountain Will Fall, where "Ernie Fresh" appears in the tracklisting.[1] DJ Shadow's "The Sideshow" featuring Ernie Fresh appeared on The Mountain Will Fall, released via Mass Appeal Records in 2016.[10][11] Separately, Ernie Fresh collaborated with San Francisco producer Mophono and Egyptian Lover on the California Colors EP, released August 22, 2017 on CB Records — according to Music Is My Sanctuary.[12][13]
Who Cares announced its end, playing its final show (described as final "at least for now") at Concerts in the Park at Cesar Chavez Park in downtown Sacramento on June 17, 2016, alongside Vokab Kompany, The Good Samaritans, The Scratch Outs and CrookOne.[1] Upton framed it as a "coup de grâce" and a way to let ghosts rest, while he and Southard described moving toward new music — including a track "Radical Reformation" featuring Cosmo D — with Upton pursuing more solo work.[1]