Our Story
Robert "Bobby" Smith and Albert Neal became friends after Albert snapped a photo of Bobby at the first meeting of the Sankofa ECO Group, an organization immersed in the care, wellbeing, and belonging of Black elders in LA County. Later, the two "Berts" discovered they shared an appetite for hip hop and fantasy lore as serious art and wanted to see what would happen if the same love and attention they poured into Sankofa was pumped into Blerd culture. That’s how and when 808 TRACT was born.
Our Medium
As the heartbeat of a culture, 808 TRACT hits like a kick drum through loud speakers. Our zine is concert energy in print form; it's old school snare and the sharp views of a Bible-thumping tract.
Our Team
Bobby is a builder and a visionary, a creator of folk-culture content before content creation became a thing. Albert is a writer, illustrator, and musician, a home-spun Blerd to the core. We collaborate around the art of locating and cultivating the next generation of storytellers.
ROBERT "BOBBY" SMITH
Publisher & Co-Founder
ALBERT NEAL
Editor-in-Chief & Co-Founder