Poway resident Tyler Williams wins San Diego Music Award for ‘Padre Gang’

The 2023 San Diego Music Awards ceremony was especially joyous for lifelong Poway resident Tyler Williams, who won his first music-writing career honor.

Williams — who goes by the stage name Bassassin — won the “Best Hip Hop/Rap Song” award for “Padre Gang,” which he wrote with rapper Mitchy Slick. It was among seven songs vying in the category.

“First off, it was a relief of all the stress and worry if it was going to be me,” Williams said about his win. “When they called my name, me and my wife (Alma) jumped up, screamed, kissed and I danced all the way up to the stage.”

Family members joined them for the April 25 ceremony held at Humphreys by the Bay.

His trophy will be displayed at Kaminski’s BBQ in Poway — a promise Williams made to his grandma, June Kaminski, a couple weeks before the ceremony.

“My family owns (the restaurant) and I promised my grandma I’d keep it there if I win,” Williams said.

This is the first award Williams has won during his 15 years as a professional musician. For the past dozen years he has also been a professional DJ. His speciality is Dubstep (a genre of electronic dance music), Trap (a subgenre of hip hop) and hip hop. His music influences have included Skrillex, Diplo, Major Lazer, Excision, Datsik, J Devil and Zomboy.

Williams adopted the stage name Bassassin nine years ago. Because a lot of what he performs is a music mix, the name combines the words “bass” and “assassin,” he said.

“There is a lot of bass in my music, that is the influence and focus more than other instruments,” Williams said. “Assassin is for ‘it kills,’ it is a slang term.”

While he released hip hop albums in 2014 and 2015, Williams said he started focusing on rap two years ago after finding more success in that music genre. “Padre Gang” was released last year and has been played on San Diego radio stations 95.7 and 97.3.

Williams came up with the concept for “Padre Gang” and created the music instrumentation on his computer.

Rappers Mitchy Slick, Mak90 and DJ Bassassin (Tyler Williams). Slick and Bassassin were honored April 25 with a 2023 San Diego Music Award in the “Best Hip-Hop/Rap Song” category for “Padre Gang.”

(Courtesy of DJ Bassassin)

“I made all the music through that,” he said, adding it took about a month to get it right. He then sent the music to Mitchy Slick, who is from south San Diego, to write the lyrics. This is their first collaboration.

Through the song, Williams pays homage to his hometown and to Petco Park for being named America’s No. 1 ballpark. It references Padres players from the ‘80s and ‘90s and current players such as Fernando Tatis Jr. and Manny Machado.

The song came to the attention of some Padres players even before its nomination. Mitchy Slick sent it to former Padre Tony Gwynn Jr. who posted it on his social media, Williams said. Machado, Juan Soto and Robert Suárez also shared it on their social media.

The San Diego Music Award winners were selected based on public votes and San Diego Music Academy votes. The academy includes members of the San Diego music community, music media and talent buyers.

As for what’s next for Williams, he said he will be releasing several singles that are a mix of hip hop dance music and rap. He said he would like to work with Mitchy Slick again and is reaching out to other prominent rappers in the region to see if they can collaborate on projects.

Williams said winning the award has validated his career.

“I know I am on the right path,” he said.