When Mistah F.A.B. was a kid growing up in North Oakland, he took notes from his heroes. Malcolm X and Huey P. Newton ignited his political consciousness. Tupac showed him that hip-hop could move the masses. And Stan Lee taught him about the power of imagination.

Now, just days after his 40th birthday, the beloved Oakland artist is reflecting on how these lessons prepared him for all that he’s accomplished in rap, community activism and business. And it’s Lee, the creator of the ever-expanding Marvel universe, who’s inspiring him to think about what he wants out of his next chapter. As he enters his fourth decade, he’s preparing to open his new downtown Oakland nightclub, Dezi’s, and is starting to work on his biggest ambition: a youth development-focused community arts and culture center called Dope Era Academy.

“In my mind, it’s like Professor X, and this is the school for mutants,” he says, dropping an X-Men reference on a recent afternoon at his streetwear boutique-turned-community hub, Dope Era. “If you’ve ever had a creative side and you’re an artist or you’re a dancer or you have some genius, you have this mutant-like ability. But coming from the areas that we come from, we don’t have the luxury of having Professor Xs. There’s no one that’s cultivating that.”

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