144: Adrian Miller
Adrian Miller is the manager of Anderson .Paak, the rapper/singer/musician who rose to stardom after his show-stopping appearances on Dr. Dre’s new album, Compton: A Soundtrack By Dr. Dre. But there’s a whole lot more to Adrian’s story than helping to guide Anderson from obscurity to overseas tours and late-night television appearances.
Adrian was at the epicenter of the Los Angeles rap scene throughout the 1990s. He played a key role in the rise of acts like Coolio, Freestyle Fellowship, Funkdoobiest, Cypress Hill, House of Pain, The Pharcyde, and many, many more. His time in LA reads like a who’s-who of artists, producers, executives, and even movie moguls. After helping to get the L.A. rap scene on its feet, Miller took a job at Warner Brothers as the Senior Vice President of A&R, working directly under legendary executive and manager-to-the-stars Benny Medina. We talked to him about his entire crazy journey, from getting his first real radio job in Oklahoma all the way to making deals with Dre.
See http://theciphershow.com/episode/144/ for full show notes and comments.
143: The Grouch & Eligh
Eligh Nachowitz and Corey Scoffern, a.k.a. The Grouch, are rappers best known for their affiliation with the Living Legends crew. The group, which also included our recent guest Murs, were pioneers in the independent West Coast rap scene in the 1990s. Eligh began his career with Murs and fellow future Living Legend member Scarub in a group called Three Melancholy Gypsys while still a teenager. That crew joined with another group called Mystik Journeymen, picked up a few members including The Grouch, and formed the Living Legends. Their lo-fi albums, made initially on four-tracks, plus their self-booked international tours, set a template that independent rappers follow to this day.
Eligh and The Grouch began releasing music as a duo in in 1998, and have released a number of albums together, most recently 2014’s triple album The Tortoise and the Crow. Together, separately, and with the rest of the Living Legends, their sprawling discography is one of the finest of the era.
See http://theciphershow.com/episode/143/ for full show notes and comments.
142: Saul Williams: MartyrLoserKing
Saul Williams is a man of many talents - an actor who has starred in hit movies and Broadway shows; a poet who made a huge impression on the spoken word and poetry slam scenes and has published multiple volumes; and a musician who has recorded five albums with collaborators like Trent Reznor and Rick Rubin.
It is this last talent that brought him to us for this episode. Saul has a brand-new album called MartyrLoserKing that brings together many of his career-long themes into its story. The record, along with an accompanying graphic novel and film, both in the works, tells the story of the titular character, a cyber hacker living in the East African country of Burundi. He builds a Frankenstein’s Monster-like super-computer from the parts of abandoned desktops, teaches himself how to code, and develops an online cult following. He’s in love with a transgender woman named Neptune Frost and hosts a cryptic and anarchist podcast. His eventual hacks into Google and the Pentagon turn him into Public Enemy No. 1, a kind of militant Edward Snowden. We talk to Saul about how the story came about, where it’s going, and his thoughts on recent events from David Bowie’s passing to the Paris terrorist attacks.
See http://theciphershow.com/episode/142/ for full show notes and comments.
141: Quelle Chris
Quelle is a rapper and producer who originally hails from Detroit – though he’s also passed through St. Louis, Los Angeles, Chicago, Brooklyn, and more. He got his start with Detroit’s Wasted Youth crew, teaming up with artists like Denmark Vessey, Big Tone, and even Danny Brown, the last of whom used two of Quelle’s beats on his breakthrough album XXX.
Quelle’s music runs the gamut from banging rap beats to experimental synth pop, and his subject matter from raunchy humor to conversations with God. His most recent solo album, last year’s Innocent Country, is his most powerful and wide-ranging work yet.
See http://theciphershow.com/episode/141/ for full show notes and comments.
140: Beans
Beans is an underground rap legend, best known for his time as a member of the group Antipop Consortium. He grew up in White Plains, New York and developed a unique abstract, wordy style that made him equally suited to both rap and the thriving New York City spoken word scene of the mid-1990s. Antipop released their debut album Tragic Epilogue in 2000, and followed it up with several other influential and critically beloved releases, including their best known, 2002’s Arrhythmia.
After leaving the group, Beans kept on releasing solo records, while also continuing a career-long habit of collaboration. Over the years, he has worked with the likes of Vernon Reid, DJ Shadow, Arto Lindsay, and many more.
To see a playlist Beans made exclusively for The Cipher of songs that influenced him heavily when he was growing up, click here.
See http://theciphershow.com/episode/140/ for full show notes and comments.
139: Torae
Torae Carr has been a mainstay on the underground hip-hop scene since his debut mixtape, 2008’s Daily Conversation. Since then, he has released a number of excellent and varied projects, both solo and with collaborators like Marco Polo and Skyzoo. He also hosts his show The Tor Guide six days a week on Sirius XM satellite radio.
Torae’s superb brand-new album is called Entitled. We talk about that, but also take it way back to his earliest raps, his wild ride through the record industry, and much more.
See http://theciphershow.com/episode/139/ for full show notes and comments.
138: Raqiyah Mays
Raqiyah Mays is a journalist, radio personality, author, and activist. She has been a major voice in hip-hop on the airwaves, on the page, and behind the scenes, and has now turned her attention to fiction. Her debut novel The Man Curse was just published by Simon and Schuster Digital.
Raqiyah began her career at Vibe, working closely with then-editor in chief Danyel Smith during the magazine’s Golden Age. She then became a freelance journalist, before moving onto radio, where she worked for both of NYC’s giant hip-hop stations, Power 105 and Hot 97.
The Man Curse, released this past November, chronicles the struggles of a young woman who works at a suspiciously familiar-seeming urban magazine under a glamourous EIC, as she attempts to become the first woman in her family to find true love.
See http://theciphershow.com/episode/138/ for full show notes and comments.
137: The BreakBeat Poets
This week, we talk to Kevin Coval and Nate Marshall. Kevin and Nate, along with Quraysh Ali Lansana, are co-editors of the new poetry anthology The Breakbeat Poets. The book is billed as being “the first poetry anthology by and for the Hip-Hop generation,” and features the work of 78 different poets, representing several different generations of hip-hop fans and practicioners. The book is a first step in creating a Breakbeat Poet movement – a way of bringing the poetics and aesthetics of hip-hop into the world of poetry.
Kevin, who longtime Cipher listeners may remember from his appearance on Episode 52, is the author of many book including Schtick, L-vis Lives: Racemusic Poems, Everyday People and Slingshots: A Hip-Hop Poetica. He is the founder of Louder Than a Bomb: The Chicago Youth Poetry Festival, Artistic Director at Young Chicago Authors, and teaches at the University of Illinois at Chicago.
Nate is the author of NAACP Image Award-nominated book Wild Hundreds. He is a founding member of the poetry collective Dark Noise, and is also a rapper.
See http://theciphershow.com/episode/137/ for full show notes and comments.
136: Paris
Oscar “Paris” Jackson Jr. is a rapper, songwriter, and producer who has been a militant voice for justice in the rap world since the 1980s. He came out of the Bay Area’s small but diverse and creative hip-hop scene towards the end of that decade, and made a splash with his 1990 debut album The Devil Made Me Do It, which mixed innovative musical choices with Black Panther-inspired politics and a Nation of Islam-influenced spiritual bent.
But it was his second album, 1992’s Sleeping With the Enemy, that really brought Paris to the notice of the masses. A song from that album called “Bush Killa,” about assassinating then-President George H.W. Bush, and another one about revenge killings of police officers called “Coffee, Donuts and Death,” got him attention from the Secret Service and dropped from his label.
But that didn’t stop Paris, who continues to release albums, including this fall’s Pistol Politics, and to rail against injustice in his rhymes.
See http://theciphershow.com/episode/136/ for full show notes and comments.
135: Mack Wilds
Mack Wilds is best known for his acting work on TV shows like The Wire and 90210, and most recently his starring role in Adele’s “Hello” video. But he’s also a Grammy-nominated singer and rapper who is putting his own spin on r&b and rap. He brought his passions for acting and hip-hop together in VH1’s upcoming TV movie about the music industry in 1990, The Breaks, which airs on January 4th. Mack plays Dee Vee, an aspiring producer and DJ who finds a talented artist to work with, but may have bitten off more than he can chew in the process.
We sat down with the Staten Island native on the eve of The Breaks to talk about acting, music, his home borough, and much, much more.
See http://theciphershow.com/episode/135/ for full show notes and comments.
134: An Ill Badler Christmas 2015
It’s that time of year! We sit down with Bill to talk about this year’s edition of his world-famous Christmas music mix Xmas Jollies 2015, which you can stream EXCLUSIVELY from us here.
We also discuss how Bill’s extensive hip-hop archives ended up at Cornell University, despite the wishes of his pal Lyor Cohen; why you’ll soon see his photos at the Smithsonian; and the story of how a noted civil rights activist was outed as an FBI spy.
See http://theciphershow.com/episode/134/ for full show notes and comments.
133: April Walker
This week, we talk to April Walker. She’s the founder of Walker Wear, a clothing brand that was worn by all of the top entertainers and athletes of the early 1990s, from Tupac to L.L. to Mike Tyson to her neighbor Biggie Smalls.
Walker began her career with a small custom shop in Brooklyn. But early on, she started attracting hip-hop’s elite, and she soon began a styling division that dressed artists in countless videos, motion pictures, album covers, tours and photo shoots.
She began her own line, Walker Wear, in 1992. It became a huge success, and a favorite brand of many, many stars. Walker Wear ended in 1998, after the oversaturation and subsequent collapse of the urban fashion world. But in 2013, Walker brought back her eponymous company, and now sells both retro and new pieces online.
See http://theciphershow.com/episode/133/ for full show notes and comments.
132: DJ Dahi
DJ Dahi has produced some of your favorite songs of the past several years. He did “Money Trees” for Kendrick Lamar, Drake’s “Worst Behavior,” Dom Kennedy’s “My Type of Party,” Schoolboy Q’s “Hell of a Night,” and many others.
That run of hits brought him to the attention of none other than Dr. Dre, and Dahi ended up playing a key role on several tracks of Dre’s new album, Compton: A Soundtrack By Dr. Dre.
But there’s far more to Dahi than any of that. At a relatively young age, he has developed a style that mixes elements of trap, indie rock, and some unclassifiable elements into a unique blend. With all his accomplishments, his recent solo work shows that he’s still restless, still experimenting, and still just getting started.
See http://theciphershow.com/episode/132/ for full show notes and comments.
131: Darlene Ortiz
Darlene Ortiz is best-known for her iconic pose on the cover of Ice-T’s 1988 album Power, a shot that no one who has seen it has ever forgotten. But there’s far more to her than bathing suits and guns.
She was right by Ice-T’s side during his rise to the top of the rap game. The two met when Darlene was a 17 year old hip-hop obsessive, and she and Ice quickly became rap’s first power couple. She appeared on his album covers and in his videos, and was right by his side for tours, TV appearances, movie roles, and the infamous “Cop Killer” controversy.
Darlene has a brand-new memoir called DEFINITION OF DOWN:My Life with Ice T and the Birth of Hip Hop, published by Over the Edge Books.
See http://theciphershow.com/episode/131/ for full show notes and comments.
130: Focus...
The producer Focus… is best known for his work with Dr. Dre, and had his hand in half a dozen songs on the legend’s long-awaited new album Compton: A Soundtrack By Dr. Dre. But the versatile beat maker’s work can’t just be summed up by his contributions to one album, however well-known. He began his career as a rapper, but quickly moved into production. He made not just hip-hop, but also hit r&b songs for artists like Beyonce, Christina Aguilera, and Jennifer Lopez.
Focus… first came to Dre’s attention in the early aughts, and worked for the NWA member’s Aftermath label for seven years before taking a brief hiatus. After several years off, and some superb solo albums along the way, he returned to help make Compton possible. One might say that Focus…’s job is in his blood. His father and namesake is the late bassist Bernard Edwards, best known for his work with the great dance band Chic.
See http://theciphershow.com/episode/130/ for full show notes and comments.
129: Jake One
The Seattle-based producer Jake One got his start as an in-house beat-maker for the influential local label Conception Records. His work there quickly caught the ear of 50 Cent’s camp, and Jake’s beats for 50 and G-Unit led to other high-profile tracks with De La Soul, Rakim, T.I., MF DOOM, and more, as well as whole album collaborations with the likes of Freeway and Brother Ali.
Most recently, Jake has produced hits for Wale (“The Matrimony”), Drake (“Furthest Thing”), Chance the Rapper (“Acid Rain”), and Rick Ross (“3 Kings”). He’s also joined forces with singer Mayer Hawthorne to form the group Tuxedo, who just released their self-titled debut.
See http://theciphershow.com/episode/129/ for full show notes and comments.
128: Skyzoo
Skyzoo was one of our first guests, a little over three years ago. On that episode, we learned all about how he came up in Bed Stuy and began his career as one of the sharpest emcees in the game.
But a lot has happened since then, and we wanted to bring Sky back to talk about it. He’s released three superb projects. There was the mixtape An Ode to Reasonable Doubt, an updating of and tribute to the Jay Z classic, which was produced by AntMan Wonder. There was his collaboration with longtime friend Torae as the Barrell Brothers. And, most importantly, there’s his newest album, Music For My Friends. That record continues Skyzoo’s tradition of smart, powerful music that tells honest, engaging stories about his life and experiences.
See http://theciphershow.com/episode/128/ for full show notes and comments.
127: Raquel Cepeda
Raquel Cepeda is an author, journalist, filmmaker, podcast host, and a whole lot more. She grew up in both the Dominican Republic and the New York City of the 1980s. In 2001, she became the Editor-In-Chief of Russell Simmons’ One World magazine. She left the magazine in 2004, just in time to edit the definitive anthology of rap writing, And It Don’t Stop: The Best American Hip-Hop Journalism.
Raquel would go on to make the documentary Bling: A Planet Rock, where she took Paul Wall, Raekwon, and Tego Calderon to Sierra Leone in order to learn the truth behind the country’s diamond trade. Her most recent book is a memoir, Bird of Paradise: How I Became Latina, and she’s also a “co-discussant” on the podcast Our National Conversation About Conversations About Race.
See http://theciphershow.com/episode/127/ for full show notes and comments.
126: Paul Wall
Paul Wall is the Houston-based rapper - and sometimes jeweler - who rose to fame after his appearance on Mike Jones’ 2004 hit “Still Tippin’.” That tune, and Paul’s own hit songs that followed, moved his hometown from hip-hop’s periphery to its center - a shift which still reverberates today, as you can hear in the heavy H-Town influence on newer rappers like Drake and A$AP Rocky.
Paul got his start as part of a group with his childhood friend Chamillionaire. After two albums as a duo, Paul went solo in 2004. He found solo success the following year on his city’s famed Swishahouse label, with his album The Peoples Champ, which contained the hit “Sittin’ Sidewayz.”
Paul has continued to make music true to his city’s roots, while keeping a hand in any number of side hustles, from custom grills to clothing to his brand-new strain of marijuana. His brand-new album is Slab God.
See http://theciphershow.com/episode/126/ for full show notes and comments.
125: Prof
Prof is a Minneapolis-based rapper whose fun and deceptively intricate tracks and entertaining, sometimes chaotic live shows have been entertaining fans since the mid-2000s. He has an outsized, outrageous comic persona, but that doesn’t stop him from frequently rapping movingly and artfully about his difficult childhood and family life.
Prof quickly rose through the hip-hop ranks in his hometown, and is one of only a handful of rappers - local or otherwise - who can sell out Minneapolis’ biggest venues. His success led to him joining forces with the city’s pre-eminent hip-hop label, Rhymesayers. Prof’s debut album on the label, Liability, just dropped this past Friday, October 16th.
See http://theciphershow.com/episode/125/ for full show notes and comments.
124: Sacha Jenkins
Sacha Jenkins is a journalist, filmmaker, TV producer, author, musician, and all-around hip-hop polymath. He got his start chronicling graffiti and rap music in homemade zines before joining with a diverse crew of hip-hop obsessives to form the collective that came to be known as Ego Trip. That crew was responsible for a successful and influential magazine, two books, and multiple television projects – all of which explored music and race through a smart, funny, occasionally inflammatory lens.
In addition to his work with Ego Trip and writing about hip-hop for basically every other outlet that covered it, Sacha has co-written many books about graffiti, co-wrote Eminem’s autobiography The Way I Am, played in rock and hardcore bands, and has done much more than we can fit in this space. His latest project is a documentary film about hip-hop fashion called Fresh Dressed.
See http://theciphershow.com/episode/124/ for full show notes and comments.
123: MF Grimm with Drasar Monumental
This week, we talk to MF Grimm, along with his producer and group-mate Drasar Monumental. Grimm is a rapper, producer, and now an award-winning comic book writer, who is just now making some of the greatest music of his long and storied career.
After growing up in the New York City of the 70s and 80s - and making a short stint as a child actor on Sesame Street - Grimm began his hip-hop career on the city’s battle scene. He quickly gained attention, started ghostwriting for more successful acts, and was on the verge of solo stardom when he was shot and paralyzed in 1993, in an incident that also killed his brother.
Grimm recovered, and even executive produced his friend MF Doom’s 1999 solo debut Operation: Doomsday, which was recorded in the basement of Grimm’s Rockland County house. Starting in 2001, he began releasing a string of powerful solo albums that molded the ups and downs of his life into powerful artistic statements. He also moved into another medium, writing the autobiographical graphic novel Sentences: The Life of MF Grimm.
Since 2012, he has been working on the Good Morning Vietnam trilogy of albums with our second guest, producer Drasar Monumental.
See http://theciphershow.com/episode/123/ for full show notes and comments.
122: Thembisa Mshaka
This week, we talk to Thembisa Mshaka. Thembisa is an author, journalist, copywriter, filmmaker, and pretty much anything else you can imagine. In her career, she’s given the likes of Common and D’Angelo their first magazine covers as the rap editor of The Gavin Report; helped people like Nas, Lauryn Hill, and Beyonce sell over 150 million records during her time writing ad copy at Sony; and wrote and directed multiple film projects, from shorts to documentaries to features.
As if that wasn’t enough, she also found time to write the definitive how-to book for women in the entertainment business, Put Your Dreams First: Handle Your [entertainment] Business. Her latest film, Biscuit, has its New York City premiere this Saturday, October 3rd, at NYC’s Ocktober Film Festival.
See http://theciphershow.com/episode/122/ for full show notes and comments.
121: Baje One/NIKO IS
This week, we have a two guests for you. In the first half of the show, we talk to Baje One, the rapping half of the long-running underground duo Junk Science. And in part two, we sit down with NIKO IS, a Florida-by-way-of-Brazil rapper whose world-class freestyling skills put him on the radar of none other than Talib Kweli, who signed Niko to his Javotti Media label.
Baje One and his group’s producer, DJ Snafu, first met in in their native NYC in the mid-1990s and have been making smart, funny, and ambitious music together since 2003. The success of their 2005 debut album Feeding Einstein led to a deal with El-P’s seminal Def Jux label, which put out their 2007 follow-up, Gran’dad’s Nerve Tonic. The album, in the first of a long run of packaging innovations from the group, came with its own beer, brewed by Sixpoint Craft Ales. Since then, Baje has released three more albums with the group, and several solo and collaborative projects.
NIKO IS was born in Rio De Janeiro, but has spent his rapping life in sunny Orlando, Florida. He made a name for himself in his adopted city as a teenager with his almost supernatural freestyling skills, and started releasing mixtapes in 2012 with Chill Cosby. The following year, he would cross paths with Kweli, and eventually sign to the rapper’s label. NIKO’s first album on Javotti, Brutus, was released earlier this year.
See http://theciphershow.com/episode/121/ for full show notes and comments.
120: Masta Ace
Duval “Masta Ace” Clear is a rap legend whose career dates back to his time with the Juice Crew in the late 1980s. That historic rap collective, led by producer Marley Marl, included stars like Big Daddy Kane, Biz Markie, Roxanne Shante, and Kool G. Rap.
Ace made his recording debut on what is arguably hip-hop’s greatest posse cut, Marley Marl’s “The Symphony.” The success of that song led to Ace’s debut album, 1990’s Take A Look Around, which featured the comic hit “Me and the Biz.”
After leaving Marley’s orbit, Ace successfully reinvented himself with critically beloved albums like SlaughtaHouse and Sittin’ on Chrome - the latter of which, with its West Coast-sounding beats and songs about car culture, got him in a little bit of trouble with a few of his fellow New Yorkers.
After several years of career ups and downs, Ace reinvigorated his career with the 2001 album Disposable Arts. The success of that album, and the renewed audience it brought to his live performances, led to a career upswing that has continued to this day. Ace has released numerous solo, duo, and group albums in the ensuing decade and a half, and tours heavily by himself and with his group EMC. His latest album, with eMC, is called The Tonite Show.
See http://theciphershow.com/episode/120/ for full show notes and comments.
119: Denaun Porter
Denaun Porter is best-known as a member of the group D12 – a collective that also featured one of his best friends, a fellow Detroit rapper named Eminem. But Denaun’s real passion has always been for production.
Porter got his start as a beatmaker (after some tips from a young Dilla) with Em’s hard-to-find debut album Infinite, which he produced in its entirety. But as his pal teamed up with Dr. Dre, so did he. Denaun quickly began producing songs for Xzibit, 50 Cent and G-Unit, Busta Rhymes, Rakim, Pharoahe Monch, and lots more.
After the death of fellow D12 member and longtime Eminem hypeman DeShaun “Proof” Holton in 2006, Porter took a break from music. But he’s returned stronger than ever, releasing a brand-new solo EP, Stuff in my Backpack, and taking up his late friend’s hypeman job on top of it.
See http://theciphershow.com/episode/119/ for full show notes and comments.
118: Joe Conzo
Joe Conzo Jr. has been called “the man who took hip-hop’s baby pictures” by the New York Times – a title that’s right on the money. Conzo, a third-generation Bronx native, first got into photography as a young boy and took to shooting pictures of his neighborhood.
But it was when he followed some high school friends who had formed a rap group to an early concert that he really found his calling. That group, the Cold Crush Brothers, was perhaps the most influential of hip-hop’s first generation. Joe was there to document their every step, from high school gymnasiums to giant clubs and movie sets. His pictures provide the single best visual record of hip-hop’s early years.
Personal troubles caused Joe to put away his camera for many years. But over the past decade, his work has been re-discovered and used for documentaries, exhibited in museums all over the world - including the Museum of the City of New York, where an exhibit of his photos is running until September 27th - and even published in a book, Born In The Bronx: A Visual Record of the Early Days of Hip Hop. A fictional version of Joe appears in Baz Luhrmann’s upcoming Netflix series The Get Down, about the early days of hip-hop, where the real Joe was on set as a behind the scenes photographer.
NOTE: To see the photographs that we talk about during this interview, visit this episode’s photo gallery at Imgur
See http://theciphershow.com/episode/118/ for full show notes and comments.
117: K-Def
Kevin “K-Def” Hansford is a producer with a long and storied legacy. He hooked up with Marley Marl in the early 1990s and became a key part of Marley’s famed studio The House of Hits. While under Marley’s wing, he produced great records for Tragedy, Da Youngsta’s, and more. But it was his work with Lords of the Underground that would really cement his reputation. K-Def produced half a dozen songs on the group’s classic debut, 1993’s Here Come the Lords, including the omnipresent “Chief Rocka.”
After leaving Marley’s tutelage, K-Def’s production career continued, with songs by Ghostface, Diddy, UGK, Ol’ Dirty Bastard, and even his own group, the duo Real Live. In recent years, K-Def has released a number of stellar instrumental works with Redefinition Records, and continues to find new ways to expand the palette of sample-based music.
NOTE: This episode, we have a special contest. Find the answers to the two questions below in this interview, and you can win prize packs from Redefinition Records. E-mail your answers to contest@theciphershow.com by September 7th, and three winners will be chosen at random from all the correct answers.
Question 1: Which artists ended up with a K-Def beat that was originally supposed to be on Illmatic?
Question 2: What song does K-Def credit with marking the end of sample-based hip-hop?
1 Grand Prize: K-Def’s Tape Two on vinyl & cassette + Damu’s Public Assembly Vol. 2 CD
2 Runner-Up Prizes: K-Def’s Tape Two cassette + Damu’s Public Assembly Vol. 2 CD
See http://theciphershow.com/episode/117/ for full show notes and comments.
116: Luther Campbell
Luther Campbell needs no introduction. Since starting his career as a DJ in Miami in the late 1970s, he’s been an innovator musically, culturally, business-wise, and even legally. As the mastermind behind 2 Live Crew, Campbell guided the group’s change from a California-based conscious rap group into a pioneering Southern crew who popularized Miami bass music, and whose raunchy lyrics were often imitated.
It was those same raunchy lyrics that would land Campbell and the group in repeated legal hot water. Luke fought and won legal battles not only for his group’s right to be, as his most popular and controversial record would have it, “as nasty as they wanna be,” but also for record stores’ right to sell his work. He also took a battle to parody songs all the way to the Supreme Court - and won. Simultaneously, he was running the fiercely independent Luke Records, which was for a time the largest black-owned record label in the country, and discovering acts like Poison Klan, Trick Daddy, and Pitbull.
Luke has also been fiercely devoted to the children of his native Liberty City neighborhood, starting a popular youth football league, coaching teams himself, and even running for Mayor of Miami in 2011. His latest venture is a memoir (with Tanner Colby) that covers his wild life and times, as well as the history of his hometown. It’s called The Book of Luke: My Fight for Truth, Justice, and Liberty City, published by Amistad.
See http://theciphershow.com/episode/116/ for full show notes and comments.
115: The 45 King
The 45 King has produced some of the most popular rap songs of the past few decades, for artists like Jay Z and Eminem. But before that, he took his keen ear for a funky loop and put it into the creation of beats for one of Golden Age rap’s greatest crews, The Flavor Unit. He served as beatmaker and tour DJ for the Unit’s breakout star, Queen Latifah, producing and mixing the vast majority of her gold debut album, 1989’s All Hail the Queen.
His work with other Flavor Unit members like Latee, Apache, and Lakim Shabazz, his own instrumentals like the classic “The 900 Number,” as well as songs outside his crew with acts like Gang Starr, Eric B & Rakim, and even Madonna cemented his reputation as one of rap’s hottest producers.
After a few years out of the public eye, the 45 King returned with a sparse, Annie-sampling beat that Jay Z turned into his career-making hit “Hard Knock Life (Ghetto Anthem).” Shortly afterwards, the producer turned an obscure Dido song into one of Eminem’s biggest hits with “Stan.” We caught up with the 45 King at his home in New Jersey, famous subway turnstile still intact, to discuss his storied career.
See http://theciphershow.com/episode/115/ for full show notes and comments.
114: Benjy Melendez of the Ghetto Brothers
This week, our guest is Benjy Melendez, founder, President, and singer of the Ghetto Brothers. He is joined by his co-author and friend, Amir Said.
The Ghetto Brothers were one of the largest and most powerful street gangs in the Bronx in the late 1960s and early 70s - a time when the borough, and New York City as a whole, had plenty to choose from. At its height, the organization had around 2,000 members city-wide.
But after one of their key figures got killed by rival gangs, Benjy devoted his efforts to peace, and held a now-famous peace treaty meeting at the Hoe Avenue center in the Bronx in 1971 - a gathering that set the stage for the ending of the gang era and the beginnings of hip-hop.
In addition to being a powerful organization, the Ghetto Brothers were also a rock and roll band. They only released one album, 1971’s Power Fuerza, but it became a prized collectors item, notable for its surprisingly sweet lyrics and Beatle-esque melodies, Latin percussion, and unique backstory.
While parts of Benjy’s story have been shared in the new documentary Rubble Kings and even in a graphic novel, the new book by Benjy and Amir Said, Ghetto Brother: How I Found Peace in the South Bronx Street Gang Wars, is the first place Benjy shares his entire life story.
See http://theciphershow.com/episode/114/ for full show notes and comments.
113: Lil Slim
Mikel “Lil Slim” Pettis began his rap career as a teenager in New Orleans in the early 1990s, performing in nightclubs around the city. He was discovered by a then brand-new record label called Cash Money Records. Slim signed with them and became a key part of the first generation of artists on that label - acts like UNLV, PxMxWx, Pimp Daddy, Ms. Tee, Mr. Ivan, and many more, who would quickly turn Cash Money into a regional powerhouse just as the city was inventing a rap style of its own, a raunchy, call-and-response based approach called “bounce.”
During his tenure on Cash Money, Slim discovered a young kid from his neighborhood who, despite being only 10 or 11, already had a notebook full of memorable raps. Slim hooked that kid up with his label, and thus began the career of Lil Wayne.
Lil Slim left Cash Money after his 1995 album Thuggin and Pluggin, citing concerns over his label’s business practices that sound like they could be ripped from today’s headlines. He’s released several projects since then, including most recently the third volume of his Platinum Edition EP series.
See http://theciphershow.com/episode/113/ for full show notes and comments.
112: Cey Adams
This week, we talk to Cey Adams – artist, graphic designer, “fourth Beastie,” and founding Creative Director at Def Jam.
Adams got his start as a graffiti writer in his native New York City, and moved from the vibrant graf world into the same East Village art scene as people like Jean-Michel Basquiat and Keith Haring. In 1982, he met Russell Simmons, and quickly started designing anything and everything visual for Simmons’ management company and, shortly afterwards, his new record label Def Jam. At around the same time, Adams met and befriended the Beastie Boys. He has designed countless tour t-shirts, logos, stage backdrops, and album covers for the group.
Adams designed and oversaw historic album covers and logos not only for Def Jam artists like Public Enemy and Slick Rick, but also Bad Boy, Universal, MCA, and others – including the album cover to Big’s Ready to Die and the now-iconic signature-style logo for Mary J. Blige. In addition, he has designed logos and products for The Chapelle Show, NYC’s Hot 97 radio station, Nike, Coca-Cola, and more.
As if that wasn’t enough, Adams co-authored the book DEFinition: The Art and Design of Hip-Hop and designed the definitive book Def Jam Recordings: The First 25 Years of the Last Great Record Label.
A special note: to see a gallery of many of the images Cey is talking about during our interview, click here.
See http://theciphershow.com/episode/112/ for full show notes and comments.
111: Vinnie Paz
Vinnie Paz founded the group Jedi Mind Tricks when he was a teenager in mid-90s Philly. His raps about politics, mythology, war, religion, conspiracy theories, and the paranormal set him apart immediately from most of the underground rap of the era.
The group’s full-length debut was The Psycho-Social, Chemical, Biological & Electro-Magnetic Manipulation of Human Consciousness, a bizarre, fascinating, and uncompromising concept album. In 2000, they put out by Violent By Design, a more streamlined and aggressive record that got a lot of attention and remains a fan favorite to this day.
Vinnie and Jedi Mind Tricks would continue through ups and downs, with frequent collaborator Jus Allah and producer and co-founder Stoupe the Enemy of Mankind moving in and out of the group over the years. Vinnie has also released records under his own name, with the Army of the Pharaohs collective, and with Ill Bill as the duo “Heavy Metal Kings.” Through it all, his expansive vision, powerful style, and devotion to his fans has remained consistent. His latest release with a reunited Jedi Mind Tricks is The Thief and the Fallen.
See http://theciphershow.com/episode/111/ for full show notes and comments.
110: Blueprint
Al “Blueprint” Shepard is a Columbus, Ohio-based emcee and producer. He got his start in that city’s vital scene in the late 1990s, along with talents like RJD2, Copywrite, and Camu Tao. However, most rap fans first heard his unique voice, freestyle skills, and creative, melodic beats either via his work on the influential Rhymesayers label, or in his duo with RJ called Soul Position.
Blueprint has been all over the map musically – from straight ahead boom-bap to electronic experimentation to jazzy instrumentals to full-length tributes to his favorite bands. But he’s brought his unique musical sensibilities and inquisitive, ever-searching nature to all of it.
His latest album, released this past April, is King No Crown.
See http://theciphershow.com/episode/110/ for full show notes and comments.
109: Janette Beckman
Janette Beckman has taken some of the most iconic photos out there not only of hip-hop, but of music and youth culture as a whole. She got her start in Britain in the late 1970s, using her art-school education to take photos of the then-burgeoning punk movement. But in 1983, she saw the very first international hip-hop tour, and was so taken by the music and culture that she hopped on a plane to New York City and never left.
She has taken classic photos of LL Cool J, Salt N’ Pepa, NWA, Slick Rick, Big Daddy Kane, Afrika Bambaataa, and tons more. She’s also shot famous album covers for the likes of EPMD, Ultramagnetic MCs, Run-DMC, the Police, Gang Starr, and others. And if that wasn’t enough, she’s also done popular photo series on Mexican street gangs, Harlem bikers, and underground fight clubs.
We talked to Janette about the entirety of her life and career, and got the inside stories behind tons of her iconic photographs and album covers. You can see her hip-hop work for yourself through September 13th at the Museum of the City of New York in Manhattan, as part of the exhibition Hip-Hop Revolution: Photographs by Janette Beckman, Joe Conzo, and Martha Cooper. On June 3rd at 6:30 PM, Janette, past Cipher guest Bill Adler, and upcoming Cipher guest Cey Adams will be part of a panel called “Hip Hop’s Visual Style: A Look Behind the Scenes” at the Museum.
NOTE: To see Janette’s photos that we talk about on this episode, you can scroll through the pictures on Imgur or watch the episode on YouTube.
See http://theciphershow.com/episode/109/ for full show notes and comments.
108: J-Zone
J-Zone is a rapper, producer, musician, and author whose ability to find and chop the perfect sample is paired with a rap persona that combines raunchiness, self-depreciating humor, social commentary, and a deep love for all of rap history, including some of its more bizarre corners. And, naturally, an alter ego who just happens to be a four foot three, baseball bat wielding rodent named Chief Chinchilla.
His first album, 1999’s Music For Tu Madre, began life as a college senior project, but quickly caught on with the underground scene. He then released a ton of albums - with his Old Maid Billionaires crew, solo, with collaborators like Celph Titled, and even a record of malt liquor jingles.
But by 2009, he was noticing diminishing returns financially and creatively, and decided to get out of the rap game, a decision he explored in his 2011 memoir Root for the Villain: Rap, Bull$hit, and a Celebration of Failure. In a surprising turn of events, the book’s success inspired him to return to music to create his first new solo album in nine years, 2013’s Peter Pan Syndrome.
See http://theciphershow.com/episode/108/ for full show notes and comments.
107: Murs
Nicholas “Murs” Carter is a rapper who has seen and done it all. He began his career in the Los Angeles underground scene as a teenager in the early 1990s with his friends in the Living Legends collective. By the early years of the next decade, he had become a major player in the world of underground rap.
His subsequent solo albums on both indie and major labels, as well as his collaborations with artists like Slug and 9th Wonder, have cemented his status as one of the most notable rappers out there, underground or otherwise.
His brand-new album is Have A Nice Life.
See http://theciphershow.com/episode/107/ for full show notes and comments.
106: John "Johnny Rotten" Lydon
John Lydon, a.k.a. Johnny Rotten, is a true punk legend. He was the singer of the Sex Pistols, the ground-breaking British punk band. The Pistols formed in 1975, and their raw sound combined with Lydon’s powerful, unfiltered lyrics taking shots at the Queen, the music industry, and the system as a whole created something entirely new – a sound, look, and attitude that would quickly be picked up and copied by legions of bands to follow, and would spark the punk rock revolution.
The Sex Pistols broke up in early 1978, and Lydon went on to form the influential group Public Image Limited, or PiL. The group went in an entirely different direction, making often-danceable, experimental music. Their second album, 1979’s Metal Box, is generally regarded as a landmark release, and was chosen as one of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time by Rolling Stone.
Lydon’s new memoir, which covers the entirety of his life and career, is called Anger Is An Energy: My Life Uncensored (Dey Street).
We were joined by legendary photographer Janette Beckman (soon to be a Cipher guest herself), who took some pictures – the first time she had photographed Lydon since she took now-famous shots of him with the Sex Pistols and in the early days of PiL, like the image you see above.
See http://theciphershow.com/episode/106/ for full show notes and comments.
105: RJD2
RJD2 began his career as a DJ in the mid-1990s, but it wasn’t until his 2002 solo album Deadringer that he really started making noise. That record got a ton of attention for its creative sample-based approach to instrumental hip-hop, and RJ became an important part of the El-P led Def Jux label, which was a huge force in the underground rap scene of the era.
Since then, he has released a ton of wildly varying, but always worthwhile and interesting, projects, from hip-hop records to synthesizer-based soundscapes to pop songs with his own vocals. One of RJ’s tracks, “A Beautiful Mine,” is best-known to most people as the theme for AMC’s hit show Mad Men. His brand-new album with rapper Sugar Tongue Slim is called STS X RJD2.
See http://theciphershow.com/episode/105/ for full show notes and comments.
104: Scarface
Brad “Scarface” Jordan first came to the public’s attention as a member of Houston’s controversial group The Geto Boys. The trio - Scarface, Willie D, and Bushwick Bill - made dark, edgy, and often disturbing music. Their songs like “Mind Playing Tricks on Me” and “Damn It Feels Good to be a Gangsta” gained them legions of both fans and critics.
Scarface released his first solo album in 1991, and has since put out classics like Mr Scarface Is Back, The Diary, and The Fix, that continue his career-long streak of well-crafted storytelling and unflinching honesty and self-examination. Now he has a new project - a memoir written with Benjamin Meadows-Ingram called Diary of a Madman: The Geto Boys, Life, Death, and the Roots of Southern Rap, published by Harper Collins. The book covers his life with the same directness and power we’ve seen in his raps.
Our talk with Face covers his musical influences in great detail, and also finds time to cover his own career, the book, how he felt trapped by his own name, and lots more.
See http://theciphershow.com/episode/104/ for full show notes and comments.
103: Oliver Wang
Oliver Wang is a writer, critic, audio blogger, and DJ. He is best-known among hip-hop fans for his features and reviews for LA Weekly, Urb, NPR, and basically everywhere else. We discuss his new book Legions of Boom: Filipino American Mobile DJ Crews in the San Francisco Bay Area.
The fascinating book looks at a previously unexplored and nearly forgotten scene from the late 1970s through the early 90s. Young people in the Bay Area, almost entirely Filipino, were inspired by the disco craze to form DJ crews and start throwing parties. At its height, there were scores of crews throughout the entire Bay. Some of the scene’s most prominent alumni were QBert, Mixmaster Mike, and Apollo. The three of them would form the Invisibl Skratch Piklz and go on to invent an entirely new kind of DJing, where virtuosic scratching took center stage.
See http://theciphershow.com/episode/103/ for full show notes and comments.
102: DJ EFN
DJ EFN is a key player in Miami’s hip-hop scene. He was arguably the city’s first mixtape DJ, and certainly its most influential. His mixtapes, featuring exclusives and freestyles from hip-hop’s biggest names, made him a power broker in the region and enabled him to move into marketing, clothing, and even movies, with his recent Coming Home series of documentaries. His new album Another Time features appearances from Scarface, Talib Kweli, Juvenile, Kurupt, Killer Mike, and Ras Kass, among many others.
We talked with EFN about breaking Rick Ross and giving advice to a young Pitbull; why mixtape culture is dead; the never-released album that could have changed the face of Miami rap; and much more.
See http://theciphershow.com/episode/102/ for full show notes and comments.
101: Rapper Big Pooh
Rapper Big Pooh got his start in the critically beloved North Carolina trio Little Brother. But over the past decade, he’s made a series of excellent and increasingly ambitious solo records, culminating in the new EP Words Paint Pictures.
We talked to Pooh about Little Brother’s early success and major-label stumbles; the truth about radio; the demise of the middle class; and the bizarre cease-and-desist letter that put one of his albums on hold for almost three years.
See http://theciphershow.com/episode/101/ for full show notes and comments.
100: Metermaids, Gabriel Roth, and more
Our special 100th episode finds us with a flood of special guests. We have Metermaids, an NYC rap duo signed to Sage Francis’ Strange Famous label. Their newest album We Brought Knives is a powerful examination of fatherhood, legacies, changing times, and the awesomeness of Bruce Springsteen.
They’re followed by Gabriel Roth. Roth is the co-founder of Daptone Records, a Brooklyn-based label that has released some of the finest soul, funk, Afrobeat, and other roots music of this generation. The band he leads, The Dap-Kings (who normally back the powerful singer Sharon Jones), played a key part in one of the most popular records in recent memory, Amy Winehouse’s Back To Black.
This being an anniversary party, we start the show with a special surprise guest.
See http://theciphershow.com/episode/100/ for full show notes and comments.
99: Prince Paul, Pt. 2
In Part 2 of our epic sit-down with Prince Paul, we talk Psychoanalysis and A Prince Among Thieves; making records with Everlast, MF DOOM, MC Paul Barman, and Dino-5; and even the cult tv show that cemented his bond with Dan the Automator.
We also find out what was behind his most disturbing song, what it’s like at the lows between career peaks, and, of course, the kind of presents John Waters sends to his daughter. Plus, he shares his reaction to the “Blurred Lines” verdict, and gives us an exclusive peek into his upcoming projects.
If you missed Part 1 of our interview with Paul, you can find it here.
See http://theciphershow.com/episode/99/ for full show notes and comments.
98: Prince Paul, Pt. 1
“Prince” Paul Huston is one of hip-hop’s most notable producers. He began in the mid-1980s as a teenage DJ with Stetasonic, “the hip hop band.” But his career really took off in 1989 when he produced De La Soul’s classic debut 3 Feet High and Rising.
Paul helmed the group’s first three albums, and went on from there to release a wide variety of projects under his own name, as a producer, and as part of a group. Just a short list of his collaborators reads like a who’s-who of musicians and comedians: RZA, Queen Latifah, Bernie Worrell of P-Funk, Chris Rock, Dave Chappelle, Big Daddy Kane, and even Cat Power, to name only a few.
In the first half of our conversation, we talk about Stetsasonic, De La Soul, his relationship with a pre-Wu-Tang RZA, his surprising-sounding 2003 solo album Politics of the Business, and much more.
See http://theciphershow.com/episode/98/ for full show notes and comments.
97: Mr. Lif
Mr. Lif has had a key role in a number of music success stories, from the rise of the Boston hip-hop scene to the reign of underground rap empire Def Jux to the continued worldwide popularity of Thievery Corporation. We explore his entire career, from the very first songs and freestyle sessions to his newest group, Terra Bella.
We make plenty of stops along the way at his key moments – his fiery 9/11 response “Home of the Brave,” the powerful 2002 concept album I Phantom, his development into a celebrated live performer, and more.
See http://theciphershow.com/episode/97/ for full show notes and comments.
96: Bishop Lamont
Bishop Lamont is one of the West Coast’s premiere lyricists. He first came to rap fans’ attention with his 2004 mixtape Who I Gotta Kill To Get A Record Deal. The title proved prophetic, as shortly afterwards he was scooped up by Dr. Dre.
During his time on Aftermath, Bishop released a ton of fantastic free “street albums,” but not a proper debut, and he left the label after several years in limbo. His latest release is The (P)Reformation, and his long-awaited album The Reformation will be out later this year.
We talked to the often-controversial rapper about his relationships with Dilla and Proof, how he was rhyming about Selma before it was cool, his pre-rap life as a stuntman – and, of course, cartoons. Plenty of cartoons.
See http://theciphershow.com/episode/96/ for full show notes and comments.
95: Joe Schloss
Joseph Schloss is the author of two of the definitive scholarly works on hip-hop culture. Making Beats: The Art of Sample-Based Hip-Hop is a look inside the insular world of hip-hop producers, showing us their rules, worldview, and day-to-day lives. Foundation: B-boys, B-girls and Hip-Hop Culture in New York investigates the history and practice of hip-hop dance, as seen by the b-boys and b-girls themselves.
In our wide-ranging talk, we discuss the influence of West Side Story on hip-hop; what the “b” in “b-boy” really stands for; why having rap records at all wasn’t always a sure thing; and much more.
See http://theciphershow.com/episode/95/ for full show notes and comments.