Most people know author Adam Mansbach from his 2011 “children’s book for adults,” Go the Fuck to Sleep. It became a sensation and led to readings by Werner Herzog and Samuel L. Jackson, a movie deal, a popular GTFTS-themed Obama ad, and countless morning show appearances. Now he returns with a sequel, You Have to Fucking Eat — a funny and realistic take on a whole new parenting challenge.

Regular listeners know that Adam does much more than write books with curses in the title. We discussed his literary novels and life in jazz in our first talk. This time, we talk screenwriting, thrillers, middle grade books, and the best child rappers of all time.

See http://theciphershow.com/episode/85/ for full show notes and comments.

Our 2nd annual Christmas episode features former Def Jam exec and noted Christmas music obsessive Bill Adler. We discuss the 30th anniversary edition of his yearly Christmas mix (available EXCLUSIVELY from us — visit here) and his part in the new holiday music documentary Jingle Bell Rocks.

We also find time to talk about the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, protest movements past and present, and plenty more. Happy holidays from The Cipher! Again, you can listen to Bill Adler’s 30th anniversary Xmas Jollies mix ONLY on our Soundcloud page.

P.S. We’re honored to have been chosen as one of Slate’s “Best Podcasts About Music” this year. You can see the complete list here. And, as mentioned in the show’s introduction, you can find Cornell University’s online exhibit of Bill’s Def Jam materials on the university’s website.

See http://theciphershow.com/episode/86/ for full show notes and comments.

This week, we celebrate the new year by bringing you an improved, remixed version of our talk with Ron Isley. Isley is the legendary lead singer of The Isley Brothers, and a soul music icon who has been a vital force in popular music for over half a century.

The Isley Brothers first reached the charts with the 1959 hit “Shout,” and had an amazing run all the way through 1983’s oft-sampled “Between the Sheets.” Ron’s career was revitalized by a series of collaborations with R. Kelly starting in 1996, including 2001’s memorable hit “Contagious.” His most recent solo album, released right around the time of this conversation, was This Song Is For You, which featured the single “Dinner and A Movie.”

We talked to Ron about his whole career, from his early years singing gospel straight through to today, with stops in Motown, his influential songs of the 1960s and 70s, the inside scoop on working with R. Kelly, and lots more.

See http://theciphershow.com/episode/87/ for full show notes and comments.

This week, we sit down with Harlem’s own Smoke DZA and Bluntsmoker, a member of his R.F.C. crew. They’ve just released an album called The Outsiders. Talking in a studio just down the block from DZA’s native “911” (Harlem’s 119th Street), we discuss how Harlem has changed, the overlap between pro wrestling and hip-hop, how his style and voice have mutated over the years, and tons more.

See http://theciphershow.com/episode/89/ for full show notes and comments.

We speak to the rapping team at the head of the powerful rap/rock group ¡Mayday! – Ben “Wrekonize” Miller and Bernardo “Bernz” Garcia. Since the early 2000s, the band has been delivering powerful music to a growing legion of fans. That fan base was dramatically increased when the Miami group teamed up with Tech N9ne’s Strange Music label a few years ago. The most recent album released by the hardworking collective is a joint project with West Coast legend Murs called, appropriately enough, Mursday.

Wrek and Bernz talk about their career and songwriting process, but also find time to discuss their famous relatives, partying with Lil Wayne, and which group member is best with a slow cooker.

See http://theciphershow.com/episode/93/ for full show notes and comments.

Tanya Morgan, as the title of one of their mixtapes states, is a rap group. Von Pea and donwill have been putting out classics since their 2006 debut Moonlighting. They’ve gone through successes, failures, lineup changes (original member Ilyas left in 2012), and more while continuing to reach for new sounds and concepts. Their most recent release is the EP 12 Minutes at Karriem’s. We talked to the group about touring disasters, childhood friendships, Google Maps, that time donwill almost ended up on Cops, and much, much more.

See http://theciphershow.com/episode/94/ for full show notes and comments.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Cambatta was born in New Haven, Connecticut. He decamped for Florida at 18, and quickly released several successful mixtapes, The Visionary and The Visionary 2, shortly afterwards. They showed off his incredible writing skills and already top-notch wordplay.

But it wouldn’t be until 2013 that Cambatta would really come into his own. He changed his way of thinking – with some chemical help – and created the powerful and trippy Smoke & Mirrors series, a three-mixtape collection that was released between 2013 and 2015. The trilogy took on mystical themes and melded them with reflections on childhood to create a voice that didn’t sound like anything else.

Cambatta’s latest release is Smoke & Mirrors DMT: (Definitive Metagod Trilogy), a collection of some of the best songs of the series plus previously unreleased material.

As we said in the episode, to enter the contest for the Cambatta t-shirt and USB business card, write the answers to the three questions we gave you in the intro and email them to contest@theciphershow.com by noon EDT on Monday April, 11, 2016.

See http://theciphershow.com/episode/149/ for full show notes and comments.

Fat Joe and Remy Ma are longtime friends and collaborators who have been making music together since the heyday of their crew The Terror Squad in the early 2000s. Their 2004 Grammy-nominated smash “Lean Back” was number 1 for three weeks and became one of the most popular songs of the decade.

But as any hip-hop fan knows, both of their stories go much deeper than that. Joe first came on the scene in the early 1990s as part of the powerhouse Diggin’ in the Crates crew. Joe’s first verses were on DITC member Diamond D’s classic 1992 debut Stunts, Blunts and Hip Hop, and Diamond would produce most of Joe’s own debut record, Represent, the following year.

As Joe’s career developed, he started his own crew called the Terror Squad, which came to include Remy and her mentor, the late Christopher “Big Pun” Rios.

Pun’s death in 2000 took a toll on crew morale, and the group gradually split apart. By the time of Remy’s 2006 debut There’s Something About Remy: Based On A True Story, Joe and Remy had fallen out completely.

In July 2007, Remy was arrested for shooting an acquaintance outside a Manhattan nightclub. She served six and a half years behind bars, and was released in August 2014. A reconnection with Joe soon followed, and the two began working together again. Joe and Remy’s latest hit single is “All The Way Up,” and they have a duo album coming out very soon.

See http://theciphershow.com/episode/150/ for full show notes and comments.

Dame is a producer who has sold tens of millions of albums in his storied career. He got his start working with The LOX, and had his first big hit with their tribute to Biggie, “We’ll Always Love Big Poppa.” After giving The LOX several of the biggest songs on their debut album Money, Power, Respect, Dame started working with another member of the Ruff Ryders camp, DMX. He produced almost the entirety of X’s 1998 debut It’s Dark and Hell Is Hot, beginning a working relationship and friendship that continues to this day.

That album sold over five million copies, and moved Dame into the ranks of superstar producers. He made hits for Cam’ron, Nas, Noreaga, Freeway, and countless others. Then he moved on to a whole sound, helping Max B and French Montana define their “wave” movement. Today, he’s still making songs at a record clip – and we do mean that literally.

See http://theciphershow.com/episode/154/ for full show notes and comments.

F.A.B. is a Bay Area rapper who has been a key part of his region’s scene for well over a decade. His albums like Son of a Pimp and Da Baydestrian, as well as his successes as a freestyle rhymer and a battle rapper, have showed him to be an incredibly versatile artist. He’s equally at home writing tearjerking songs about his family, improvising for ten minutes at a time to whatever beat is thrown at him, or attacking an opponent with a vicious battle rhyme. He was also a key part of the Bay Area’s hyphy movement, which had a moment in the national spotlight in the mid to late 2000s.

Mistah F.A.B.’s brand new album is Son of a Pimp, Pt. 2.

See http://theciphershow.com/episode/157/ for full show notes and comments.

Greg Nice and Smooth B came together to form a group in 1986. By then, the Bronx rappers already had music business experience that belied their young ages. But when they joined forces, things really took off. Their self-titled 1989 debut and its 1991 follow-up Ain’t A Damn Thing Changed are generally regarded as classics, and spawned hits like “Funky For You,” “Hip Hop Junkies,” and of course “Sometimes I Rhyme Slow.”

Nice & Smooth are currently celebrating three decades as a group with a 30th anniversary tour.

See http://theciphershow.com/episode/158/ for full show notes and comments.

Ms. Jade is a Philadelphia-based rapper who first came to most peoples’ attention as a protege of Timbaland. She, along with other artists including Tweet and Bubba Sparxx, were part of the producer’s Beat Camp collective. Ms. Jade also worked closely with another one of Timbaland’s frequent collaborators, Missy Elliott, appearing on several of Missy’s hits like “Funky Fresh Dressed” and “Slap Slap Slap.”

Shortly after the release of her debut album Girl Interrupted, Jade parted ways with Timbaland and released several mixtapes that showed her rapping with an aggression and power that wasn’t always there during her time in the spotlight. Ms. Jade has released a bunch of recent freestyles, and is finishing up a new album entitled Beautiful Mess.

See http://theciphershow.com/episode/159/ for full show notes and comments.

!llmind first gained notice for making beats for some of underground rap’s best talent like Little Brother, Akrobatik, Heltah Skeltah, and two-time Cipher guest Skyzoo. But it didn’t take long for him to break into the mainstream, creating songs for Kanye West, Drake, J. Cole, Ludacris, and more.

!llmind also has a group of businesses aimed at helping aspiring producers, from his B.L.A.P. beat battles to his Blap-kits drum sound packages to personal mentorships. In addition, he’s an accomplished educator, and now a label head with his Roseville Music Group.

See http://theciphershow.com/episode/163/ for full show notes and comments.

Jermaine Dupri got his start in hip-hop very young. As a pre-teen, he was a dancer on the Fresh Fest tours of the mid-1980s. He went from there to rapping himself, but quickly found that his real talent lay in writing and producing hits for others.

J.D. had his first real success with the group Kriss Kross, who he discovered in 1991. He formed So So Def Records, where he guided the careers of Xscape, Da Brat, Jagged Edge, and Bow Wow. He also had many hits as a producer with the likes of Mariah Carey, Destiny’s Child, and Usher. Dupri is now a key part of two unscripted TV shows, The Rap Game and Music Moguls.

See http://theciphershow.com/episode/167/ for full show notes and comments.

Slim Thug has been at the center of his city’s rap scene since he started his career in the late 1990s. He was one of the first artists on the iconic label Swishahouse. After years of success both on Swishahouse and independently, Slim found himself at the epicenter of a Houston rap explosion, caused in no small part by his memorable performance on Mike Jones’ hit “Still Tippin’.”

Around the time that song became a hit, Slim signed to Interscope Records. While there, he worked closely with Pharrell Williams, released the album Already Platinum, and jumped on songs with Beyoncé, Gwen Stefani, and more.

After his time in the majors, Slim moved back to independence, and has continued to release music at a steady clip. His latest album is Hogg Life Vol. 4: American King.

See http://theciphershow.com/episode/168/ for full show notes and comments.

Martha is the founder of the Hip-Hop Education Center, but that’s only the latest venture in a lifetime full of advocating for and advancing the culture. She began her career on the set of Yo! MTV Raps, and hasn’t looked back.

Martha is the creator of the H2O International Film Festival, a documentary filmmaker, a social entrepreneur, and, most importantly, a tireless advocate for hip-hop education.

Whether she’s working with institutions like Cornell University to archive hip-hop’s past; or keeping track of, connecting, and enhancing current efforts in hip-hop education with the Hip Hop Education Center, Martha is always playing a key role in advancing the culture, and in helping people learn while using tools they know and can relate to.

Martha also brought along a special guest for this episode, Sommer McCoy. Sommer is the founder of the Mixtape Museum. The Mixtape Museum is an archive project dedicated to advancing public understanding and appreciation of the art, history, and technique of the mixtape.

See http://theciphershow.com/episode/169/ for full show notes and comments.

Monica Lynch is a woman who truly was at the center of it all during hip-hop’s Golden Age.

Monica started out in late 1981 as the very first employee of a small record label called Tommy Boy, which was releasing early rap and electro singles by the likes of Afrika Bambaataa and the Jonzun Crew. She quickly worked her way up to becoming the label’s president, and oversaw its most fertile period during hip-hop’s golden age of the late 1980s and early 90s. Under her tenure, the label released classic albums by Queen Latifah, De La Soul, Naughty By Nature, Stetsasonic, Paris, Digital Underground, CNN, House of Pain, and many more.

Monica was a key part of bringing Tommy Boy to the attention of the masses. She oversaw the label’s clothing line, its successful compilation albums, and also played a key role in the development of careers of artists, executives, and more ranging from The RZA to Dante Ross to Prince Paul.

See http://theciphershow.com/episode/171/ for full show notes and comments.

TC is a DJ, emcee, and producer who began his career as a teenager in the mid-1980s, releasing several singles. But even back then, he was already an important member of the Zulu Nation, and eventually became a surrogate son, confidant, and musical collaborator of the organization’s leader, Afrika Bambaataa.

TC’s main musical contribution is combining hip-hop with dance music to create a unique hybrid he calls “hipstep.” Hipstep, which has its roots in both UK dance music and Bambaataa’s early experiments with electro, takes the tempos and sounds of drum and bass, jungle, and other dance genres, and brings them together with TC’s inimitable rhymes and song concepts.

The Zulu Nation, of course, has been rocked by scandal ever since a former member, Ronald “Bee Stinger” Savage, came forward this past spring with allegations of sexual abuse against Bambaataa. We’ll get TC’s comments on that as well, and his thoughts on the inner workings of the organization.

See http://theciphershow.com/episode/173/ for full show notes and comments.

Jerome “J-Roc” Harmon is a Grammy-winning musician and producer best-known for his work with Timbaland. He got his start in Texas, playing gospel and jazz with people like Fred Hammond, Kirk Franklin, and Wayman Tisdale, while producing the occasional hip-hop record. But once he met Timbaland about ten years ago, his career took off.

Harmon has produced, co-produced, or performed on projects by Timbaland, Nas, Chris Brown, Robin Thicke, Jennifer Hudson, Justin Timberlake, Beyoncé, Jay Z, Michael Jackson, and many more. He has won Grammys for his work with gospel icon Fred Hammond, Chris Brown, Justin Timberlake, and Beyoncé, and was a key player in albums like Timberlake’s The 20/20 Experience, Jay Z’s The Blueprint 3 and Magna Carta…Holy Grail, and Beyoncé’s self-titled LP.

See http://theciphershow.com/episode/175/ for full show notes and comments.

Sean “Slug” Daley of Atmosphere is a proud son of Minneapolis whose devotion to that city shines through not only in his music, but also in the label he co-founded in large part to help bring shine to his city’s scene, Rhymesayers.

Atmosphere started when Daley was in high school (see above), but the group really started making waves in the early 2000s, with the release of music that would be collected on the album Lucy Ford: The Atmosphere EPs.

The introspective, personal songs on Lucy Ford and follow-up projects like God Loves Ugly and Seven’s Travels struck a chord with a huge audience, and Atmosphere’s constant touring, of a kind much more akin to rock bands than rap acts, helped the group’s following grow to a point where they received airplay on MTV2, performed at large festivals, and received serious attention from big record labels. Rhymesayers, meanwhile, released well-regarded projects from the likes of Brother Ali, Eyedea and Abilities, Blueprint, MF DOOM, and many others.

Atmosphere’s latest album, released this past August, is Fishing Blues.

See http://theciphershow.com/episode/178/ for full show notes and comments.

It’s the most wonderful time of the year—if you love soulful Christmas music! We sit down with Bill to talk about the 2016 edition of his world-famous ‘Xmas Jollies’ mix, which you can stream EXCLUSIVELY from us here.

We also discuss Paul Simon, vaudeville, Atlanta, record shopping in Bayou country, the raunchiest Christmas song of all time, and much more.

See http://theciphershow.com/episode/181/ for full show notes and comments.

Adam Mansbach is a novelist and, of course, the author of the “children’s book for adults” Go the F to Sleep. But his new project is not a book—it’s a screenplay. Adam wrote the new movie Barry, available now on Netflix. The film is a fictionalized examination of Barack Obama’s first months in New York City, as he arrives at Columbia University in 1981.

The film stars Ashley Judd, Anya Taylor-Joy, Jason Mitchell, Ellar Coltrane, Avi Nash, and the fantastic newcomer Devon Terrell as Obama. It’s been getting rave reviews and has garnered a bunch of award nominations, including NAACP Image Award and Independent Spirit Award noms for Adam. We talk to Adam about writing and filming Barry, but we also catch up about the election, his new TV show, Henny Youngman’s joke-telling philosophy, and a whole lot more.

See http://theciphershow.com/episode/182/ for full show notes and comments.

Salaam is a producer who is behind some of the most popular hip-hop, r&b, pop, and dancehall songs of the past several decades. His work with icons like Nas, Amy Winehouse, and The Fugees has been on the airwaves and on the charts consistently since the 1990s.

Salaam is the son of a musician, and got his start early, working on songs with the likes of Kurtis Blow as a teenager in the mid-1980s. By the early 90s, he was already producing hip-hop and dancehall. He did some remixes for an under-appreciated rap group called The Fugees whose first album was on the verge of flopping, and that quickly led to him producing the song “Fu-gee-la” on their monster hit follow up album The Score.

But it was in the early 2000s that Salaam really hit his commercial stride, as he began working closely with Nas on, including many others, the iconic single “Made You Look.” And Remi began working closely with a young singer from London named Amy Winehouse on her 2003 debut Frank, and also produced five songs on her smash hit follow up Back to Black. Miraculously, that’s only the beginning of Salaam’s track record as a producer, musician, composer, and executive.

See http://theciphershow.com/episode/183/ for full show notes and comments.

Stretch and Evan are the co-authors of the new book No Sleep: NYC Nightlife Flyers 1988-1999. The book, as its title suggests, is a collection of flyers from the prime years of New York City nightlife, mixed with recollections from people who were there.

But both guests are known for far more than the book. Evan was the driving force behind Evil Empire mixtapes, and currently runs the popular Up North Trips, which has a website, Twitter, and Instagram devoted to hip-hop memorabilia, anniversaries, and history.

Stretch, of course, was the co-host of one of the most influential radio shows of all time, the Stretch Armstrong and Bobbito show. The show, co-hosted by Bobbito Garcia, ran on WKCR starting in 1990, and defined the sound of underground rap. Just a short list of artists who appeared on that show in the early years of their career would include Nas, Common, Jay Z, Eminem, Busta Rhymes, Big Pun, Big L, the Notorious B.I.G., and the Wu-Tang Clan. Many of those artists, and a ton more, revisited their experiences in the 2015 documentary Stretch and Bobbito: Radio That Changed Lives.

See http://theciphershow.com/episode/188/ for full show notes and comments.

Faith Newman is a longtime music executive who got her start—while still in college—at Def Jam Records in 1987, back when you could count the number of employees on one hand. But she is most remembered for her time at Columbia Records in A&R, where she discovered and signed a young rapper from Queensbridge who had all of New York City buzzing. She then played a key role in creating that artist’s debut album. That rapper—Nas—and the album—Illmatic—would change hip-hop forever.

But that’s only part of Faith’s story. In addition to playing a key early role in Def Jam, she also signed or oversaw albums by the likes of LL Cool J, Slick Rick, Jamiroquai, Big L, and even Miles Davis. She is now the Senior Vice President of A&R and Catalog Development at Reservoir Media, a music publishing company.

See http://theciphershow.com/episode/191/ for full show notes and comments.

Boldy James is a Detroit rapper who first came to many peoples’ attention in 2009 after appearances on songs by his cousin Chuck Inglish’s group, The Cool Kids. But Boldy took that initial burst of interest and ran with it, releasing a slew of mixtapes and guest appearances leading up to his 2013 debut album My 1st Chemistry Set, produced entirely by The Alchemist.

Just over a year later, Boldy was signed to Nas’ then-new label Mass Appeal Records. Boldy’s latest project, out this past February, is House of Blues.

See http://theciphershow.com/episode/194/ for full show notes and comments.

Martin is the brains behind the website Rap Analysis, and the author of the upcoming book The Artistry of Rap Music. He’s a trained composer and musician who looks at rapping from a perspective that should be common but sadly is all too frequently missing from discussions around hip-hop: as music.

Martin’s examinations of rappers’ deliveries, phrasing, and styles are second to none, and will have you listening to your favorite artists in a whole new way.

See http://theciphershow.com/episode/197/ for full show notes and comments.

Skeff is a producer and engineer who worked on some of the best hip-hop to come out of New York in the 1980s and 90s. He started out as the in-house engineer for the label Strong City Records and its associated recording studio, both of which were run by the legendary Bronx DJ Jazzy Jay.

Skeff has worked on records by Brand Nubian, De La Soul, Mos Def, Heavy D, MC Serch, D-Nice, Busy Bee, Diamond D, Tragedy, and countless others. But he is perhaps best known for his work with A Tribe Called Quest. On the group’s classic second and third albums, The Low End Theory and Midnight Marauders, Skeff was one of only two non-group-members to produce songs—the other one was Large Professor. Skeff also worked very closely with the late Phife Dawg in the vocal booth, helping to turn Phife into the iconic rapper he is remembered as today.

See http://theciphershow.com/episode/198/ for full show notes and comments.

Jay is the host of the longest-running hip-hop radio show ever, The Underground Railroad on New York City station WBAI. He’s had the show since 1991, and helped create the template of what an underground mix show is supposed to be. He also had arguably first hip-hop blog way back in 1997 with hiphopmusic.com.

But Jay is perhaps best known as a pioneering video blogger. His video series Ill Doctrine, which deals with hip-hop, politics, cats, and lots more, has garnered millions of views, and many of the entries have gone viral, including now-classic video essays like “How To Tell Someone They Sound Racist.”

See http://theciphershow.com/episode/201/ for full show notes and comments.

Ron is a producer who is best known for his time as part of Bad Boy Records’ Hitmen production collective. Ron teamed up with Deric “D Dot” Angelettie, Diddy, Stevie J, and Nashiem Myrick to create iconic hits for Biggie, Mase, Diddy, Faith Evans, Mary J Blige, The Lox, and many more. After that run ended, Ron made beats for the likes of Beyoncé, Aretha Franklin, and Luther Vandross.

Ron is also a hip-hop historian and documentarian, and has made several films dealing with unjustly ignored aspects of hip-hop’s history. Most notable among these is the documentary Founding Fathers, which deals with the mobile DJ scene of the 1970s in Brooklyn and Queens. Any fan of the genre needs to see the movie in order to understand that there was a lot more to DJing in that era than just what was happening in the Bronx.

See http://theciphershow.com/episode/207/ for full show notes and comments.

Tom is the “Tommy” in Tommy Boy Records—he founded the label in 1981. After several early hip-hop and dance records, the label found success with “Planet Rock.” But it was in hip-hop’s Golden Age of the late 1980s and early 90s that the label would really blow up, signing acts like Queen Latifah, Digital Underground, House of Pain, Coolio, Naughty by Nature, and De La Soul.

Silverman also founded the New Music Seminar, the influential and long-running music conference whose annual rap and DJ battles would become the stuff of legend. His latest project is Tracklib, a whole new way of dealing with sampling.

See http://theciphershow.com/episode/208/ for full show notes and comments.

Aldrin “DJ Toomp” Davis began his career as a DJ and producer for early Atlanta rap acts like Raheem the Dream and MC Shy-D. But it was when he met a friend’s cousin named Clifford Harris that things really got started. Harris rapped under the name Tip—which he would later change to T.I. to avoid confusion, after signing to the same record label as Q-Tip.

T.I. and Toomp would together sell millions of records, create classics, and even help start a whole new genre. A whole new generation in Atlanta and beyond would take inspiration from the sound and title of Toomp and T.I.’s 2003 album Trap Muzik, and a style bearing that name would come into being.

But that’s far from the end of Toomp’s accomplishments. He also played a key role in the creation of Kanye West’s 2007 album Graduation, and a whole lot more besides.

See http://theciphershow.com/episode/209/ for full show notes and comments.