Lisa Leone has lived a life for the ages. She began photographing some of the most important figures in the early days of hip-hop culture (who were also her friends) as a teenager. Then she took some of the best, most revealing photos ever of musical icons like Snoop Dogg, Nas, The Fugees, Mary J. Blige, and tons more. Lisa moved from there into working on music videos, before her career took an unexpected left turn.

She turned a short research photo assignment for a friend into four years working closely with film legend Stanley Kubrick on his final film, Eyes Wide Shut. Then she took that experience and co-directed the iconic documentary on sneakers and sneaker heads, Just for Kicks.

A gorgeous book of Lisa’s hip-hop photos, Here I Am - Photographs By Lisa Leone, is available now. An exhibit of that name is running through January 11th at the Bronx Museum of the Arts. You can view a slideshow of some of her photos over at Complex.

See http://theciphershow.com/episode/79/ for full show notes and comments.

This episode, we talk to author Brian Coleman. Coleman has written three volumes of what he calls “invisible liner notes” — blow-by-blow accounts of the making of classic hip-hop records from the people who were there. The newest entry in the series is Check the Technique, Vol. 2, which you can (and should!) cop here.

We discuss KMD, the differences between the two emcees in Black Star, the reason Licensed to Ill never made it into his books, why first or second albums are always a group’s best, and plenty more.

See http://theciphershow.com/episode/80/ for full show notes and comments.

This episode, we have a truly great conversation with Sage Francis. Rising up out of the battle-rap and poetry slam scenes in the late 1990s, Sage first came to many fans’ notice with his incredible 2002 debut album Personal Journals. That started a non-stop grind of running his own record label while putting out five albums and doing countless tours over the next eight years. After 2010’s Li(f)e, he took a four-year hiatus from recording and touring — one that ended with this year’s Copper Gone.

We talked to Sage (who was in the midst of a European tour) about what he does and doesn’t owe his fans, how he makes ideas rhyme, what it took to get through hard times and make a comeback, and tons more.

See http://theciphershow.com/episode/81/ for full show notes and comments.

Live from Bed Stuy’s Restoration Plaza, we bring you a very special event with Buddha Monk and Mickey Hess, authors of a new biography of the Wu’s Ol’ Dirty Bastard. Occurring only blocks from Dirty’s childhood home, this conversation features not only the authors, but also special appearances from the Wu member’s family and friends. Buddha Monk was Dirty’s close friend since they were children, and had a front row seat to the artist’s rise and fall. His book, co-written with Rider professor Mickey Hess, is The Dirty Version: On Stage, In the Studio, and In the Streets With Ol’ Dirty Bastard, published by Harper Collins. You can buy it here.

If you like this episode, be sure to check out our recent article on the Wu for Radio.com

See http://theciphershow.com/episode/83/ for full show notes and comments.

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 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.

Shea Serrano is a Houston-based writer and illustrator whose funny, insightful work on rap, sports, and even action movies has appeared almost everywhere – you undoubtedly saw his brilliant holiday piece Three Wise Migos. In addition, he wrote Bun B’s Rapper Coloring and Activity Book and created the viral Tumblr sensations Drake-ing Bad and Sex Questions From Seventh Graders.

We spoke to Serrano about his life and career, why ‘94 will always be r&b’s peak year, and why he’s okay with you loving J. Cole, even if you’re wrong.

See http://theciphershow.com/episode/90/ for full show notes and comments.

Lisa Cortés lives up to her self-description as a “hip-hop Zelig.” She began her career in 1986 as one of the first employees of a then-tiny record label called Def Jam. From there, she went on to manage legendary producers; discover hit rap, reggae, and r&b acts; and even run a label herself.

After her time in the music industry came to an end, Lisa re-invented herself as a successful film producer, starting at the bottom and working her way up to playing a key role in the Oscar-winning movie Precious: Based on the Novel “Push” by Sapphire. She is currently producing, writing, and directing a number of fascinating film projects, which we discuss here.

See http://theciphershow.com/episode/92/ 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.

“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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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 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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Anton Pukshansky’s name may be unfamiliar to hip-hop fans, but you definitely know his work. He was a key person at Power Play Studios in Queens, New York, and was deeply involved as an engineer, musician, and producer on classic performances by Kool G. Rap and Polo, Main Source, Eric B. and Rakim, Organized Konfusion, Akinyele, and more.

He also got a front-row seat to the development of soon-to-be iconic talents like Nas and Mobb Deep, who he worked with at the very beginning of their careers. Anton worked hand-in-hand with one of hip-hop’s greatest producers, Large Professor, and has also won Grammys for his work with Santana and Ozomatli.

See http://theciphershow.com/episode/147/ 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.

Allah B is a longtime member of the Nation of Gods and Earths, formerly known as the Five Percenters. He grew up in Harlem in the 1950s and 60s, a time when the Nation of Islam had huge influence thanks to its minister, Malcolm X. Clarence 13X Smith was an NOI member who became disenchanted with the group around 1963, and formed his own organization the following year. Clarence quickly became known as “Allah” or “The Father,” and most of his early disciples were teenage boys, Allah B among them.

The group, originally known as the Five Percenters and now as the Nation of Gods and Earths, grew steadily until Allah’s murder in June 1969. It would have a rebirth in the 1980s and 90s, as many of the young children raised in the group’s beliefs would go into hip-hop and spread Five Percenter beliefs, slang, and practices far and wide.

If you’ve ever listened to Rakim, Big Daddy Kane, or the Wu-Tang Clan, said “Peace” or “word,” or stood in a b-boy stance, you owe a huge debt to the Gods and Earths, whether you realize it or not. Allah B has been there for the group’s whole history, and shares it with us in this interview.

See http://theciphershow.com/episode/151/ for full show notes and comments.

Krizz Kaliko first became known to hip-hop fans in the early 2000s as the ever-present hookman and onstage foil to Tech N9ne and other Strange Music artists, lacing tracks with both singing and rapping. His solo career would begin in 2008 with the album Vitiligo, and each record after that would reveal a diverse musical personality, equally comfortable with double-time raps, r&b hooks, and even Sinatra-style crooning.

Krizz’ latest album, released this past April, is called GO.

See http://theciphershow.com/episode/153/ 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.