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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Welcome to a special episode of The Cipher. This is an episode dedicated to Houston. Like countless people around the world, we were devastated by news of Hurricane Harvey and its effects on the city. If you’re a regular listener, you’ve noticed that we have many episodes discussing Houston music and culture with the city’s artists, businesspeople, and authors.

So, because of that love for Houston’s music, culture, and most of all its people, we decided to reach out to three H-town rap legends and find out what’s really going on in the storm and its aftermath, and to find out what you can do to help. We caught up by phone with Trae tha Truth, Killa Kyleon, and Z-Ro. All three have been involved in recovery efforts —in fact, you may have seen Trae on the news, rescuing people by boat. And all three have seen first-hand the devastation the storm has caused.

See http://theciphershow.com/episode/213/ for full show notes and comments.

Sage Francis and B. Dolan are both from Providence, are both rappers who have roots in spoken word, have toured and sporadically recorded together for years, and even share a label—the Sage-founded Strange Famous Records. But it has taken them until 2018 to release a full project as a duo: the Epic Beard Men.

Sage is a beloved underground rap veteran who has been releasing albums of his smart, introspective, and emotional music consistently since 2002, and touring the universe maniacally to support them—all while running Strange Famous. B. Dolan is an equally talented wordsmith whose solo work is as likely to give new life to old union hymn as it is to pay tribute to the Ol’ Dirty Bastard. The group has a new EP, Season 1, and an album on the way.

See http://theciphershow.com/episode/234/ for full show notes and comments.

The Arsonists were a crew formed in Bushwick in the early 1990s. D-Stroy, who began his rap career in his early teens alongside famed DJ Tony Touch in the duo Touch and D-Stroy, helped to solidify a group that would come to consist of, among others, Freestyle, Jise One, Swel Boogie, and Q-Unique. After putting out several early singles, the group was the first hip-hop act to sign to Matador Records, a label better known for indie rock. They released their debut album As the World Burns in 1999.

An intense touring schedule and its attendant stresses put pressure on the crew, and it splintered after the 2001 follow-up Date of Birth. But the Arsonists are back with a new album, Lost in the Fire, and a reissued version of their debut. Lost in the Fire features a mix of old but previously unreleased material alongside new songs.

See http://theciphershow.com/episode/235/ for full show notes and comments.

Jean Grae was our show’s first-ever guest back in 2012. She is one of the finest rappers out there, and a great producer as well. But in recent years, she’s expanded her horizons even further, pushing into comedy, sitcoms, instructional albums, audiobooks, talk shows, variety shows, and even her own church.

Quelle Chris joined us in 2016. Since then, he’s released the acclaimed album Being You Is Great, I Wish I Could Be You More Often and the instrumental project Lullabies for the Broken Brain.

Now Jean and Quelle have joined forces for the incredible new album Everything’s Fine. The project has been met with critical raves from pretty much everywhere, and rightly so. It shows Jean and Quelle in absolute top form: rapping, singing, producing, and playing on a group of songs that respond to today’s often-frightening world with humor, sadness, and a reminder that when we tell people that everything’s fine, we almost never mean it.

See http://theciphershow.com/episode/236/ for full show notes and comments.

Kalyn is a rapper and the leader of the eclectic Denver-based group Wheelchair Sports Camp, who have garnered critical acclaim for their music and their energetic live performances almost since their founding in 2009.

Wheelchair Sports Camp - named after a real camp that Kalyn, who has brittle bone disease and has been in a wheelchair her whole life - used to attend, is a group that pushes the boundaries in sound and subject matter. Most performances consist of Kalyn, drums, and trumpet, and their latest album No Big Deal explores everything from gentrification to the pressure artists put on themselves to important social issues.

In addition to being a great rapper, Kalyn is also an activist, and now a politician. She participated in a big protest against the repeal of the ACA that had her and other activists taking over a senator’s office. And now she’s running - or rather, as she puts it, rolling - for Mayor of Denver.

See http://theciphershow.com/episode/240/ for full show notes and comments.

Jericho Jackson is a group made up of producer Khrysis and rapper Elzhi. Khrysis is best known for his work with the rap collective the Justus League, which counts among its members 9th Wonder. He is currently a member of 9th’s production team the Soul Council. In addition to his North Carolina crew, Khrysis has produced for Sean Price and Heltah Skeltah, Jean Grae, Evidence, Talib Kweli, Black Thought, and many others.

Dedicated Cipher listeners will remember Elzhi from our talk with him on episode 152. The Detroit rapper came to a lot of fans’ attention during his time as a member of Slum Village. He followed that up with a staggering series of solo albums, including the Nas reinvention Elmatic and the deeply personal Lead Poison.

Khrysis and Elzhi’s recent joint album is called Khrysis and Elzhi Are Jericho Jackson.

See http://theciphershow.com/episode/247/ for full show notes and comments.

What better way to celebrate the potential arrival of warmer months than with a Halfmoon Walking & Writing Workshop over Cannock Chase.

How Welsh National Opera is helping city music students

The Midlands based rail champion, Campaign for Rail will be holding its inaugural Annual General Meeting tomorrow at the Atrium, Moor Street Station

"Help us to help you get the treatment you need across Birmingham and Solihull."

Joey Diaz and Lee Syatt do the first remote Church podcast. They welcome guest Alder Hampel to the show for the first time. Alder is the owner and coach at 10th Planet Jiu Jitsu Van Nuys. 

This podcast is brought to you by:

Onnit.com. Use Promo code CHURCH for a discount at checkout.

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Recorded on 05/04/2014.

Joey Diaz talks about Jorge Masvidal's growth as a man from his appearance on The Church to beating Nate Diaz at UFC 244. Joey also discusses two of the most important friendships he's had. 

Edgbaston Foundation announces partnership with Birmingham Stories as Literacy Business Pledge launched.

Our recent story about proposed developments at Acocks Green has drawn a reply from local campaigner Julie Larden

Liam Byrne launches radical women’s manifesto to tackle "pervasive inequality".

Richard Lutz takes his pew for a barnstorming night of Celtic connections.

Considerate Behaviour campaign launched on cross city line.

Showcase for skills, talent and learning.

Campaign results in victory for local politicians.

Employability project invests in local people helping to fulfil all-important roles.

Legends, icons and groundbreakers will head to Moseley this summer.

Light House asking for ‘Magnificent’ partners to ride to the rescue.

Light House urges 'Virtual Attendance' during temporary shutdown.

Honorary degrees awarded at Wolverhampton ceremony.

Constituents "penalised for something beyond their control"

Public support for benefits 'safety net'.

Local MP amongst group seeking to end corporate anonymity.

Support for mission to tackle loneliness in older people.

Waterboys, Richard Hawley, The Wonder Stuff and many more to mark anniversary.

One night only chance to meet former world heavyweight champion.

"Inspirational" ambassador for young people going for gold at European Games.

Chance to meet Deontay Wilder at ICC.

A design team, based in Longbridge, wins a European electronics industry accolade at the Elektra Awards 2011

Festival marks thirtieth birthday of community group.

2019-2020 Arts & Science Festival concludes with a season dedicated to hope.

Crescent to stage production of adapted classic.

Helping to mark anniversary celebrations with exhibition.

Kings Heath Walk of Fame honour for cycling legend.

Richard Lutz reports on a step forward in opening the Moseley/Kings Heath train line.

BE at Home invites online audience participation.