The Cipher

The Cipher episodes:

• 01.19.2019

  252: Shawn and Josh With Jay Smooth

  As many of you know, The Cipher is going on an indefinite hiatus following this episode. For more information about why, visit us on Twitter or Facebook, or just listen to this episode. But in short, we have no plans...

  
• 12.19.2018

  251: Xmas Jollies 2018 With Bill Adler

  Every Christmas since 2013, we’ve sat down with Bill—who is the former head of PR at Def Jam, among numerous other accomplishments—to talk about his world-famous Xmas Jollies mix. Bill spends the whole year scouring record stores, flea markets, the...

  
• 11.22.2018

  250: Masta Ace and Marco Polo

  Masta Ace is a legendary rhymer whose career began with the Juice Crew and has continued through a series of beloved solo and group albums. Marco Polo is a Toronto-born producer who moved to New York City in the early...

  
• 11.07.2018

  249: Mike Heron

  Mike “Heron” Herard is a record exec, producer, manager, label owner, and all-around music business legend. He first came to the attention of underground hip-hop fans when he was the co-founder of Hydra Records, which released music by Screwball, Godfather...

  
• 10.23.2018

  248: Jonah Hill and the 'Mid90s' Cast

  Mid90s, which opened this past Friday, October 19th, is a film Hill wrote and directed about a group of skateboarding friends in—you guessed it—the mid-1990s. The incredibly authentic period piece features plenty of nods to the skateboarding scene and the...

  
• 10.09.2018

  247: Jericho Jackson (Khrysis & Elzhi)

  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...

  
• 09.26.2018

  246: K-Salaam

  K-Salaam is a producer and DJ who, both by himself and with his production partner Beatnick, has made beats for some of your favorite artists. A short, by no means complete list includes Nas, Freddie Gibbs, Talib Kweli, Trey Songz,...

  
• 09.12.2018

  245: Nick Cannon

  Nick, as you undoubtedly already know, is a musician, actor, comedian, TV executive, and all-around entertainer. He got his start doing stand-up comedy while still a teenager. He parlayed that into work at Nickelodeon, where he wrote for and starred...

  
• 08.29.2018

  244: Daddy-O

  Glen “Daddy-O” Bolton is a rapper, producer, executive, and all-around hip-hop Renaissance man. He formed the ground breaking Stetsasonic in 1981, and the group went on to release several classic albums and become the first great hip-hop band. As a...

  
• 08.15.2018

  243: Joan Morgan

  Joan is a writer who got her start in the 1990s, helping to create what came to be known as “hip-hop journalism” with her articles at places like Vibe and the Village Voice. Whether she was writing about the Mike...

  
• 07.11.2018

  242: Soundset Pt. 2 (Murs, Nikki Jean, OG Grip, Evidence)

  Soundset is a festival in the Minneapolis area put on by the Rhymesayers label. It’s been running since 2008, and has grown from a show in a warehouse to a day-long outdoor event featuring some of music’s biggest acts. This...

  
• 06.26.2018

  241: Soundset Pt. 1: Rapsody, Grieves, K-Salaam, Sa-Roc, Prof

  Soundset is a festival in the Minneapolis area put on by the Rhymesayers label. It’s been running since 2008, and has grown from a show in a warehouse to a day-long outdoor event featuring some of music’s biggest acts. This...

  
• 06.13.2018

  240: Kalyn Heffernan of Wheelchair Sports Camp

  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...

  
• 05.30.2018

  239: Big Daddy Kane Revisited

  This week, we talk to a man who needs no introduction, Big Daddy Kane. Kane tells us about his legacy, dissing Erick Sermon, who really produced his first album, and tons more. This is a Cipher-ized, improved version of an...

  
• 05.16.2018

  238: MC Paul Barman

  MC Paul Barman first started making songs in the late 1990s, during his time at Brown University. His wild rhymes about topics like a slacker college student who becomes half man, half goat in order to become a star quickly...

  
• 05.01.2018

  237: Phonte: No News Is Good News

  Phonte first visited us in early 2016, when we had a career-spanning interview. But now he’s back with No News Is Good News, an incredible new album that turns the rapper’s last several years of tragedies and triumphs into amazing...

  
• 04.17.2018

  236: Jean Grae & Quelle Chris

  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...

  
• 04.03.2018

  235: D-Stroy & Q-Unique of the Arsonists

  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...

  
• 03.21.2018

  234: Epic Beard Men (Sage Francis & B. Dolan)

  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...

  
• 03.06.2018

  233: Erick Sermon

  Erick Sermon got his start alongside Parrish Smith as a member of the iconic duo EPMD. Starting with their debut single in 1987 and their first album the following year, the group released four classic LPs in a row -...

  
• 02.23.2018

  232: Evidence

  Evidence first became known to most hip-hop fans as a member of Dilated Peoples. The group, which consists of Ev, Rakaa Iriscience, and the virtuosic DJ Babu, were beloved champions of hip-hop’s underground in the early 2000s. After a number...

  
• 02.06.2018

  231: Skyzoo: In Celebration of Us

  Skyzoo is a fantastic Brooklyn rapper whose sophisticated lyrics and ear for soulful beats has long made him one of our favorites. Longtime listeners will no doubt remember that he’s been a guest on the show twice before. But this...

  
• 01.24.2018

  230: Ice-T

  Ice is someone who surely needs no introduction…which won’t stop us from giving him one anyway. He got his start in music as part of L.A.s mid-1980s electro scene, emceeing and managing the stage at the noted club Radio, working...

  
• 01.10.2018

  229: Combat Jack Remembered

  Reggie “Combat Jack” Ossé was a lawyer, a blogger, a music executive, a father, and much more. But most people will remember him as a podcasting legend. The host of the eponymous Combat Jack Show raised the bar throughout his...

  
• 12.20.2017

  228: Xmas Jollies 2017 With Bill Adler

  Bill Adler is…well, you probably already know who Bill is. Publicist, journalist, author, gallery owner, archivist - Bill has done it all. From helping to popularize acts like Run-DMC and the Beastie Boys to defending free speech alongside Luther Campbell...

  
• 12.13.2017

  227: Percee P

  Percee P is a rapper whose reputation and influence far outpaces his relatively small recorded output. The Bronx-born artist grew up right alongside hip-hop - he started rapping as a young kid right as the first rap records were coming...

  
• 12.05.2017

  226: Statik Selektah

  DJ Statik Selektah has been on his grind since he first started DJing in his very early teens. He made a name for himself as a mixtape DJ, but really broke out once he started making beats on his own....

  
• 11.29.2017

  225: Mathematics

  Mathematics, or Allah Mathematics, is a DJ and producer who has been part of the Wu-Tang Clan since before there was a Wu-Tang Clan. He DJ’d for GZA in the early 1990s, back when the rapper was known as “The...

  
• 11.21.2017

  224: kris ex

  kris ex is a writer who played a key role in the creation of hip-hop journalism. Starting in the early 1990s, his work at Ego Trip, One Nut, Rolling Stone, The Source, and especially Vibe helped set the template for...

  
• 11.15.2017

  223: Lil' Flip

  Lil’ Flip is a Houston rapper and member of DJ Screw’s famed Screwed Up Click who has more than earned his title of the “Freestyle King.” Flip began his career in the late 1990s, mixing solo and group projects, mixtapes,...

  
• 11.06.2017

  222: DJ Head

  Kevin “DJ Head” Bell is a producer and DJ from Detroit who played a big role in that city’s scene during the mid-to-late 1990s. At that time, an insanely talented group of people were getting together for open mics, beat...

  
• 10.30.2017

  221: Jack Thriller

  Jack Thriller is a comedian who most people know from his time doing funny—and often outrageous—interviews on 50 Cent’s website ThisIs50. He’s talked to everyone from porn actors to fellow comedians to rap stars to athletes and beyond. But in...

  
• 10.23.2017

  220: E.S.G.

  E.S.G. is a Houston rapper best known for his association with DJ Screw and the Screwed Up Click. He was the very first artist to have Screw remix a song on a commercially-available project, with a Screwed up version of...

  
• 10.16.2017

  219: Kurtis Blow

  Kurtis Blow was the first rap superstar. He was the first rapper to be signed to a major label and the first one to have a gold single with “The Breaks.” But his career is a whole lot more than...

  
• 10.09.2017

  218: Crazy Legs

  Richard “Crazy Legs” Colon is a b-boying pioneer and the longtime president of the Rock Steady Crew, arguably the most famous b-boy crew in the world. He joined the Rock Steady crew in its early days, and quickly rose to...

  
• 10.02.2017

  217: Fred the Godson

  Fred is a rapper who can say that hip-hop is in his blood, literally. Not only is he from the home of hip-hop, the Bronx, but his father also used to work at the NYC nightspot The Tunnel, whose hip-hop...

  
• 09.25.2017

  216: Rock

  Rock is best-known for being one half of the seminal rap duo Heltah Skeltah, along with his partner, the late Sean Price. The duo, also known as Rock and Ruck, released three albums and were a key part of NYC’s...

  
• 09.18.2017

  215: Lecrae

  Lecrae is a rapper whose Christian faith is central to his music and his message, but don’t dare call him a “Christian rapper.” From the very beginning, as you’ll hear, Lecrae was determined to be both, as he frequently puts...

  
• 09.11.2017

  214: Trae Tha Truth

  Trae is a true Houston rap legend who got his start as a member of DJ Screw’s Screwed Up Click. Since the late 1990s, he has been sharing his street stories using his one-of-a-kind voice. Through countless mixtapes and albums,...

  
• 09.04.2017

  213: Hurricane Harvey Special: Trae tha Truth, Killa Kyleon, & Z-Ro

  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,...

  
• 08.28.2017

  212: Bobby Brown

  Bobby Brown is one of the foremost stars of modern r&b.; Starting out with his childhood pals Ricky, Michael, Ronnie, and Ralph, he formed New Edition, one of the biggest groups of the era. But that was only the beginning....

  
• 08.14.2017

  211: Divine

  Divine, as he is fond of saying, has gone “from crack to rap to tech.” His wild and inspirational story starts in Newport, Rhode Island, where he started dealing drugs just as the crack epidemic took hold—and also as hip-hop...

  
• 07.31.2017

  210: Shaggy

  Orville “Shaggy” Burrell was raised in Jamaica, but started spending most of his time in Flatbush, Brooklyn starting in his late teens. It was in the streets of Flatbush that he began to turn his talent for creating on-the-spot rhymes...

  
• 07.17.2017

  209: DJ Toomp

  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...

  
• 07.03.2017

  208: Tom Silverman

  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...

  
• 06.26.2017

  207: Ron "Amen Ra" Lawrence

  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,...

  
• 06.19.2017

  206: Nana Ashhurst

  Nana Ashhurst, formerly Carmen, played a key role in the history of hip-hop’s most iconic label, Def Jam, and in the career of its co-founder Russell Simmons. Of course, before that, she met Malcolm X through her activist parents and...

  
• 06.12.2017

  205: Ernest Dickerson

  Ernest Dickerson is a director, cinematographer, and writer who has played a key role in some of the best and most important film and television of the past four decades. He got his start in the mid-1980s as the cinematographer...

  
• 06.05.2017

  204: Stevie Stone

  Stevie Stone is an emcee who is part of the Strange Music family. However, his gravely voice and powerful vision make him stand out even among that talented crew. Stevie started out signed to Eazy-E’s Ruthless Records, but quickly joined...

  
• 05.29.2017

  203: Alan Grunblatt

  Alan is the head of rock and urban at Entertainment One Music, a record label you may know better by the name it had until 2009, Koch Records. Koch is a label that had hits with veteran artists like Fat...