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 into a career, performing at block parties and clubs and recording his first few singles.

One of those early songs, a cover of the Folkes Brothers’ “Oh Carolina,” became a huge hit in 1993, particularly in the UK, and really launched Shaggy’s career. He went on to have a giant hit in 1995 with “Boombastic,” and then had world-beating success with his 10 million-selling 2001 album Hot Shot, which contained the hits “Angel” and “It Wasn’t Me.” Since then, he has continued having big songs, experimenting, and making great music. His latest hit is the song “Seasons,” featuring OMI.

See http://theciphershow.com/episode/210/ for full show notes and comments.

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 was starting to blossom.

It wasn’t until years later, as he was finding his way out of the criminal life, that Divine let his passion for music take hold, and began his career as a rapper. But a chance meeting over Twitter with venture capitalist Ben Horowitz would take him on a whole new adventure.

Divine is now a coveted speaker at tech events, a startup founder himself, and still an emcee, as anyone who has listened to his 2014 album Ghetto Rhymin’ will attest.

See http://theciphershow.com/episode/211/ for full show notes and comments.

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. Bobby became a megastar with his 1988 solo album Don’t Be Cruel, whose hits like “My Prerogative” and “Every Little Step” helped usher in the New Jack Swing phenomenon. Following several years of nearly non-stop touring, his followup LP, 1992’s Bobby, continued the streak with the hits “Humpin’ Around” and “Good Enough.” Today, following years of New Edition reunions, reality TV, a memoir, and much more, Bobby is back to his first love—performing.

We talked to Bobby about growing up in Boston, highlights of his time with New Edition, finding his footing as a solo artist, his relationship to hip-hop through the years, and much more.

See http://theciphershow.com/episode/212/ 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.

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, he has helped shape the sound and focus of his hometown scene, and played a large role in bringing it to the attention of the wider world. But Trae is not only notable for his rapping. In 2008, the city of Houston awarded him his own day, and Trae Day has become an annual tradition.

His latest project is Tha Truth, Pt. 3.

See http://theciphershow.com/episode/214/ for full show notes and comments.

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 it, “authentically hip-hop and authentically Christian,” and his music, which has incorporated everything from Southern rap sounds to soul samples to rock guitars, shows that he has stayed true to that aim.

Lecrae has managed to expand far outside the confines of religious music in order to bring his message to a mainstream audience—as you can tell from his number one, gold-selling album, two Grammys, and best-selling memoir.

Lecrae’s brand-new album, All Things Work Together, is out September 22nd.

See http://theciphershow.com/episode/215/ for full show notes and comments.

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 influential underground rap crew the Boot Camp Clik.

As a solo artist, Rock has released a number of great mixtapes - including our favorite, 2010’s Rockin’ Out West. But despite several record deals, he’s never released a proper solo album, until now. Rock has just released ‘Rockness A.P.’ on Digital Deja Vu Records. The “A.P.” stands for “after Price,” and the album shows Rock making his way in the world after the 2015 death of his partner.

See http://theciphershow.com/episode/216/ for full show notes and comments.

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 nights on Sundays, presided over by Funkmaster Flex, were legendary.

So it only makes sense that Fred would grow up to become one of the best rappers out there. His intricate punchlines and metaphors are the stuff of mixtape legend, and his talent has led him to collaborate with some of the biggest rappers, DJs, and producers in the game. Fred’s talent has also been recognized by XXL, who annointed him one of their Freshman class in 2011, alongside Mac Miller, Meek Mill, Yelawolf, and some guy named Kendrick. Fred’s newest project, out this past August, is Gordo.

See http://theciphershow.com/episode/217/ for full show notes and comments.

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 become its leader. As early as 1981, he was already getting press attention as one of the best dancers out there in the still-new form of b-boying or breaking, and he invented many of the moves we still associate with breaking today.

Crazy Legs and the Rock Steady Crew would make a series of genre-changing appearances: in movies like Wild Style, Beat Street, and Flashdance; bringing hip-hop to Europe as part of the historic New York City Rap Tour; and even recording a hit album.

After b-boying’s popularity dipped and many of the original dancers retired, Crazy Legs reinvigorated the Rock Steady Crew in the early 1990s, spurring them and b-boying on to even greater heights - performing at Lincoln Center, winning a prestigious New York Dance and Performance Award, and much more.

We spoke to Crazy Legs at on on the playground AND in the Principal’s office at PS 163 in on the Upper West Side, the home of Rock Steady Park.

See http://theciphershow.com/episode/218/ for full show notes and comments.

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 just that song and “Christmas Rappin’.” Even before stardom, Blow was a busy DJ and performer who was sharing bills with the likes of old-school legends DJ Hollywood and Eddie Cheeba.

And after he broke big—with the help of his manager Russell Simmons—Blow stayed on top, releasing a long string of albums through most of the 1980s and also producing for other artists like the Fat Boys and Oran “Juice” Jones.

See http://theciphershow.com/episode/219/ for full show notes and comments.

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 addition to that, Jack is also a talented sketch comedian and writer, stand-up, and even a singer. He got his start working as a writer, warm-up act, and all around right hand man to comedian Lil Duval, before breaking out on his own and moving from Atlanta to New York City. 50 quickly noticed his popular skits, and soon Jack had become the website’s breakout star.

He quickly moved from the computer screen to the television screen, starring in several seasons of Nick Cannon’s show Wild ‘N Out. And his latest venture is a singing career. He’s released a song with Nore, and has shared the stage with Musiq Soulchild.

See http://theciphershow.com/episode/221/ for full show notes and comments.

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 to boycotting the Grammys with Public Enemy and the Fresh Prince, there’s very little Bill hasn’t done.

But most importantly, Bill Adler is a Christmas music obsessive. Every year since 1982, he’s created a mix of seasonal music that he actually likes, called the Christmas Jollies. And the past five years, we’ve been lucky enough to sit down with him to discuss the music on it.

You can find this year’s collection here, and several other past volumes can be found elsewhere on our SoundCloud page.

See http://theciphershow.com/episode/228/ for full show notes and comments.

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 is different.

Sky approached us last month with the idea of having an in-depth conversation to tease out the themes and ideas in his awesome new record. In Celebration of Us, easily his most topical project to date, deals with police violence, gentrification, discrimination, validation, and ultimately what it means to be, as Sky is, a black man raising a black boy in America today.

He wanted to have the talk at a place near to his heart, so we met at Mike’s Coffee Shop. Mike’s is a Brooklyn diner that has been a staple of the rapper’s life since childhood, and remains one now that he has a child — his newborn son Miles — of his own.

See http://theciphershow.com/episode/231/ for full show notes and comments.

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 past May, we went to the festival to hang out and talk to the performers, and on this episode and the next one, you’ll hear the results. This time, you’ll find conversations with Rapsody, Grieves, K-Salaam, Sa-Roc, and Prof. So sit back, relax, and enjoy the first half of The Cipher’s Soundset special.

See http://theciphershow.com/episode/241/ for full show notes and comments.

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 internet, and everywhere in between to find the perfect batch of great holiday music, and then shares it with his select mailing list, and with us. Now, we talk to him about some of this year’s selections.

You can hear Bill’s mix in its entirety at our Soundcloud page.

See http://theciphershow.com/episode/251/ for full show notes and comments.

Birmingham-based Cure Leukaemia has announced record financial results that will see the charity double the amount of funding for research nurses in the West Midlands.

Richard Lutz remembers Mike Wakelam, a major force in medical research who died suddenly of a suspected Covid-19 infection.

This is the first episode of The Church of Whats Happening Now. I got together with my friend Lee Syatt and we talked about whatever was on our mind. Everything from weightloss secrets, to cats, to music and movies. This will only get better as it goes so stay tuned momo's!

Stay Black!

Joey and Lee talk about everything from cats, sports and music. Joey's childhood friend Loubs calls in. Originally aired 9/3/12. 

Joey and Lee chat about music, comedy, tv and life. Mr. T, one of Joeys teachers calls in.

Originally aired 09/05/2012.

Joey and Lee get ready for the first week of the NFL season, and more important betting season. Joey tells us about something great he saw at the ATM drive thru. And childhood friend Greg calls in. 

Streamed 09/09/2012

Joey and Lee talk about the anniversary of 9/11, techniques for losing weight and Joey tells a story about when he hid in a dumpster all day.

Joey's ex - girl friend Devan calls in. They talk about their crazy days in Seattle.

Recorded live 09/10/2012

Joey and Lee talk about his betting days, his days as a thief, and Joey gives dating advice to Albert, a 50 man from Boston.

Tim, the driver in the Jewlery store heist calls in to talk about the upcomming anniversary. 

Live Streamed on 09/10/2012.

Joey and Lee talk about Joey's trip to the mid west, people standing on line, stinky people on planes and much much more. 

Get it together!

Recorded 09/17/2012

Joey and Lee talk music, the best comedy movies, and about the character of the people in this country. Joey's childhood friend Martin calls in for one of the best conversations so far. 

Live streamed on 09/19/2012

Joey and Lee talk about UFC 152, the NFL games, and more childhood stories. Joey's friend, who also happens to be named Joey, calls in to talk about growing up in North Bergen and Joey Diaz' best friend and the other Joey's cousin,  Darren. You won't want to miss this conversation.

Recorded live on 09/23/2012

Joey and Lee talk about living life to the fullest, what it was like robbing gas stations, and why he cant go back to Seattle. Joey's friend since summer school, George, calls in.

Streamed Live on 09/24/2012

Joey and Lee talk with his friend Mike who was with Joey in Colorado durring the cocaine "explosion." Listen to find out what kind of animal tranquilizer Joey used to take to relax. 

Streamed live on 09/26/2012

Joey and Lee talk about his time in Baltimore, how lucky he is to have his group of friends, and how to live your life without caring how other people think. Joey's friend Steve calls in to talk about music and the Pink Floyd Story.

Streamed Live on 10/01/2012

Joey and Lee talk about Joey's upcoming blood test, other "medical tests." and some of the teachers Joey had as a kid. Joey's friend Uncle Mike called in to talk about their days as "running partners" in Boulder and later in Los Angeles. And you'll never guess who contacted Joey on Facebook.

Streamed live on 10/03/2012

Joey and Lee talk about what it means to have character, how to be confident and what confidence can do for you. Also, even though Joey is from New Jersey, you may be surprised to find out how he feels about the Boston Red Sox. Joey's adopted brother Mike calls in and they talk about their days living in Mike's basement.

Streamed live on 10/05/2012

Joey and Lee talk about fake people, being upfront with people and what Joey thinks people should know when looking for a new car. Joey's friend from North Bergen, Guy, calls in and talks about music and growing up in North Bergen.

Live Streamed on October 8, 2012

Joey and Lee talk about how much going home can help someone in need, what it means to have a women in your life and weed stories. Speaking of which, George calls back to tell us what happened when he left a pot cookie out at his 91 year old grandmother's house.

Streamed live on 10/10/2012

Joey and Lee come together on a Special Sunday edition of The Church of What's Happening Now. They talk about UFC 153, weight loss problems and tips, and people on twitter. Joey tells the story of when he first got interested in the UFC and met Anderson SIlva and his manager.

Streamed live on 10/14/12

Joey and Lee talk about Bruce Lee, weed, the UFC and the merits of spending an entire day watching football. Joey's friend Danny B. calls in to after losing touch with Joey for a few years. They talk about Danny's betting service, Joey bringing him guns from Colorado, and Danny's brother who robbed a bank with fishing wire. You wont believe which sports figure Danny has working for him at his company. 

Brought to you by Audible.com. Got to audible.com/church for a free audiobook download.

Streamed live on 10/15/2012

Welcome back! Joey and Lee talk about Lynyrd Skynyrd, working out and much mucch more. This is a crazy episode. Find out what happens when Joey gets too high before he goes to the YMCA. Joeys friend Political Pete calls in and they talk about the cop owned strip club, the Meadowlands Inn. Finally, Joey breaks down one of the greatest movie monologues of all time! Dont miss it.

This episode is brought to you by Audible.com. Go to audiblepodcast.com/church for your free audio book download.

Streamed Live on 10/17/2012

Joey and Lee catch up after a long weekend. Joey breaks down how people used to make "street money." Find out why Joey hates restraining orders. Joey's friend who later became a cop in North Bergen calls into the podcast. Joey plays a scene from The Pope of Grewnich Village. 

Streamed live on 10/22/2012

Joey and Lee with guest Chucky from Joey's days playing basketball in North Bergen. Listen to fond out how to get into Madison Square Garden without a ticket.

Recorded live on 10/24/2012

Joey and Lee have another special edition Sunday gamblng podcast. Joey also gives Lee dating advice. Special Gambling guest Danny B calls in again.

Recorded live on 10/28/2012

Joey and Lee talk about Michael Vick, getting more from your life, and the movie Angel Heart. Joey's friend Jim calls in. He was Joey's boss at Boulder Toyota and taught him about writing down goals every day.

Streamed live on 10/19/2012

Joey and Lee talk about the recent tragedy on the East Coast and what it means for Obama. And Joey's friend Loubs calls in with the update from North Bergen.  Finally, Lee's most uncomfortable moment in life caught on tape. Words cannot describe what takes place.

Streamed live on 10/31/2012

Joey and Lee are back. Joey talks about losing his dear friend Marilyn, the movie Once Upon a Time in the West, and some of the famous singers the Joey cannot stand. Joey's friend Mike calls in to talk about elections in North Bergen.

Streamed live on 11/05/2012

Joey and Lee talk about the election, tattoos, weight loss and much more. George from MMA junkie calls in to talk about health and give some UFC picks. Hear where network tv was 25 years ago.

Streamed live on 11/07/2012

Joey and Lee talk about his trips to Chicago and San Diego, Joey's regret about not joining the armed forces, and Music from the Santana Brothers. Joeys friend, also named Joey, calls back to talk about reading his dad's name at the Vietnam memorial and to tell North Bergen Stories.

Recorded live on 11/11/12

Joey and Lee talk about the upcoming anniversary of Joey kidnapping the guy with a machine gun. They also talk about dating, thank you notes, and the reason why Joey picks some movies over others. The Machine, Bert Kreischer joins us on the podcast today. Dont miss it.

Streamed live on 11/15/2012 

Joey is back from a weekend in Arizona. Joey talks about his feelings on immigrants speaking English, the situation in Israel, and weight loss. Speaking of weight loss Mike Dolce of the Dolce Diet calls in. Check out his holiday recipe book and his website the dolediet.com. Also check out our sponsor Onnit.com, maker of Alpha Brain, new Mood and much much more. Use the code "Church" for a special discount.

11/19/2012

Happy Thanksgiving! Joey and Lee talk about a dream Joey had, Joey getting way too high, and Rodney Dangerfield. An amazing call from Alex, Joey's roommate in the halfway house makes for an amazing podcast.

Visit Onnit.com and use the promo code CHURCH for a special discount

Streamed live on 11/21/2012

Joey and Lee talk about Thanksgivng, Marvin Gaye, and Football on another Sunday gambling addition. Danny B calls back in and tells stories about his brother and also seeing Amare Stodamire. We also have our first podcast with two calls. Joey's friend Jimmy calls in. Jimmy was the person who orignally convinced Joey to move to Colorado.

This episode is brought to you by Onnit.com. Use promo code CHURCH to get a special discount.

Streamed live on 11/25/2012

Joey and Lee talk about Joey's marriage and his recent anniversary, working out, Jiu Jitsu and the Charles Bronson movie Hard TImes. Einstein from 10th Planet West LA calls in and gives Joey and Lee work out advice.

The podcast is sponsored by Onnit.com, use the code CHURCH for a discount at checkout.

Streamed live on 11/26/2012