Culture Cypher Radio | photo by DL10 | @_d1l0_
Culture Cypher Radio January Chart: A new day (same as the old day), an abundance of jewels from MF DOOM, new music by Moor Mother & Billy Woods, The Visionaries, and more
2021; a new year dawning in a beautiful and cruel world. COVID-19 is still with us, snuffing out the lives of our loved ones, friends, and neighbors. Racism, homophobia, transphobia, and a host of other social ills are still integral parts of the fabric of America. And on top of all that, MF DOOM is gone. Because of all this, reflecting on the music for this month’s episode is bittersweet. I am not of the opinion that music/art/culture is “frivolous” in the face of historical moments like this. I am also of the opinion that we are always living in historical moments like this, so we might as well enjoy the great gift that is human creativity.
For those of us who are marginalized by race, gender, physical disability, sexual orientation, etc., there is no “new day” in America. There is, at best, a slick reshuffling of the same old deck. Listening to and thinking about MF DOOM — a British-born Black Man who grew up in the US, but was denied re-entry into the country in 2010 — it is hard for me to celebrate this new year or a changing Presidential administration, considering the inhumane (and historically unchanging) character of this country’s policies around immigration, incarceration and policing.
That being said, the music included in this week’s episode of Culture Cypher Radio is meant to pay tribute to those that we’ve lost and do right by them by continuing to struggle. There’s a healthy selection of DOOM gems, including a recording of him in 1997 freestyling on the air for Stretch and Bobbito’s radio show. There are older gems from Roy Ayers, and Kid Creole & The Coconuts as well as new music from Moor Mother & Billy Woods, The Visionaries, Apifera, and more. This show and the music within it is a tiny ray of hope, or at least, that’s what I intended it to be. Maybe it will spark a little bit of joy and energy to sustain us in the fights to come.
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1. MF DOOM – “Rhymes Like Dimes” (Fondle Em’)
2. A Tribe Called Quest – “Stressed Out (Bjork’s Say Dip remix)” (Jive)
3. The Visionaries – “Gold Medal” (Visionaries Crew)
4. AMANI & King Vision Ultra – “Water (ft. maasai)” (PTP)
5. Moka Only – “Hi” (Urbnet)
6. Cut Chemist – “Moonlightin’ with Biz ft. Biz Markie ” (A Stable Sound)
7. Kid Creole & The Coconuts – “I’m A Wonderful Thing Baby” (Sire)
8. Roy Ayers – “Reaching The Highest Pleasure” (BBE)
9. Apollo Brown & Planet Asia – “Avant-Garde” (MMG)
10. The Abstract Orchestra – “Fancy Clown” (ATA Records)
Playlist
Andres – “Soul Brother, Never Be Another”
MF DOOM – “Rhymes Like Dimes”
Moor Mother & Billy Woods – “Rapunzel”
Reef The Lost Cauze & Haj of Dumhi – “Emerald City ft. Side Effect & Michele Q”
Seba Kepstaad – “Friday That’s Good”
Seba Kepstaad – “Our People ft. Quelle Chris”
Dezron Douglas & Brandee Younger – “Cofee”
Dezron Douglas & Brandee Younger – “Gospel Trane”
Visionaries – “Gold Medal”
Apifera – “Enek Hamaguro”
Apifera – “Lake VU”
A Tribe Called Quest – “Stressed Out (Bjork remix)”
Bobby Hutcherson – “Montara (The Roots remix)”
Anti-Pop Consortium – “Disorientation ft. Apani B. Fly MC”
AMANI & King Vision Ultra – “Water ft. massai”
SACH – “Last Night”
MF DOOM live on the Stretch Armstrong & Bobbito show 1997
MF DOOM – “Hey!”
Black Thought – “The Magnificent”
Gangstarr – “Above The Clouds ft. Inspektah Deck”
Ol Diry Bastard – “Brooklyn Zoo (Lord Digga remix)”
Cornelius – “Mic Check”
Little Shawn – “Check It Out Y’all”
4Hero – “Sophia”
Apollo Brown & Planet Asia – “Avant Garde”
Carl Bradney – “Slipping into Darkness”
Erykah Badu – “The Healer”
Moka Only – “Hi”
Jazzy Jeff – “We Live In Philly Baby ft. Jill Scott”
Ras G – “Alkebulan”
Ras G – “Beyond The Sky”
Janelle Monae – “Dance or Die ft. Saul Williams”
The Roots – “The Show”
Skull Eclipses – “Pillars”
DistantStarr – “What Do I Know?”
Roy Ayers – “Reaching the Highest Pleasure”
Cut Chemist – “Moonlightin’ with Biz ft. Biz Markie”
Tuxedo – “Number 1”
Kid Creole & The Coconuts – “I’m A Wonderful Thing Baby”
Matthew Larkin Cassell – “Heaven”
Sampa The Great – “Any Day”
Wilma Archer – “Last Sniff ft. MF DOOM”
Madvillain – “Great Day”
Madvillain – “Raid”
DJ Muggs – “Assasination Day ft. Kool G. Rap & MF DOOM”
MF DOOM – “Go With the Flow”
Scinez of Life – “Yikes! ft. MF DOOM”
The Heliocentrics – “Distant Star ft. Percee P & MF DOOM”
Abstract Orchestra – “Fancy Clown”