Culture Cypher Radio January Chart: Remembering lost heroes and sparking inspiration in dark times

We’ve only just arrived in 2022 and the past month or so has been difficult to say the least. In addition to increasing COVID infections and the resulting physical, emotional, economic and social strain that they have caused, we have been faced with the weight of the deaths of several of our culture’s leading creative lights. Coming in an unbelievably short time, the deaths of cultural critics Bell Hooks and Greg Tate, the actor Sidney Poitier, and Philly jazz legends James Mtume and vibraphonist and composer Khan Jamal have left indelible wounds that are not certain to heal with time. Personally, these people were my intellectual and aesthetic north stars, the fixed points by which I’ve been allowed to draw inspiration and cultivate my own creativity. Despite all of this the show must go on.

For this month’s show, I wanted to pay direct tribute to Mtume and Jamal with short mini-sets of their music. By playing bold, exploratory music by Little Simz, Earl Sweatshirt or Nigerian funk/psych-rock legends, Monomono, I tried to pay homage to the sheer breadth of Hooks critical gaze or the colorfulness of Tate’s flamboyant intellect. As always, there are stories within and around these songs and connections to be drawn between them. Ultimately, the purpose of this music is for it to act as a facilitator of joy and my goal as always is to make us all smile or spark a bit of inspiration in a dark time.

Listen back to this month’s episode of Culture Cypher Radio below and check out the January chart.

1. Shortie No Mass – Here Goes Nothing

2. Miles Davis – Mtume

3. Lord Kayso – Baba Roots

4. Earl Sweatshirt – God Laughs

5. Little Simz – Little Q Pt. 2

6. Scienz of Life feat. MF DOOM – Yikes!

7. Monomono – Awareness Is What You Need

8. Martina Topley-Bird – Wyman

9. Horace Silver – Won’t You Open Up Your Senses

10. Khan Jamal – Breath Of Life

Playlist
Miles Davis — Mtume (take 1)
Miles Davis — Black Satin
Phyllis Hyman — You Know How to Love Me
Mtume — Juicy Fruit
De la Soul feat. Shortie No Mass — In The Woods
Shortie No Mass — Here Goes Nothing
Shortie No Mass — Sunday In OCtober
Amber Sunshower — Running Song
Bahamadia — Wordplay
Beastie Boys — Paul Revere
Earl Sweatshirt — Titanic
Earl Sweatshirt feat. Armand Hammer — Tubula Rosa
Earl Sweatshirt — God Laughs
Lord Kayso feat. Chris Decsatro — Beyond Belief
Lord Kayso — Baba Roots
The Awakening — Glory To The Sun
Khan Jamal — Breath Of Life
Khan Jamal — The Known Unkown
Khan Jamal — Infinity
James Brown — Give It Up or Turn It Loose
Vivki Anderson — Message from the Soul Sisters
Scienz Of Life feat. MF DOOM — Yikes
Massive Attack — Daydreaming
Abstract Mindstate — A Wise Tale
Martina Topley-Bird — Wyman
Common feat. Black Thought, Seun Kuti — When We Move
Common feat. Raphael Saadiq — Get It Right
Little Simz feat. Obongiayar — Point And Kill
Little Simz — Little Q Pt. 2
Premrock feat. ELUCID — Remorse
The Roots — Proceed (Live At Supper Club)
The Roots — Adrenaline (Live at Woodstock 99)
Hideo Shiraki — Groovy Samba
Monomono — Awareness is what you need
Antibalas — Big Man
Butcher Brown — Tidal Wave
Eddou XL — Bop No 10:Jazz
Eddou XL — Bop No 3: Love Pt 1
Gabe Nandez — Ox
King Britt & Chimurenga Rennaisance — Zimbabwe
A Tribe Called Quest — Jazz (We Got)
Horace Silver — Won’t You Open Up Your Senses