Watch Reef The Lost Cauze play WXPN’s Homegrown Live

One of the giants of Philly hip-hop, Reef the Lost Cauze has been rocking stages in Philly and around the world for over twenty years. The West Philly native mixes grizzly and cinematic storytelling with some of the most poignant and profound lyrical turns of phrase you’ll ever hear on the mic, and this summer — in the continuing afterglow of his tremendous 2024 studio LP The Triumphant — Reef joined us for a WXPN Homegrown Live concert.

Backed by his longtime DJ and creative collaborator Todd “Caliph-Now” McConnell, Reef riffed with the crowd in his more playful moments, but was often deeply sincere and reflective. Introducing “Miraculous,” he breaks down the reasons why he has a heavy heart right now; in the song, he steps out into the crowd to talk about how, in light of histories of American oppression, the resilience of all marginalized people is miraculous. His cool, calm, and collected wordplay is on full display too in “Old Boy,” which he raps on stage and under the lights, showing his mastery of bars in the truest hip-hop sense.

Though he doesn’t have any scheduled shows at the moment, Reef is always active on the scene, and the best way to keep up with him is on his Instagram, his LinkTree, and his Bandcamp page.