If you followed this show for some time, you know that we've been extra active lately because we are based in a swing state, so you know, there's a lot of movement on the ground in Phoenix. We've also had to move around the country quite a bit, and we've tried to get as much content from different parts of the map and bring it back to this show just to provide perspectives and to grow as individuals and as
hosts of this show as well. But longtime listeners might know this, many newcomers to the show may not know this. A longtime friend of the show is someone that has kind of supported us from the sidelines in some instances and has supported us in the studio a few times as well. He's a person that we've known for a long time. And you know, again, those of you that have listened to the show for a long time, you know that myself and Q we have a background in
hip hop broadcasting. You know, we're DJs, and you know we play songs on radio that we think are dope, and the individual who is joining us today is one such individual whose songs were dope and we played them on the radio. In fact, for a long time we featured him on every show Let's Go, and we've been hoping to have another conversation because he has done a
lot of growing in his own political career. Both Q and myself we hit our our stride as broadcasters and really our origin story as Civic Cipher and the Protest of twenty twenty. Same can be said of today's guests. Uh, today's guest, I mean to say, and you know, today's
conversation has been a long time coming. So we're checking in on a friend where we're going to get a sense of, you know, what he's been up to, and we're hoping that you will be able to see some of yourself in his story, because he's shown us that a lot of things that we thought were these impossible cliffs to scale are very attainable for people who want to get involved and who want to get engaged. And so we're hoping that today's conversation translates and that you're
able to derive some meaning from it. I go by the name Rams's Jah and I am Q Ward and this is Civic Cipher with our special guest. He goes by the name of Rocky Tirade Yo Yo yo Yo. It's good, awesome back. Absolutely, man. I also want to make sure that we have your your daytime name. Yeah, yeah, because you know Rocky tyra that's that's we know you as Rocky Tyrade. And again for those who are are still becoming familiar, I employ you to check out Rocky Tyrae.
Check out his music. He's one of them ones. The type of music that we like to play.
Thank you.
Rocky is one one of those artists that is really talking about the stuff that really matters and is really meaningful in the music is dope. So said, you know, we've we've known that for a long time and a lot of people thank you, but you, thank you, thank you.
I always appreciate that from you, man like y'all are to the coolest to the coolest. I here, man, I'm honored to be close with y'all and always admire your artistic and creative perspectives and things of that nature. So that type of analysis of my art is very much well received.
Yeah, thank you, thank you. It's been a very long path that we've walked in terms of being entertainers, in terms of you know, working in this field and of course this pivot. You're one of the people whose music translated, and your music wasn't just performance, you were really about it.
So would you say that it was a pivot, because I mean, I guess a knowing rocky tirade first. That's how I was introduced to my brother, is that it was more of an evolution than a pivot. I think this is a path that he was already on, even as a creator. So it's not like he made a left or right. He just made his path way wider and that mug started going out there you go, because so it was. It's been a really really cool evolution to witness.
Sure, once upon a time, seeing him with a with a microphone on a stage, you're like, yeah, okay, that makes sense, he's an artist. And then you know a little later, you see him with a bullhorn and a bunch of signs in a crowd. The crowd is behind them instead of in front of him, and you're like, yeah, that totally makes sense. I've never even thought of it like that. Yeah.
I always thought about the the the engagement, you know, in terms of like how we channel the way in which we creatively express ourselves in one manner or another.
Y'all being purveyors of music. You know, there's you cultivate an experience, and you're cultivating an experience a civic cipher and and it's the same thing, like we're kind of am seeing this event or a group and instead of it being stuff that pertains to like artistic expression, it's you know, policy and you know, family focused conversations and things of that nature. Sure, so it is somewhat of it. It's the same thing, you know. Yeah, well I like way Q said it, which was, you know, kind of
an evolution of it. But I want to I want to go or I rather, I want you to go into that sow your your daytime name. What you're known as in political circles is Jacob Rayford. And of course we know you as an artist, but you're an activist,
you're a political strategist. Do do our listeners a favor talk a little bit about, you know, your overall brand and what it is that you offer the public, because I know that you're a multifaceted creator and you could of course articulate it better than than I can.
I mean, you know.
Again, I just look at it as a form of expression, you know, whether it's like you know, writing music and creating songs and you know, performing on stage. Instead of it speaking to a specific subject that you would find in music and stuff like that, it's centered around policy. I didn't necessarily put two and two together until maybe midway into this evolution, I would say, as Q put it.
You know, I started in the twenty twenty demonstrations and we just kind of showed up because there really wasn't any other support system out there that time. And you know,
you're talking about twenty twenty. The last time we had something out there was twenty seventeen, and you know, because of the murder of your Org Floyd, because of the murder of Dean Johnson, you know, people were upset and they're frustrated, and then coupled with the shared collective trauma of like COVID and things of that nature, it was just the you know, these weird things kind of simultaneously occurring, and you know, we were just kind of worried about
there not being the resources to take care of these twenty year olds and these seventeen year olds and these twenty two year olds who were out there and didn't know how to say, protect themselves from tear gas, and you know how to you know, tend to a wound or you know, the proper procedures of making sure that your personal information doesn't get snatched up so you don't
get docked or harmed or things of that nature. And so we just kind of showed up at somewhat like unofficial medics, and then that just kind of translated into unofficially you know, or being a organizer and bridging that being the mortar in the brick wall when it comes to moments where we needed to like unify, we needed to have a collective message, or we needed to you know, have that collective sense of like courage in very dangerous
and fearful moments. And you know, I hate to use that kind of that parallel between music and like, you know, policy and advocacy because it sounds a little almost performative. When I felt like that, I don't want it to be interpreted in that way. What I mean is like the same elements that you learned as a performer, you are able to, you know, put into practice in these very random experiences where knowing how to read a crowd and knowing how to engage any certain scenarios is literally
a matter of life and death. In so many critical moments and you know, just kind of finding our feet or finding our footing. We ended up creating what was called the Wee Rising Project, and you know, we held it down for about five and a half months, speaking of policy advocacy, speaking to addressing police brutality, and most importantly registering voters so we can you know, stop maga
at the front door. You know, that was one of the most incredible moments, like taking this collective body and help and us transforming ourselves into a political body, and you know, using that to you know, address down ballot races that like definitively and immediately impact us. And then of course we had all the police brutality stuff that would emerge that was no different than the cointeil pro issues during the nineteen sixties and seventies civil rights movements.
And and but you know, we emerged from the other side, you know, maybe bruised and battered a little bit, but you know, encouraged to continue this moment and and and you know, perpetuate this this advocacy work. And that's when we started pushing for the Neighborhood Organized Crisis Assistance Program, addressing victimists non violent dispatches through a holistic unit that's trained to look at these type of dispatches through care
and not criminality. That is what really started the building blocks of the transformation of the Community Assistance Program in the City of Phoenix UH into which is still an ongoing project down in the City of Phoenix, but something that can serve as an alternative UH to the traditional police engagement with communities that because of a lack of understanding of specific behavioral health sciences and things of that nature, you know, it has led to police brutality and has
led to a misusage of you know, force. And that is when I personally continued my my individual journey. I joined the ACOU and then continued my advocacy work there as a working board member, and then ended up joining you know, volunteering for the UH the Democratic Party as what was called a precinct committee person as someone who is a volunteer but politically empowered to vote on behalf of my legislative district, to vote on behalf of my county.
And once I found out what that definition was, I was, I was I was upset, and you know, because I felt that I was politically educated enough but discovering that I didn't know about something so critical and important to moving a party forward and injecting your perspective as a disproportionally affected person. That's something that inspired me to continue
my work forward. And that's when I ended up, you know, really kind of evolving into this space as someone who works on policy on a daily basis and works in the political structure on a daily basis.
It is It is such a.
Out of body experience, almost listening to what I described as an evolution, but you telling that story kind of visually and mentally painted a picture of what that looked like. Twenty twenty was kind of the perfect storm you had. MAGA mixed with the protest, mixed with the pandemic, mixed with the kinetic real life devaluing of the life of black and brown people, all happening at the same time. So very easy to understand. What made all of us show up initially?
Right? Right?
What is it that kept you engaged in that process? And the reason why I ask that question is that role that you described that you were kind of frustrated that you didn't know about before. There are so many ways that us normal folks can be more involved can be active participants in our civic duties, in the political process,
but most of us don't think that's realistic. Like people have said to Ramses and I before, sometimes very serious, sometimes joking, y'all should run for office, and we're almost always like yeah, right, like we couldn't do that. And I think most people feel like we couldn't. We couldn't run for city council, or we couldn't run for mayor, or we couldn't play an active role and legislating the
community that we live in. But it sounds like when you went outside you discovered that you could, and once you knew that you could, it's like you couldn't help it. Like, Okay, now that I know I can have some impact, there's no way I'm not going to stay engaged and stay an active participant in the change that I want to see. That's just my read from over here in my seat. You can touch on that a little bit.
I mean, we won't be I feel like if somebody wants who they can, I mean, look at raf rafail Warnock, Like that's somebody who worked within the within this congregation. Look at Tim Wallas, this is someone who was was a was a coach and you know, served in the National Guard. I mean, there's there's we have the ability to show up and be a part of this space.
And I think that you know, in a representative democracy, who better in some of these cases to be a part of that, uh than someone who comes directly from that that that space. And I feel that what we've seen over the past couple of years is recognize that the around the way person can have a space in politics. And that's why it's no coincidence that we have a lot of policy focused on middle class, working class, working families and things of that nature, because all it takes
is a little bit of drive, momentum, collectivized energy. But I guess what inspired me to do it or continue to show up maybe a no issue and then maybe seriously there's always something to be done, Like while working on the No Cap Advocacy Coalition, you know, I was also again falling it into my work as a precat committee person and then joining the Black Engagement Committee and then kind of finding out about the Maricopa County Democratic Party and what all this means, and you know, just
the the institutional aspect of like politics and the need for us to continue to show up in these spaces because you know, if we're able to positively affect change in twenty twenty, we can do it in twenty twenty two, and then we all that we did that, and when it comes to younger progressives and younger Democrats and whatnot, I think that that real that that nucleus, that moment, that that big bang moment or whatnot, was going back to twenty twenty and you can like see that reverberate
throughout what happened in twenty twenty two and just this kind of outward advocacy and expression of things that are more in line with our working class families, in middle middle class families. You know, as we continue to fall into what is now this election cycle, it's it's no coincidence.
And knowing that that rock can create waves is what continues to inspire push me to show up, because I mean, who knows where this thing can go if we can continue to to to just show up and be involved and engage ourselves in a way in which we're able to.
I want to ask you something because you're probably in a position to answer it, that is, unlike most people, what would you offer to people insofar as voting is concerned in terms of like advice or motivation or you know whatever. People who might be conflicted, might not like their choices. People who you know, wherever they are, stress the importance of voting and how you might bring yourself to do it if you were in a position like that.
When it comes to voting, we need to understand that
politics is a structure, it's a system. It's a network of different policies, different tenets, and different ideas and things that candidates bring to the table that can either help or hinder, you know, progression forward for our families being in Arizona, being being in America, you know, and we need to recognize that track records speaks best and looking for instance at the Biden Harris administration and quite frankly, this is the most family focused administration since l b J.
When you talk about the way in which we've positively affected access to to to medication, how we have expanded jobs in the tech industry with the chips at how we expanded opportunities by providing financial aid to HBCUs, you know, that is a track record that speaks to the importance of showing up to vote for the work that Harris Walls would bring to the table. And when you look at the track record of say, you know, Donald Trump
and JD. E. Vance, and not only just their rhetoric, but the things that transpired over the during the Trump Pence administration, when he mismanaged a once in a century pandemic, when he mismanaged a a critical point in social history in America, and just the the chaos that he enabled
and perpetuating through the way in which he governed. That should inspire anybody to want to show up and ensure that we don't end up in a space where that type of rhetoric, that type of policy can now only continue, but continue knowing that they are empowered or emboldened by the Supreme Court and by the outward effect and chaos that came with January sixth. They are telling us, and they've been telling us for nine years. They've been showing
us for three years, this is a sliding scale. And whether you're black or Indigenous, or trans or Latino or a white American, everybody will be affected detrimentally by the Trump Advanced ticket if they were to get to the other side. We don't need to look at it from how you identify if you are a lifelong Democrat, if
you're a lifelong Republican. In this is folks who believe in continuing the importance of having a representative democracy and those who are willingly willing to put their hands up and let us slide into what is academically defined as a fascist regime.
That in itself should inspire you to.
Get up and vote. You can go to I will
vote dot com and figure out your registration status. You can go to the Maricopa County Democratic Party or your legislative district and look at the ballot propositions and and understand why a collect a community is voting against specific propositions such as three one four, voting four things such as one three nine, the first one being the second coming of SB ten seventy, that's proposition three one four, and abortion access, protecting abortion access being through voting yes
on proposition one three nine. These are things that immediately impact you, and that is why we need to make sure that we have the ability to vote. You can go to I will vote dot and figure out how to vote. You can go to rides to Vote and figure out how and get transportation two poles, and there's
the tools are right there in front of us. The information and the obviousness are in front of us, and we should be inspired to show up and defend our family and defend our ability to have a fair and equitable future by simply voting and continuing to show up and hold our elected officials accountable and make sure that we're informed so we don't repeat these steps in the near future.
Yeah, I heard you say that the former president mismanaged a once in a lifetime pandemic. If that was due to incompetency, yeah, it'd be different. But that was a smug, arrogant, callous, apathetic handling of that pandemic. It's not just the category categorically defined, you know, it's the way that he handled it that makes it so bad. All none of us are perfect, and everybody can make a mistake, like you said, once in a lifetime that have been difficult for anyone.
But his lack of ability to ever even look around to experts and ask for.
Help, genuine apathy, genuine narcissism, like codified through the work of an administration. That is what we had seen before. And we are at the all but literal fork in the road. We can repeat that on steroids because they're telling us we be able to do what they would do in terms of being a dictator on day one.
Or we can continue to push policies that have been positively affecting our families, that has been lowering inflation, that has been giving elected officials across the country in local and statewide positions the ability to fight back against corporations that are exploiting families.
The choice is obvious, Yes, choice is obvious.
I wanted to make sure we didn't push past that and we won't even talk about January sixth if that could be a whole the whole show by itself, right, this election is of the utmost importance. The state are the highest they've ever been. I know we've heard that said it before. This is not hyperbole, folks. This is the real deal. However, this election is not the finish line,
but there is still work to do. From your vantage point, what is next for us and how can people be how can people remain engaged and what are some action steps that we can take with us moving forward from now?
I would ask people to be involved in their local political party. It's you have what is called because you know you have you have a school districts and things of that nature. You have what's called in the state of Arizona at least, and I know this is something that's across the country, but speaking genuine, genuine or generally,
you have what's called a legislative district. And using Arizona as an example, you within our legislative district districts, you have where you're a state committee, I mean your state committee, your state senators, and your state representatives are housed. We have two in state of Arizona. Our state representatives are too and and one state senator per legislative district. And within this space is how you get involved in the most immediate and impactful way by becoming a volunteer in
this space as a precinct committee person. And that is someone who is politically empowered to vote on policy, to run for office when you're within your legislative district, to impact policy in your county party, and to run for office within your your your county county party as well. And then you know, this is how, through engagement and in mass representation, that we can continue to push policy
that benefits people across the board. So that what's next part is continuing to stay engaged, having these conversations when we're not facing an existential crisis, and you know, continuing to stay informed about what's going on over down in DC with our executive branch, what's going on in Congress, with our with our congressional folks, so we elected the office, and making sure that we play an active role in, you know, building that momentum around policy advocacy and political engagement.
So you mentioned earlier, and I think you kind of implied it a bit right now, keeping our elected officials accountable for what it is that they say. So let's assume all the best outcomes for the upcoming election and it's not as doom and gloom as it could otherwise be. As Q mentioned, you know, that's the starting line. And as you mentioned again, what we need to do is keep our elected officials in the hot seat, keep them accountable to what it is that they say they're going
to do. What does that look like for people who've already you know, cast their vote, who are celebrating on the other side of election, or maybe there's a different reality on the other side of the election. How do those people hold their elected representatives accountable either on local or state level or nationally.
I'll I would say continue to to follow your your representatives. There are folks utilizing social media in order to speak to what's going on down at their state legislature, what's going on in there are various elected official offices, and that's the best way to hear it from their perspective, Educate yourself, and then of course, through involving yourself in
local political structures like your legislative district or your county party. UH, you have access to information that would fall through the cracks when it comes to news and our social media outlets and things of that nature. And then of course there's always other like advocacy organizations, auxiliary groups and in nonprofits that are engaged in specific aspects of policy work and policy advocacy.
UH.
And again using Arizona as an example, you have your civic engagement beyond voting, your opportunity for Arizona, your a c ou of Arizona, you know, your a d LCC. You know though, those those types of entities have specific types of objectives and in ways in which they engage policy and politics that you know just by simply following them. You can just stay up to speed on things, and you're not kind of caught with your pants down when you get a ballot that has ten or twelve propositions
and you're searching, you know, hurriedly onlines. You can fill this out and drop it off at your ballot box. You'd already know these things that are taking place because you stay up to speed. And we also have to recognize that when it comes to our communities, you know, we come you know, predominantly from working class and working
family households and whatnot. So there's a lot of things that we just have to prioritize above just being like political nerds and unofficial pundits and stuff like that, just like a lot of other people. And that's totally fine. And that's why using again your social media to follow these folks and follow your elected officials is a way that you can just kind of unconsciously like down load this information into your daily you know, memory bank and lexicon and things of that day.
I don't know what you're going to say. I suspect that I have an idea, but I don't, So I'm just gonna let this one fly. You give me whatever you got both barrels. A lot of folks have made a big deal about black men this election cycle. We are all black men. We are all in a leadership capacity to one degree or another, and our thoughts and voices resonate, they create waves in our community. We have, at least for Q and I, we've tried to be as responsible with that as possible, and I know that
the same is true for you. But every man has to follow his own heart, and every woman has to follow her own heart. I want to give you the opportunity to speak to black men prior to the election, specifically using that microphone in this show. So floor is yours.
I just want to say that when it comes to our demographic, historically we know that we show up, and historically we know that we do what we need to do to leave everything in the ring. We fight for things that are pertinent to our families, our values, our neighborhoods, our communities, and this is no different you know, between
our brothers and our sisters. We created a very important civil rights movement that resulted in things such as breakfast programs and schools and certain tenets that have been incorporated into the the infrastructure of our country. That speaks to the power of the importance of our collectivized power. And we know that multiple demographics have specific conversation around get out the vote, and you know the way in which
media addresses certain conversations around different demographics. And because of us understanding our history and our advocacy work and the importance of intersectional allyship, we know that the conversation isn't about us showing up in mass because we know that we show up in mass it's everybody needs to get up and vote. Everyone on an individual level needs to get up and vote. And just as we've shown up before,
we will show up again. And I believe that, you know, just in the very near future, it will be another example of the power of collectivized voting. And brothers like we, I know they're all proud of one another. And this is as a beautiful moment and like they say, what it's on to be alive?
M Well, listen, Rocky Tirade or Jacob Rayford. I've always appreciated your artistry, and you've known that long before we got to this studio, many many studios ago. I've always appreciated your artistry. But now I can say that I appreciate your activism. I appreciate your your political insight as a political strategist, and I appreciate the intentionality and the motivation that you're able to kind of impart on this community and through our platform to our listeners as well.
I want to make sure that people can continue to partake in all of the goings on in your world. So will you do a kindness and leave any sort of social media or website information order so folksing capping.
Yeah for so Rocky tirade r o q y t y r A, I d on Instagram, on your socials, et cetera, and so on and so. So I just want to say that, like this is very much an emotional time for a lot of individuals, and if you're engaged in any way, shape or form, or if you are just anxious and worried about about the future, just remember to fill your cup, do the things that provide balance to your life, because there's going to be a
need to show up now and in the future. And a little just putting my own my own use myself as an example, my therapist told me you should, Jacob, you advocate for all these things and all these people when you're you going to advocate for yourself. Wow, you know, and that hit me hard and it cast me to take a look at how I digest things, the die, social diet, my spiritual diet, and how to at least
try to be more intentional with that. So the last things I want to say is, please try to be intentional on your spiritual and emotional and social diet.
Right now.
We're going to get to the other side, but we need you to be there, healthy, happy, vibrant, so please keep that in mind.
Well, thank you again for coming onto the show and spending some time with us here on Civicpher. Once again, I've been your host, Rams' joh I am q ward and do us a favor. Follow us on on social media. You can hit the website Civiccipher dot com to download all of our previous episodes and just to stay tapped in with us. If you got any sort of questions, anything that you any topics you want us to cover, anything like that.
Man, just cant say one more thing. I would be in the car like mad at myself if I didn't say this. Please turn in your ballots. When you get your ballot, fill that out, turn it in. You will up getting your text.
I promise you.
There you go stop getting your text. You'll stop it because I did that. Next still texting me, Yeah, eventually it will happen. But yeah, tap in with us and keep on riding with us. We'll be back right at you real soon. We got a lot more content coming your way, so we appreciate everyone riding with us.
C I V I C C I P h e R.
That's the way to do it, all right, until next time, please