Welcome to another episode of Civic Sipheri Army host rams Is Jah, and we have a special show for you today. If you've been paying attention to our show or paying attention to the media, our humble show has had some national and international light shone upon it, and obviously there's a lot of stories in the media that you can check out Feel Free, and obviously we need to talk about that on this show exactly what it means.
And you know, our future.
As a show, because there's a lot more momentum in this space for us right now, and we're really excited about that. We're really excited about all the changes that we can help make in this country, the conversations that we can start and help people have in their homes, et cetera. But that is still something that we have to wait on, those conversations that we would love to
have with you. So in the meantime, there's a couple of things that we wanted to share with you, not the least of which is sort of a conversation that started this whole thing. You and I were fortunate enough to go to La and sit down with our mentor Big Boy, a legendary broadcaster in the hip hop space if you're not familiar, and.
He gave us a great interview after and.
So i'd love to share that with you today just to kind of bring you up to speed if you haven't been paying attention to the media and if you have been, to kind of give you a bit of an origin story of the show and some of the
current things that are happening in this space. And also we were fortunate enough to speak with one Isaac Hayes, the third you know, owner a fan base, and so the second half of the show, we're going to shine some light on black business, supporting black business, kind of black people's.
Influence over the culture, the popular culture, and how social media affects our ability to communicate, our ability to make money, some areas that require improvement.
Et cetera. So we'd love for you to stick around for most of those conversations.
You feel like you're both very important, And of course we are going to be back with more citys Cipher very soon, but this is the space that we're in right now. And yeah, yeah, we hope you enjoy it. So I'll be back after we talked to a big boy, So enjoy.
Big Boys neighborhood. Beautiful then the neighborhood ladies and gentlemen.
Sometimes, Man, you come across some things, you come across some beautiful people. And for those that do know, then you know. And for those that don't, I would love to make this introduction as well. Now, first off, Ramses, I've met you years ago. You didn't need anything from me. I didn't need anything from you. You were just a solid brother that I met years ago, man. And I love the way that you know characters, what's being said about you when you're not in the room, and people
speak so well about your character. So now that I'll see you moving forward, and I'll see you never stop your hustle, never stop your grind. You got fifty thousand things that you're doing in fort ninety nine of them nine hundred nine and nine you're doing very well. I don't know what that one is, but welcome to the neighborhood, Rams, I appreciate it all right. And this ISQ War and together we are Cipher. What is Civic Cipher?
Civic Cipher is a radio show and a podcast that was born out of the protests of twenty twenty. Basically, what happened was you know, we're both DJs. We both were working radio men Q where we were at our old radio station in Phoenix, Arizona. We you know, in
twenty twenty, we were out protesting. We felt like the leadership on the streets really deserved more than just bullhorns, and in order to challenge the narrative of what was being sort of chronicled on television stations and other media outlets to get let folks say their piece in terms of explaining defund the police means or why people are upset about Breonna Taylor or you know these sorts of things. We felt like, okay, well, we work in media, we
work in hip hop media. This is you know, black culture being consumed. You know, in a city where it's black and brown mostly consuming this culture, we need to be able to say our piece as well. And basically we went to our station program director and asked to set aside thirty minutes per week in the middle of the night where there's no money involved, and just let the leadership on the streets.
Why did you feel like that was important to you guys?
Well, you know, there was no voice, there was just people on the street. It was a huge crowds, right, but no way to reach the city people that weren't able to come out people and you know, bullhorns only go so far.
So some people weren't getting the message.
So it was up to us to try to make that different and make that space.
So in such a real time bro at twenty twenty, it looked like things were just crazy. You know, we had a pandemic, something that we've never seen before. We're watching people die in front of us, you know what I'm saying on TV repeatedly watching footage. And so when you do, like some people also qward where some people say you know what, man, I'll do what I do on the mic, sometimes they don't go a little further, or they just wait for the next leader.
Like you can have a plan, you can.
Have you can feel like you're like, man, this is really horrible, But then we wait for the next person.
You guys didn't wait, do you know what I'm saying.
Sometimes you feel like you need permission, right, you need somebody to tell you it's okay to be dynamic or to step out in front of it. And like you said, when you got the bullhorn on the street, a few hundred people can hear you, but you turn on the news and they're calling protesters looters and right right, the narrative is different and those people can't speak their part. So that's why the conversation with the station was, look,
we are profiting off of black culture. People from that culture should have a voice and be able to say something about what they're dealing with out on the streets. And since we're out there and we see it, we felt like we could lend that voice to the people that were marching next to us, Black, white, Hispanic, Asian and otherwise.
But you see now and you fast forward to twenty twenty two, almost going into twenty twenty three, you know, a lot of the bullhorns, the batteries done died in them. You know, we've seen the signs that were held up. Those are somewhere in the garage. It was like, you know, there was a reason, but it was also a season. You guys went past the season, sure, you know, so why is it important to continue what you do? Well?
You know, in the spirit of I want to shout out doctor Camilla Westenberg, She's my college mentor. In the spirit of the Panthers, in the spirit of doctor King and the spirit of Malcolm X, and the spirit of you know, Marcus Garvey, and the spirit of you know, Stokely Carmichael, all these names that we grew up learning about James Baldwin.
It comes to mind. We realized that this is a long fight.
This isn't something that we can just get out there for a couple of years, say a couple of names, and it's over. You know, we have to stand on the legacy and the history of our leaders before us, and nobody was doing what we were doing what we're doing now in the space that we're doing it. In other words, we're more than just rappers and singers and dancers. We are thinkers, we're leaders. We are people that love our children, We love our families, we love our communities.
We want our communities to be strengthened. You know, I'm born in California, you know, I grew up around all different types of people, and you know, doing radio and Arizona, it it whittles it down just a bit. So it's just really black and Latino out there in terms of minorities, and we're all we got in terms of marginalized folks.
And so again, seeing that unity in the streets, being able to kind of capture that moment and project it into the future and really have a place where if something else happens, folks can come and say their piece, We'll hold the space for you, will hold a microphone for you can come and talk. And where do we find Civic Cipher Now you can find Civic Cipher at civiccipher dot com. Yes, sir, you know, we've also partnered with iHeartMedia and that's another thing that I'd love to
talk about. But we are found on thirty stations around the country. Hopefully we'll be able to talk to mister Winter and talk about getting presence here in La very soon. But yeah, the show was growing when the process of negotiating an additional effectively doubling our footprint in terms of stations around the country. So hopefully by the beginning of next year we'll have that situated.
But how did the relationship to you? How did the relationship start?
So it started, of course out of djaying, But that was something that Ramsey saw that I didn't. I had just moved back to Phoenix from Detroit and was looking for something to do career wise, and rams had met me when I was working for mo at Hennessy. The radio station would cover our advertising, and Ramses wrote a letter to LV and Mah just about the type of professional I was.
And when I saw the letter, my boss forwarded to me.
Rams and I had just met and crossing we didn't have a personal relationship. When I saw that, he put pen to paper to vouch for me to this French company, you know, thousands of miles away.
And they were so impressed by that.
The next time I saw him, I had to make sure I didn't just shake his hand, but that I put my arms around him and let him know how far that went. And I then moved to Spain, moved to Toronto, and when I got back to Phoenix, the first person I reached out to was Ramses and he was like, man, you might want to try these turntables out barely was a ridiculous idea, but before never, never, I had never even thought about it or considered it really And Ramsey said, look, I.
Would have hated to have been at the club when you were first starting story.
He left me hanging when I first started really him in the water bro swim. His thing was buy some turntables and I'll teach you how to DJ. He wanted me to make that first investment. He could have just gave me some terms that he had plenty, but he wanted me to make that investment to know I was serious, inviting me to the club for the first time, told me he had to go to the bathroom.
Oh no, stayed going to the bathroom for thirty minutes.
Yeah, I remember. That's when his bowels were bad. Every time I talk to me like, yeah, come in the restroom. But you saw something in him, possibly that at the moment. No matter how much shine them, no matter how much we you know, know our self worth, sometimes someone else will see something else in you, sir. You know what I'm saying. You saw that in QO. I heard that
and didn't suppress it. No, no, no, It Isn't it crazy how some people like you'll get folks that say, okay, well you know, Lebron James, shut up and dribble, you know, and then it could just be spending the record.
Don't say nothing, you know.
So sometimes man, we don't understand how powerful this microphone is exactly, and how powerful this voice is, and what you do with this microphone and with the voice. Yes, sir, all of us can bring in the next Drake record, you know what I'm saying, But it's what we do between those records and what we do aside those records.
So when you do see certain things happen in our community, bro, people not that they expect us to say something, but we should expect us, me, you to say something, you know. And we went through well not even just twenty twenty. Bro, when you sit here, you go down that list. It's been a fight for a long time, and there's absolutely no time to give it up, no matter how many decades, no matter if it's a century, whatever it is, because
those problems still exist today exactly. And we do need the entertainment, we do need everything that we're playing, but we also need a balance. And what happens today, man, is we don't have a lot of the leaders, and then when we do have the leaders, they don't get the platform, you know. So that's why we got to continue to make sure that our voices are used and
we take care of our platform. And our platform also tells people going on, we're right here, we're in primaries, we're voting with it, and sometimes, man, we don't get the message unless the message comes from us. So continue doing the message, man, continue getting that out there.
Speaking of platforms, he pushed me in the water with this too big really so when he went to the station about us doing a show to give our people a voice, you'd never believe what our hip hop station said to us. Sorry, Ramses, we don't want to do a black show the hip hop station.
The hip hop station, y'are not no longer there though right now we can kill it.
They could have said we don't want to do a political show. They could have said we don't want to do a polarizing show. They said we don't want to do a black show. And Ramses was in this meeting by himself. I wasn't present. Ramses resigned for both of us that day, damn, and he knew that I was staying with him, wrote a resignation letter to the city of Phoenix.
And we couldn't look at our sons rafter.
These people then told us we don't want to do a black show on the hip hop station to the only black on air talent in Phoenix.
And who you're speaking with as well, who you're speaking too, which is crazy. And we've seen this so called genre and we've seen our lifestyle. Man, it plays all the way across and they said that to you in the room, and you resign.
Yeah, I wrote, and like you said, I wrote the letter to the city of Phoenix, and then that letter ended up getting shared and shared and shared. So it made the radio trades and that's how a lot of radio folks ended up reaching out. My first station was kk FAR and Phoenix, so shout out to DJ Complex Ben Romero. But then other stations around the country reached out.
We got on in Tucson. That was our first connection with iHeart, so shout out Steve earn Hart, and then you know, the rest of the country.
You did a different battle, you know how sometimes you got to push some things uphill because it's not you know, it's not you know, it's not fun. It's not and it's not yet it's a whole different thing as opposed to you know, I want to do the shoot them up hours.
So this is this is another another thing to your point about the platforms.
So we did. Uh.
A gentleman named Tony Coles reached out from iHeart too, the CEO level stuff, you know, and he heard about what we were doing. He's like, Hey, we got to partner on some stuff, but I would like you to do some other things with iheartwo Enter the Black Information Network. So I've been working with them for the better part of a year on a daily podcast for the Black Information Network where I interview folks from Roland Martin, you know, and it firmly it gives me some credibility with.
Respect to civic sipher the radio show.
But it also kind of helps me to network and expand and then off and diversify what it is I can bring to the table on the radio.
In the hip hop space.
In terms of platforms Q has acquired within the same timeframe, I believe the imprint the media imprint hip Hop Weekly, so hip Hop weekly magazine that you're familiar with now he owns that. So in terms of like procuring our platforms and making sure that we have the stages so we can tell our stories now our voices, I want to speak for you.
So so talk to me about here. Pop Weekly.
So the magazine had laid a bit dormant in my opinion. Oh, they never went away, but they stopped print and they stopped running original content. It's just a bunch of shared content, and we knew that that imprint. People know the imprint.
And it means something to us.
Yes, So being able to, like you said, and like Ram just said, give our people a platform. You know, I can employ writers, journalists, freelancers that want to share stories, that want to develop their craft, and that want to put something credible on their resume. In the journalism space and the photography space, and in the music creation space. Being able to take new artists and blast their music off to millions of people that maybe otherwise wouldn't have heard it.
I wanted us to be able.
To have some control over our own voices and how far they could reach.
And how is hip hop weekly now? Is it still print or is it more so?
It's more digital now.
And we were considering going back to print because some of our brothers and sisters who are away, that's how they keep in touch with the world and with the culture. So we have a you know, we had you know, several tens of thousands of subscriptions that just stopped being filled. So those people don't have that bridge that they used
to have. So we're looking at making sure our brothers and sisters that are down get some light get some inspiration and get some information, and then just rejuvenating the digital space as well, from the website to social media to those people that follow Hip Hop Weekly magazine. We got some fresh new content coming for you, some fresh new voices, a bunch of young creators that want to get involved.
So it's something that's really exciting.
And man, with so many voices being heard and now, at one point it was okay, you got something from radio, you got something from television. There was you know, back in the days, it was a few news outlet, you had newspapers. Now with this device, everybody has a voice, rightfully so, but that voice also means that everybody has
something to say, and sometimes people are saying bullshit. Yes, and you get that when you do have a voice, and your voice talks to your audio, and then you have another voice that can talk to the masses, like a Kanye West. And when we see Kanye West with a White Lives Matter shirt not having a conversation, I.
Still don't know what it means.
But looking at it and then watching some of the interviews that he's done in the last couple of a few days, he's doubled and.
Triple down on it.
We had a brief conversation about White Lives Matter, the actual shirt, the slogan all Lives and you brought something to my attention, y'all.
Did that blew me away right now? Yeah?
Yeah, So there's a funny story. The federal trademark for White Lives Matter is not owned by Kanye West at present. It is owned by Civic Cipher LLC. And Civic Cipher.
Is US me and Q. Yes, how did that happen? So? Yeah, So let me tell you.
There's an individual who is based in Arizona that had the foresight to procure the trademarks, the federal trademarks for the benefit of black and brown people so that other folks wouldn't profit off of it. And this person knows about what you and I are doing. This person trademarked White Lives Matter and submitted the application for All Lives Matter as well. So we're still chasing that one up.
But White Lives Matter has come back and to excite right right, and it has since been well it was originally filed in that person's name has been since reassigned to us. So actually we just got the receipt from our lawyer today. So shout out to Morris for taking care of that for us. But yeah, civic site for LLLLC. So we are the holder of the federal trademark for white lives. And what would that mean? So that means that the only person who can profit off of it
not make shirts. Because you can make a shirt and wear it, and that's your right as an American citizen. But if you want to sell that shirt, you either have to come knock on my door. You have to face Morris, my lawyer, who is the person that helps me protect that brand. And now that it is in our care, we can decide how it benefits the black community, the brown community, you know, everyone to be honest with you, and it brings us all together. It doesn't matter if
you're in the white tribe or not. Something that benefits all of us. But of course we like to focus where there's the greatest need, and oftentimes we find that in black and brown communities. So if you ever see that shirt for sale, just know that, well I'm calling, Yeah, call me what you want, please, please, you know what
I'm saying. Speaking of which, Speaking of which, I'll add to it that Morris did send out I believe it was either Morris or our other lawyer sent out cease and desist to some of the sites that were selling bout leg stuff.
So we sent out about twenty five c and ds.
That would have been yesterday and then today we got the registration, the reassignment.
And also with being Black Information Network, how do we find you there and how do we find the actual saving cipher?
Sure?
Sure, sure so Civic cipher. You can go to civic cipher dot com and tap in. We're at civic cipher on all social media Civic Cipher.
We own the federal trademark for that. Man.
How often do y'all do savic Cipher It's a weekly show, okay, so an hour week So just on your local station, ask petition, petition your local stations to carry Civic Cipher.
Help us on our way.
For the Black Information Network Daily podcast, you can go to iHeart dot com. I'm under all the tabs, the podcast tabs.
If you're in the news, click news.
I'm right next to Katie Couric, my face and my approl.
I'm next to Charlotte Mae. There you go.
Thanks big, you know, and and you know we're we're trying to do something. You know, I do believe that love should be at the center of the narrative. Forgiveness should be at the center of narrative. I'm not the hugest.
Fan of.
Being angry and spaces like that. I believe that healing kind of gets us a little bit further. And you know, both Q and I really have done our best to have conversations.
It's starting to end on those points.
And so tap in with me, Tapping with Q at Hip Hop Weekly, the Black Information Network of course byrnews dot Com and Civic Cipher, where we're doing our best to try to make the world a.
Little bit But how long have y'all been rocking in the pretty world? Thank you? Seventeen eighteen years? Really, it's been a while. And Q, how long you been DJing? I started dj in twenty ten? Right? And how when did you start DJing? Ah?
Right?
He said he started in twenty ten. He didn't say that. He's the Phoenix Suns DJ. Oh yeah, yeahd in Phoenix Suns DJ. Okay, were you DJing at Phoenix and four game when dude put hands on that, Yes, sir, you have to go to the finals.
Yeah, we had to bring my kids on the court during the finals, but it was it was really cool experience with the Suns for three years. Stepped away after last season, so I'm, you know, just kind of just in this space now, City Cipher kind of.
It's become far more important.
Like you said, the season passed for everybody to be involved in the movement, but we have an obligation to the people to keep doing this.
It's not something we can just sit down.
Right say we did our partner, Sir, youah fold to sign up lead that well. Man. Thank you guys for coming in and sharing y'all presence with me as well. Yes, sir and rams as you know, anything you need on my n brother, you know, sign for money, let me know what's happening. Brother. You've always been more than one thous while with me, bro, and so it's just a pleasure to see see what you.
Guys are doing.
Real quick before I get out of here, Man, I'm gonna send you the video. Man, you said you the first time I met you in person, you recorded a video for me. It was in Arizona in front of a casino. Are you sitting I'm gonna texted to you and you you did a shout out sounded just like that.
Uh.
And Man, I incorporated that shout out into every air check, every video air check.
Yes, Man, so you are like.
This probably two thousand and eight, maybe it's crazy.
So I've been riding that wave ever since. Man. So it's an honor to be here man's presence. Appreciate you, always appreciate you. Man.
And like we say, man, we got to put it together. You know what I'm saying is if mine needs you know that information, let it be known.
I can get it out there. And the same when I need to holler at y'all. Man.
But thank you, guys. I appreciate y'all. Man, y'all stick around, big boys, neighborhood boy