by
Matei Predescu on August 7, 2019
Every second Thursday of the month, the Caravan Lounge hosts one of San Jose’s best known open-mic sessions. The Cypher features rappers and turntablists in a freestyle session, followed by showcases of underground artists. This week, Guatemalan rapper Kontra Marin, signed to Barba Roja Records, is headlining alongside San Jose rap crew…
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by
Nick Veronin on June 27, 2018
For more than a decade now, San Jose promoter, hip-hop head and all around awesome dude, Andrew Moyco (a.k.a. AudioDru) has been organizing The Cypher. It’s been a place for local emcees and turntablists to strut their stuff and test their bars. It’s also hosted Open Mike Eagle, Hieroglyphics, Sirah, Kung Fu…
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A pair of sneakers hangs from the rafters in Dirtbag Dan’s studio. He won them years ago at the Wednesday night Cypher, then held at Johnny V’s. At the time, another emcee had been challenging Dan for his title as the best battle rapper in San Jose.
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The Learning Curve crew has been making some of the sharpest and strangest hip-hop to come out of the L.A. underground in the last couple of years. In particular, Turtle (Ken Katagiri) and Bakus (Brandon Backhaus) are trippers on the mic, sporting influences that range from Dan the Automator and Del tha…
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Chicago’s DMN Ology has been spelling his name about six different ways since he came up in the Chicago hip-hop scene in the ’90s. It’s not so much that he’s into Satan—although devils and demons do pop up in the imagery of his songs—it’s that “Demon” was his nickname growing up, a…
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