Brown University student wins national award for rap cypher
Reported and produced by Tomas Navia in collaboration with Emily Wooldridge. Photography by Lynn Tach. On Saturday, April 23rd, Brown University student Felege Gebru won third place in the variety and alternative category at the College Television Awards. Gebru won for his rap production Brown Cypher...
Reported and produced by Tomas Navia in collaboration with Emily Wooldridge. Photography by Lynn Tach.
On Saturday, April 23rd, Brown University student Felege Gebru won third place in the variety and alternative category at the College Television Awards. Gebru won for his rap production Brown Cypher 2014 Part Two, featuring several Brown University students. It’s the second installment of a project that began during Gebru’s freshman year.
“At the beginning of the year, when we were all trying to get to know each other, CJ and Nate, two friends that have also participated in these cyphers, introduced me to freestyling, so we went to freestyle sessions and that was a lot of fun. And CJ also sent me a Black Entertainment Television cypher which I had never heard of before,” said Gebru.
“After seeing that, we all thought we should definitely do a cypher of our own, but it was an issue in terms of we didn’t have time outside of classes to do something like that. So I thought that making the cypher itself part of our school assignments would make it tangible.”
Gebru had that opportunity when he enrolled in a Foundations of Media course at Brown. For his final project, he enlisted the help of his rapping friends to make the first cypher. Shot in black in white, the production pays homage to the widely used form of group freestyle rapping known as a cypher. CJ Parks, one of the original members of the project, discusses new ways the group approached the traditional rapping form.
“The creation of this cypher is not only a nod to the kind of roots of hip hop and acknowledging we are trying to partake in something that is culturally solidified and a recognized practice, but also to apply it to a new setting. We are trying to bring a very novel energy and attitude towards this. Each of the rappers have a unique flavor,” said Parks.
“Yes, it is an Ivy League cypher, yes this is a Brown University cypher first and foremost, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that you have no diversity. I think that’s what the cypher is really working to demonstrate. You can have someone from Brooklyn, New York rapping alongside someone from Ethiopia, someone from South Korea, alongside someone from Wisconsin, someone who strongly identifies as Indian while being from the West Coast, from the Bay Area, those are a lot of different cultural touchpoints.”
It is this diversity that makes the Brown Cypher 2014 Part Two stand out. Topics touched upon range from capitalist culture to institutionalized oppression.
The cypher has received national attention. It not only won third place at the College Television Awards, but it has also sparked competition among rappers at colleges across America. Most notably, students at Columbia University have responded to the Brown production with their own cypher.
Even though the Columbia students poke fun at his LL Bean vest, Gebru couldn’t be more pleased with the response the cypher has received.
“I thought that was super cool. That was the point of the cypher was to have something collaborative and have that be across campuses, not just specific to Brown. But if they continue that will be great, and hopefully it can happen with other campuses. I know other campuses have seen this and have an underground rap cypher type of culture. I think the main problem might be the same problem we had not having enough time during the school year to create something like this,” Gebru said.
Gebru is trying to overcome that obstacle. He produced a third installment of the cypher in his free time, and is in the process of expanding his presence and reach on Brown’s campus. Moving forward, Gebru hopes to keep the project alive and involve as many voices as possible by receiving funding from Brown University to create a student club. He hopes the club will thrive at Brown.
Click here if you want to follow Gebru’s future installments of the cypher, or check out past cyphers.
“At the beginning of the year, when we were all trying to get to know each other, CJ and Nate, two friends that have also participated in these cyphers, introduced me to freestyling, so we went to freestyle sessions and that was a lot of fun. And CJ also sent me a Black Entertainment Television cypher which I had never heard of before,” said Gebru.
“After seeing that, we all thought we should definitely do a cypher of our own, but it was an issue in terms of we didn’t have time outside of classes to do something like that. So I thought that making the cypher itself part of our school assignments would make it tangible.”
Gebru had that opportunity when he enrolled in a Foundations of Media course at Brown. For his final project, he enlisted the help of his rapping friends to make the first cypher. Shot in black in white, the production pays homage to the widely used form of group freestyle rapping known as a cypher. CJ Parks, one of the original members of the project, discusses new ways the group approached the traditional rapping form.
“The creation of this cypher is not only a nod to the kind of roots of hip hop and acknowledging we are trying to partake in something that is culturally solidified and a recognized practice, but also to apply it to a new setting. We are trying to bring a very novel energy and attitude towards this. Each of the rappers have a unique flavor,” said Parks.
“Yes, it is an Ivy League cypher, yes this is a Brown University cypher first and foremost, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that you have no diversity. I think that’s what the cypher is really working to demonstrate. You can have someone from Brooklyn, New York rapping alongside someone from Ethiopia, someone from South Korea, alongside someone from Wisconsin, someone who strongly identifies as Indian while being from the West Coast, from the Bay Area, those are a lot of different cultural touchpoints.”
It is this diversity that makes the Brown Cypher 2014 Part Two stand out. Topics touched upon range from capitalist culture to institutionalized oppression.
The cypher has received national attention. It not only won third place at the College Television Awards, but it has also sparked competition among rappers at colleges across America. Most notably, students at Columbia University have responded to the Brown production with their own cypher.
Even though the Columbia students poke fun at his LL Bean vest, Gebru couldn’t be more pleased with the response the cypher has received.
“I thought that was super cool. That was the point of the cypher was to have something collaborative and have that be across campuses, not just specific to Brown. But if they continue that will be great, and hopefully it can happen with other campuses. I know other campuses have seen this and have an underground rap cypher type of culture. I think the main problem might be the same problem we had not having enough time during the school year to create something like this,” Gebru said.
Gebru is trying to overcome that obstacle. He produced a third installment of the cypher in his free time, and is in the process of expanding his presence and reach on Brown’s campus. Moving forward, Gebru hopes to keep the project alive and involve as many voices as possible by receiving funding from Brown University to create a student club. He hopes the club will thrive at Brown.
Click here if you want to follow Gebru’s future installments of the cypher, or check out past cyphers.