How DFW Cypher will save Underground Hip Hop

Written by Dick Sullivan Wednesday, 18 January 2012 10:05

When I composed my 2012 wish list, I made eleven pretty lofty requests and one that was pure snark. Among the sincere wishes, perhaps none was more of a stretch than to see underground hip hop gain a foothold in North Texas. At least that’s why I thought it was a stretch. It turns out five Dallas emcees struggled with the same goal about a year ago and decided to direct energies toward that end. The fruit of that struggle is now known as DFW Cypher, a grassroots collective with one goal: to lend a bullhorn to underground hip hop in DFW.

A cypher is nothing more than a huddle of emcees trading freestyle rhymes. Unlike a battle, there is no face-to-face exchange of ad-hoc insults, but there is the same rawness of being put on the spot. A good cypher gets at the root of what makes hip hop so engrossing: individuals out on a verbal tightrope. DFW Cypher’s aim is to use that tool as a way to promote the area’s hip hop.

DFW Cypher formed in the late winter of 2011 when Frank “ASAP” Torres, Justin “GOAT” Griffith, Julio “Kilo Art-of-Fact” Corderro, Kyle “Molek Ular” Elrod, and James “Jack Rabbit” Clark decided to film a cypher and upload it. That first video, filmed in a Kitchen and produced by Molek Ular, went so well that the same group decided to do it again, with a new roster of emcees. This time, they had the help of veteran videographer Teddy Cool, the only non-performer of DFW Cypher, who came on board after finding the first video. “I saw this cypher concept and [thought], ‘That’s dope. That’s exactly the kind of music I want to push forward in this community. It’s simple. It’s hip hop.’” To date, the group has produced five cypher videos and don’t plan on resting any time soon.

Jump over to D Magazine to read the rest of the article by Dick Sullivan

Read More below to watch all the DFW Cypher Videos

2011 Artists - ArtLoveMagic

Written by ArtLoveMagic Thursday, 12 January 2012 13:16

As a year ends, it’s good to reflect on the creative work you’ve done. We sent out an invitation to a few dozen artists to share a piece of visual art they created it 2011 and tell us a bit about it. Specifically we asked them to choose a piece they were proud of.

A variety of artists answered the call, from many different mediums. There’s been no effort here to order them into any categories. What follows is a mash up of Dallas area artists from illustrators, to painters, photographers, and even sculptors.  Also included are a few former Dallas-ites who’ve now moved around the world and still have a connection to artlovemagic.

You can click on each image to see it a bit larger, or follow the link after to see more of the artist’s work. Enjoy.

Check out a few below, then hop on over to the ArtLoveMagic website to view the whole collection. Pretty impressive, Dallas.

Jonathan Davis

“Medusa”

mixed mediums on cotton paper, October 2011
18.5 x 12.75 inches

Medusa was once a beautiful, lovely woman. She was so beautiful and desired, a god took her innocence by force, raped her, and left her all alone. When Medusa came to Athena for help, Athena took the side of the god who raped her, since he was a god as well, and Medusa was simply a human that was as beautiful, if not more, than Athena. She then cursed her to be alone, deformed and never to know love. Athena turned such beauty into such horror, and left her at the end of the world. Later on she was be-headed by Perseus. I just wanted her to be remembered, not as a monster, but a beautiful woman who never had a chance. She symbolizes to me in many ways, what women have been dealing with since the beginning. This is a tribute to Medusa, the most beautiful woman that ever walked the planet.

www.facebook.com/jonathanmichealdavis

Lawrence Alexander

I created this piece entirely in Adobe Illustrator. I treated it sort of as an optical illusion meshing his cloths with the background, bringing out the man himself. I used blending and meshing techniques that I have never used before, and I feel it is pretty unique to a lot of art that is out there. It was an open door to more styles of art.