Toni Blackman - The Wisdom of the Cypher

from Dissertation Mixtape by Ethan Hein

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Remix of Toni’s presentation at the 208 Ableton Loop Summit

0:00 - The main musical backdrop is the instrumental from “Step Into Da Cipher” by Brand Nubian (1994).

2:50 - After Toni talks about wanting to be a dope MC, I bring in a line from “Step Into a World (Rapture’s Delight)” by KRS-One (1997).

3:44 - When she talks about free jazz, I use “Mars” by John Coltrane (1967), without tempo-aligning it (how could I)?

4:15 - For Toni’s mention of Sweet Honey In The Rock, I use their iconic recording of “Eyes On The Prize” (2000), and that I do line up with the beat. I switch the beat to the source of the Brand Nubian song’s breakbeat, “Momma Miss America” by Paul McCartney (1970), with drums played by McCartney himself plays those drums. This beat continues through the next section.

6:45 - When Toni defines the word “cypher,” I splice in some lines from “Step Into Da Cipher,” “Hater Players” by Mos Def and Talib Kweli (1998), “The World Is Yours” by Nas (1994), and “Lose Yourself” by Eminem (2002). Then the McCartney beat resumes.

8:46 - When Toni talks about freestyling, I use the instrumental from “Backseat Freestyle” by Kendrick Lamar (2012).

13:03 - When Toni talks about using A Tribe Called Quest to create a suitable vibe for creativity, I use the instrumental from “Electric Relaxation” (1993).

14:46 - Finally, at the end, when Toni leads the crowd in beatboxing and singing, I mix in “Believe (DJ Meditation Mix)” from Toni’s own hip-hop meditation album (2017). (I have previously remixed other tracks from that album.) Being in the room for the freestyle felt like a group meditation, and the experience supports my belief that there is not much distance between meditation practice and musical improvisation generally.

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from Dissertation Mixtape, released August 4, 2020

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Ethan Hein Brooklyn, New York

Ethan Hein teaches music at NYU and the New School. He maintains a widely-followed blog at ethanhein.com.

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