For the past week, American hip-hop heads, citizens and the global hip hop fraternity at large have been harping on about Eminem's verse in the BET Hip Hop Cyphers which are held annually as part of the BET Hip Hop Awards.
I for one hadn't bothered to watch it so you could imagine my surprise when it was shown during last night's BET Hip Hop Awards screening hosted by BET Africa in Melville and I discovered that Eminem's "bars" were nothing to write home about.
Yes, the content of said bars was important as Em dished out a scathing critique of U.S president, Donald Trump's policies and ideals (as well as the danger he poses to U.S citizens) but his flow just ruined the entire thing...
A cipher, is traditionally defined as a secret or disguised way of writing/ a code. To cipher/cypher refers to the act of putting a message into secret writing.
In hip hop, the term is used in reference to an informal gathering of rappers, beatboxers, and/or break-dancers in a circle as they freestyle (rap or dance) over a beat. How well one performs in a cypher can either make or break their street cred, especially as a rapper.
Cyphers also act as a vehicle for hip hop styles and knowledge to be spread, through word-of-mouth in addition to encouraging trends in other battles.
For the first time since the awards show's inception back in 2006, BET has filmed an African cypher which will air during the local broadcast of the awards ceremony which went down in Miami this past weekend and was hosted by DJ Khaled. The 2017 African cypher features the likes of BET A-List presenter, Jesse Suntele who goes by the moniker, J-Flow as well as Shuga Smakx, Stogie T and a host of legends in the Cape Town hip hop scene.
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During last night's screening, we also got to preview a few of the cyphers and out of all the artists we were shown, Stogie T's lyrics and flow were the only ones that got a visible reaction from the crowd.
It also sounds like he took a bit of a shot at Cassper. Listen to the preview below:
You can catch all the cyphers tonight when the 2017 BET Hip Hop Awards air on BET, DSTV Channel 129 at 9pm and let us know if you think that was also a diss.
Main image credit: instagram.com/stogie_t