Hip-hop podcasts are everywhere. Yes, everyone wants to be heard, but not everyone who wants to be heard is focused on moving the culture forward. Enter hip-hop nerds, Peter Rosenberg and Cipha Sounds. After a year hiatus, the duo is returning to these podcast streets with the Juan EP, where they bring their valid expertise on all things hip-hop.
Cipha and Rosenberg joined forces with Mass Appeal and Endeavor Audio to deliver comprehensive conversations about the culture, some of our favorite moments in hip-hop, favorite albums, best rhymes, among other things. During the podcast’s first season, the DJs touch on who is arguably the greatest MC of all time, Jay-Z.
“I wanted to make sure we always kept the conversation about Hov’s rhymes,” Cipha Sounds tells us in our phone conversation. “Don’t forget about how nice he is on that mic.”
Drawing help from some of Shawn Carter’s closest friends, Cipha and Rosenberg dig into Jay-Z’s career to discuss his best collaborations, beefs and pinpoint moments of Hov’s greatness. VIBE caught up with the fellas and chatted about the Juan EP, Jay-Z and much more.
VIBE: First, this has been bothering me for years. Who is Juan Epstein?
Rosenberg: Juan Epstein came from the fact that Cipha and I got paired together. He’s Puerto Rican and I’m Jewish. Juan Epstein was a Puerto Rican/Jewish character on the show, Welcome Back, Cotter. I never watched the show, I think Cipha may have been the one to tell me about the name. That was perfect.
The podcast has been on hiatus for a while now. How was the process of bringing the podcast back?
Rosenberg: We’ve been wanting to bring it back for a minute. We’ve been looking for the right opportunities and the right partners. And we thought Mass Appeal was a really good home. And when the opportunity came up, it just seemed like a really good fit. We’re trying to do something right for hip-hop, and curated well, and do right by the culture. When Mass Appeal came up with an option it seemed like a perfect fit. It was a great excuse and forced us the get organized and bring it back.
Cipha Sounds: The reason I love this podcast is because it really is two hip-hop fans who were lucky enough to get paid from hip-hop, and we get to talk to some great people from the hip-hop community about hip-hop. There aren’t any outsiders speaking about our culture. And we learn new things that we never knew before.
With you guys coming from radio, do you prefer podcasts over radio programming?
Rosenberg: It’s a different thing. [Podcasting], it’s more in line with what I’m really passionate about. And it’s really fun. It’s two different versions of a similar thing. They’re both broadcasting, but this gets to be about hip-hop, and not the bullsh*t side, the gossip. This really is about the music.
Cipher: I don’t consider one over the other. I definitely like having long conversations with hip-hop artists.
Season One of the Juan EP is about Jay-Z. Why him?
Cipha: Everybody always has all these conversations about the top five [MCs] and who’s the G.O.A.T. I wanted the same street corner, lunchroom conversation with some actual research, and facts from people who were there. People who handle the question with some real information. And also, it is fun to get people’s opinions on it. Of all the sh*t that Jay-Z does that influences the culture, whether it be becoming the first billionaire or marrying Beyoncé, I wanted to make sure we always kept the conversation about Hov’s rhymes. Don’t forget about how nice he is on that mic.
Since we’re talking Jay-Z, there was a time, well, at least in my hometown of Mississippi, where people were aggravated with Hov for frequently using B.I.G’s rhymes.
Cipha: Let me answer this one. Let me tell you and all of your friends in the barbershop in Mississippi, every time Jay says a B.I.G. line, Biggie’s kids eat. The reason he does it is because it pays for Biggie’s family to live the way that they should’ve lived if Biggie was still alive, so he pays for school, and homes all off of saying a line.
Wow. I didn’t know that.
Rosenberg: Yes, anytime Jay-Z samples a B.I.G. line, thanks to B.I.G.’s publishing, his family eats.
What are some of your favorite episodes so far?
Cipha: My favorite is the Clark [DJ Clark Kent] episode. I loved how he broke down the details of how Jay-Z and Biggie met. For me, that’s something I’ve always wanted to know and I’d be like, “How will I ever, ever know that?” There’s no way. Like, I don’t know where it was. I don’t know who was in the room and basically to find out not only was Clark Kent in the room but basically orchestrated it.
At times, Jay-Z takes a lot of heat. For instance, this NFL partnership business. Some people have even said he’s partly responsible for the gentrification happening in the Fort Greene section of Brooklyn.
Rosenberg: We talked a lot about Jay-Z’s ventures and how he’s taken flack for some things. And Jay-Z the businessman is a different thing than Jay-Z the artist. We go into a lot of detail about the business and how he’s viewed, And we defiantly get into the question, on the episode, actually next week [on the Nov. 19th episode titled, “I’m A Business Man”].
Here’s some fun Jay-Z stuff. To me, the best intro song in the history of hip-hop is Jay’s “The Dynasty Intro.” Let’s debate this. I’m ready.
Rosenberg: I agree that it’s up there. I probably haven’t done the extensive research like you have. But The Dynasty is definitely one of my favorite Jay-Z albums, which is funny because first, it wasn’t a Jay-Z album, then it was a Jay-Z album. So I wonder did he have that intro on there already when it was just a Roc-A-Fella album or did he add it once it became a Jay-Z album? Who would I even ask?
VIBE: Guru.
Rosenberg: Was he around then?
VIBE: Bean’s first album came out before The Dynasty album…
Rosenberg: And Guru did Bean’s album…
Cipha: Yes, but even if he wasn’t around… this guy is so strategic. I know that the Pharrell [Williams] record made him make it a Jay Z-album instead of a Roc [A-Fella] album, but that intro, it’s not long and the beat is not complicated. It’s a simple hip-hop beat. Damn, we now have to do an episode about this.
Rosenberg: And that’s what this show is about. For people who are interested in stuff like that. And this is the perfect time to dig into the podcast because all of the episodes are available. You don’t have to wait for the next episode.
Hip-hop fans can tune into every episode of Juan EP below or on Stitcher, and Endeavor Audio.