Brutality Cypher

[Nayra Waddles]

Hometo Nina Simone, John Coltrane, Thelonious Monk, Rapsody, and J Cole, North Carolina's musical legacy is rooted in activism. Even hip-hop's newest Carolinian chart-topping trap rapper DaBaby has embraced rap as a medium to address racial injustices in America by sharing his personal challenges with law enforcement.

"Around the height of the civil unrest as a result of the murders of Breonna Taylor and George Floyd, there were so many protests going on and I went to one, but I was just like, 'I don't feel like this is how I can best use my voice and my platform.' I was like 'Okay, with my specific skill set, what can I do to contribute to what's going on?'" Tolbert said over the phone.

Representing Henderson, 2FLY KNG approached the beat with a seriousness that demanded listeners pay attention. The rapper described the racial harm afflicted upon Black communities, but also managed to include inspiring bars that encouraged economic empowerment and generational wealth.

"Seeing countless incidents where people of color have been treated unjustly when interacting with law enforcement made me [concerned] for the next generation. In response, I decided to start a movement in my city to improve local race relations, eliminate racial bias against minorities, and properly educate our children on the history of our nation in a way that is both honest and comprehensive," he shared over the phone.

Tagem's approach follows in the trajectory of Golden Age artists such as KRS-One, Poor Righteous Teachers, and Dead Prez and challenges mainstream white America's misunderstandings about rap as a violent art form.

"When George Floyd was brutally murdered/when he begged for his life I cried like he was my own brother/And I understand a lot of folks were shook like me/But that's a different kind of feeling when you look like me."

Jackson performs with her entire body; her aggressive facial expressions and hand movements match the ferocity of her bars as she spent the minute addressing all naysayers and critics of Black social justice efforts.

The daughter of two activist parents grew up well aware of Black people's fight towards freedom and equality. Now, as a mom of a two year-old, she's hypersensitive to the current instances of police brutality and indifference.

"I'm always thinking about my son. Right now, everyone thinks he's so cute, and I get scared thinking about how he will be viewed two years from now, five years from now, ten years from now. Is he still going to be that cute Black boy to the world, or is he going to be a threat?" she said.

With the resurgence of women in hip-hop, I look forward to watching Lena Jackson's journey. She is currently working on a project centered on the complexity and fragility of love that is scheduled for release in 2021.

The cypher closed out with Durham-based artist Jooselord. Over the past three years, Jooselord has established himself as an unfiltered conscious rapper whose style is closely related to punk rap. His local stardom has landed him opportunities to perform at major music festivals such as Raleigh's Hopscotch and Atlanta's A3C.

"When it comes to my platform, I always use my music as a way to let people who don't know what's going on, what's really going on. And to offer a place for people who do know what's going on, and it's happening to them, a place for them to come as refugees," he said.

Mir.I.Am Tolbert is planning another North Carolina-focused cypher set this winter. Subscribe to Carolina Waves YouTube channel (@Carolina Waves) and follow the multimedia platform on Instagram (@Carolinawaves) to remain updated on all things NC hip-hop.

ARRAY's LEAP is proud to close out this year's symposium with a showcase featuring powerful work by the initiative's inaugural artist grantees. A Q&A and discussion follows about creating projects centered on calling out police brutality from the artivist perspective. The show will be moderated by Anthony Fosu' 24.

LEAP, the Law Enforcement Accountability Project, is a propulsive fund dedicated to empowering artists as they aggressively pursue narrative change around the police abuse of Black people. Over the next two years, LEAP will award grants to up to 25 artists across multiple disciplines who will create work to disrupt the code of silence that exists around police brutality and misconduct. LEAP is administered by ARRAY, the multi-platform arts and social impact collective dedicated to narrative change founded by filmmaker Ava DuVernay.

Jocelyn Jackson

"Fixed Price Menu" Guided Tour

Jocelyn Jackson's passion for culturally significant food, social justice, creativity, and community is rooted in a childhood spent on the Kansas plains. Jocelyn founded JUSTUS Kitchen to create healing food experiences that inspire folks to reconnect with themselves, the earth, and one another, with the goal of collective liberation. She is the co-founder of the People's Kitchen Collective (PKC) based in Oakland. It is a large-scale community dining project that uses food, art, and education to address the critical social justice issues of our time while centering the lived experiences of Black and brown folks.

W.J. Lofton

"Would You Kill God Too?" Live Reading

W.J. Lofton is a poet, writer, editor, director, and songwriter centering his work on the intersections of Black queer identity. His poetry and essays have been featured in several print and online literary journals including Scalawag Magazine and Obsidian: Literature & Arts in the African Diaspora. Lofton is the author of the poetry book, A Garden for Black Boys Between the Stages of Soil and Stardust. He is Chicago born but Alabama raised. He calls Atlanta, GA home.

Steven John Irby

"41 To '99" Photo Essay Viewing

Steven John Irby (a.k.a. Steve Sweatpants) is a Brooklyn-born street photographer and co-owner, co-founder, and director of Street Dreams Magazine. Raised in Queens, the majority of Irby's work is derived from an endless source of inspiration from his home city as well as from traveling. Shooting primarily in B/W, Irby takes poignant portraits and gritty cityscapes from unique perspectives. He is currently an ambassador for Sony Cameras.

The Hopkins Center's mission is to ignite and sustain a passion for the arts within Dartmouth and its greater community and to provide the core educational environment for the study, creation and presentation of the arts. Read More >

In a game where I had to keep certain members of my warband alive though turn 4, I was able to use Shadowy Recall to place a minion next to my Thrallmaster (with only 4 health) which had the Illuminate on opposite side to block my opponent from getting in to kill him. It won me the game.

For my Warcry hobby progress; currently basing up my Cypher Lords as well as a trio of Chaos Furies - initially plans were to convert them to better match the Cypher Lords, big think I can only probably get away with some additional Nochseed branding (freehand) on their foreheads.

As well as branding you could also look at putting collars or just chain around their necks with a little bit draping down like a leash to show that they've been taken and subjugated by your warband as opposed to roaming free etc. Also something like runes on parts of the skin or wings to basically be like magical symbols that bind the fury under the command of your leader etc. Also another way to capture the enslaved thrall beast feel would be using blood for the blood god or other paints to make little wounds or bruises on the model to show where its been beaten into submission etc. Stuff like that all kinda helps reflect the brutality of chaos whereas the brands and runes show a more refined way of taking control etc.

Got a question for you fellow Cypher Lord players! We started our local league and it has been a blast! I have Dominated a territory and can now add 50 pts to my list and can take a Thrall. That effectively netted me 75 points to add to my list (I started at 975 pts). Looking at the options, I can afford a Fury, or a Mindbound (standard). Looking at the stats, the Fury is 70 pts and has move 8 with fly, but all it's other stats are similar or worse than the Mindbound (move 5 and 75 pts). I can see situations where having move 8 and fly would be very useful, but others where a double nets us fly anyway and I'd want more attacks and health. Which would you take and why? I'll try with each and see how it goes.

The Fury is more useful, but taking another pawn is ultimately a better choice, as they're always reliable, while the thrall can really tip of your game over some bad roll. If you just want to fool around then Thrall all the way, if you want consistency don't ever take them.

Oh silly me, In that case the Fury is better. Having a mobile unit with fly is very handy, you can grab objectile or lock down annoying range fighter like Stormcast (or in most cast as a distraction since your opponent probably kill them first)

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