Cipher Sounds - Biography.

The original hip-hop D.J. Cipher Sounds was established in South Side

Jamaica, Queens, New York in the year 1975.  Little more than a year after

the originators of the genre; Kool Herc, Afrikka Bambatatta, Grand Master

Flash and others had created the culture and had begun to guide it through

its infant stages in the Bronx, DJs Divine, Understanding, and Divine

Justice had the idea to create their own sound system that would play in the

parks and community centers of their neighborhood in Jamaica Queens. Thus

Cipher Sounds was born.



In the dictionary a cipher is defined as; A series of well-defined steps

that can be followed as a procedure.  On the streets of NY in the early 70s

the word cipher had become widely associated with a spiritual sect known as;

The Five Percent Nation (5%).  They utilized the word to describe a group of

their members who had gathered together in a circle to pass along knowledge

to one another.  This knowledge was known as “Divine Mathematics”  The

original founding members of Cipher Sounds; Divine Justice, Divine and

Understanding, were practicing members of the culture.  Cipher Sounds did

their first gig at the Southern Queens Community Center and quickly became a

neighborhood favorite.  Their style of incorporating European disco records

together with soulful break beats was popular with mobile DJs across the

city, but Cipher Sounds added a unique aspect to their performance by

incorporating an echo chamber for the microphone, adding reverb and effects

to the voice of the M.C. behind the music. This soon became their signature

sound and would set them apart from many of the other street DJs in New York

City.



As time went on two of the original triad; DJ Divine, and Divine Justice

left the group to pursue other ventures, leaving DJ Understanding to become

Cipher Sounds.  Using mostly family members and close friends in the group,

Understanding began to solidify the buzz established by Cipher Sounds in the

streets of Jamaica Queens.  Showcasing their sound system and unique style

of DJing in parks and schools like; Lincoln Park, Ajax Park, 48 Park and

I.S.8 Junior high school, Cipher Sounds created a reputation that would fill

events. The buzz became so huge that Cipher sometimes packed the park beyond

capacity, occasionally causing the set to be derailed by the local police.

As the status of the group began to swell, Cipher Sounds broke new ground as

the first mobile DJs to become the house set for the popular Queens disco;

The Fantasia, located on Linden and Merrick Boulevards.  It was also at this

time that he would meet and a young hip-hop upstart named Russell Simmons.

Russell was a club promoter who booked Hip-Hop acts like his own artist;

Kurtis Blow and placed them in clubs such as The Fantasia, BG Manor, Le

Chalet, and Christ the King. Russell had heard about Cipher Sound and began

to book Cipher at his events. Cipher Sounds would become the first Queens DJ

set to battle against Bronx legend Grandmaster Flash at the Hotel Diplomat

in Manhattan.  Cipher Sounds continued to work with Russell and in 1978 met

Glenn Toby, a young man who was also making a name for himself  in the

hip-hop game, going by the name; Sweety G. Glenn introduced Cipher Sounds to

well known promoters Mike & Dave who also represented a hot group of

Manhattan based rappers called The Crash Crew.  Cipher Sounds began to work

with Sweety G. and Mike & Dave, performing at the world famous Harlem World

in Manhattan and the legendary Disco Fever in the Bronx.



By 1979 Cipher Sounds was working with major recording artists like Michael

Murphy of The System (Don disturb this groove) and Bernard Wright who had a

big dance hit with Who do you Love” They introduced Cipher Sounds to the

Drum Machine.  Soon after, Cipher Sounds began working with up and coming

rap groups including; Positive K, Kool Moe Dee of Treacherous 3, M.C.

Spanky, Spyder D, The Crash Crew and Jimmy Spicer (Super Rhymes).  In 1981

he began to produce records and worked with Stetsasonic, Davy DMX, Dr.

Jekyll & Mr. Hyde, The Breakout Crew and the Fearless Four.  In 1982 Cipher

Sounds did a deal with Romell Records and produced and recorded two singles

for the label 3 card Marley and Get moved on  He then moved on to sign a

deal with Profile Records and began to do Dance music as well as Rap.  While

working at Profile, Cipher Sounds would meet and mentor a group of rappers

(The Rza, The Genius and Old Dirty Bastard) that would later become members

of the WU Tang Clan.  He also formed and produced a dance music group called

Artz and Kraftz  Cipher Sounds left Profile Records in 1988 and signed with

Uptown Records as a producer, doing songs for Mary J Blige, Jeff Red, and

Father M.C. After inking Artz & Kraftz to a deal with Motown Records, Cipher

Sounds began producing and writing songs for the movie; House Party starring

Kid & Play. He would produced two songs for the soundtrack Surely and What a

feeling. With the success of House Party, Cipher Sounds appeared with Jeff

Red on Soul Train, BET and Showtime at The Apollo.



In 1991, Cipher Sounds left Motown and moved Artz & Kraftz over to Columbia

Records and toured the United States on the strength of the single All of

it. The song was also an underground hit in the U.K. and would take the

group to parts of Europe, Japan and Canada, taking their sound world wide.

In 1994 Cipher Sounds left Columbia Records and signed to L.L. Cool J Uncle

L Records while also producing for Ja Rule, Black Child, Helter Skelta, and

the Original Gun Clappers.



In 1995, after 20 years of making hits and working with some of the most

influential people in the record industry, DJ Understanding (Cipher Sounds)

decided to broaden his talents and learned graphic design.  In 1999 he

started a business in Harlem, New York and his new multimedia company

included but was not limited to; video editing, video production, an audio

recording studio, as well as web and graphic design.  After establishing his

venture as a full production studio, and becoming a major force in the

industry right in the heart of Harlem, DJ Understanding was faced with a

life-altering crisis when in 2002 his daughter was diagnosed with a

congenital brain tumor at the age of 8 years old, thus causing him to turn

away from the industry to concentrate on family issues.



Currently Understanding (Cipher Sounds) has returned to the entertainment

industry in an effort to reestablish his position as a leader in the fields

of music and video production and computer graphics.



You can reach The Original Cipher Sounds at: www.myspace.com/ciphersounds or

http://www.ciphersoundsny.com

Contact: 718 536-1638



Check Cipher Out on the British Hip Hop http://www.britishhiphop.co.uk - The

original UK Hip Hop History and ..