Filmed shortly before social distancing became the new normal, Creed Taylor once again hosts a mix of new and returning firespitters recruited from the local Vancouver area to the downtown multimedia production space. 

The session kicks off with Studio710 first-timer Ital Blue dropping some real raps about real love from a female’s perspective over a classic Fat Joe and Big Pun instrumental. That sense of community is real as I remember her performing back from my open mic days, as she rapped about connecting on a deeper level and the possibilities of passion with stuff like: “Can we kick it for a minute/ Cuz when you looked at me I saw into the infinite.”

Ekke was next, coming equipped with cool flows and big personality as he tackled the same beat, spitting knowledge about not being owned by anyone and monetizing your own vocals before being followed by Brett Devloo. Brett stepped to the mic with something in his hand, which at first glance I thought was his phone, which would’ve been disappointing because a cypher’s supposed to be off the top (or at least memorized!)- no teleprompters or phones! But a closer look revealed that he was in fact holding that white cane used by the visually impaired- which made his Instagram handle @BrettTheBlindKid make a lot more sense.

If you’ve seen in the previous Studio710 cyphers, you’ll remember Manny Alcatraz, and he came through once again to grace the mic. He’s got a big presence onstage with all the face and hand tats, his hand gestures that act out and emphasize his rhymes also add a dramatic flair to his ever-changing cadences, metaphors, and bilingual rhymes. 

Manny Alcatraz dropped one of my favorite lines of the cypher later on when he says this clever one-liner, especially if you’re into golf and wordplay: “They tried to trap this tiger from the woods in the caddy shack”.

After getting a gracious intro from Oki Freshwater, it’s host Creed Taylor’s turn to freestyle and he drops a Slim Thug reference that will either make you think “who’s that?” or “damn I’m old”. He also makes a friendly challenge to Tee Krispil who steps up with a melodic response that shows everything is done in good vibes and fun 

Trewth is another newcomer to Studio710 who spits over a triumphant jazzy beat with some hunger that you can relate to and feel, and he effortlessly adapts when the beat switches, which is a lot harder to do than he made it look. He’s a dope addition to the cypher with an almost New York flow and you’ll want to stay tuned for his second freestyle later on in the video.

The cypher continues back around as Oki Freshwater, Brett Devloo, and Ekke, and Tee Krispil all step up for their second round of the night. Realije the Beat Box MC rocks a legit freestyle before passing it off to Creed Taylor. 

After bouncing around like a ball of energy throughout the cypher, Oki Freshwater gets down to business, puts his hoodie up, and lays down a grimy rap over an even grimier beat. Profiiit47 makes his Studiio710 debut next, and his vocal timbre reminded me a bit of the smoothness of Shock G with the way he played with his pitch and delivery.

The last few rappers to go up include Dtour, Rell, Brothers Atom, and Chronfused, who laid down some laid back rhymes before Xbluuez switched up the energy. All of them, with the exception of DTour, were at their first Studio710 cypher and I’d love to see them all back at the next event.

Studio710 is located in downtown Vancouver, and is the city's leading cannabis-friendly media recording studio. Studio710 is produced by JadeMaple. For more information, check out Studio710.ca.

"Your energy goes into quality of product, our energy goes into quality of image." solutions at Jade Maple. 

Over timeless instrumentals that would sound right at home in the 90’s, back when hiphop was more about the rhymes, lyrics, and content, the rappers come right round, bringing that to the beat and turntables today.

Fave heavy hitters from previous sessions to some brand new people that have never been to Studio710 before - but from the way the rapped, they are veterans on the mic.

It kicks off with Jacobi the Giant, who memorably made his debut at the last cypher, and it’s great seeing him back spitting more gritty street stories about coming up and the hustle to survive.

Next was 5AM, who came in with a more relaxed and melodic flow over the same godly Statik Selektah beat that Jacobi just rapped over. 5AM demonstrates how he can “snap on the track like bone marrow” as he stitches together witty lines like that into his introspective bars.

The beat switches as Tee Krispil steps up to the mic to preach some knowledge wrapped up in a mesmerizing flow over some jazzy horns that will take you back to when rap was about the message. Tee is followed by Aktu El Shabazzwho spits a sweet 16 off the top.

Jacobi the Giant goes up for a second round, and he once again lives up to his name as the mic stand hastily gets extended an extra couple feet so it can reach him. Next, host Creed Taylor has his turn, stepping up while puffing a blunt, before getting into a chill, laidback stoner freestyle where he talks about all the ways he’s used cannabis - “vaped it, smoked it, ate it, decarboxylated”- which gets a great reaction from Jacobi.

5AM goes in for a second helping over a sligthly poppier beat than last time that allows him to use some interesting, non-orthodox flows that keep your ears guessing. Next we take a musical detour with DTOUR over a languid jazz beat as he namedrops famous Vancouver mainstays like Olympic Village. And if you thought DTOUR wasn’t a Vancity local, his next line will erase all doubt:

“Did you get the hint I’m running outta pocket lint, [I’ve] seen a fucking riot that was caused by a hockey stick!”

Realije the Beatbox MC speeds things up with some fast double-time rapping. It’s no easy task, especially when you’re doing it live and surrounded by your peers. You can tell he’s been rapping for a long time after he recovers so smoothly from a minor mistake because he gets right back into it. He and Tee Krispil even try freestyling a hook!

Stay tuned for Finch and DJ Denise, who come up a bit later- perhaps they were just chilling and feeling the vibe until that bolt of inspiration hit them, or maybe they were building up the courage to get there? Whatever the reason, it’s always dope to see people get up there and give it their best shot. It helps build community and it’s all love, after all.

Also, a quick shoutout must go to the DJ who laced this cypher with some amazing instrumentals that might make you wish for it to be a playlist. Let’s hope the tracklist is included in the video info!

Studio710 is located in downtown Vancouver, and is the city's leading cannabis-friendly media recording studio. Studio710 is produced by JadeMaple. For more information, check out Studio710.ca.

"Your energy goes into quality of product, our energy goes into quality of image." solutions at Jade Maple.

Featuring host and rapper Creed Taylor alongside fellow rhymers Manny Alcatraz and Jacobi the Giant, the trio test their lyrical skills over a melange of instrumentals courtesy of DJ and producer Beats by Julius, who keeps the session laced with hot track after hot track.

The joint kicks off with a dirty freestyle from Creed Taylor that mixes sex and weed - one of the best combinations IMO - before switching to Manny Alcatraz who comes out swinging, sliding in some tight Notorious B.I.G. references. Then, the beat switches as Jacobi the Giant steps up to the mic and you can hear the hunger in his booming voice.

As the cypher goes on, the spitters get in the zone as they step their game up in the increasingly hazy room. Manny’s dense rhymes are packed with metaphors, wordplay, and references to everything from Star Wars to Looney Tunes that might have you hitting rewind, again, and again. And in addition to all of that, he even starts dropping in Spanish for a little extra flavour!

Jacobi the Giant focuses more on gritty street stories about hustling and overcoming all obstacles while amply living up to his rap name, so much so, that at one point, Creed had to extend the mic stand because Jacobi’s so tall!

Each month, Studio710 opens up its door to the best from the 604, so stay tuned for our next episode dropping soon. #ItsStudio710

For more sick rhymes from Vancity, check out the first Studio710 Cypher Session here, featuring an interview with Creed Taylor himself, and Studio710 co-founder Craig Ex.

Studio710 is located in downtown Vancouver, and is the city's leading cannabis-friendly media recording studio. Studio710 is produced by JadeMaple. For more information, check out Studio710.ca.

"Your energy goes into quality of product, our energy goes into quality of image." solutions at Jade Maple.