ESDapproved Interview with Bing Cypher

So I had the pleasure of having my first interview done this past week with Bing Cypher who has garnered a lot of buzz following his first single off of Change of Heart featuring hip-hop heavyweight XV(listen below). It's my first interview so let me know how I did in the comment section below.

What is the meaning and origin of the name Bing Cypher?

I got my name from my sister; when she was younger se had a hard time saying Brendan and would call me ‘Bing’ so from there it became a pretty standard nickname around my family and friends. The Cypher part originated late in high school around junior year; I was freestyling at my friends house; baked off my ass haha and I literally went for like 15 minutes during a cypher we had so I thought why not?

Bing Cypher- Letting Go ft. XV

Hit the jump for the whole interview.

When and how did you start rapping (writing and rapping)?

I’ve been writing since 14, but I’ve been writing good material since 16. I never got into rap as a kid; not until I listened to ‘Lupe Fiasco’s Food & Liquor’; that work alone motivated me to start rapping. I also got a huge influence from another event that happened to me when I was 16. My best friend died from a long battle with cancer and I was devastated by it. I wrote like 20 songs in one day like a month after he passed. I was pretty depressed, but found that writing would help me remember him so I continue to mention him in my music to keep his memory alive.

What are your hip-hop influences?

As far as hip-hop goes, Lupe Fiasco is a huge influence to me. I could listen to ‘The Cool’  or ‘Food & Liquor’ on repeat all day, and I’ve actually done that before too haha. I’m also a huge J. Cole and XV fan, and I love Charles Hamilton; despite what most people say I think he truly is a great lyricist. I also like old-school Nas, Jay-Z, Big L, BIG, Eminem. I’m startin to really get into Mickey Factz too along with Kendrick Lamar. I try to take a little aspect of everyone I listen to and try and add it to music.

What are some influences that aren't from hip-hop?

Frank Ocean is and has been growing on me for a little, love his story telling. Coldplay and Linkin Park are also like two of my favorite bands ever. My dad is a HUGE Bob Dylan fan so I’ve been listening to him my whole life and he really is in my opinion the reason we have rap; I think he cultivated it with his poetic rhymes and stories through his music, and was one of the first to actually ‘rap’ lyrics.

What can you tell us about Change Of Heart (features, concept etc)?

There’s a few concepts to my mixtape; I wanted to leave some of it open to interpretation so fans could kind of relate It to their own life and not mine. I touch on my life a lot and the concept is something you’ll be able to follow throughout the tape. I’m trying to illustrate how I was disgusted with rap, but then finally realized how great of an art form it is. You’ll be able to feel the mood of it too; first half is light-hearted more metaphor-based punchline songs just to showcase my lyrical abilities. The second half gets darker and evolves into more of a story-telling aspect about my struggles. I hit home I think with a lot of people by talking about death, growth, and how hip-hop is today as opposed to as it was 15-20 years ago. As for features you can expect my man Gro and my boy Bobby Fischer; both dudes appear on two tracks and murder their parts.

How did you hook up with DJ CAPCOM?

I was able to link up with Capcom through his manager; I emailed him and he got back to me within the hour and from that point on we’ve been crafting this mixtape together.

How did the collaboration with XV come about?

XV is a dude I’ve wanted to work with since the first time I heard him. I got the opportunity by goin’ through my man Ben who has all the connects so he hooked it up and me and Vizzy gave you guys ‘Letting Go’ which I think was definitely one of my better works.

What are your top 5 lines from other artists?

Hmm this one’s tough but my absolute favorite line has to be from Lupe’s Hurt Me Soul;

                “Now I ain’t trying to be the greatest; I used to hate hip-hop, yup because the women degraded”

I’m also a big fan of pretty much anything J. Cole says, an example here from ‘Lights Please’

                “But you see the sad thing fuckin wit her is; that the chick aint even have brains dummy like a bitch”

And I can’t really narrow it down more because anything I hear from the Warm-Up and Food & Liquor has made an impact on me and how I approach songs too.

Who are some artists and producers that you want to work with?

I would love to be able to share a sentence with Lupe Fiasco, but I’d love to work with him, J. Cole, Charles Hamilton, XV again, B.o.B, Mac Miller, Curren$y, Big Sean. Any one of these guys to me are just great entertainers and artists and being able to work with them would be pretty awesome.

As far as producers go I’d love to get some work with Seven, Soundtrakk, Kanye West, J. Cole, Just Blaze, The Alchemist, and Ski Beatz

What songs are you mainly listening to on your iPod

“Swim Good”- Frank Ocean

“Balance”- J. Cole

“Dead Presidents II”- J. Cole

“Forever”- Bobby Fischer

“Pictures On My Wall”- XV

“Change Gonna Come”- B.o.B ft. Asher Roth & Charles Hamilton

“Strachasers”- Charles Hamilton

“Letting Go”- Lupe Fiasco


A big shoutout to Bing for putting this together, Change of Heart  drops on July 11, 2011 and you will be able to get it from here or on DatPif.