Shawn Setaro
[Adisa Banjoko, founder of the Hip-Hop Chess Federation and author of of the new book Bobby, Bruce & The Bronx: The Secrets of Hip-Hop Chess, recently sat down with hip-hop personality and SOHH correspondent Shawn Setaro on his popular “The Cipher” podcast. Listen to the full interview and check out five gems he dropped during the Q&A.]
On his longtime friend DJ Vlad:
“Vlad is a unique dude. The brilliance of DJ Vlad is that he can spot a trend before it hits. He’s got a gift for that. I think that’s why he’s so huge today.”
On being at an X-Clan concert when the Rodney King verdict was announced:
“He’s like, ‘Are you ready to take it to the streets?’ I was like, holy sh*t, it’s on. They started walking out of the venue, and the whole place followed. I’m like, this is it.”
On his reaction to the beating of white truck driver Reginald Denny during the Los Angeles riots:
“I remember feeling intensely sorry for Reginald Denny, and realizing that the revolution I thought I wanted, that was not justice. I hadn’t quite thought it all through.”
On his friend and mentor, former Black Panther Kiilu Nyasha:
“She’s a wheelchair-bound Panther who was injured many years ago, and she’s hella knowledgeable. She has things that no one has – handwritten letters from Geronimo Pratt, Huey Newton. Audiotapes of her conversations with Huey Newton or Jonathan Jackson, George Jackson, these kinds of people. She would really break down the knowledge better than anybody else.”
On the relationship between chess and hip-hop in the 1970s:
