September 13, 2025 • 22 mins
In the second half of the show, we examine our story since starting Civic Cipher. We have had many ups and downs as a show and as a country and we use this segment to reflect on all of it—and also invoke a bit of optimism for the future!
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Keep on riding with us as we continue to broadcast
the balance and defend the discourse from the Hip Hop
Weekly Studios. Welcome back to Civic Cipher. I am still
your host, Ramsey's job.
Speaker 2 (00:09):
He is ramses Joh I am q Ward. You are
tuned in the Civic Cipher.
Speaker 1 (00:13):
Indeed you are, and we are five years old. Not
a lot of other radio shows last in five years,
especially ones that started when we started, So.
Speaker 3 (00:27):
We appreciate everyone on this journey.
Speaker 1 (00:29):
We are celebrating our story today and hopefully in doing so,
we are providing encouragement and fortification for you, our listener,
on your journey of ally ship and support of marginalized
people historically marginalized people in this country. Stay tuned because
we are going to be talking about some of the
(00:49):
things that have taken place since we started this show.
It's been a lot, and there's been some ups and downs,
but we are glad to still be here. Before we
get there, though, it's time to discuss ba Ba becoming
a better ally Baba and today's Baba. No surprise, why
not support Civic Cipher. You know we we rarely ask
(01:13):
for support, but we wanted to take a moment to
let you know exactly how this show works. The truth
is we pay for most of this from our own pockets,
and therefore the growth is really limited to you know what,
(01:33):
We're able to kind of throw at this endeavor. If
you feel like this is something that is worthwhile, if
this is something that you feel like you can support,
please consider visiting Civiccipher dot com. All of the ways
to support us are there. You can use Patreon that's
a monthly contribution. We love those cash ad venmo. If
(01:53):
money's not involved and you can't support in that way,
give us a follow on YouTube or you know, fan base.
If you're on the fan base or Instagram or Facebook
or wherever, we're all at Civic Cipher on all platforms.
This show is not free to make. It does cost money.
We don't get paid to do this show, and in
(02:16):
all five years we've done it, we have never been
paid for a broadcast. We have to pay for everything
from lawyers to website hosting to travel expenses because we
have to travel around and meet with programmers around the country.
We have to pay for graphic design, we have to
pay for software, We have to pay for cameras, equipment,
We have to pay for editing all that, and if
(02:38):
we can't do it ourselves, we're paying for it. And
so your support not only helps us to remain fortified
in our journey, but it helps us to grow the platform.
We've done a great job, I think getting the show
to one hundred and fifty on radio stations, but I
think we can do more. And your financial support and
your digital support helps us a lot. Again, civiccipher dot
com or follow us on all platforms at Civic Cipher.
Speaker 3 (02:58):
We'd appreciate it, all right.
Speaker 1 (03:05):
So when we first started this show, it was under
Trump one point zero. It was in September when we
aired our first episode, and you know, we had a
few people that we needed to interview because again we
had made some promises to some folks that we were
(03:29):
going to get them on the radio to share their message.
And those messages were very important. But one one early
bright moment for the show was electing Joe Biden. If
I'm being honest, you know, looking back on Joe Biden's presidency,
(03:54):
we didn't expect the world. We were just trying to
keep them from falling out with Trump two point zero.
Life is funny, but I remember that that moment where
it felt like, hey, so maybe we've come to our
(04:14):
senses as a country. Maybe we've decided that this Trump presidency,
this is not who we are, not who we want
to be. And granted there were some people neares makes
no difference half the country that's.
Speaker 3 (04:26):
Still like that.
Speaker 1 (04:27):
But historically speaking, we've been dragging the conservative facet of
this country forward, kicking and screaming since the beginning of
this country. You know, the Conservatives wanted to keep slavery.
They were just they just had a different name, but
they were very much the Conservatives. Literally, they wanted to
conserve slavery right. So this country had to drag them
(04:49):
kicking and screaming. Conservatives thought the Jim Crow and segregation
was the way, the natural order for this country. And we,
the majority, the slight major already I suppose, had to
drag the conservatives kicking and screaming along, you know. And
that was another example of again, a bright moment was
(05:11):
the election of Joe Biden. But I do remember under
Joe Biden's presidency, Q and I, we covered.
Speaker 3 (05:22):
Police shooting after police shooting, We.
Speaker 1 (05:25):
Covered states jerry mandering, two weaken black votes around the country.
We covered you know, police cover ups and corruption. We
covered issues with respect to housing, issues with respect to education,
you know, the rollbacks of what they call it critical
(05:47):
race theory, which indeed was in fact, you know, American history.
We covered you know, all these stories under Joe Biden's presidency.
So if we didn't know before, we certainly knew that,
you know, Joe Biden and Democrats weren't an election of
(06:09):
a Democrat to the highest office in the land doesn't
necessarily change one percent of the material reality for the
marginalized people on the ground here at this country. There's
still a lot more work that needs to be done.
And you know, one of the things that we also
learned is that Democrats blaming you know, political red tape
(06:31):
and blaming you know, the Supreme Court, and blaming you know,
them not having a majority in Congress or whatever it is,
those start to feel like limp ristic excuses when you
indeed see what Trump has done to kind of, you know,
shoehorn his conservative agenda down the throats of the folks
(06:51):
in this country. But it felt like by calling attention
to the things that we called attention to, that we
were making sure that people remain vigilant and remained aware.
For better or worse, there is a new activist cohort
in this country that was fully activated in twenty twenty
(07:14):
and will remain, at least to some degree, politically engaged
more than they otherwise would have been for the rest
of their lives. They learned what they needed to learn,
they spotted the corruption, and they are ready to let
their voices be heard. And we've been very fortunate to
be one of the handful of people that actually gets
(07:37):
to speak to this cohort, and indeed are a part
of this cohort. You know, there's a lot more to
our story since you know the show started, but I'll
let you know. I'll tag Q in here so that
he can share some other ups and downs that we've
experienced on this journey.
Speaker 2 (07:57):
Okay, so my brother was a very net cast there
the handoff to I don't know where I'm supposed to
go with the story because ups and downs. It's been
the most interesting five years I think of either of
our lives. Because we never saw this coming. We didn't
(08:18):
we didn't jump off the porch into activism. Once we
jumped off the porch into adulthood. The irony However, to
both of our stories prior to us meeting were the
things that we did that are mirrored and kind of
set the foundation for what we would ultimately do together.
(08:40):
So maybe they were called different things, but we were
on very very aligned paths. The NAACP and Black Student
Union was a singular organization where Ramses went to college.
(09:01):
That was not the case where I went to school.
But both of us very very involved in the undergraduate
chapter or chapters of the NAACP where we went to
undergrad myself the national second vice president of the National
Paneltic Council, with which most people call the Divine Nine.
(09:24):
The nine Black Greek fraternities and sororities started at HBCUs.
You know, back before this country thought education was something
we should have access to. And when we could not
be a part of the member clubs started by wide Americans,
we created our own institutions and organizations. So we started
(09:50):
on this path, you know. Brotherhood, fellowship, scholarship, community service,
giving back was always a part of our nature and
just things that we gravitated toward. Once we stepped out
of childhood, stepped out of being teenagers and into being men,
(10:11):
and little did we know what we were preparing ourselves for.
And Ramses often speaks about.
Speaker 3 (10:24):
Part of the.
Speaker 2 (10:24):
Creative journey, and he tries to in a way that
almost infuriates me take credit away from himself for where
we've now made it to. Q did not have any
plans on being a DJ. Ever, it wasn't like Yo, Rams,
(10:48):
I want to DJ. Can you you know know that
conversation never happened. It was never presented that way. I
would have never presented it that way.
Speaker 3 (10:57):
You know.
Speaker 2 (10:58):
I just moved back to the United States from Europe
and I needed a way to make some money. And
Ramses and a story that I'll tell another day, because
this isn't about the origins of me as a DJ.
But Rams literally pushed me into the deep end of
the pool with full faith that I could swim. He
(11:18):
did not want me to drown, but he also did
not ask if I could swim. He just pushed and
had the faith that I would figure it out. Then
Ramses insisted for years that I used the microphone that
every venue provided the DJ, and I for years told Ramsas, no,
(11:39):
I'm not going to.
Speaker 3 (11:40):
Be able to do it. I even had a soundtrack
to this conversation.
Speaker 2 (11:47):
And he insisted and insisted and insisted, and eventually I
had something to say, So that also happened. And then famously,
as Ramses said, resides from our radio job on our
behalf and then called me to tell me. So here
(12:08):
I was, again following Ramda's lead, without Ramdays asking my
permission at all. It was I'm your brother, trust me
at every step, and at every step he was right.
And from one station and what we thought was a
pretty significant market to a station and every significant market
(12:34):
at this point, the number doesn't really matter anymore. If
you live somewhere, we're on the radio there. If it's
in this country, literally, if you live somewhere in this country,
we're on the radio there. So say the numbers that
you want to say. And it's just been kind of, hey,
(12:57):
I'm going to go this way, and I just need
to trust me the whole time. And when he's right
over and over and over and over again, the follow
me this way part becomes very very easy. So the
things that we've been through after we made the decision
(13:20):
that having fun and making money wasn't the most important thing,
because yeah, as big as this thing has become, it
cost us to do it. We were doing very well
for ourselves, and we've had some things present themselves to
us on this journey that would have done a lot
for us and our check you know, checking account balances,
(13:44):
that would not have been the right thing to do
by the people who trust and believe in us. Watching
what this country has become has been one of the
most difficult things for me. Ramses tends to have a
bit more in the way of optimism and hope than
I do. But the country, the government, and those who
are in charge, those who are supposed to be leaders,
(14:06):
find a way to surprisingly let me down in a
different and unique way every day. And doing this work
that matters really is because of you. You all reach
out and tell us we need your voices now more
than we ever have, and we take that seriously, even
(14:27):
when we don't agree, even when we don't feel like
we're having as significant an impact as we'd like to have.
The encouragement that we get from you all, from our listeners,
from our allies, from those people who show up with
us and for us is why these microphones keep cutting on,
the cameras keep cutting on, and we keep trying to
(14:48):
make sure that the Wi Fi, the internet is paid
so that we can have these conversations with you guys.
But this is not something I ever would have done
or chosen to do without Ramses. And I told that
whole story kind of about him pushing me here because
in his mind he's been preparing me to one day
(15:10):
be able to do this without him. And that's such
such a ridiculous thing that he says all the time,
like I almost turned the computer off and just walk away,
because it's it's a ridiculous thing to say. There is
no me doing this thing without Ramses did. The idea
doesn't exist. The idea is kind of infuriating, and he
(15:31):
says it all the time, and I have to keep
telling him, listen to me, dude, once you're not doing
this anymore, then we're not doing this anymore.
Speaker 3 (15:39):
There's no q code, there's no just cipher. Sure sure,
like it's not happening.
Speaker 2 (15:48):
So you know, what a journey that we've been on,
but a journey that we never would have even started
if not for Ramses.
Speaker 1 (15:56):
Yeah, the the truth is I and I hope that
you know, everyone listening can take a little nugget from this.
You know, if you have people around you that trust
you again. As I mentioned, I've had a little bit
more of a story here in radio than Q. Q
was a seasoned veteran, but fifteen eighteen years something like that.
(16:21):
I got them by like three or four years, and
I had a different relationship with it. I was more
full time earlier on and so forth, so more immersed.
But you know, if you have people around you, if
you're not willing to give them one hundred percent of
yourself teach them everything that you know, if you're gatekeeping
and guarding information because you live in fear of them
(16:44):
eclipsing you or something like that, then I challenge you
to rethink whether or not you should actually call them
your friend. Q is more than that to me, and
so me making sure that Q has every bit of information, access,
you know, respective, whatever that I do, is part of
(17:06):
the That's that's kind of my standing order. I like
to think of myself as a king maker, and I
do believe I've accomplished that over the years with Qan
and with you know, Bootleg Cab, and with Jello, and
with a lot of other radio names that people may
or may not know. But I really love these people
and I really want them to be successful, and even
(17:27):
if I'm not around, I want them to have the
confidence to be able to kind of continue. I don't
expect that that will ever happen, but you know, we
do walk a dangerous path here, and just to know
that you have the option to continue is enough for me.
And that, in my estimation, is how I will have
done right by by you. So hopefully, if you're listening
(17:49):
and you feel the same way, you know, you don't
gatekeep information. You give people everything that they need. You
teach every people everything they need to know to be
even more successful than you, and then you take pride
in knowing that they've taken it further than you ever could.
And I think that a lot of our story kind
of reflects that, because there was many times, many many
(18:10):
times where Q has stepped out in front and led
me us in terms of strategy, in terms of like
the actual the face in front of the camera, in
terms of you know, just behind the scenes conversations, in
terms of networking and providing and creating opportunities. Famously, we
(18:32):
were the two people that ended up with the White
Lives Matter trademark, and we were on Q and I
were both on TMZ one day and then CNN the
next day, and then we were in the La Times
and the New York Times, and then we're on the
BBC overseas, and we're on this news network in Korea,
(18:53):
South Korea, and then we're on this place in South
Africa and ABC News and Vanity Fair and Rolling Stone
and on, an, on and on for having procured that
trademark and keeping Kanye West from u selling those clothes
with that label on it. And you know, Q was
(19:13):
one of the Q was the person that kind of
helped provide a lot of the strategy that we were
able to use to make sure that we navigated those
waters as best we could at that time, because we were,
if I'm being honest now, we can tell it, we
were super in over our head. We didn't know what
to do. We had lawyers, you know, whatever, but we
didn't know what was right for us, and we didn't
know what was right for you, our listeners, and so
(19:35):
we tried to do our best with it. And now
in hindsight we can see that we did and that
was thanks to you know, Q's leadership and guidance. You know,
we were famously able to work with the Harris campaign
when she ran, and we were able to learn a
lot of things about how these things come together, how
this country works, how people get elected. And yes, that
(19:57):
campaign was not successful, but it certainly was eye opening
for me. You know, I tend to.
Speaker 3 (20:05):
Move with these huge moves.
Speaker 1 (20:08):
And so it's very easy for me to miss the details,
and you will absolutely correct me.
Speaker 3 (20:15):
You know, every step of the way.
Speaker 1 (20:17):
Somebody offered us, you know, a huge number cluster of
stations once upon a time, and I was so dead
set on, hey, this is what you said, and you're
not doing what you said, and you pulled me aside,
and he's like, hey man, he just offered us way
more stations like don't don't pyck yourself out here, and
that's how we're able to say one hundred and fifty
one radio stations around the country, like these are the
(20:38):
sorts of things that you know, have caused this show
to become what it is now. I don't want to
pretend like the country is in a good space. I
know that we're in a space where we're going to
probably suffer a lot more wounds and then we're going
to have a pretty long healing stage after that, I'm sure,
(20:58):
But you know, if I may, I'd like to remind
people that, you know, presidents don't live forever. They are people,
and they die, particularly unhealthy people die. This current climate
of this country is unsustainable.
Speaker 3 (21:16):
It just is.
Speaker 1 (21:19):
If we're going to remain you know, USA number one. Uh,
you know, we're gonna have to come to terms with
that fact. And another bright moment is that, you know,
the opposition to this deeply conservative MAGA agenda is growing.
You know, we were studying these trends and we see
them and that's I know that that's not enough, but
(21:42):
we're not starting at zero, and so.
Speaker 3 (21:46):
We got our work cut out for us.
Speaker 1 (21:47):
But looking back on these past five years, again, I
couldn't have a better teammate, and you know, we couldn't
have a better group of supporters. So thank you all
for listening, and we'll get you another five years if
we can. Okay, So that's going to do it for
us here on Civiccipher.
Speaker 3 (22:05):
Any any final thoughts.
Speaker 2 (22:07):
Qu No, man, I just hope you're right. I mean too,
just says some really hopeful things there at the end.
Your brother does not always subscribe to that, So I
hope you're right.
Speaker 3 (22:18):
Yeah, me too.
Speaker 1 (22:19):
Well, there's only one way to find out, and that's
to keep going. And if you want to keep going
with us, do us a favor. Uh check out the
website civicciper dot com.
Speaker 3 (22:28):
Uh, subscribe to the podcast.
Speaker 1 (22:31):
That's a great way to support us at Civic Cipher
or the QR code. As we mentioned earlier, you can donate.
You can again hit the website civiccipher dot com. There's Patreon,
there's Shoot.
Speaker 3 (22:43):
We have all of them.
Speaker 1 (22:44):
They're all connected, you know, send us, send us a coffee,
Follow us on all social media. You can follow us
that Civic Cipher on all platforms. I'm at Ramsy's jah,
i am q War on all socials as well.
Speaker 3 (22:55):
And until next week, y'all peace,
Keep on riding with us as we continue to broadcast
the balance and defend the discourse from the Hip Hop
Weekly Studios. Welcome back to Civic Cipher. I am still
your host, Ramsey's job.
Speaker 2 (00:09):
He is ramses Joh I am q Ward. You are
tuned in the Civic Cipher.
Speaker 1 (00:13):
Indeed you are, and we are five years old. Not
a lot of other radio shows last in five years,
especially ones that started when we started, So.
Speaker 3 (00:27):
We appreciate everyone on this journey.
Speaker 1 (00:29):
We are celebrating our story today and hopefully in doing so,
we are providing encouragement and fortification for you, our listener,
on your journey of ally ship and support of marginalized
people historically marginalized people in this country. Stay tuned because
we are going to be talking about some of the
(00:49):
things that have taken place since we started this show.
It's been a lot, and there's been some ups and downs,
but we are glad to still be here. Before we
get there, though, it's time to discuss ba Ba becoming
a better ally Baba and today's Baba. No surprise, why
not support Civic Cipher. You know we we rarely ask
(01:13):
for support, but we wanted to take a moment to
let you know exactly how this show works. The truth
is we pay for most of this from our own pockets,
and therefore the growth is really limited to you know what,
(01:33):
We're able to kind of throw at this endeavor. If
you feel like this is something that is worthwhile, if
this is something that you feel like you can support,
please consider visiting Civiccipher dot com. All of the ways
to support us are there. You can use Patreon that's
a monthly contribution. We love those cash ad venmo. If
(01:53):
money's not involved and you can't support in that way,
give us a follow on YouTube or you know, fan base.
If you're on the fan base or Instagram or Facebook
or wherever, we're all at Civic Cipher on all platforms.
This show is not free to make. It does cost money.
We don't get paid to do this show, and in
(02:16):
all five years we've done it, we have never been
paid for a broadcast. We have to pay for everything
from lawyers to website hosting to travel expenses because we
have to travel around and meet with programmers around the country.
We have to pay for graphic design, we have to
pay for software, We have to pay for cameras, equipment,
We have to pay for editing all that, and if
(02:38):
we can't do it ourselves, we're paying for it. And
so your support not only helps us to remain fortified
in our journey, but it helps us to grow the platform.
We've done a great job, I think getting the show
to one hundred and fifty on radio stations, but I
think we can do more. And your financial support and
your digital support helps us a lot. Again, civiccipher dot
com or follow us on all platforms at Civic Cipher.
Speaker 3 (02:58):
We'd appreciate it, all right.
Speaker 1 (03:05):
So when we first started this show, it was under
Trump one point zero. It was in September when we
aired our first episode, and you know, we had a
few people that we needed to interview because again we
had made some promises to some folks that we were
(03:29):
going to get them on the radio to share their message.
And those messages were very important. But one one early
bright moment for the show was electing Joe Biden. If
I'm being honest, you know, looking back on Joe Biden's presidency,
(03:54):
we didn't expect the world. We were just trying to
keep them from falling out with Trump two point zero.
Life is funny, but I remember that that moment where
it felt like, hey, so maybe we've come to our
(04:14):
senses as a country. Maybe we've decided that this Trump presidency,
this is not who we are, not who we want
to be. And granted there were some people neares makes
no difference half the country that's.
Speaker 3 (04:26):
Still like that.
Speaker 1 (04:27):
But historically speaking, we've been dragging the conservative facet of
this country forward, kicking and screaming since the beginning of
this country. You know, the Conservatives wanted to keep slavery.
They were just they just had a different name, but
they were very much the Conservatives. Literally, they wanted to
conserve slavery right. So this country had to drag them
(04:49):
kicking and screaming. Conservatives thought the Jim Crow and segregation
was the way, the natural order for this country. And we,
the majority, the slight major already I suppose, had to
drag the conservatives kicking and screaming along, you know. And
that was another example of again, a bright moment was
(05:11):
the election of Joe Biden. But I do remember under
Joe Biden's presidency, Q and I, we covered.
Speaker 3 (05:22):
Police shooting after police shooting, We.
Speaker 1 (05:25):
Covered states jerry mandering, two weaken black votes around the country.
We covered you know, police cover ups and corruption. We
covered issues with respect to housing, issues with respect to education,
you know, the rollbacks of what they call it critical
(05:47):
race theory, which indeed was in fact, you know, American history.
We covered you know, all these stories under Joe Biden's presidency.
So if we didn't know before, we certainly knew that,
you know, Joe Biden and Democrats weren't an election of
(06:09):
a Democrat to the highest office in the land doesn't
necessarily change one percent of the material reality for the
marginalized people on the ground here at this country. There's
still a lot more work that needs to be done.
And you know, one of the things that we also
learned is that Democrats blaming you know, political red tape
(06:31):
and blaming you know, the Supreme Court, and blaming you know,
them not having a majority in Congress or whatever it is,
those start to feel like limp ristic excuses when you
indeed see what Trump has done to kind of, you know,
shoehorn his conservative agenda down the throats of the folks
(06:51):
in this country. But it felt like by calling attention
to the things that we called attention to, that we
were making sure that people remain vigilant and remained aware.
For better or worse, there is a new activist cohort
in this country that was fully activated in twenty twenty
(07:14):
and will remain, at least to some degree, politically engaged
more than they otherwise would have been for the rest
of their lives. They learned what they needed to learn,
they spotted the corruption, and they are ready to let
their voices be heard. And we've been very fortunate to
be one of the handful of people that actually gets
(07:37):
to speak to this cohort, and indeed are a part
of this cohort. You know, there's a lot more to
our story since you know the show started, but I'll
let you know. I'll tag Q in here so that
he can share some other ups and downs that we've
experienced on this journey.
Speaker 2 (07:57):
Okay, so my brother was a very net cast there
the handoff to I don't know where I'm supposed to
go with the story because ups and downs. It's been
the most interesting five years I think of either of
our lives. Because we never saw this coming. We didn't
(08:18):
we didn't jump off the porch into activism. Once we
jumped off the porch into adulthood. The irony However, to
both of our stories prior to us meeting were the
things that we did that are mirrored and kind of
set the foundation for what we would ultimately do together.
(08:40):
So maybe they were called different things, but we were
on very very aligned paths. The NAACP and Black Student
Union was a singular organization where Ramses went to college.
(09:01):
That was not the case where I went to school.
But both of us very very involved in the undergraduate
chapter or chapters of the NAACP where we went to
undergrad myself the national second vice president of the National
Paneltic Council, with which most people call the Divine Nine.
(09:24):
The nine Black Greek fraternities and sororities started at HBCUs.
You know, back before this country thought education was something
we should have access to. And when we could not
be a part of the member clubs started by wide Americans,
we created our own institutions and organizations. So we started
(09:50):
on this path, you know. Brotherhood, fellowship, scholarship, community service,
giving back was always a part of our nature and
just things that we gravitated toward. Once we stepped out
of childhood, stepped out of being teenagers and into being men,
(10:11):
and little did we know what we were preparing ourselves for.
And Ramses often speaks about.
Speaker 3 (10:24):
Part of the.
Speaker 2 (10:24):
Creative journey, and he tries to in a way that
almost infuriates me take credit away from himself for where
we've now made it to. Q did not have any
plans on being a DJ. Ever, it wasn't like Yo, Rams,
(10:48):
I want to DJ. Can you you know know that
conversation never happened. It was never presented that way. I
would have never presented it that way.
Speaker 3 (10:57):
You know.
Speaker 2 (10:58):
I just moved back to the United States from Europe
and I needed a way to make some money. And
Ramses and a story that I'll tell another day, because
this isn't about the origins of me as a DJ.
But Rams literally pushed me into the deep end of
the pool with full faith that I could swim. He
(11:18):
did not want me to drown, but he also did
not ask if I could swim. He just pushed and
had the faith that I would figure it out. Then
Ramses insisted for years that I used the microphone that
every venue provided the DJ, and I for years told Ramsas, no,
(11:39):
I'm not going to.
Speaker 3 (11:40):
Be able to do it. I even had a soundtrack
to this conversation.
Speaker 2 (11:47):
And he insisted and insisted and insisted, and eventually I
had something to say, So that also happened. And then famously,
as Ramses said, resides from our radio job on our
behalf and then called me to tell me. So here
(12:08):
I was, again following Ramda's lead, without Ramdays asking my
permission at all. It was I'm your brother, trust me
at every step, and at every step he was right.
And from one station and what we thought was a
pretty significant market to a station and every significant market
(12:34):
at this point, the number doesn't really matter anymore. If
you live somewhere, we're on the radio there. If it's
in this country, literally, if you live somewhere in this country,
we're on the radio there. So say the numbers that
you want to say. And it's just been kind of, hey,
(12:57):
I'm going to go this way, and I just need
to trust me the whole time. And when he's right
over and over and over and over again, the follow
me this way part becomes very very easy. So the
things that we've been through after we made the decision
(13:20):
that having fun and making money wasn't the most important thing,
because yeah, as big as this thing has become, it
cost us to do it. We were doing very well
for ourselves, and we've had some things present themselves to
us on this journey that would have done a lot
for us and our check you know, checking account balances,
(13:44):
that would not have been the right thing to do
by the people who trust and believe in us. Watching
what this country has become has been one of the
most difficult things for me. Ramses tends to have a
bit more in the way of optimism and hope than
I do. But the country, the government, and those who
are in charge, those who are supposed to be leaders,
(14:06):
find a way to surprisingly let me down in a
different and unique way every day. And doing this work
that matters really is because of you. You all reach
out and tell us we need your voices now more
than we ever have, and we take that seriously, even
(14:27):
when we don't agree, even when we don't feel like
we're having as significant an impact as we'd like to have.
The encouragement that we get from you all, from our listeners,
from our allies, from those people who show up with
us and for us is why these microphones keep cutting on,
the cameras keep cutting on, and we keep trying to
(14:48):
make sure that the Wi Fi, the internet is paid
so that we can have these conversations with you guys.
But this is not something I ever would have done
or chosen to do without Ramses. And I told that
whole story kind of about him pushing me here because
in his mind he's been preparing me to one day
(15:10):
be able to do this without him. And that's such
such a ridiculous thing that he says all the time,
like I almost turned the computer off and just walk away,
because it's it's a ridiculous thing to say. There is
no me doing this thing without Ramses did. The idea
doesn't exist. The idea is kind of infuriating, and he
(15:31):
says it all the time, and I have to keep
telling him, listen to me, dude, once you're not doing
this anymore, then we're not doing this anymore.
Speaker 3 (15:39):
There's no q code, there's no just cipher. Sure sure,
like it's not happening.
Speaker 2 (15:48):
So you know, what a journey that we've been on,
but a journey that we never would have even started
if not for Ramses.
Speaker 1 (15:56):
Yeah, the the truth is I and I hope that
you know, everyone listening can take a little nugget from this.
You know, if you have people around you that trust
you again. As I mentioned, I've had a little bit
more of a story here in radio than Q. Q
was a seasoned veteran, but fifteen eighteen years something like that.
(16:21):
I got them by like three or four years, and
I had a different relationship with it. I was more
full time earlier on and so forth, so more immersed.
But you know, if you have people around you, if
you're not willing to give them one hundred percent of
yourself teach them everything that you know, if you're gatekeeping
and guarding information because you live in fear of them
(16:44):
eclipsing you or something like that, then I challenge you
to rethink whether or not you should actually call them
your friend. Q is more than that to me, and
so me making sure that Q has every bit of information, access,
you know, respective, whatever that I do, is part of
(17:06):
the That's that's kind of my standing order. I like
to think of myself as a king maker, and I
do believe I've accomplished that over the years with Qan
and with you know, Bootleg Cab, and with Jello, and
with a lot of other radio names that people may
or may not know. But I really love these people
and I really want them to be successful, and even
(17:27):
if I'm not around, I want them to have the
confidence to be able to kind of continue. I don't
expect that that will ever happen, but you know, we
do walk a dangerous path here, and just to know
that you have the option to continue is enough for me.
And that, in my estimation, is how I will have
done right by by you. So hopefully, if you're listening
(17:49):
and you feel the same way, you know, you don't
gatekeep information. You give people everything that they need. You
teach every people everything they need to know to be
even more successful than you, and then you take pride
in knowing that they've taken it further than you ever could.
And I think that a lot of our story kind
of reflects that, because there was many times, many many
(18:10):
times where Q has stepped out in front and led
me us in terms of strategy, in terms of like
the actual the face in front of the camera, in
terms of you know, just behind the scenes conversations, in
terms of networking and providing and creating opportunities. Famously, we
(18:32):
were the two people that ended up with the White
Lives Matter trademark, and we were on Q and I
were both on TMZ one day and then CNN the
next day, and then we were in the La Times
and the New York Times, and then we're on the
BBC overseas, and we're on this news network in Korea,
(18:53):
South Korea, and then we're on this place in South
Africa and ABC News and Vanity Fair and Rolling Stone
and on, an, on and on for having procured that
trademark and keeping Kanye West from u selling those clothes
with that label on it. And you know, Q was
(19:13):
one of the Q was the person that kind of
helped provide a lot of the strategy that we were
able to use to make sure that we navigated those
waters as best we could at that time, because we were,
if I'm being honest now, we can tell it, we
were super in over our head. We didn't know what
to do. We had lawyers, you know, whatever, but we
didn't know what was right for us, and we didn't
know what was right for you, our listeners, and so
(19:35):
we tried to do our best with it. And now
in hindsight we can see that we did and that
was thanks to you know, Q's leadership and guidance. You know,
we were famously able to work with the Harris campaign
when she ran, and we were able to learn a
lot of things about how these things come together, how
this country works, how people get elected. And yes, that
(19:57):
campaign was not successful, but it certainly was eye opening
for me. You know, I tend to.
Speaker 3 (20:05):
Move with these huge moves.
Speaker 1 (20:08):
And so it's very easy for me to miss the details,
and you will absolutely correct me.
Speaker 3 (20:15):
You know, every step of the way.
Speaker 1 (20:17):
Somebody offered us, you know, a huge number cluster of
stations once upon a time, and I was so dead
set on, hey, this is what you said, and you're
not doing what you said, and you pulled me aside,
and he's like, hey man, he just offered us way
more stations like don't don't pyck yourself out here, and
that's how we're able to say one hundred and fifty
one radio stations around the country, like these are the
(20:38):
sorts of things that you know, have caused this show
to become what it is now. I don't want to
pretend like the country is in a good space. I
know that we're in a space where we're going to
probably suffer a lot more wounds and then we're going
to have a pretty long healing stage after that, I'm sure,
(20:58):
But you know, if I may, I'd like to remind
people that, you know, presidents don't live forever. They are people,
and they die, particularly unhealthy people die. This current climate
of this country is unsustainable.
Speaker 3 (21:16):
It just is.
Speaker 1 (21:19):
If we're going to remain you know, USA number one. Uh,
you know, we're gonna have to come to terms with
that fact. And another bright moment is that, you know,
the opposition to this deeply conservative MAGA agenda is growing.
You know, we were studying these trends and we see
them and that's I know that that's not enough, but
(21:42):
we're not starting at zero, and so.
Speaker 3 (21:46):
We got our work cut out for us.
Speaker 1 (21:47):
But looking back on these past five years, again, I
couldn't have a better teammate, and you know, we couldn't
have a better group of supporters. So thank you all
for listening, and we'll get you another five years if
we can. Okay, So that's going to do it for
us here on Civiccipher.
Speaker 3 (22:05):
Any any final thoughts.
Speaker 2 (22:07):
Qu No, man, I just hope you're right. I mean too,
just says some really hopeful things there at the end.
Your brother does not always subscribe to that, So I
hope you're right.
Speaker 3 (22:18):
Yeah, me too.
Speaker 1 (22:19):
Well, there's only one way to find out, and that's
to keep going. And if you want to keep going
with us, do us a favor. Uh check out the
website civicciper dot com.
Speaker 3 (22:28):
Uh, subscribe to the podcast.
Speaker 1 (22:31):
That's a great way to support us at Civic Cipher
or the QR code. As we mentioned earlier, you can donate.
You can again hit the website civiccipher dot com. There's Patreon,
there's Shoot.
Speaker 3 (22:43):
We have all of them.
Speaker 1 (22:44):
They're all connected, you know, send us, send us a coffee,
Follow us on all social media. You can follow us
that Civic Cipher on all platforms. I'm at Ramsy's jah,
i am q War on all socials as well.
Speaker 3 (22:55):
And until next week, y'all peace,
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