Strife.TV interviews Ervin Arana

In addition to our supporters, one of the most important components that has contributed to the success & vibe of Cypher Adikts is the DJ. Ours, is Ervin Arana.

Not only does Ervin have a rich history within the
community as a well respected Bboy, throughout the years he has rocked LA nightlife at places such as Zanzibar, United Grooves, Carbon’s Low Key and more notably one of LA’s most legendary nights The Root Down, where he served as one of their resident DJ’s. Needless to say, Ervin comes from a true Party Rocking background which made him the perfect fit into bringing that ill party vibe into CA. His background as a dancer largely contributes to his style, he understands what gets dancers going, and what will keep the people hyped for more. He’s spun at countless jams outside of CA and also serves as resident DJ at Homeland in Long Beach where you can see him giving back to his community by helping out new and aspiring DJ’s perfect their craft.

All of the above mentioned, plus his contribution to the scene since day one is key to the vibe and mission of Cypher Adikts. A DJ like Ervin is truly rare, and observing him throughout the years you can really see how much he cares about the music he plays. Spending countless hours digging and dedicating himself to his craft. If you don’t know ‘em, we suggest you get to know ‘em.

Strife.TV in collaboration with the new DJ Channel Sesh TV, recently caught up with Ervin at his home where they interviewed him about his history as a DJ, music, and Style. Take a look, and get to know Cypher Adikts very own, Ervin Arana…..

To hear some of his recent work, make sure to visit Ervin’s Soundcloud

Cypher Adikts San Jose

After over a year of being asked to bring CA to the Bay, we’re finally able to make it happen!! Thanks to the Style Elements Monster Squad!!

This Summer we’ll be starting things off right by making our way up North for CYPHER ADIKTS SAN JOSE!!

We’ve teamed up with the SEC as the official pre-party to open up a weekend of non-stop action in celebration of their 19 years of contribution in Hip Hop!! We’re very familiar with the scene out in the Bay, some of you have even taken the trip down for some of the CA’s in SoCal and have repped hard in the Cyphers. There is no doubt this will be one of the Hottest yet!!!!

For this months flier we’ve featured one of the West Coast most original and most respected Bboys on the West Coast, Stuntman of Style Elements/Furious Styles Crew! The shot taken by photographer Vinnie Estrada, captures Stunts in his truest form bugging out in the Cypher at the CA 2 year anniversary. Not only is he a key member of SEC, he’s consistently represented in the community throughout the years with both his crews and has a rich history to back it up. Big respect goes out to Stunts for repping Hip Hop correct! Shout to to Vinnie Estrada as well for providing the ill shot to grace the flier!

As always we’ll have Ervin Arana on the decks along with special guest Artson (SEC) as our Host for the night keeping the party Hype!

The SEC Anniversary Jam on the following day will consist of a 3v3 Last Man Standing concept Bboy/Bgirl battle with judges Poe One, EasyRoc and Machine. As well as an Open Styles Soulebrity Cypher Comp paired with Pandora, Quali-D and Aiko!

There you have it folks!! Two ill events, joining forces to bring you one Monster of a
weekend!! Start making plans now, Because this will be the official jump off to Summer in Cali!! LET’S GO!!

For full info please visit the Event Pages and help spread the word!!:

Style Elements 19 Year Anniversary – June 22nd-23rd

Cypher Adikts San Jose – Friday June 21st

Cypher Adikts San Diego Highlight Clip

Back in April we had the opportunity to take Cypher Adikts down South to San Diego, Cali and team up with the Cypher City Kings to bring forth an ill weekend of events to the area. It definitely turned out to be a complete success in terms of support and attendance, more than we had imagined. We were also lucky enough to get hooked up with one of the illest venues in the area to provide the perfect back drop for the party. Minutes before the doors officially opened we already had a crowd outside anxious to get in and get down! Needless to say, the party got crackin’ from the get! Check out this highlight clip for a glimpse of what went down at Cypher Adikts San Diego!

#CypherAdikts Instagram Contest – May ’13

It’s that time again!! But First, We just want to say thank you to everyone who participated in last months contest! The support for our very first edition was overwhelming and we were hyped to see so many ill Cypher Shots! There were a lot of really great ones and it was a hard decision to make, but unfortunately there could only be one winner! So before we move on to this months contest we would like to shout last months winning shot from Bboy Prevail of the Might Zulu Kings! Congrats and we hope you like the tee’s! His winning shot is also featured on this months promo flier! The contest runs monthly so if you don’t get chosen this time around you’ll still have plenty of chances! So don’t give up!

ON TO THE NEXT! The May contest starts today! Post up the illest action photo of yourself on Instagram to show us your true Cypher Adikt lifestyle!

**Please make sure to follow each step closely. There were a lot of great shots last month that didn’t get chosen because they forgot to repost the promo flier, or the pictures were not actual CYPHER shots. Remember, no competition shots.**

Here’s what you need to do:

1) Repost this Promo flier and tag #CypherAdikts

2) Post the best action photo of yourself getting down in a Cypher and tag #CypherAdikts

- The photo must not look posed, and the surroundings must represent an actual cypher. This means no shots of yourself in a “competition” even if there is a circle surrounding you. It must be an actual cypher at a jam or night club. Our team knows how to spot ‘em so no staged shots please.

- Tell us where the picture was taken.

- Let us know who you are, and who you rep!

3) We will review all entries and decide who has the best photo!

The contest will run for 2 weeks (ends 5/15) and at the end one winner will be chosen. The winner will receive their choice of any 2 CA Tee’s from our web store! PLUS, your Cypher shot will be featured on the following months promo Flier!

Remember: One winner is chosen every month! So if we don’t get ya’ the first time, you still get a chance! Contest Begins today so start tagging away!! #CypherAdikts

*Contestants are not obligated to be pictured wearing Cypher Adikts Merchandise.

*contest is limited to Instagram posts only.

UPDATED: Cypher Adikts in Canada!

In May 2013, Cypher Adikts will be making its way up to Montréal, Canada to participate in yet another ill weekend of events!! The party gets started on Friday May 10th with CA, going down at 9 Sainte-Catherine East #101 Montreal from 9pm-12am! As always, our resident DJ, Ervin Arana will be in the house providing the tunes to bring you that unique CA vibe and keep the cyphers hype all night long! We will also have official Cypher Adikts merchandise for sale that includes some of our newest items for Spring/Summer!

For this edition of the Cypher Adikts flier, we featured the Bay Areas very own Top Rock &
most importantly CYPHER master, Whacko! This man has been to a few of our past CA’s and most recently took the trip down for our San Diego Edition where photographer Darlene Bada snapped the action shot. Whacko comes through and represents all night, non stop and in every circle. Not only at Cypher Adikts, but at other events we’ve ran into him as well. So we thought it was only fitting to feature him on the flier for this months edition. Not only because he supports the CA movement, but because he truly lives and embraces the lifestyle.

This time around we’ve also paired up with Sweet Technique for the 3rd Edition of Skillz-o-Meter 1v1 Bboy/Bgirl Battlle for $1500 cash! SOM goes off the following day, Saturday May 11th with Judges Menno (Hustle Kidz/Defdogs), Palmer (HaiKORO) and Jeskilz (Cypher Adikts). DJ’s for the night include Lean Rock (Floor Lords) and Montréal’s own Benny Lava (illmask). The night will not only consist of battles, SOM will also host 2 exhibition battles, one between Vicious Victor (MFkids, FLA) vs Sancho (Fresh Format, Montréal) and then Lil Tony (Beast Coast, NJ) vs Vicious (Sweet Technique/Boogie Brats)!

It doesn’t stop there! The weekend will also consist of workshops with Bboys Menno & Vicious Victor, an official after party at Jukebox after Saturdays jam and then finally a Bboy BBQ on Sunday May 12th to close out the weekend!

If you haven’t planned already, make sure you get to it! If you live anywhere around Montréal, this is where you’ll want to be!

SEE YOU SOON CANADA!! We’re hyped to witness how our neighbors to the North get down!

CYPHER ADIKTS CANADA! LAST MINUTE UPDATE:

New Location for tonight!!!! Here’s the address:
9 Sainte-Catherine East #101 Montreal.
Please spread the word by sharing the updated flier.

Fatlace.com Interview with Jeskilz

If you haven’t already, make sure you go over to Fatlace.com to read up on their most recent interview with the woman behind the Cypher Adikts movement, Jeskilz.

Conducted by East3, she breaks down some of her History from her days in Paris, New York, LA and worldwide! She also shares her views on Hip Hop Culture and what inspires her to continue repping, being a community leader and why it’s so important to have an event like Cypher Adikts today.

“Raw circles, dim lights, no judges or music interruption is what C.A is all about, we’re taking the dance and culture back to it’s purest form. Everyone who shows up is put on the same pedestal so it’s on you to rep and stand out. But most of all this jam is all about having fun!”

This interview is packed with a lot of dope insight and offers a great perspective not only as a member of the community, but as a woman in the community who’s actively making moves and representing.

“Breaking is an art form. There’s no such thing as the perfect body type for it, therefor I don’t believe physical abilities are what create differences. Anyone who takes this dance seriously and respects it can shine through it. You’re either dope at what you do or you haven’t figured it out yet but don’t let the boy vs girl theory become an excuse.

STYLE HAS NO GENDER.” – Jeskilz

Click here to read the entire interview.

Cypher Adikts San Diego Recap

Last weekend we finally got the chance to bring Cypher Adikts to San Diego Cali for the first and hopefully not the last! We have a special place in our hearts for our SD Fam. They’ve been taking the trip up to LA for pretty much every single CA since we first started, and you better believe that when SD’s in the house, they rep hard! This time around was no different. We were completely blown away with the amount of support we received. We even had folks come down from Los Angeles, Inland Empire, The Bay and other areas, just to come and party with the Adikts!

The venue was really ill! We had the pleasure of having the event at El Centro Cultural del la Raza, located within SD’s historic Balboa Park. The venue serves as a community center and gallery which also features works from local Latin Artists. All of the art pieces in the building added to our classic CA flavor! We were quickly able to transform the venue into a complete party atmosphere with a little help from the centers staff and the CA Team along with Dyno Rock and his crew, Cypher City Kings! Thanks for hooking up CA with such a dope venue! We feel every venue since our anniversary has been a huge step up, and this one was definitely on our favorites’ list!

Shout outs and thank you’s go out to EVERYONE that was in the house on April 5th, plus all the people who reposted and helped spread the word about CA through social media! We know there were also a few people that were in route and didn’t make it on time, but we appreciate your efforts as well and we hope you can catch us at a future CA! We can’t stress enough how much we appreciate the on-going support. All the sweat that goes into creating Cypher Adikts is for you, and we hope you continue to enjoy the party!

We also want to thank Dyno Rock, Ann Smooth and the entire Cypher City Kings squad
for including CA as the official Pre-party for “No Holdin’ Back”, which was equally a great success on the following day! Cyphers were insane! But we wouldn’t expect anything less from SD! Congrats on a fun event and thank you for equally helping to promote our event along with yours, you guys are doing a great job in uplifting your community and they’re lucky to have peeps that really care about this Culture. Much Love to ALL of you!

Last but not least, a big big THANK YOU to Rock So Fresh for showing us so much love that weekend. These guys were the perfect hosts and put up with all of us all weekend! Non-Stop! Thanks for making us feel at home and we look forward to more good times with all of you!

Be sure to stop by our photo gallery to check out more snap shots from Cypher Adikts San Diego.

Until next time, stay Fresh San Diego!

Photos Credit: Emajyn & Darlene Bada

#CypherAdikts Instagram Contest

We’ve had several people tag us on Facebook and Instagram to pictures of themselves rocking the CA gear, but we thought we would take the tagging one step further to better reflect what we’re about! We love the support we’ve received from our community, but to us being a Cypher Adikt is more than repping a logo, it’s about representing where it counts, in THE CYPHERS! So that’s what we want to see! Post up the illest action photo of yourself on Instagram to show us your true Cypher Adikt lifestyle!

Here’s what you need to do:

1) Repost this Promo flier and tag #CypherAdikts

2) Post the best action photo of yourself getting down in a Cypher and tag #CypherAdikts

- The photo must not look posed, and the surroundings should represent an actual cypher. This means no shots of yourself in a “contest” even if there is a circle surrounding you. It must be an actual cypher at a jam or night club. Our team knows how to spot ‘em so no staged shots please.

- Tell us where the picture was taken.

- Let us know who you are, and who you rep!

3) We will review all entries and decide who has the best photo!

One winner will be chosen each month and He or She will get to chose from any 2 of our CA Tee’s from our web store! PLUS, your Cypher shot will be featured on the following months promo Flier!

Remember: One winner is chosen every month! So if we don’t get ya’ the first time, you still get a chance! Contest Begins today so start tagging away!! #CypherAdikts

*Contestants are not obligated to be pictured wearing Cypher Adikts Merchandise.

*contest is limited to Instagram posts only.

Cypher Adikts x No Holdin’ Back

We’re getting really close to our San Diego edition of Cypher Adikts! SD has always shown us so much support in the past, driving hours in traffic on a Friday night to LA is serious business. So we can appreciate when we see the SD folks come through our doors.

Some of those that frequent include crews like Rock So Fresh, originally out of San Diego. When these guys show up, best believe they’re reppin’ in the circles all night! We’ve posted about them in the past after the Cypher City Kings Anniversary where they had an exhibition battle against one of Europe’s most notorious squads, Flow Mo. So it was only fitting that we featured one of their members on our SD flier, King Saso.

Saso is no stranger to the circles, having won numerous Cypher King awards, he was the perfect representation for our SD Edition. The photo was also taken by one of our most supportive photographers, Still1, who is also a member of the RSF Family. His images have been featured on countless CA Fliers and have helped set the tone of our classic format.

This time around we teamed up as the official pre-party event for “No Holdin’ Back”! A 1 vs 1 Bboy/Bgirl battle concept adapted by one of the members of Flow Mo, Wartecs. The San Diego edition of NHB will serve as the official West Coast Qualifier for a chance to win a FREE flight to Finland to represent the US at the Flow Mo Anniversary this June!

The concept itself is very interesting:

“FOR ALL BATTLES:

- No round limit

- No time limit

The battles will be judged by 3 judges whom each hold a white flag that they will raise clearly in the air as soon as they individually know who the winner is of each battle. After raising the flag a judge can not raise the flag again or change their mind. Raising a flag can be done straight after the first round, during some round, or even after 10 ROUNDS or more.

When all 3 judges know who they will vote for – the battle is over even if its in the middle of someones solo. After the battle the host will count “1,2,3″ and judges will point clearly with their flags whom they think which dancer they wanna vote as the winner of the battle.”

Here’s some footage of the final battle from last years world finals…

You can’t lose going to these two events! You already know how CA gets down, and who wouldn’t want the chance to go to Finland!? PLUS we have DJ’s Mane One & Ervin Arana providing the tunes to get you movin’! So there you have it! There’s no where else to be on Friday April 5th & Saturday April 6th! Make sure you don’t miss out on one of the ILLEST weekends in San Diego, Cali! Hope you’re ready for it!

for more info make sure to visit the Cypher Adikts SD & No Holdin’ Back event pages.

CYPHER ADIKTS TAIWAN RECAP: Not the usual Quantity, but always full of QUALITY!

About 2 weeks ago we traveled to Taipei City, Taiwan for Culture Shock Hip Hop week! There was so much going on! The “Doin It In The Park” Toprock battles, Freestyle Session 3vs3 qualifier, a crew battle and 1 on 1 bboy comps as well as Cypher Adikts as part of the weeks events. The line up was intense but the best part of the trip was being able to connect with the local scene and hang out with some of our Fam.

Cypher Adikts went down on Saturday night February 16th. It was held in a venue quite like our original venue in Los Angeles. Just a studio space that we would transform to give it the classic Cypher Adikts feel. The ambiance and lighting were on point and the sound system was off the hook! We couldn’t have asked for a better space. We opened our doors as usual, and people began to come in, ready to get down. We will be as honest as possible and say that the attendance for this edition of Cypher Adikts definitely wasn’t what we had expected. We usually always have CA on Friday nights, but due to some small mis-communications we ended up having to plan it for Saturday night, right before the Biggest competition day for the week. If you’ve ever been to Cypher Adikts then you definitely know that the circles get INTENSE. So understandably, many of the Bboys & Bgirls who were competing were most likely resting up for the next day. Regardless, were extremely thankful for those that came through to support.

Usually we’re running around throughout the entire night trying to make sure everything’s going smoothly, but for the first time ever we had a chance to just relax and vibe out with everyone. To name a few, we were blessed to have the support of people like Bboy Aya (MZK), El Nino (Floor Lords), DJ Renegade, Whacko who brought the social party dance to life!, MexOne MK&MG from the Bboy Spot, and best of all, we had the one and only Ken Swift come through our doors. It was crazy to see Kenny get down ALL NIGHT, you can definitely tell he was having a great time, and THAT right there got everyone hyped! The man is a true Cypher Adikt and we were crazy excited that he came through to support and experience CA. Shout out to Ervin Arana for killing it once again on the tables! He made sure to keep the party going for everyone all night!

We’re also very happy to have had some of the local Bboys show their love in the circles! Although we didn’t get the response we had hoped for, we didn’t leave disappointed. We’re thankful to have been brought out to share this movement with another country, and we hope that the next time we come around to Taiwan, we’ll reach far more. We created Cypher Adikts to share the importance of the essence of this culture and so far it’s always been a great success. This experience in Taiwan was a great reminder that the purpose of it all is to inspire and enlighten rather than to expect a successful jam. Taiwan has some amazing talent, but the scene is still young and only seems to be exposed to major competition events. So we would love to keep on building with the community there to hopefully return in the future and witness a difference.

Once again, THANK YOU to everyone who came through to support. Shout out to Yorick for being a great host, bringing us out and including us in Culture Shock Hip Hop Week it was a great experience! Last but definitely not least we would like to send a huge shout out to Mex One of the Bboy Spot for helping us set up for the event!! He put in work!!! We couldn’t have done it without you! THANK YOU BROTHA!! Looking forward to the next one!

Check out this quick clip from Cypher Adikts Taiwan. We didn’t have the chance to fully document this time around but thanks to MK of The Bboy Spot Europe for capturing a few moments from the night…

What is Cypher Adikts?

Straight Footage