Washington City Paper: Contents for Feb. 14

The Warrior and the Missionary
Don't look for them on MTV or BET, but MCs Sub-Zero and Priest belong at the top of the hiphop heap.

Cover Story

A mixmaster would have plenty to work with Saturday night on U Street. Jeeps pack the streets booming asphalt-shaking bass. The sidewalks are a stream of sequined dresses, Armani suits, and other expensive shit. Clubs—throbbing in a line up and down the street—flaunt reggae, jazz, soca, and R&B.

In the midst of all the glimmer it's easy to miss the joint with the split personality: Kaffa House—one part club, one part cafe. It isn't the first-choice spot for club junkies. No pomp or flash, no pricey threads, just low lights and bean pies. Kaffa practically brandishes a sign—"Buppies Beware!"

All the better for Freestyle Union, a motley assortment of hardheads, Howardites, and locals who've assembled here tonight to praise the one true rhyming God—hiphop. It's the second Saturday of the month, a holy day for Freestyle Unionites. Their attendance is required at Kaffa, for what they call a cipher. Loosely translated from raponics, a cipher is a circle of MCs freestyling, or rapping off the top of their heads. How a cipher will go is tough to predict; you never know who—or what—is going to come together.

It begins and ends with Toni Blackman, founder and Queen Mother of Freestyle U. She starts by outlining the rules for the cipher: "No battling"; "No hogging the floor." Her voice turns to iron when she gets to the last rule: "The bitch-ho shit is out."... Continued

Issue of Feb. 14 - 20, 1997

News and Features

The Warrior and the Missionary
Don't look for them on MTV or BET, but MCs Sub-Zero and Priest belong at the top of the hiphop heap.
Cover Story By Ta-Nehisi Coates
The 10 Best Public Restrooms in D.C.
A guide to the capital city's Number 1 places to take a Number 2
The City By Chris Peterson
MLK's Very Public Restroom
The City By Erik Wemple
Democracy Inaction
If you've got a gripe about your kid's school, don't bother calling your school board representative.
The City By Elissa Silverman
Home Free
The Mail By Meade Barrington and M.S.W.
Courage to Heal
The Mail By Courage DeLeon
A Shoe Tree Grows in Brooklyn
The Mail By Steve Zarpas
Degrading
The Mail By Zachiary Tolin
Clash of the Titans
The Mail By Martin Morse Wooster
Sneer Clear
The Mail By Marc A. Garrett
The Language of Names
The Mail By Julie D. Edgeworth
The McCarthy Era
The Mail By Alan Snyder
To See or Not to See?
The Mail By Burling Lowrey

Columns

Hey, Peter Angelos: Hire me!
Cheap Seats By Dave McKenna
FED UP
Loose Lips By Ken Cummins

Eats

Eye of the Tiger
Young & Hungry By Brett Anderson

Movies

Fantasy Islands
Film Review By Arion Berger
From Russia With Hope
Film Review By Joel E. Siegel
Miracle Whip
Film Review By Mark Jenkins

Music

Future Schlock
Music Review By Christopher Porter
Silver Jews
Music Review By Chris Nelson
Jackpot! The Las Vegas Story
Music Review By Rickey Wright
Kiss the Sky Goodbye
Music Review By Jeff Bagato
Maybe She Will
Music Review By Sean Daly

Theater

Kurt Veiled
Theater Review By Bob Mondello

Arts and Events

...First Do No Farm
Books By Brett Anderson
Unveiled
Artifacts By Jonetta Rose Barras
Bureau of Smut
Artifacts By Jeff Bagato
Beneath Contempt
A Briefly Annotated Selection of Ignorable Art
Art Review By Glenn Dixon
Jazz Nation
Saxophonist Peter Fraize delivers his State of the Union Address on You St.
Arts By Christopher Porter
Crazy Train
Art Review By Glenn Dixon