Episode 149: Cambatta

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Cambatta was born in New Haven, Connecticut. He decamped for Florida at 18, and quickly released several successful mixtapes, The Visionary and The Visionary 2, shortly afterwards. They showed off his incredible writing skills and already top-notch wordplay.

But it wouldn’t be until 2013 that Cambatta would really come into his own. He changed his way of thinking – with some chemical help – and created the powerful and trippy Smoke & Mirrors series, a three-mixtape collection that was released between 2013 and 2015. The trilogy took on mystical themes and melded them with reflections on childhood to create a voice that didn’t sound like anything else.

Cambatta’s latest release is Smoke & Mirrors DMT: (Definitive Metagod Trilogy), a collection of some of the best songs of the series plus previously unreleased material.

As we said in the episode, to enter the contest for the Cambatta t-shirt and USB business card, write the answers to the three questions we gave you in the intro and email them to contest@theciphershow.com by noon EDT on Monday April, 11, 2016.

Tracks featured in this episode:

1. Cambatta f/Rafijah Siano, “The Chronic 2012”
2. Afrika Bambaataa and the Soul Sonic Force, “Planet Rock”
3. Juelz Santana f/Cam’ron, “Dipset (Santana’s Town)”
4. NHAPL-Cambatta pre-season interview
5. DJ Green Lantern f/Cambatta, “Voice Of God Freestyle”
6. Cambatta, “The Visionary (Intro)”
7. Cambatta, “Who I Am”
8. 50 Cent, “Wanksta”
9. Cambatta f/Torae, “Smooth Fight”
10. Cambatta, “On My Way”
11. Cambatta, “Unstoppable Bullet”
12. Cambatta, “Green Light”
13. Cambatta f/Nino Bless, “Good Ol Dayz”
14. Cambatta, “Sounds of the Cosmos (The Porch)”
15. Cambatta, “Harry The Tubman (Underground Moses)”
16. Cambatta, “Rebirth of the Crack Baby”
17. Cambatta, “Too Loud”
18. Cambatta, “Batta the Sinner”
19. Cambatta, “So Cocky”
20. Cambatta, “The Womb (The Conception)”
21. Alan Watts, “The End”
22. Cambatta, “The Womb (The Conception)”
23. Cambatta, “The Shaman”
24. Cambatta, “DMT”
25. Cambatta, “When Gods Use Guns”
26. Cambatta, “Feeling Me”
27. Michael Jackson f/Jay Z, “You Rock My World (Remix)”
28. Jay Z, “Pump It Up (Freestyle)”
29. Jay Z, “Hola Hovito”
30. Jay Z and Kanye West, “Ni**as In Paris”
31. R. Kelly & Jay Z, “The Best Of Both Worlds”
32. Cambatta, “Batta Ranks”