If you were lucky enough to score a ticket to the sold out one-year anniversary of Get Cryphy on February 6, you understand all the hype behind the monthly parties. It's hard to believe that Plain Ole Bill & Jimmy2Times have been a staple in the downtown party scene for over a year already, but Cryphaholics are glad to have them. Bill was on tour with P.O.S. at the time of the anniversary show, so I was fortunate enough to get to sit down with Jimmy and ask a few questions about the past, present, and coming year of Minneapolis' own Get Cryphy.

AB: It's been a year now. Can you even believe it? Was the past year what you had hoped for? Expected? Never even dreamed of?

J2T: Kind of hard to believe we made it to a year, but after the first couple of parties really popped off I had a feeling we had a good thing going. I can't lie though; there have been times at Cryphy when I would look up at the crowd in disbelief of how rowdy it actually gets. It’s pretty awesome.

AB: What did you originally expect from Cryphy? What were your original goals and visions for the monthly party?

J2T: I expected Get Cryphy to be a platform for myself, Bill and our friends and associates to have fun and play a bunch of awesome music that you wouldn't normally get to hear at a downtown club night. The circle of DJs that Bill and I run in has varied tastes that span multiple genres and are particularly skilled behind the decks and so we wanted to showcase that.

The ultimate goal was to create a no frills party where there was no question that you were going to have fun if you came. A lot of Cryphy-goers are average kids who either want to wile out or hear some dope DJ sets or both and that is what we're trying to provide.

AB: How has Cryphy changed from what you originally had planned? What has been the crowd feedback? Has feedback changed the direction of Cryphy at any time?

J2T: The party itself is rooted in hip-hop and that will never change, but I'm into a whole mess of dance music too cuz it was a big part of my DJing background. So with Get Cryphy, I've always tried to run that line between the two, and it has worked out nicely. I feel like there are some groups of kids who want more hip-hop and some who want more dance music, but at the end of the day there is something for everyone and the feedback is always very positive.

AB: What DJs should Cryphaholics be following? What can be said for the Minneapolis DJ & hip-hop scene?

J2T: The DJ scene in Minneapolis is booming right now. I've lived here for 6 years and while that isn't very long, I can say that seeing DJ-based events that pop off (that aren't raves or techno-based events) is a new thing for me to see. It’s created a newish DJ scene here, where there are elements from both the hip-hop and rave scenes respectively, but the scene itself is DJ based.

As far as DJs that I stay up on, locally I'm always checking for my dudes Mike the 2600 King and Bitch Ass Darius aka the Wizard of Gaz. Minneapolis does not know how lucky they are to have these dudes in our city. DJ Fundo is my dude who consistently keeps it rockin', and my guy So Gold is coming with some fresh production. Last Word is MIA but he knows the deal too, and my dude Winship is on the come up, as is Petey Wheatstraw.

On a national level, I stay checkin' for Dave Nada, The Rub DJs, Bird Peterson, Diplo, Blaqstarr, the Unruly Records crew and Emynd & Bo Bliz (whose productions always get a lot of love at Get Cryphy). 

AB: Do you think this would have been as big of a success in any other city or at any other venue?

J2T: That's hard to say. I feel like a lot of the draw of the event is the quality of DJing you are going to get, so I would say yes but who knows. The VIP room has definitely reached the "alterna-club" status but it was not there yet when we started the party last year, so I'd reiterate: yes.

AB: Besides Get Cryphy, what other opportunities have you guys had as DJs/musicians?

J2T: Well, before Cryphy was ever started, We were both travelling DJs with various TC rappers and that was fun, but for me it had its time. Between that and Cryphy, we have both worked as club DJs but by the same token have gotten to open for and even share stages with some of our DJ idols, such as DJ Qbert who we got to have a live scratch session with a few times while Foundation was still open.

AB: Going into the next year of Get Cryphy, what direction would you guys like to see the party taking? Can we expect anything new? Anyone new? Will Cryphy continue as a monthly staple at First Ave? Have you guys ever thought of laying down some tracks with the other DJs?

J2T: You'll just have to wait and see. From a personal standpoint expect a lot more tracks and remixes from me, which you will of course be hearing at GET CRYPHY! And I just wanna say thanks to everyone who has come to GET CRYPHY over the past year! Its been amazing and I couldn't be happier about the last year of Cryphy getting.

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