Phi Life Cypher is a British hip hop group based in Luton, comprising two MCs, Si Phili and Life MC, and DJ Nappa. The trio started making music together around 1996, and since have had much success on the UK underground circuit. Phi-Life Cypher made it to the final of Tim Westwood's Talent 2000 competition and ripping the mic on DJ Skitz's seminal posse cut 'Fingerprints of the Gods' projected them to the upper realms of the UK Hip Hop scene.
Phi Life Cypher featured on an earlier version of Clint Eastwood by Gorillaz. However Damon Albarn and Dan The Automator decided to use Del Tha Funky Homosapien instead. This version was later officially released on G-Sides, a compilation of the B-sides from the first three singles which was released in Japan and quickly followed with international releases in early 2002. Phi Life Cypher, did however perform the track with Gorillaz at the Brit Awards, featuring the band in 3D animation, weaving in and out of each other on four large screens along with their rap accompaniment. Phi Life Cypher also collaborated with Gorillaz on The Sounder and an unreleased version of Starshine.
The group has toured with and appeared on tracks by Gorillaz and DJ Vadim.
Famous quotes containing the words phi and/or life:
“Adolescents have the right to be themselves. The fact that you were the belle of the ball, the captain of the lacrosse team, the president of your senior class, Phi Beta Kappa, or a political activist doesn’t mean that your teenager will be or should be the same....Likewise, the fact that you were a wallflower, uncoordinated, and a C student shouldn’t mean that you push your child to be everything you were not.”
—Laurence Steinberg (20th century)
“The dialectic between change and continuity is a painful but deeply instructive one, in personal life as in the life of a people. To “see the light” too often has meant rejecting the treasures found in darkness.”
—Adrienne Rich (b. 1929)