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Drinking: Equator Coffee, Rwanda Buremera Micro Lot Sales rep for Equator Coffees and Tea, Alexandra Littlejohn join us for this episode!  We talked with her about her podcast, "Coffee Uncut", what's it's like to have Littlejohn as a last name, stand up comedy, seeing Bill Cosby and Jerry Seinfeld perform live (with Dave's review of the Bill Cosby show), Jerry Seinfeld's show "Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee", life being much easier when using an automatic grinder for coffee, Alex's coffee origins and her role within the SCAA & BGA, going to the EXPO in Seattle, how to keep your brand relevant, Dr. Dre becoming a billionaire and if we'll ever get to hear the Detox album, what it was like living in Southern California when Dr. Dre "Chronic 2001" came out, our first album purchases, our first concert experiences, who would win a dance-off between J. Lo & Beyonce, why hip hop and coffee go so well together, religion in hip hop, Mos Def (Yaasin Bey) not being allowed back in the U.S. controversy, using social media for news, how good Myspace was back in the day, if documenting life via social media good or bad, the right way to post your coffee on instagram, who are the rockstars in coffee, and how to make yourself visible within the coffee world.

In episode 12, we didn't talk get talk coffee much, but we talked rhymes & life.  We chatted about making cocktails and mixology, internet popularity, the Jay-z/Solange fight, celebrating Biggie's birthday, and our continuation of the 2pac discussion from the previous episode. 

In episode 11, we talked about the recent US Coffee Championships that went down in Seattle. The winners, Brewers Cup: Todd Goldsworthy (Klatch Coffee), Tasters Cup: Amanda Yuris (Starbucks), Barista Competition: Laila Ghambari (Cherry Street Coffee House). We also discussed if Starbucks has changed their focus in the coffee world, Tony's first barista experiences, the Seattle coffee scene, Blacktop Coffee, people that request songs to a dj and don't dance to the song when it's played, the new Iggy Azaelea album, our favorite top 3 female MCs, Our top 3 male MCs top 3 hip hop groups, can a double disc album be good?  This whole discussion led to the ultimate 2pac debate on if 2pac was using his "thug" image to sell more records, or was it really his everyday self? The conversation was so good, that we will have a part 2 of the discussion coming up soon.  Enjoy!

In episode 10, we were joined by "the Sultan of Sweet", chef/owner of á la minute Ice Cream & Parliament Chocolate, Ryan Berk.   Ryan talks with us about how he got his start in ice cream and chocolate, using liquid nitrogen to produce ice cream, Ryan Seacrest talking about A La Minute, working with local farmers, the process of making chocolate, alcohol powder, kids that are "beezin" to get high, is chocolate an aphrodisiac?, how to stay original in your art, how the name of "Parliament Chocolate" came about, Coachella performances, Deadmau5 vs. Arcade fire debate, are DJ's just turning knobs?, people wanting to have conversations with a DJ while they're djing, NHL and NBA playoffs, Tony's pre-game superstitions, athletes being much softer than they used to be, going to the World Cup, and Anaheim Ducks fans.

In episode 9, we were joined by Jonathan Yost, founder of Racket Magazine. We got to chat about, hip hop being very punk rock, Childish Gambino's borderline depression, Yost's job at Guerilla Union, Lauryn Hill's weak performance at Rock the Bells, creating a magazine, the difference between blogging and journalism, what Racket Magazine does that other magazines don't, what it was like to interview Odorous from GWAR, meeting Andrew WK, Ben from Screeching Weasel punching a girl in the face on stage, Yost's amazing pop culture tattoo sleeve, Racket's 9 year anniversary and what's to come for the magazine.  

Drinking: Rwanda, Compelling & Rich In episode 8, we had the pleasure of talking to Kian of Compelling & Rich Coffee, and our good friend Adam from LA Coffee Club also came through.   We talked about Outkast bombing at Coachella, how Compelling & Rich got its start, roasting coffee to ATL hip hop, classic r&b vs. modern r&b, Drake on Jimmy Kimmel, Mad Men episode previews being pointless, new allegations in the Biggie/Tupac murders, Perfect Coffee's pre-ground (perfectcoffee.com), new coffee in LA, upcoming plans for Compelling & Rich, hip hop and coffee, Wu-Tang's selling 1 copy of their album, becoming a coffee roaster, ways to market your coffee, bad ass coffee brand names, emo music, The Big Show (coffee event) in Seattle, being self taught in roasting and djing, Adam having to explain what "ratchet" is to his dad, Miley Cyrus and Justin Bieber getting away with too much, Kian's coffee influences, Geisha coffee, how background music can make a difference in your roasting technique, LA Coffee Club's game night, and using tinder in LA. Remember, LA Coffee Club will send you a FREE 2 oz. sample of LA roasted coffee when you enter "beansrhymeslife" in the coupon code.  So get on it while you can!

In episode 7, we had the talented drummer, Chad Patrick, join us! We got to chat about the Do-Over and how far Aloe Blacc has come along, Tony's new take on some Beyonce lyrics, professional drumming vs. drumming as a hobby, Kid Johnny Lang, Fargo (the movie), 2 of the music greats being from Minnesota, Chad's sweet product "The Drum Wallet", Chad's top 3 drummers, the Motown sound, the days of the Sunset Strip, who has the best live concert, seeing artists perform before they are gone, the new stupidest trend at concerts, who has the best wrestling entrance music, the "vape" craze", getting along with bandmates, best venues Chad has played, the infamous Buddy Rich tapes, the muppet show, and is Too Short overrated?    

In episode 6, we recap Dave’s weekend in the great city of New Orleans for Wrestlemania 30. We talk about the experiences of hitting Bourbon St., the amazing food, the best waiter in New Orleans, crawfish boils, and life in the French Quarter. Then we get into talking about “granddaddy of them all”, Wrestlemania!! From Hulk Hogan calling the Superdome the Silverdome, the Undertaker’s streak being broken, WWE entrance music, what it’s like going to Wrestlemania, and of course the sad and untimely passing away of Ultimate Warrior. And since we were discussing wrestling, we talked about the interesting parallels between wrestling and hip hop.  It’s crazy how many wrestling references are in rap songs.If your’e not into wrestling, don’t worry. We also discussed Tony’s weekend at the Redlands Bicycle Classic, and if Tony is a “fixie”.  Plus we had to talk about the major news of Handsome Coffee Roasters being sold to Blue Bottle Coffee.

Again, we recorded Live from the Melody Lounge in Chinatown, Los Angeles. In episode 5, we had Antonio from Life & Thyme join us! We love to talk coffee and music, but we also love other specialties in life.  Like food.   Antonio is founder of Life & Thyme, which is all about culinary storytelling.  We got into discussing Brian Bosworth, the new Ninja Turtles movie, Long Beach drivers, the beginnings of Life & Thyme, the importance of presentation, telling a story through cooking, understanding what we eat, why Tony became vegan, the new renaissance in L.A., future  projects for Life & Thyme, coffee snobs, John Salley being Vegan, instameets and Instagram, having a physical fight between vegans and meat eaters, our buddy putting the Janet Jackson "Rhythm Nation" in his top 50 albums and having a top 50 albums in general. Our talk was so good we kept it going, even after Melody Lounge opened up for their customers, so please don't mind some of the people talking and sounds of traffic in the background :)

In episode 4, we had Adam and Antone from LA Coffee Club join us!  We were recording live from the awesome Melody Lounge in Chinatown, Los Angeles.   Disclaimer: audio isn't the best due to a rookie engineer mistake by Dave.  So please bare with it.   But there are some gems in this episode.  We talked about Tony's unfortunate accident, TOM'S Roasting Co., Tony turning into a coffee MacGuyver, importance of super fresh coffee, what LA Coffee Club is all about, coffee snobs, future LA Coffee Club events, our beginnings in coffee, Antone's killer spotify playlists, the late/great J Dilla, music we were into growing up, our surprisingly common love of Limp Bizkit, Drake... again..., Yeezus album... again, Will.I.Am's production skills, Black Eyed Peas selling out, music artists and roasters that are trend followers, the coffee world being similar to the drug trade, who's the Pablo Escobar of the coffee world, coffee labor practices, rap songs about coffee, best album covers of Nas vs. Jay-z Also, LA Coffee Club left our listeners a gift! When you go to LAcoffeeclub.com enter the coupon code "beansrhymeslife" at checkout for a FREE coffee trial. 

In episode 3, Tony and Dave chat about Goji espresso, the 2 types of people that drink espresso, what has made the coffee culture much bigger, customer service, people being rude to DJs, Dave's ratchet music retraction, the 3 qualities of a great barista, the 3 qualities of a great DJ, and having passion about what you do. 

Live from the Augies warehouse, in this episode, we had our first guest!  Robb Pearson, who is general manager at Augies Coffee.  We talked about a whole bunch of stuff including Redlands Artwalk, Beards, stoner funk metal, Sacramento coffee scene, TOMS roasting coffee, favorite designed coffee shops, technology in coffee and djing, the best stupid DJ name ever, Beck's new album, Father John Misty, Pharrell's album, comparing Drake and Ice Cube's acting/music careers,  Nas writing "Getting Jiggy With It", people's reaction to "Don't Stop Believing", meaning of Drunk In Love lyrics, funniest Lil Wayne lyric, SXSW controversy, seeing Outkast perform, and does anyone have the hookup to Coachella?

Welcome to the Beans, Rhymes & Life podcast! Join Dave Cuda (DJ) and Tony Boswell (Barista) as they break down their thoughts and explain how the concept of the show got started.  They also chat about the Yeezus album, LA Coffee Crawl, new trends in coffee culture, explanation of pour over brewing method, being ashamed of eating at Denny's, Disclosure album, Tony's love/hate relationship with Drake, the ratchet music phenomenon, and the internet music era.