CYPHER, CYPHER!

Join Blackspace for our flagship event: Rowdy Summer Cypher 1st and 3rd Fridays at 9:19PM April-September 2025 at CCB Plaza in Durham. Our kick-off is on Friday April 18th at 9:19pm. This event will celebrate of the legacies of our beloved J Rowdy @rowdylife and J Bow @aroundjbow.

Summer Cypher Schedule
April 18 *KICKOFF EVENT HONORING J ROWDY AND J BOW
May 2
May 15 *THURSDAY – SPECIAL BIMBE CYPHER 7PM-9PM
June 6
June 20
July 4
July 18
August 1
August 15
September 5

The Kickoff:
We will have beats, rhymes, free astronaut ice cream from @cocofroicecream and healing massage from @416.official on site to help hold the weight of our grief. We will screen a short clip from an upcoming documentary film on Rowdy called Rowdy Life directed by @eemahvision. It’s been a year since Rowdy’s transition and we’ve been rocked by the losses of J Bow and other members of our beloved community. Please join us for an evening of collective grief, celebration, creativity and community!!!

After the Kickoff:
All summer long on 1st & 3rd Fridays at 9:19PM youth gather in downtown Durham in front of the bronze “Major” bull statue to rap, sing, make beats, and create community together. We call it the Rowdy Summer Cypher, in honor of our late Executive Director Kevin Joshua “Rowdy” Rowsey II who passed away in April of 2024. At the cypher, youth are challenged to improvise and think on their toes and to build self-confidence and empathy. It’s group therapy through Hip Hop! The Cypher provides safe space for kids to occupy the heart of our city every week, to speak their truth unapologetically, affirm self-esteem, and help the creative fires inside each of them radiate. In doing so, they transform, not only themselves but the City of Medicine as well.

GREAT GRIEF

Remembering Kevin Joshua “Rowdy” Rowsey II, a Beloved North Carolina Hip-Hop Legend

SPACE IS THE PLACE!

Blackspace offers teens of African descent free workshops in the digital and creative arts.

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Check out some of our youth-produced projects! Listen to the relaxing vibrations of our LoFi Hip Hop album DurhamFi, inspired by our home the City of Durham, created in collaboration with Discover Durham and produced by Blackspace youth. Click image below or click here to stream on Spotify (album art Durham-based Black woman illustrator & animator @bunny_fart).

Check our collaboration with Duke University’s Sanford School of Public Policy: Arc of Justice. We produced the music for this podcast series about reparations!

Check out Blackspace’s album Revenge of the Afronauts, Executive Produced by J Rowdy and mixed by Blackspace youth under the guidance of producer and sound engineer Rem. REVENGE is an album of original, refreshing North Carolina Hip Hop. Click here to listen to a podcast of the Afronauts on NPR/WUNC’s The State of Things talking about the album. Stream the album on Soundcloud here.

Blackspace was featured on BET’s late night show The Rundown with Robin Thede!

Blackspace, in partnership with Perkins + Will, Indulge Catering and late architect Phil Freelon, chartered a bus to DC to visit the National Museum of African American History and Culture. Click here to view our recap video and watch testimonials with Genesis, Brentton, Jewel and Alex.

Blackspace and PBS NC collaborated on Classroom Connection, a show featuring PBS KIDS favorites alongside North Carolina educators. This short-form learning series delivers engaging math and literacy lessons developed by and featuring North Carolina teachers, aimed at Pre-K through third grade students to support their at-home learning.