00:00:01
Speaker 1: Still broadcasting from the Civic Cypher studios. Welcome back to the QR code where we share perspective, seek understanding and shape outcomes. The man you are about to hear from is a man who can run a mighty long race and not lose his footing. Trust me, I of all people know this to be true. He is the Q in the QR code. He goes by the name of Q Ward.
00:00:23
Speaker 2: And the man that you just heard doesn't know that that used to be true.
00:00:27
Speaker 3: Right?
00:00:28
Speaker 2: Like somewhere between 1996 and In 2006, I might have been one of the best in the nation at what he just said. Today, I don't know how much I got for you, but he is the R in the QR code. He goes by the name Ravis Jha.
00:00:41
Speaker 1: That's me. Today's episode includes a conversation about mentors. Do you have a mentor? Why is this person a mentor? And KPD being sentenced to 40 years for killing Tupac. As always, for anything you might have missed or may miss, visit CivicCypher.com or BINews.com or wherever you get your podcasts. You're just locking in with us. This is the QR code Ramses. Yeah, that's my name. Q Ward is up next for Q words. Clap back immaterial clue or a Q. What you got for us today?
00:01:12
Speaker 2: Can't call me clue.
00:01:13
Speaker 1: That's my bad.
00:01:15
Speaker 2: I mean, DJ clue. I'll take that might've came out. I can't get jiggy with that. But since I have everybody's attention, I want you to read 16 words. Or I want to read to you 16 words. They are not my words. They were published by the United States government on September the 10th in the federal register, which is the book this country keeps its rules in. I think Ramsey and I saw the building where this document is stored.
00:01:51
Speaker 1: Here they are.
00:01:53
Speaker 2: Should not be distorted in any way by questions about immaterial personal characteristics such as race and material. That is the Census Bureau explaining why it wants to take the race question off the census, not off of a form at the DMV. Off the census, the count, the one the Constitution orders every 10 years, the one that decides how many seats your state gets in Congress and where the district lines go. The proposed rule is public. Docket USBC, 2026-06-28. And the language is not vague. No question about race, ethnicity, or sexual orientation should appear on the short form decennial census questionnaire or any questionnaire used for the enumeration of the population. Now they have a reason and I have to give it to you straight because I do not need to bend it. They say the constitution only asks the census to count people for apportionment. They say fewer questions means more people answer. They say the process should be colorblind. It's hard not to laugh when I read sentences like that. regarding the United States of America, but I digress. And if that is all you heard, it sounds almost like a reasonable reason. Now let me show you what sits next to it. April 29th of this year, Louisiana against Calais. Six to three, the Supreme Court took the Voting Rights Act apart at the joint. And one of the new things it requires is If you want to prove your vote was diluted by race is strong evidence of present day intentional racial discrimination. Intentional is doing a lot of work there. Now, to prove it, you have to be able to get inside the perpetrator's head. It is no longer enough to simply show the result. Then September 29th, five months later. the Small Business Administration quietly rewrites its own civil rights regulation and removes disparate impact. Same move. A policy that wipes out Black applicants is no longer a violation unless you can prove that someone meant to do it. So by the end of September, the law has told you twice, bring intent or do not come at all. And how does anybody, anywhere, ever prove intent. Well, with the numbers, you line up what they did next to who it happened to. And the pattern testifies when people won't, which brings us back to the sentence in the federal register that would like to stop collecting who it happened to. Here's the part that we have to be exact about Rams, because as you know, people try to semantic us to death and, This is where being exact is what makes the question unanswerable. They are not ending race data everywhere. The American Community Survey still ask. The administrative records still flow. The rules say so out loud in the same document. So this is not the government going blind. This is the government keeping the information and removing it from the place where that draws the maps. The census is the only complete block-by-block count the country has. It is the one they redistrict from. This is the instrument losing the question, not the survey, not the files, the count. Last week, we learned black unemployment went from 6% to 7%, young black workers, 14.4%. You only know that because someone counted. Take away the counting and that is not progress. It is just quiet. And quiet reads fine to anybody who was never going to look in the first place. The comment period closes November the 2nd. It is open to you right now at regulations.gov. And tens of thousands of people have already written. I'm not going to tell you a comment is a lawsuit because it's not. It is, however, a record that somebody objected on the date it was still possible to object. They wrote that race is an immaterial personal characteristic. They wrote that in the United States of America. I know what they meant by that. Not worth measuring. But immaterial has an older meaning. Having no body. Casting no shadow, leaving no mark on the record. That is not a description of us. Ramses.
00:07:33
Speaker 1: There's, it's funny that there's a group of people that invented race to subjugate and exploit. That's what happened for those that know that history. And now they're trying to uninvent race so that they don't have to deal with the consequences of it. And it's the same group of people just across a few hundred years. What a reality. We're just locking in with us here at the QR code Rams job. That's the name I go by. Q Ward is your host. And we're going to talk about mentors. Do you have a mentor? Why is this person your mentor? I think I'll go first today because I think you went first yesterday. Um, she has not been on this show. I don't think, or maybe she has been, but it's been a while. She's been on Civic Cipher. Oh yeah, definitely on Civic Cipher, but she hasn't been on the QR code. Uh, my mentor is a lady that I met when I was maybe 18 years old. Remember in their late teens? Her name is Dr. Camilla Westenberg. And probably more than anyone else, she kind of set me on this path that I'm currently on. It just, she kind of set a sort of a, it was like a time bomb with a long timer. Yeah. But Dr. Westenberg was a legit mentor from my college days. I met her when I went to school. I kind of was going through a tough time, family stuff, and managed to get myself into school on the campus. And when I enrolled, at the time, they were collecting data. And this was 100 years ago, of course. And I thought at that time that by disclosing all of the information that the school was requesting from me, race, religious belief, all that sort of stuff. I thought that by disclosing that, that I would put a target on my back. People might never know what that feels like, but yeah, I didn't want to do that. Anyway, I go on about my business. And one day on the campus, I meet Dr. Camilla Westenberg. And she says, young man, I don't know who you are. Why don't I know who you are? And I says, you know, I'm not sure. My name is Ramses. And she's like, oh, I definitely don't know who you are. You go to school here, right? Like I do. And she said, did you check the box for African-American when you enrolled in this school? Because if you had, I would know who you are. I said, no, ma'am, I did not do that. She said, shame on you. Shame on you, young man. And if you could see her, you would know exactly why I addressed her as ma'am and why she could talk to me like that. Dr. Westenberg looks about as close to God as a human being can look. I don't even need to give you any more of an explanation. That's how she looks. And after that, she asked me to enroll or go back and fix my enrollment papers. She explained that there were some benefits like her knowing who I was and being able to provide support if I needed it. Um, she compelled me to join the black student union. Later, she asked for me to become the president of the black student union. She supported me throughout my career in radio. Still, obviously to this day supports me. She's become much more than a mentor. Um, like I, it's funny to hear it, but I, you know, if, if there's a heaven, she'll be there. And if I'm somewhere and it feels okay, And she's not there, then that's not heaven. You know, at the end of my life, right? She's just that kind of a person. Q knows this and Q can attest to this. She's a person that cares about her students. She's retired now, but she cared about me at a time when nobody did. And she's watched over me. And I know she's really proud of both of us, me and Q. She was able to give me a living legend award finally after many years. After I graduated, my school honored me. And she was the person that was able to kind of bestow that honor on me. I got my metal leaf on a tree. And she's just been a person that has walked this path with me. Um, she was there when my children were born, you know, she was there when we started this show and all the other milestones. She's been more of a mother to me than my mother. And everybody knows that, uh, you know, at my wedding, she'll, she would be the person that would do the mother son dance with me.
00:13:00
Speaker 3: Right.
00:13:01
Speaker 1: I might have a couple of folks that would do that, but she would definitely be one of them. And my own mother would not be right. So that gives you an idea of kind of how she's fit into my life. You know, I'll never touch the sun. You know, I may never meet God. It might not be a thing, you know. But at least I know in this lifetime, I got close enough to Dr. Westenberg. And she loved me and she didn't need to. And that always felt kind of special to me. And she loved Q. and our children. And I wish everybody could know her because I promise you need a little bit of that in your life, man. So that's my mentor cue. I know you got something. What's up? So Dr.
00:13:49
Speaker 2: Westenberg, everybody should be lucky enough to have someone like her in their lives. And I think listening to that story helps people understand why mentorship is important. Cause I think people hear that term all the time and they think, big brothers, big sisters. They just think, you know, somebody who's older or that's a professional that you know, who maybe talks to you sometime. And it's so much more than that. When I was, you know, becoming a man, right? My first job out of college, I worked for someone who I consider a mentor. And this was somebody who other people judged and didn't have great things to say about. I was even warned by some people that I should be careful around this guy. And Some people close to me frowned upon him and were upset that I went to work for him.
00:14:38
Speaker 1: And his name was Mike Ornstein.
00:14:41
Speaker 2: And it's funny because the things that gave Mike Ornstein a bad reputation are all legitimate things today. They were never criminal, but they were frowned upon. But now they're the norm, right? College athletes getting millions of dollars from supporters or donors or companies is a normal thing now. driving Lamborghinis and all that stuff. Mike didn't go that far, but he did buy some people some suits. So when they went to a banquet, they could look nice. He did help some poor families out. He did things for people who needed help and was criminalized for it. But a conversation with him stands out far more than anything he ever did for me. And Rams, as you know, Thomas, A friend of both of ours, you know, one of my children's godparents went to ASU like Ramses, like Arlene. Arlene and Thomas actually both got civil engineering degrees from ASU. So, you know, quick little shout out to ASU real quick, because all the closest people to me got degrees from there, Ramses, Arlene, and Thomas. But Mike was having a conversation with Thomas and I at his house in, you know, Westlake Village or Thousand Oaks, California over like down the street from Will Smith and all these other famous celebrity people. And he was talking to us about the importance of mentorship. And to tell the shortest version of this story, Thomas is now one of the foremost industrial hydropower and civil engineers in the world. That's a heck of a credential to say for anybody that you know personally. But Thomas's uncle, godfather, cousin, and father all worked in those same industries that he works in now. That by itself is the power of mentorship. It took me until after college when Mike could no longer be of use to me in what I was pursuing as a dream, which was playing professional football one day. But he pointed out to me that had I had someone like him the way that Thomas had his father and his godfather, and his uncle, and his bosses at Hensel Phelps Engineers, that a mentor would have simply changed the entire trajectory of my life. And Ramses just told you a story about a mentor, somebody he met when he was an adult, that has had a greater impact on his life than his birth mother. That was not to insult or belittle his birth mother. That was to lift up, amplify, and help resonate how important and valuable Dr. Westenberg's influence has been on his life and by connection mine. So just the power of the right mentor pouring into you, investing into you, and helping guide you on the right way, emotionally, mentally, physically, fiscally, these people can add so much to your existence, to your professional life, and to your personal endeavors and pursuits. So shout out to all the mentors, Mike Hill, Mike Ornstein, Um, I'm going to stop saying names that I'll forget somebody that I don't intend to, but I've had some incredible mentors in my life as well.
00:17:55
Speaker 1: I love that, man. That's really, really necessary.
00:17:59
Speaker 3: All right.
00:18:01
Speaker 1: If you're just locking in with us here at the QR code, Q Ward, he's the first up to bat. I go by the name Ramses.
00:18:07
Speaker 3: Yeah.
00:18:08
Speaker 1: Uh, Kifi D was sentenced to 40 years for killing Tupac. All right. Um, I'll jump into it. This from ABC news, Dwayne Kifi D Davis. The only person ever charged with Tupac Shakur's 1996 murder was sentenced to 40 years to life in prison Tuesday at a Las Vegas court after his conviction in August. Members of the Shakur family gave emotional impact statements in court articulating not only the generational loss the rap icon's death caused, but their personal human grief. Quote, I do believe that when you take a life like that, you deserve every minute, every minute of the maximum amount of punishment. Time to sit down and complicate what you've done to this world, not just to me. Sakiwa Shakur said, oh man, her name always gives me trouble, but that's it, Sakiwa Shakur. Judge Carly Kearney, in sentencing Davis, said, despite the decades that had elapsed since the killing, Davis would not just walk away from taking a man's life. Quote, at this time you are going to face justice for what you did, unquote, she said. The sentence comes just over 30 years after Shakur's drive-by shooting near the Las Vegas Strip on September 7, 1996. Shakur succumbed to his gunshot wound six days after being gunned down. In the ensuing years, Davis went on to tell a remarkably consistent account of what happened that night. In multiple police interviews, on the pages of his own self-published memoir, and in multiple on-camera interviews for the world to see, Davis allegedly confessed to what prosecutors would describe as his shot-caller role in the infamous killing. Quote, I beat the streets, I beat the feds, and I beat cancer, unquote. Prosecutor Mark DiGiacomo quoted of Davis's own words to the jury in his closing argument, quote, Now he's trying to beat 12 of you.
00:19:51
Speaker 3: Mr.
00:19:52
Speaker 1: Davis is attempting to escape responsibility for a crime everybody knows he committed, even him. End of day. Hold him accountable for the crime he committed, unquote. Davis. Now 63 said he plans to appeal his conviction. And I just want to take you into a moment. where we get to hear from Tupac's sister. Give me just a second.
00:20:14
Speaker 3: I miss my brother. I do, I do, I do. I miss his skin. I miss his scars on his head. He had a strawberry on his chest. I miss the way he ate. I miss his recipe of barbecue chicken. I miss his laugh. He laughed so sloppy. He was He was slobber when he laughed. He laughed so full and so big.
00:20:46
Speaker 1: That was Sakiwa Shakur sharing her grief. And, you know, she's aged. Of course, this is 30 years after her brother died. And obviously, she's very emotional there. And I think it just goes to show you that there's really no getting over that. You know, um, the family part of this is one thing that, you know, we don't always get to see. We think of Tupac as being like the legend. And of course he is. Um, I think personally Tupac is the greatest rapper of all time. Um, I don't know if I'd fight somebody in the streets for it, but it would get pretty close. I feel very strongly about that one. Um, But I'm just a fan. His sister is crying, trying to get the words out, remembering her brother's barbecue chicken recipe and how he would drool when he laughed really hard. Brother-sister stuff. And that takes me into my own reality where if somehow I lost my life, what would my sister's think 30 years after my death and I can see it like, yeah, they probably would still be hurt by that. They'd still be crushed. Especially if I was, my life was taken by someone who was more or less bragging about it for 30 years, walking free, more or less taunting the family. And so looking at it through that lens, it's less, you know, pop culture, drama, you know, stories and fables. And it's more of like, oh my God, this is really Like for her, she lost her brother. You know, I have a brother that's, you know, kind of like a well-known famous musician. And before any of that, he's my brother, my big brother. He used to change my diapers, you know. And the world would mourn the loss of this, you know, West Coast rap icon, underground rap icon, I should say. But I would have to mourn the loss of my brother right and so just kind of i i i can the thing that really i don't love about this is him planning to appeal this conviction but i suppose everybody's entitled to that but i'm glad that there is at least some closure for tupac's family so my thoughts there cue yours.
00:23:27
Speaker 2: I first and foremost don't think you should be able to appeal a conviction for a crime that you've told everyone who will listen.
00:23:33
Speaker 1: That you helped orchestrate. Yeah, I'd go with that.
00:23:35
Speaker 3: Yeah.
00:23:36
Speaker 2: It's a really silly, silly thing. It's like he kept, he kept telling the story and kept not going to jail. So he just kept finding new people to tell it to like, okay, you told it and you didn't go to jail. Why don't you just sit down? You know what I mean?
00:23:51
Speaker 1: Just sit, sit down.
00:23:53
Speaker 2: What, who do you, who else do you think you need to tell? But I think like, and Rams and I know people like this where their identity gets caught up in the thing. So they have to keep trying to be that thing to everyone at all times. And we know some, some personal people that suffer from that disease. I don't know what you call it, but he, he, his only relevance became that he was involved in the death of Tupac Shakur. So once he said it out loud and nothing happened, except that he got more attention and money and cameras and a book deal and et cetera, et cetera. He's like, well, this thing works for me. This is the thing that works for me. So yeah, I'll tell as many people as will listen.
00:24:41
Speaker 3: Yes.
00:24:41
Speaker 1: I was the.
00:24:41
Speaker 2: Guy who helped orchestrate one of the most heinous and famous crimes of all time. And I got away with it and I keep getting away from it. See, See how I just told you and I'm still not going to jail. See how I told this guy and that director and that documentarian and that screenwriter. I told them all and nothing happened to me. So I'm going to keep telling the story.
00:25:06
Speaker 1: So.
00:25:08
Speaker 2: Got what he deserved is an understatement, but the idea of appealing. After telling the story to everyone that would listen, this is kind of laughable, but. There's an interesting thing that you have said almost literally from the first day I ever met you. We feel differently on this, but maybe not. You say Tupac Shakur is the greatest rapper that ever lived. I think Tupac Shakur is the greatest person to ever be a rapper. And I think those things are different, but kind of the same. Because when I hear you tell me the reasons why you think Tupac is the best rapper, it's never been because he could out lyricist everybody else. It almost always has something to do with the way that you feel when you listen to Tupac. And I think that conviction and that potency and that purpose and that authenticity of the man that he was coming through his voice, the way his voice sounds and the way that he speaks, you always... lean on that, you know, line that he said about his mom. It's not just what he said, it's how he said it.
00:26:24
Speaker 1: Said it, yeah, sure.
00:26:25
Speaker 2: And that's felt differently because of who Tupac Shakur was. So I think he's the greatest man that ever chose rap as his medium. Because I've heard people rap better, but it never felt like it feels when Tupac does it. It's my thing. And that's not trying to change your mind or speak for you. It's just that we're saying something very similar, but, you know, subtly different. Kifidi's a clown. And he fell into the trap of this current generation that did not exist when he was a street guy. Street guys would have never told this story ever on the record. He told it over and over again because he fell into the trap of this generation. The only generation that sends itself to jail because they cannot help this drug of clout and attention. A quote unquote OG confessed himself over and over again to spending the rest of his life in prison. And all of us, I think kind of agree that he should have been in prison a long time ago. Good riddance. I won't cry for Keefy D. I'm not sad for Keefy D. Um, He'll spend the rest of his days in prison if he gets what he deserves.
00:27:50
Speaker 1: It's so funny now because you're right. Keefie D, the only reason we know who Keefie D was is because he told on himself about killing Tupac. That's his only contribution to the world. You've been listening to The QR Code. Today's show is produced by Chris Thompson and Dan Pavlis. If you have some thoughts you'd like to share, visit CivicCypher.com to ask a question, share some encouragement, or buy us a cup of coffee. While you're there, be sure to hit subscribe and download all of our episodes. Today's episode includes a conversation about newly released body cam footage showing the SFPD beating a black man back in 2025, Elon Musk spending more than ever to keep Republicans in power, Charlotte police racist group chat exposed, and much more. As always, for anything you might miss or may have missed, download the full episode at CivicCypher.com or BINnews.com or wherever you get your podcasts. For our editorial content covering hip-hop culture, visit HipHopWeeklyMagazine.com. Also, be sure to check us out on all social media at CivicCypher. That's C-I-V-I-C-C-I-P-H-E-R. I'm your host, Ramses Jha, on all platforms. Q, you can find at IMQWar. And be sure to keep it right here, because we'll be back to share our news with our voice from our perspective, right here on the QR Code.
Speaker 1: Still broadcasting from the Civic Cypher studios. Welcome back to the QR code where we share perspective, seek understanding and shape outcomes. The man you are about to hear from is a man who can run a mighty long race and not lose his footing. Trust me, I of all people know this to be true. He is the Q in the QR code. He goes by the name of Q Ward.
00:00:23
Speaker 2: And the man that you just heard doesn't know that that used to be true.
00:00:27
Speaker 3: Right?
00:00:28
Speaker 2: Like somewhere between 1996 and In 2006, I might have been one of the best in the nation at what he just said. Today, I don't know how much I got for you, but he is the R in the QR code. He goes by the name Ravis Jha.
00:00:41
Speaker 1: That's me. Today's episode includes a conversation about mentors. Do you have a mentor? Why is this person a mentor? And KPD being sentenced to 40 years for killing Tupac. As always, for anything you might have missed or may miss, visit CivicCypher.com or BINews.com or wherever you get your podcasts. You're just locking in with us. This is the QR code Ramses. Yeah, that's my name. Q Ward is up next for Q words. Clap back immaterial clue or a Q. What you got for us today?
00:01:12
Speaker 2: Can't call me clue.
00:01:13
Speaker 1: That's my bad.
00:01:15
Speaker 2: I mean, DJ clue. I'll take that might've came out. I can't get jiggy with that. But since I have everybody's attention, I want you to read 16 words. Or I want to read to you 16 words. They are not my words. They were published by the United States government on September the 10th in the federal register, which is the book this country keeps its rules in. I think Ramsey and I saw the building where this document is stored.
00:01:51
Speaker 1: Here they are.
00:01:53
Speaker 2: Should not be distorted in any way by questions about immaterial personal characteristics such as race and material. That is the Census Bureau explaining why it wants to take the race question off the census, not off of a form at the DMV. Off the census, the count, the one the Constitution orders every 10 years, the one that decides how many seats your state gets in Congress and where the district lines go. The proposed rule is public. Docket USBC, 2026-06-28. And the language is not vague. No question about race, ethnicity, or sexual orientation should appear on the short form decennial census questionnaire or any questionnaire used for the enumeration of the population. Now they have a reason and I have to give it to you straight because I do not need to bend it. They say the constitution only asks the census to count people for apportionment. They say fewer questions means more people answer. They say the process should be colorblind. It's hard not to laugh when I read sentences like that. regarding the United States of America, but I digress. And if that is all you heard, it sounds almost like a reasonable reason. Now let me show you what sits next to it. April 29th of this year, Louisiana against Calais. Six to three, the Supreme Court took the Voting Rights Act apart at the joint. And one of the new things it requires is If you want to prove your vote was diluted by race is strong evidence of present day intentional racial discrimination. Intentional is doing a lot of work there. Now, to prove it, you have to be able to get inside the perpetrator's head. It is no longer enough to simply show the result. Then September 29th, five months later. the Small Business Administration quietly rewrites its own civil rights regulation and removes disparate impact. Same move. A policy that wipes out Black applicants is no longer a violation unless you can prove that someone meant to do it. So by the end of September, the law has told you twice, bring intent or do not come at all. And how does anybody, anywhere, ever prove intent. Well, with the numbers, you line up what they did next to who it happened to. And the pattern testifies when people won't, which brings us back to the sentence in the federal register that would like to stop collecting who it happened to. Here's the part that we have to be exact about Rams, because as you know, people try to semantic us to death and, This is where being exact is what makes the question unanswerable. They are not ending race data everywhere. The American Community Survey still ask. The administrative records still flow. The rules say so out loud in the same document. So this is not the government going blind. This is the government keeping the information and removing it from the place where that draws the maps. The census is the only complete block-by-block count the country has. It is the one they redistrict from. This is the instrument losing the question, not the survey, not the files, the count. Last week, we learned black unemployment went from 6% to 7%, young black workers, 14.4%. You only know that because someone counted. Take away the counting and that is not progress. It is just quiet. And quiet reads fine to anybody who was never going to look in the first place. The comment period closes November the 2nd. It is open to you right now at regulations.gov. And tens of thousands of people have already written. I'm not going to tell you a comment is a lawsuit because it's not. It is, however, a record that somebody objected on the date it was still possible to object. They wrote that race is an immaterial personal characteristic. They wrote that in the United States of America. I know what they meant by that. Not worth measuring. But immaterial has an older meaning. Having no body. Casting no shadow, leaving no mark on the record. That is not a description of us. Ramses.
00:07:33
Speaker 1: There's, it's funny that there's a group of people that invented race to subjugate and exploit. That's what happened for those that know that history. And now they're trying to uninvent race so that they don't have to deal with the consequences of it. And it's the same group of people just across a few hundred years. What a reality. We're just locking in with us here at the QR code Rams job. That's the name I go by. Q Ward is your host. And we're going to talk about mentors. Do you have a mentor? Why is this person your mentor? I think I'll go first today because I think you went first yesterday. Um, she has not been on this show. I don't think, or maybe she has been, but it's been a while. She's been on Civic Cipher. Oh yeah, definitely on Civic Cipher, but she hasn't been on the QR code. Uh, my mentor is a lady that I met when I was maybe 18 years old. Remember in their late teens? Her name is Dr. Camilla Westenberg. And probably more than anyone else, she kind of set me on this path that I'm currently on. It just, she kind of set a sort of a, it was like a time bomb with a long timer. Yeah. But Dr. Westenberg was a legit mentor from my college days. I met her when I went to school. I kind of was going through a tough time, family stuff, and managed to get myself into school on the campus. And when I enrolled, at the time, they were collecting data. And this was 100 years ago, of course. And I thought at that time that by disclosing all of the information that the school was requesting from me, race, religious belief, all that sort of stuff. I thought that by disclosing that, that I would put a target on my back. People might never know what that feels like, but yeah, I didn't want to do that. Anyway, I go on about my business. And one day on the campus, I meet Dr. Camilla Westenberg. And she says, young man, I don't know who you are. Why don't I know who you are? And I says, you know, I'm not sure. My name is Ramses. And she's like, oh, I definitely don't know who you are. You go to school here, right? Like I do. And she said, did you check the box for African-American when you enrolled in this school? Because if you had, I would know who you are. I said, no, ma'am, I did not do that. She said, shame on you. Shame on you, young man. And if you could see her, you would know exactly why I addressed her as ma'am and why she could talk to me like that. Dr. Westenberg looks about as close to God as a human being can look. I don't even need to give you any more of an explanation. That's how she looks. And after that, she asked me to enroll or go back and fix my enrollment papers. She explained that there were some benefits like her knowing who I was and being able to provide support if I needed it. Um, she compelled me to join the black student union. Later, she asked for me to become the president of the black student union. She supported me throughout my career in radio. Still, obviously to this day supports me. She's become much more than a mentor. Um, like I, it's funny to hear it, but I, you know, if, if there's a heaven, she'll be there. And if I'm somewhere and it feels okay, And she's not there, then that's not heaven. You know, at the end of my life, right? She's just that kind of a person. Q knows this and Q can attest to this. She's a person that cares about her students. She's retired now, but she cared about me at a time when nobody did. And she's watched over me. And I know she's really proud of both of us, me and Q. She was able to give me a living legend award finally after many years. After I graduated, my school honored me. And she was the person that was able to kind of bestow that honor on me. I got my metal leaf on a tree. And she's just been a person that has walked this path with me. Um, she was there when my children were born, you know, she was there when we started this show and all the other milestones. She's been more of a mother to me than my mother. And everybody knows that, uh, you know, at my wedding, she'll, she would be the person that would do the mother son dance with me.
00:13:00
Speaker 3: Right.
00:13:01
Speaker 1: I might have a couple of folks that would do that, but she would definitely be one of them. And my own mother would not be right. So that gives you an idea of kind of how she's fit into my life. You know, I'll never touch the sun. You know, I may never meet God. It might not be a thing, you know. But at least I know in this lifetime, I got close enough to Dr. Westenberg. And she loved me and she didn't need to. And that always felt kind of special to me. And she loved Q. and our children. And I wish everybody could know her because I promise you need a little bit of that in your life, man. So that's my mentor cue. I know you got something. What's up? So Dr.
00:13:49
Speaker 2: Westenberg, everybody should be lucky enough to have someone like her in their lives. And I think listening to that story helps people understand why mentorship is important. Cause I think people hear that term all the time and they think, big brothers, big sisters. They just think, you know, somebody who's older or that's a professional that you know, who maybe talks to you sometime. And it's so much more than that. When I was, you know, becoming a man, right? My first job out of college, I worked for someone who I consider a mentor. And this was somebody who other people judged and didn't have great things to say about. I was even warned by some people that I should be careful around this guy. And Some people close to me frowned upon him and were upset that I went to work for him.
00:14:38
Speaker 1: And his name was Mike Ornstein.
00:14:41
Speaker 2: And it's funny because the things that gave Mike Ornstein a bad reputation are all legitimate things today. They were never criminal, but they were frowned upon. But now they're the norm, right? College athletes getting millions of dollars from supporters or donors or companies is a normal thing now. driving Lamborghinis and all that stuff. Mike didn't go that far, but he did buy some people some suits. So when they went to a banquet, they could look nice. He did help some poor families out. He did things for people who needed help and was criminalized for it. But a conversation with him stands out far more than anything he ever did for me. And Rams, as you know, Thomas, A friend of both of ours, you know, one of my children's godparents went to ASU like Ramses, like Arlene. Arlene and Thomas actually both got civil engineering degrees from ASU. So, you know, quick little shout out to ASU real quick, because all the closest people to me got degrees from there, Ramses, Arlene, and Thomas. But Mike was having a conversation with Thomas and I at his house in, you know, Westlake Village or Thousand Oaks, California over like down the street from Will Smith and all these other famous celebrity people. And he was talking to us about the importance of mentorship. And to tell the shortest version of this story, Thomas is now one of the foremost industrial hydropower and civil engineers in the world. That's a heck of a credential to say for anybody that you know personally. But Thomas's uncle, godfather, cousin, and father all worked in those same industries that he works in now. That by itself is the power of mentorship. It took me until after college when Mike could no longer be of use to me in what I was pursuing as a dream, which was playing professional football one day. But he pointed out to me that had I had someone like him the way that Thomas had his father and his godfather, and his uncle, and his bosses at Hensel Phelps Engineers, that a mentor would have simply changed the entire trajectory of my life. And Ramses just told you a story about a mentor, somebody he met when he was an adult, that has had a greater impact on his life than his birth mother. That was not to insult or belittle his birth mother. That was to lift up, amplify, and help resonate how important and valuable Dr. Westenberg's influence has been on his life and by connection mine. So just the power of the right mentor pouring into you, investing into you, and helping guide you on the right way, emotionally, mentally, physically, fiscally, these people can add so much to your existence, to your professional life, and to your personal endeavors and pursuits. So shout out to all the mentors, Mike Hill, Mike Ornstein, Um, I'm going to stop saying names that I'll forget somebody that I don't intend to, but I've had some incredible mentors in my life as well.
00:17:55
Speaker 1: I love that, man. That's really, really necessary.
00:17:59
Speaker 3: All right.
00:18:01
Speaker 1: If you're just locking in with us here at the QR code, Q Ward, he's the first up to bat. I go by the name Ramses.
00:18:07
Speaker 3: Yeah.
00:18:08
Speaker 1: Uh, Kifi D was sentenced to 40 years for killing Tupac. All right. Um, I'll jump into it. This from ABC news, Dwayne Kifi D Davis. The only person ever charged with Tupac Shakur's 1996 murder was sentenced to 40 years to life in prison Tuesday at a Las Vegas court after his conviction in August. Members of the Shakur family gave emotional impact statements in court articulating not only the generational loss the rap icon's death caused, but their personal human grief. Quote, I do believe that when you take a life like that, you deserve every minute, every minute of the maximum amount of punishment. Time to sit down and complicate what you've done to this world, not just to me. Sakiwa Shakur said, oh man, her name always gives me trouble, but that's it, Sakiwa Shakur. Judge Carly Kearney, in sentencing Davis, said, despite the decades that had elapsed since the killing, Davis would not just walk away from taking a man's life. Quote, at this time you are going to face justice for what you did, unquote, she said. The sentence comes just over 30 years after Shakur's drive-by shooting near the Las Vegas Strip on September 7, 1996. Shakur succumbed to his gunshot wound six days after being gunned down. In the ensuing years, Davis went on to tell a remarkably consistent account of what happened that night. In multiple police interviews, on the pages of his own self-published memoir, and in multiple on-camera interviews for the world to see, Davis allegedly confessed to what prosecutors would describe as his shot-caller role in the infamous killing. Quote, I beat the streets, I beat the feds, and I beat cancer, unquote. Prosecutor Mark DiGiacomo quoted of Davis's own words to the jury in his closing argument, quote, Now he's trying to beat 12 of you.
00:19:51
Speaker 3: Mr.
00:19:52
Speaker 1: Davis is attempting to escape responsibility for a crime everybody knows he committed, even him. End of day. Hold him accountable for the crime he committed, unquote. Davis. Now 63 said he plans to appeal his conviction. And I just want to take you into a moment. where we get to hear from Tupac's sister. Give me just a second.
00:20:14
Speaker 3: I miss my brother. I do, I do, I do. I miss his skin. I miss his scars on his head. He had a strawberry on his chest. I miss the way he ate. I miss his recipe of barbecue chicken. I miss his laugh. He laughed so sloppy. He was He was slobber when he laughed. He laughed so full and so big.
00:20:46
Speaker 1: That was Sakiwa Shakur sharing her grief. And, you know, she's aged. Of course, this is 30 years after her brother died. And obviously, she's very emotional there. And I think it just goes to show you that there's really no getting over that. You know, um, the family part of this is one thing that, you know, we don't always get to see. We think of Tupac as being like the legend. And of course he is. Um, I think personally Tupac is the greatest rapper of all time. Um, I don't know if I'd fight somebody in the streets for it, but it would get pretty close. I feel very strongly about that one. Um, But I'm just a fan. His sister is crying, trying to get the words out, remembering her brother's barbecue chicken recipe and how he would drool when he laughed really hard. Brother-sister stuff. And that takes me into my own reality where if somehow I lost my life, what would my sister's think 30 years after my death and I can see it like, yeah, they probably would still be hurt by that. They'd still be crushed. Especially if I was, my life was taken by someone who was more or less bragging about it for 30 years, walking free, more or less taunting the family. And so looking at it through that lens, it's less, you know, pop culture, drama, you know, stories and fables. And it's more of like, oh my God, this is really Like for her, she lost her brother. You know, I have a brother that's, you know, kind of like a well-known famous musician. And before any of that, he's my brother, my big brother. He used to change my diapers, you know. And the world would mourn the loss of this, you know, West Coast rap icon, underground rap icon, I should say. But I would have to mourn the loss of my brother right and so just kind of i i i can the thing that really i don't love about this is him planning to appeal this conviction but i suppose everybody's entitled to that but i'm glad that there is at least some closure for tupac's family so my thoughts there cue yours.
00:23:27
Speaker 2: I first and foremost don't think you should be able to appeal a conviction for a crime that you've told everyone who will listen.
00:23:33
Speaker 1: That you helped orchestrate. Yeah, I'd go with that.
00:23:35
Speaker 3: Yeah.
00:23:36
Speaker 2: It's a really silly, silly thing. It's like he kept, he kept telling the story and kept not going to jail. So he just kept finding new people to tell it to like, okay, you told it and you didn't go to jail. Why don't you just sit down? You know what I mean?
00:23:51
Speaker 1: Just sit, sit down.
00:23:53
Speaker 2: What, who do you, who else do you think you need to tell? But I think like, and Rams and I know people like this where their identity gets caught up in the thing. So they have to keep trying to be that thing to everyone at all times. And we know some, some personal people that suffer from that disease. I don't know what you call it, but he, he, his only relevance became that he was involved in the death of Tupac Shakur. So once he said it out loud and nothing happened, except that he got more attention and money and cameras and a book deal and et cetera, et cetera. He's like, well, this thing works for me. This is the thing that works for me. So yeah, I'll tell as many people as will listen.
00:24:41
Speaker 3: Yes.
00:24:41
Speaker 1: I was the.
00:24:41
Speaker 2: Guy who helped orchestrate one of the most heinous and famous crimes of all time. And I got away with it and I keep getting away from it. See, See how I just told you and I'm still not going to jail. See how I told this guy and that director and that documentarian and that screenwriter. I told them all and nothing happened to me. So I'm going to keep telling the story.
00:25:06
Speaker 1: So.
00:25:08
Speaker 2: Got what he deserved is an understatement, but the idea of appealing. After telling the story to everyone that would listen, this is kind of laughable, but. There's an interesting thing that you have said almost literally from the first day I ever met you. We feel differently on this, but maybe not. You say Tupac Shakur is the greatest rapper that ever lived. I think Tupac Shakur is the greatest person to ever be a rapper. And I think those things are different, but kind of the same. Because when I hear you tell me the reasons why you think Tupac is the best rapper, it's never been because he could out lyricist everybody else. It almost always has something to do with the way that you feel when you listen to Tupac. And I think that conviction and that potency and that purpose and that authenticity of the man that he was coming through his voice, the way his voice sounds and the way that he speaks, you always... lean on that, you know, line that he said about his mom. It's not just what he said, it's how he said it.
00:26:24
Speaker 1: Said it, yeah, sure.
00:26:25
Speaker 2: And that's felt differently because of who Tupac Shakur was. So I think he's the greatest man that ever chose rap as his medium. Because I've heard people rap better, but it never felt like it feels when Tupac does it. It's my thing. And that's not trying to change your mind or speak for you. It's just that we're saying something very similar, but, you know, subtly different. Kifidi's a clown. And he fell into the trap of this current generation that did not exist when he was a street guy. Street guys would have never told this story ever on the record. He told it over and over again because he fell into the trap of this generation. The only generation that sends itself to jail because they cannot help this drug of clout and attention. A quote unquote OG confessed himself over and over again to spending the rest of his life in prison. And all of us, I think kind of agree that he should have been in prison a long time ago. Good riddance. I won't cry for Keefy D. I'm not sad for Keefy D. Um, He'll spend the rest of his days in prison if he gets what he deserves.
00:27:50
Speaker 1: It's so funny now because you're right. Keefie D, the only reason we know who Keefie D was is because he told on himself about killing Tupac. That's his only contribution to the world. You've been listening to The QR Code. Today's show is produced by Chris Thompson and Dan Pavlis. If you have some thoughts you'd like to share, visit CivicCypher.com to ask a question, share some encouragement, or buy us a cup of coffee. While you're there, be sure to hit subscribe and download all of our episodes. Today's episode includes a conversation about newly released body cam footage showing the SFPD beating a black man back in 2025, Elon Musk spending more than ever to keep Republicans in power, Charlotte police racist group chat exposed, and much more. As always, for anything you might miss or may have missed, download the full episode at CivicCypher.com or BINnews.com or wherever you get your podcasts. For our editorial content covering hip-hop culture, visit HipHopWeeklyMagazine.com. Also, be sure to check us out on all social media at CivicCypher. That's C-I-V-I-C-C-I-P-H-E-R. I'm your host, Ramses Jha, on all platforms. Q, you can find at IMQWar. And be sure to keep it right here, because we'll be back to share our news with our voice from our perspective, right here on the QR Code.
