John Cordero earned a BA in International Relations from Florida International University. From 1998 to 2000, Mr. Cordero aka Omen co-founded, edited, and published “The Cipher: Miami’s Hip Hop Newspaper” an independent monthly publication that chronicled the emerging Hip Hop scene in South Florida. Cordero’s book, The Cipher: A History of Hip Hop in Miami, is a collection of the best of The Cipher, an independent newspaper published from 1998 to 2000. It is also a memoir by the author, who arrived in Miami in 1995 and immersed himself in the underground Hip Hop scene at the time. Chronicling the rise and fall of the publication, the book is a story of Hip Hop in Miami. Featuring never-before seen photos and memorabilia, it is a personal journey that stresses overcoming odds alongside the trials and tribulations of Miami youngsters making sense of and reporting on the multi-million-dollar rap industry developing around them in the mid-to-late ‘90s.
