For nearly two decades Bronx native Cipha Sounds was an icon in hip-hop radio. However, in 2014, he switched careers and became a comedian.
Sounds, born Luis Diaz, was on the radio station Hot 97 for 17 years and was even the DJ for the “Dave Chappelle Show.”
This year he was among the many comedians who performed at the New York City Comedy Festival, which took place from Nov. 7 to Nov. 17 with more than 200 comedians performing in more than 100 shows in venues across the five boroughs.
“I can’t believe I get to the do the festival,” Diaz told the Bronx Times, referring to the 10-day event created by Caroline Hirsch and Carolines, the comedy club Hirsch owns. “I share the stage with some of the biggest comedians and I don’t take it for granted.”
Diaz, 48, was raised in the Moshulu Parkway and Pelham Parkway sections of the Bronx. While his father died when he was only 3, his mother, Jenie Diaz, kept him on the right path. He never drank, did drugs or got in trouble.
“I was lucky. I was always a good kid,” he said. “I didn’t know what drugs were back in the day.”
Diaz fell in love with hip-hop at a young age.
There was no YouTube, Spotify or streaming when Diaz was a kid. Each week his best friend’s older brother would buy them a cassette tape with the newest hip-hop artist. Diaz admired and looked up to A Tribe Called Quest, De La Soul, Black Sheep, Gang Starr and more.
Being in the birthplace of hip-hop, music was always bumping at parties. However, in the 10th grade, his family moved to Long Island where life was quite different, he said.
“It initially hurt, since I really missed the sounds of the streets in the Bronx,” Diaz said. “There used to be four different house parties. I didn’t have to go looking for it.”
While he spent four years on Long Island, he would often travel back and forth to the Bronx visiting his godmother, Susie Albo, in the Mosholu Parkway neighborhood. In high school, he had two passions, deejaying and the armed forces.
At 16, Diaz was DJing parties and slowly was becoming known in the Bronx. His stepfather had an old turntable and mixer, and Diaz would practice on it every day. He never left his room, which his mom was not a fan of.
“One day I came home, and the turntable and mixer were gone,” he said.
When he wasn’t mixing, Diaz was glued to movies about the Marines and Army. He was ready to forgo hip-hop for a life of service.
“I wanted to be a Marine,” he said. “I was just waiting to turn 18.”
His mother did not want him to enlist, and things worked in her favor. On the day he was set to go to the Marines, Diaz had a change of heart.
From that point on, his mind was set on becoming a DJ. In 1996, he started as an intern with Wildman Steve and DJ Riz of New York’s Flip Squad. A year later, he went on tour with Lil Kim as her DJ. Once he returned, Diaz got a job at Hot 97 with the legendary DJ Funkmaster Flex. He eventually got his own show called Cipha Saturdays at the same station.
He started the Juan Epstein podcast with Hot 97 DJ Peter Rosenberg and soon launched the morning show with Rosenberg and later added Ebro Darden and Laura Stylez. Diaz said he owes a lot of his success to Flex and iconic DJ Angie Martinez.
“I moved pretty quickly up the ranks,” he told the Bronx Times. “My whole career is tidbits from Flex’s advice. Flex taught me how to DJ on radio in NYC. Angie taught me how to be a radio personality in NYC.”
According to Diaz, he “was naturally funny on the radio” and that helped him transition to comedy. In 1999, he met Dave Chappelle and the two of them hit it off.
A couple years later, Chappelle was working on a pilot for Comedy Central and asked Diaz to be the deejay for the show. This became the legendary “Chappelle Show,” and Diaz DJed almost every season.
“I always loved comedy,” he said. “We would do the show, and it was super funny, and Dave loved hip-hop. Dave was the one who said you’re funny, you should try stand up.”
Diaz soon began to ponder a change in careers. In 2007, Diaz started a stand-up comedy series “Don’t Get Gassed,” a monthly show at Carolines, billed as a Def Comedy Jam-type show.
He started taking comedy seriously around 2011. Diaz would ask almost every comedian if he could open a show for them. He took his lumps at first, but slowly got used to being on stage.
“I didn’t know I was terrible back then, but I was terrible,” he said.
In 2014, he left Hot 97 and decided to focus solely on comedy. Diaz went on tour with Michael Che, Chappelle and other well-known comedians.
He still DJs on occasion and does the weekly podcast with Rosenberg. However, Diaz loves traveling and making people laugh.
“I can’t rap, and this is my version of rapping,” he said.
Diaz never regrets not joining the Marines or leaving his life as a DJ behind. Having the opportunity to have worked with iconic deejays at Hot 97 was a dream come true, he said.
From auditioning at the Comedy Cellar in the Village to performing regularly at the NYC Comedy Festival, Diaz has made a name for himself in the comedy circuit.
Diaz said Michael Che gave him the best advice.
“Any one of your jokes should be a closer,” Che told Diaz. “You should be able to do your set in any order. When he gave that advice, it changed my whole style.”
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