Cooking for the Culture | Ghostface Killah Ziti
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The Re-education with Adri and Cooking for the Culture - Cherry Tape Magazine
Words by Matthew Spence: Raise your aux cord if you’re in need of a comfort channel? If so, then allow me to introduce not myself but instead a Hip-Hop head that’s managed to combine the best of the worlds of food and hip-hop into a union that feels like a simple idea but grand in
cherrytapemag.com
The Re-education with Adri and Cooking for the Culture
April 25, 2025 • cherrytapemagazineWords by Matthew Spence:
Raise your aux cord if you’re in need of a comfort channel? If so, then allow me to introduce not myself but instead a Hip-Hop head that’s managed to combine the best of the worlds of food and hip-hop into a union that feels like a simple idea but grand in dopeness. Taking Eddie’s Million Dollar Bake Off and combing it with Let It Shine. Meet Adri and Cooking for the Culture.
A New Haven, CT, native, but currently an ATLien with the New York Hip-Hop heart
Adri is a hip-hop head’s favorite hip-hop head. Who’s been making her own waves on both coasts of the internet: TikTok and YouTube. All around two things: food and hip-hop. With her TikTok, “according2adri,” she’s just a fan with a lot of hip-hop on her mind. On YouTube, she’s a chef cooking up some marvelous shit that Lil B would feel unworthy to cook with her, on some “Oh shit.” “Cooking for the Culture” is the show’s name, and telling hip-hop history in its’ truest form is the mantra (because niggas be rewriting shit). Two platforms, different approaches, but they serve the same purpose: “HIP-HOP” <insert Dead Prez beat>. Exploring and starting dialogue, using the moment to teach each other a thing or two, all while keeping the fandom alive in a time where music discourse can be limited to “mid” or “trash.” For better, she’s developed a following that got her respect from Benny the Butcher, Rome Streetz, Conway the Machine (at this rate she’s damn near an honorary Griselda member), reposted by Ghostface Killah, etc. For the worse, she’s low-key America’s Most Wanted with her opinions.
Giving Malcolm from DOPE a run for his Walkman and backpackers who carry a copy of Armand Hammer’s debut in their Jansport a run for their credibility. Adri is the embodiment of a productive member of hip-hop society.
Like many Black kids born and raised in the U.S.: fucked by the system in one way or another but surrounded by bomb-ass music. Adri was no exception. Owing many thanks (but still willing to revoke her aux privilege) to the higher mighty in her lineage: her mom. As she helped lay the foundation for her blooming hip-hop taste along with the full spectrum of all music as a whole, “I grew up listening to hip-hop and all types of music growing up. All my music taste is from my mom, and she listens to everything [for better or worse]. Grew up listening to a lot of hip-hop, though.” Unfortunately, to the cheery-eyed music lovers, there is no real Brown Sugar backstory for Adri, but more so a moment when her seatbelt clicked for the ride so she could officially take off. So no need to play your “I’ll Never Leave H.E.R.” playlist that has Schoolly D and Dana Dane for a flashback. To add another coat of paint for the point, when hip-hop is a part of your environment as far back as the day you even realized you were conscious, you don’t have an Indiana Jones discovery of love (of course everyone’s story is different).
It wasn’t until Adri reached her teens that her already established love for hip-hop became more understood in those important years of understanding yourself. The needle drop moment: The World’s Most Dangerous. “The ‘Straight Outta Compton’ movie, I was like 15 or 16 when it came out. I remember watching and realizing how much context and history was behind the song and was listening back like, ‘Oh, there were so many references that went right over my head’ cause I didn’t have the historical background.” She continued, “I think that made me appreciate hip-hop on a different level. It’s not just the music; there’s so much more to that goes into it. A 3-minute song can have years and years of history behind it.” That one flick had her put on her Kangol Deerstalker hat, break out the magnifying glass, and go on a Sherlock Holmes hip-hop trail. Going from books to documentaries, she dove in headfirst like an Olympic observer to learn more about whatever hip-hop topic. Reading books from and about her favorite artists to watching hip-hop docs like Rhyme and Reason, and if she entered the Hip-Hop Criterion Closet, she most def checked out the “Beef’ DVDs and the classics like “Smack” and “The Come Up” series.
While that rabbit hole led to a more connected bond with the culture, it would unknowingly and ultimately created a lonesome hip-hop geek. Living on borrowed time and the fast clock, she continued life through beats and rhymes, met more people, and gained more homies but was the only one with her exact music taste. That shit can suck when you have no one to share your fandom with. One is the loneliest number indeed (except when you’re on the charts), so when she encountered those convos, she savored them like the last of your fav flavor Starburst. “None of them listen to the same kind of music as me, so whenever I go to concerts, record stores, run into people, or have a conversation about music, it’s like, ‘Oh my God, I need to have more of this.’ I need to talk about music I like with people.” Eventually, after suggestions from homies and casuals to start a podcast, Adri decided to lean into her experimental left brain and spun the bottle into another direction. “I’ll start a TikTok, give it 3 chances, and if I don’t blow up to some extent by the 3rd video, I’m gonna quit.” Lo and behold, her 3rd video blew up and did numbers: a video of ranking Griselda members…though it came with some controversy and comments… Motherfuckers got mad. So those numbers were in red, like a ticking time bomb.
However, no need to fret; no matter the uproar from the crowd, she kept on pushing. Sitting at 31k followers and over 1 million likes, according2adri is her place for commentary on what’s currently trending in hip-hop, recommendations, curating playlists, putting on smaller artists, sharing history, rankings, and whatever else she feels like doing. “People would just ask me for my opinions on things, and I’d share them.” And it’s understood, Adri embodies the quintessential hip-hop head: knows enough to get by, wants to learn more, and can talk about it all day. A true lunch table homie to debate with about so much. Who has the better Madlib collabs: DOOM or Freddie Gibbs? Should De La Soul get more love than A Tribe Called Quest? Did Eminem actually wash Jay-Z on Renegade? Are deep-voiced women running hip-hop, and we’re not even realizing it? Did Joey Bada$$ actually peak with 1999, or are people just blinded by nostalgia? She probably answered all of these questions in real time just now. Whether it’s hip-hop of the past, present, or future, Adri should be on speed dial for hip-hop counsel meetings. An invite away from chatting it up with legendary hip-hop journalists like Touré on “Rap Latte” or Justin Hunte on “Culture United.”
It’s a world that’s’ opened doors for her, given her opportunities to meet some of her favorites, interview some of her favs, and get acknowledged by legends, yet outsiders looking can see a different sheen”. I realized TikTok is not the place for intelligent conversation or productive conversation. It’s more about opinions than its about facts, which there is a time and a place for. But for me we don’t need more people getting in front of a camera saying “I think this sucks” or “I think this is the best.” She continues by saying, “What is my spouting my opinion actually doing?” While she shifted her content into stuff she felt was more useful to the cause (sharing history, playlists, etc.), she still felt that there could be more to do. Sliding away from TikTok, she went on to another avenue, but not without some resistance. Fact: YouTube can be a pain in the ass and a half of upfront commitment. However, breaking through that barrier, she decided to go through with it, the big leap, becoming a YouTuber. “YouTube was a better platform for that cause; it’s more friendly to long-term content, and you don’t need to fight for the algorithm as much. YouTube is more of an environment that’s more receptive to people wanting to learn things; they go to YouTube, not TikTok. TikTok, you learn by accident.”
Moving day was closing in, while her channel idea was in development. Thankfully, her training grounds on TikTok helped her transition to her playground on YouTube. Creating a 20-second video of her making food with dope tracks on top of it. It was a neat idea at the time, but she realized there could be more. It didn’t lead to platinum (like the shit on my wrist) traction, not even gold, then it dawned on her. “People wanna hear you talk, that’s your appeal—you talking. So it was like, ‘Ok, I’ll cook while I’m talking about [Insert Artist/Topic].” After doing some digging with no results, she officially had an original idea in the palm of her hands. Adri took a love language to show another love language. Cooking with Hip-Hop. “Cooking for the Culture.” A show that proves a hip-hop history lesson can be taught no matter what time: breakfast, lunch, dinner, brunch, brinner, supper, etc. In each video, she spends time (after extensive and expansive research) breaking down an artist’s career, impact, and discog, all while getting her Chef on and putting the skills she learned during the pandemic to the ultimate test: “Try not to fuck this up on camera”. The menu is all related to the artists, whether a lyric, song titles, or however it may be associated with them.
You love Sosa. How about learning to make gyro while you’re at it?
Eat some strawberry cheesecake while learning about Nicki Minaj
Adri’s channel encapsulates the colorfulness of the petals on the Hip-Hop Rose: Food for Thought.
Hip-hop’s history of its love for teaching the people and geeking over the culinary arts is an amplified case of duality. We all know of hip-hop being the voice of the people and the teaching of the Black experience (generally, at least) in many ways: Whether with the teacher KRS-One to Poor Righteous Teachers, Nas to Wu-Tang, or Lupe to Kendrick. Spanning generations, from the old school to the new school, from rugged to suburban, from street disciple to college graduate. Rappers can share gems to even the basics of “Don’t try this shit at home.”
While its love connection to the cooking world is more subtle comparatively, yo, listen to the music; many rappers are foodies.
So, in Adris’ case, let’s make it [food for thought] more literal. Adding in a couple of outliers on her channel opens it up to be more expansive in the future, so she can continue the stories of hip-hop, vital figures in it, and more. Accurate but with her creative voice. Now, at 7k subscribers, she’s building her following organically on YouTube, one dish and video at a time. Her work and platform are a key example of staying true to your ideas and your voice. Soon, the people will catch on. “The dope will sell itself if it’s good.” She not only does it for the culture but also for the Black women who may feel underrepresented in the space. Black women’s place in hip-hop’s history gets undermined often (Rapper’s Delight, the fucking first rap song ever, was produced by a Black woman, but you never hear that fact brought up), and in fact, they have to put in overtime and work harder than D-Tent to earn credibility in every aspect. Whether as an artist or a fan. Underground hip-hop and even mainstream artists, the hip-hop space can gatekeep the wrong people, so being in a male-dominated genre (musically and audience-wise), it’s safe to say running to other women who think Benny had the best verse on Claire Back isn’t so common comparatively. “I think the issue is when it turns into this is something women don’t do or are afraid of or aren’t capable of understanding. That’s where you’re gonna piss me off.”
So, when she’s on podcasts, seen interviewing people, getting co-signs, and making fun videos about Wu-Tang, it’s not something to look at blahzay but instead something to appreciate, cause right now, there’s a woman (especially a Black woman) watching her videos and feeling less out of place in the hip-hop circle. “Whenever I meet people out and about, they’d tell me that ‘I love your views, I learn so much, I really appreciate your thought process.’ Specifically, women tell me that they watch my content, and I just tell myself, ‘I gotta do it for the girls!!’.
It’s all about the love. It’s just a fun side project; she’s not looking to make a career as a creator, just wants to create for fun, and do it for the love of hip-hop. No matter what opportunity is thrown her way, “I’ve gotten offers from labels and to be the face of a music brand and positions.” She’s been acknowledged by MF DOOM’s estate and a Wu-Tang member, so she’s good on the offers (but she wouldn’t mind if it turned into a cooking talk show like Rachael Ray). Now in March, I got to have a dope convo with Adri about a bunch of stuff that may or may not make the interview. In fact, it was so fun that I got frustrated writing this cause I remembered so much shit that I wish I had brought up in our convo; oh well, fuck it, we ball, we can’t win it all. I’ll shut up. Interview now…… Donuts
What’s the perfect recipe for a perfect hip-hop song?
For me, I’d say the production has to be engaging, but I think it has a balance between engaging production and engaging lyrics. So, like, if you were to take a Roc Marciano song, the production is gonna be pretty minimal, barebones, and pretty simple, but that alone isn’t gonna draw me in; what draws me in is the lyrics and how wordy and intentional his rhyme schemes are. Where, on the other hand, “Type Shit” by Future, I’ve been loving that song; no one in that song is talking about shit [Carti had some solid bars]. All in all, lyrically, it’s alright, but the beat is crazy. There has to be a balance between the two. Me personally, I feel like I lean towards lyricism. If the lyrics are straight bad, I can’t do it. I don’t care how good the beat is; if the lyrics are cringeworthy, I can’t do it.
Your top 5? No Order
- MF DOOM
- Ghostface Killah
- Jay-Z
- Freddie Gibbs
- Kendrick Lamar
So I have a running list of ideas of artists and specific lyrics, but also it’s very practical in the way I go about it. When I did the Lox video, it was because I was going to the grocery store and there was salmon 50% off. I was like, “Oh my God, I have really cheap salmon,’ so I went on to Genius, typed in salmon to look for lyrics related to it, thought this could be a great video, scrolled down, and saw the Lox lyric (“A bad hoe and a plate of salmon”) and was like, “Works for me.” A lot of it naturally happens based off what I happen to be making or what ingredients I have on hand.
Rate your cooking skills on the Source “5 Mics” Scale.
Oooo, I’m gonna go with 4 (out of 5 mics). Only because my Achilles heel is patience. Sometimes it’s gonna take longer than what the recipe says, and I have to thug it out, but I get so impatient.
Pet Peeves in Hip-Hop?
These damn hooks, the singing on the hooks gotta go for a lot of rappers. But I also think not every rap song, not every song, needs a hook. Even with the non-rapping hook, this song would’ve been fine without the hook.
Your purpose is to tell hip-hop in its truest form and in the way it’s supposed to be told. What do you feel, and do you feel certain things are being revised in Hip-Hop Hist—
EVERYTHING! <laughs> Oh my god, where do I even start? Broadly speaking, one thing I notice the newer gen of rap fans are, doing is acting like someone was gonna be next up when they weren’t. There are certain artists people bring up to prove a point, but don’t listen to them. That’s what I can’t stand.
Hip-Hop movie night in: Pick a meal and a hip-hop movie.
I’d say Straight Outta Compton again, and if Belly counts, I’d say Belly. Meal… idk, something real black, soul food. A real Juneteenth-ass meal.
Better Brain Food: Popcorn or Nutmeg by Ghostface Killah?
Nutmeg easily—it’s the best song about absolutely nothing!
Do you find it ironic that you have to work twice as hard to earn/prove your hip-hop cred, despite Black women being an integral part of hip-hop culture/history?
Yeah, and combined with me being on the young side, it definitely doesn’t help. Whenever someone wants to disagree with me, it’s either the “woman angle” or the “age angle.” It’s sad that I kinda gotten used to it, but it sometimes still catches me off [guard] whenever I have convos in real life with people. I remember I got in an argument with some man; we were talking about music, and he was pretty much implying, “I know more about this, and you don’t.” It’s just really low-hanging fruit on the whole “woman thing.” When people agree with me, it’s like, “Oh, you’re a woman who knows hip-hop,” but when they disagree, it’s the first thing they go to. It’s ironic and it’s sad, honestly, that it’s not going anywhere anytime soon, cause this does affect women a lot and a lot of younger women in these hip-hop spaces. It’s not a very welcoming space, and ironically, white women have a better chance in hip-hop spaces than Black women do. Specifically on the internet.
Remove 3 poets from a curriculum and add 3 hip-hop artists we study instead.
For removing, it’s just a lot of old racist white men. Pick any 3. For the artists, I would add MF DOOM. Easy, his schemes—you can have an entire college class about that. Black Thought, and I’m thinking GZA.
Pick One: Collab with Noname for her book club or cook with Action Bronson?
Action Bronson, and it’s not even close! And I love Noname, though.
Do you ever stop and think, “Damn, I wonder what Pebbles the Invisible Girl is up to today?”
No, but now that you said it, I will now <laughs>.
What’s Next? Your Future Plans?
It’s what I’m doing now, honestly. No specific goals, like it’d be cool to turn into a talk show or get certain sponsors because these groceries aren’t free, just continue what I’m doing. The thing about this journey, ever since I started, is I never had a plan; it was just “fuck around and find out.” I’ve just been fucking around and finding out.
Watch Adri on her YouTube channel and follow on her on TikTok. And Last but not least, don’t bite flow and jack the slang. Peace to all the gods and the earths. (and don’t worry, she doesn’t waste the food when she finishes making them)
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