Applesauce
Dennis stepped up to his first Soul Food Cypher WordPlay at the Annex Bookstore in 2020.
“What’s your MC name?” asked Soul Food Cypher MC Tiye, who was hosting that night and about to announce the next MC.
Dennis paused for a moment. What do I want to go by?
“Applesauce… yeah, let’s just do that.”
And just like that, the fun-filled and quick-witted Applesauce was born.
Applesauce grew up in East Atlanta with DJs for parents who raised him on mixtapes and a steady diet of funk, gospel, and classic soul. As he began exploring Hip Hop, he found himself captivated by Slick Rick’s storytelling, Lil Wayne’s punchlines, and Kid Cudi’s emotional depth. His love for creativity showed up everywhere growing up—from family talent shows and theater to video production, church choir, and beatmaking. In 2019, he reconnected with his middle school friend Surge, and the two began freestyling together every week in what they called “Therapeutic Thursdays.” Sitting in the car, trading bars and laughter, freestyle became a space to process life, heal, and have fun. When they pulled up to Soul Food Cypher in 2020—right before the COVID shutdown—they immediately felt at home.
“Bro, we’re not the only ones,” Sauce remembers thinking. “It felt like when you first find out there are other mutants.”
Sauce quickly became an emerging voice in the cypher and later joined the SFC NEXT class. While the name Applesauce started as a playful reminder not to take himself too seriously, it eventually took on deeper meaning as an acronym: Any Powerful Person Lives Endlessly, Some Actually Use Cultivated Energy. The phrase reflects what the cypher represents to him—a place where energy and creativity never die, but are passed along and transformed. That truth became real for him during a powerful moment after a freestyle. While processing the grief of losing a friend through his bars, a woman approached him after the cypher and shared that his words helped her process the recent loss of her mother. In that moment, Sauce felt chills. What started as fun suddenly revealed something bigger. The cypher could heal.
Today, Applesauce carries that spirit into every circle he enters. His message is simple: trust yourself and step in. Known for trying to make himself laugh mid-bar and sparking reactions from the crowd, he believes fun is contagious—and that joy is worth spreading. He even wears the same outfit to every cypher, joking that he’s a time traveler. Outside the circle, Sauce mentors teens navigating trauma through an after-school Hip Hop program, sometimes intentionally being silly or messing up a bar to help them feel comfortable stepping in and being themselves. Whether making people laugh, pushing creative boundaries, or helping others open up through freestyle, Applesauce always brings lightness, healing, and heart.
Soul Food Cypher will forever be better for adding Applesauce to the menu.