DMB
Interview by Boodahman
Growing up in Germany, how did you first get into Rap music?
I have had a love for rap music ever since I was a kid. The whole culture inspired me big time from breakin’ to scratchin, but the main thing I liked was the rhyming and that is what I do.
What is German Rap music like? Is it very different from what’s going on in the US?
The Hip-Hop culture is like separated into 2 sections, the alternative Mc’s and Gangsta/Horrorcore rappers. To be honest, I can’t get along with the German Rap game that much. I grew on that US Rap, so this is what I love! Anyways I don’
t care what is hip right now. I do what I wanna, that’s what real playas do!
When did you start rapping?
I started rappin’ back in ’92 when I was part of a group called 360 Degrees. We were a posse like the Wu-Tang Clan, being that we had too many people.
Did 360 Degrees ever release any material?
We did a couple of shows but we never released an album. I guess at the time we weren’t ready for the game.
You speak real good English. How did you learn to speak English?
First at school, but it was the music which made me get into the language real big. I used to hang with a few GIs back in the day, so I was talking a lot of English way back then.
Who inspired you musically?
First of all there was Run DMC and after that came 2 Live Crew. I was also into The Dangerous Crew, NWA. I was big into 3rd Bass, etc. After the NWA LPs came out I was addicted to that playa Gangsta type of Rap. One of the greatest of all times was Woodie (RIP) and of course X-Raided and SPM. Free X and SPM!
What part of Germany are you from?
Schweinfurt, but we call it S-Dub.
What is the Rap scene like in your city?
Rap was never that big in S-Dub. We were the first to put it down for the S-Dub town. In December of last year a dude at the club told me that me and the whole 360 Degrees Posse inspired him big time. He said that he was ten years old when he was at one of our shows that we did in the mid 90’s.
How did that make you feel?
Great! This guy is also big into music now, so it was a real good feeling to hear somebody say that they are inspired by you. It made me feel good to hear that.
How many albums have you put out, both solos and collaborations?
I have put out three solo albums and one group album. The first album came out in 2005 and was called “Dat Muthafucka Burga”, and then in 2007 I released “Ma Passion”. I followed up in 2009 with “Schorleface”, which was reviewed in Murder Dog. In 2010 I teamed up with my homie C.O. Tha! Bad Black from Chicago, to form the international German/US group USG. And we released the album “Dopegame/Rapgame” which is available now in I-Tunes, Napster, Amazon, and all over the net.
We are familiar with C.O. and his music. How did you hook up with him?
I hooked up with C.O. through a mutual friend Scott Bejda who is also a part of our movement. He is the Prezident of C.O’s label Themolishun Enterpryze and together we formed an alliance. We formed Burger Records/Themolishun Enterpryze.
What can we look forward to coming out on Burger Records/Themolishun?
First up I got my fourth solo album called “Burger King: Da G-Funk Album”, which is a sequel to “Schorleface”. We are taking it back to the G-Funk on this album. I feel that the 90’s Rap when Murder Dog first started was the best Rap for real. I miss those times big, man. I am not living in the past cause this is definitely the wrong thing to do, but I feel like the game right now is fucked. There are too many Techno elements in the game right now and that is why me and B-Dub are doing this G-(erman) funk album. People are paying hella money on EBay for that 90s Rap. G-funk will neva die!
I feel you. Are there any features on the album?
Oh yeah! We have worked with a lot of legends on this album like Kokane, Yukmouth, Ant Banks, Ad Kapone from Totally Insane, Playboy 7 from Doomsday Productions, J-Dawg from Black Menace, Tekpot, Tha Realest, and K-Rino. We also will add some M-Town stuff like the homie M.C. Mack, and of course my Chi-Town homie C.O. Tha! Bad Black and all of the B.R. Posse.
That is an impressive line-up. Any real fan of underground Rap has to appreciate those artists. Being such a big fan yourself, how was it to work with all of those people?
It’s a huge honor for me to work with those artists. As you said, I am a big fan of Rap music myself, that’s why I am building BR and it fills me with pride that legends got love for a playa! Anyone who blessed us with a verse is a real playa and I really appreciate it. God bless them and their families!
Who does your production?
We have a production team called The Beat Chefs which is InTone and B-Dub. InTone is not that much into production anymore so B-Dub which we call “B-Dub the Great” did about 90% of the production for my new album. But without InTone BR wouldn’t be here. I gotta give a big shout out to him here. In addition we have one track produced by Renizance from the Immortal Soldierz and 1 or 2 from my homie Tekpot.
Is B-Dub from Germany too?
Yes, he is from S-dub also. He is a good friend of mine for many years. He is a beast fa sho! Not only did he help me on the boards, he also helped me big time putting together this whole project. He is a playa 110% and I am happy to know this man! Anyone who needs beats, holler at us, we got the best price on the market!
What else are you working on, DMB?
C.O. Tha! Bad Black is putting out his solo album on Burger Records/Themolishun entitled “Themi-God” and it is a classic too. Of course he has the legendary Soundmaster-T doing most of the production, and B-Dub did some as well.
Your album had a lot of hot features. Does C.O’s album have features like that too?
He has a ton of great features. My first three albums I had no features, but then I decided to branch out. In the past C.O. worked with people like the Snypaz from Chicago. With this album we wanted to show people that we can work with different cats from everywhere. On C.O’s album he has Renizance of the Immortal Soldierz, Yukmouth, Felony of Public Announcement, Kingpin Skinny Pimp, Soundmaster-T, Jah-Rista, Hen-A-Cee, D-Train, AK of Do or Die, Sassilino, and K-Y-M. Of course I’m on there and a special surprise from the legendary homie X-Raided.
Sounds insane! Tell me about the X-Raided track.
This one was produced by Filthy Rich and had a dope-ass verse from X-Raided and C.O. dropped some heavy bars on there too. I was also on the track. My homie Scott Bejda hooked that up with X and his people. I always rap in English, but Scott wanted me to rap in German on that track because he thought it would give it an extra kick. So I rapping in German and it came together real nice.
Is there anything else coming out from Burger/Themolishun?
There is Hen-A-Cee coming with his solo album. He is C.O’s artist on Themolishun and is now part of the Burger Records/Themolishun family. I love his rap style and his lyrics. B-Dub will produce this album and it’s gonna be a classic. The people will love it. Then the homie Scott Bejda is dropping a compilation with us called “Underground Society Vol. 1: Fuck Tha! Illuminati” which is gonna be one of the best compilations in Rap in years.
Scott has been writing for Murder Dog since 1998-1999. It is good to see him do this project. Tell us about Underground Society?
It’s going to be a first in Rap history because this album has tracks from all over the United States and all over the world. We have tracks from Africa, the UK, Germany, the Middle East, South America, Norway, Sweden, Japan, Russia, Brazil, Morocco, Saudi Arabia, Iraq you name it. Underground Society is a movement.
Who are some of the artists on the album?
From the States we have tracks from Al Kapone, JT Money, Darkroom Familia, Renizance of Immortal Soldierz, Nightsheild who is a dope Native rapper from South Dakota, JD Walker who is a Chicago Icon, of course C.O. Tha! Bad Black, Hen-A-Cee, Kaman MC who is a dope-ass rapper from Russia, and many other surprises. It is a huge movement. Many people worldwide are supporting this effort and joining the team.
You’ve got a lot going on. How can people find out more about what you’re doing?
They can go to www.burger-records.de to find out about our label, releases, artists, and production.
