Q&A with Die-Rek

Contributed by Youngdo (Ill Breaks Crew)

Youngdo: What is the concept of the song?
Die-Rek: Just having fun with the track lyrically, talking about the music business and the type of artist/label politics that exist. Pretty simple.

Youngdo: What do you hope that people take away from the song?
Die-Rek: I want the listener to listen to the song and say “hey, here are 2 people that are good at what they do and they’re not just doing it for themselves.”

Youngdo: It’s nice to see a video like this. What is the concept behind it?
Die-Rek: Well, as you see throughout the majority of the video it is just an “MC” and the “DJ”, not really any gimmicks or catchy story lines to it, just “art “.  It’s funny but I was watching some videos the day before I posted mines and I said to myself, “what is different about my video?” ‘cause being “different” is what stands out.  Then I thought to myself, “when’s the last time I saw a Hip Hop video with the artist just displaying their art form?” There always has to be some “ooohs” and “ahhhs”, but with the Grown Man Biz video, it was just straight raw flavour. Just skillz, lyricism, turntablism, we presented ourselves, who we are, and nothing else! And of course the camera man did his thing to add to it, ha ha ha

Youngdo: For those that don’t know, who are the other two people with you in the video?
Die-Rek: That’s DJ Versatile on the turntables, he’s won numerous competitions all over. He’s a battle DJ, mad vicious on the 1’s and 2’s. We did my last project together entitled “Die-VersCity” so I thought it would be dope to have him on the single for this new project.  You might also know him from Manafest’s work. He’s toured with Manafest and has been on pretty much all of his albums.  The female that is briefly hinted throughout the video is an artist by the name of ChrisJay, an up-and-coming female MC I’m working with. She’s got mad style and she’s dropping something fairly soon as well so I thought it would be cool if she popped her face in the camera now and then.

Youngdo: You do a good job at your shows and your music comes correct. How long have you been in the game?
Die-Rek: Too embarassing to tell, ha ha ha, but I thank the Lord that He’s helped me to be obedient thus far. I’ve worked on my patients and made it His timing.  I released my first 12″ single on wax in 2005, but years prior to that I was always writing and battling whoever dared to step to this trooper, ha ha ha. Let’s just say I’ve wanted to do this thing ever since I was 10 years old, and if you ask anybody who has known me that long, what I wanted to be when I was a kid growing up, they would answer and say “a rapper”.

Youngdo: What is something about Jesus that you hope the listener gets from the song?
Die-Rek: That Jesus is real. He’s a real person and His Spirit lives today in real people like you and me. I’m not from another planet. I come from the same place as you, dealt with the same issues as you, grew up on the same music as you, and have choices just like YOU!

Die-Rek – The Die-Version Project (free download)