Wednesday, January 14, 2009

Beat Rabbi




Casey Birch grew up 1700 miles from the birthplace of hip-hop. Borger, TX is "the gateway to the Texas Plains", and is best known for hosting the world's largest fish fry each June. Every year kids in the Texas pan handle pick up the guitar and dream of becoming a country rock star, but in 1986 Casey heard the Fat Boys and fell in love. In the late 90's Mr. Birch began DJing and banging out beats on his MPC. Armed with a giant collection of dusty breaks and rare grooves, Casey created his own brand of boom-bap, and Beat Rabbi was born.
Beat Rabbi earned his first major production credit in 2000, when he provided the beat for "Divine Lines" on Dirt's sophomore LP A War To Restore. That same year Beat Rabbi was contacted by Manchild of Mars Ill, and invited to meet with members of the then fledgling Deepspace5 crew in Nashville. The meeting would lead to BR joining DS5 just in time to produce the lead single from the crew's label debut The Night We called It A Day. "Stick This In Your Ear" continues to be a fan favorite among DS5's ever-growing catalogue.
While Rabbi was making a name for himself with guest-spot production, he was also working on a full-length album with his group Circumcised Mind. The Real Battle showcased emcee Apologetic's lyricism over BR's rough, rugged, and raw beats. The self-released project has been compared to early Quannum Projects releases, and is considered to have been ahead of it's time since its release in 2001.
For years now the beat teacher has continued to provide bangers for an all-star list of emcees including Braille, Playdough, Sivion, Listener, Fred B, Sintax.the.terrific and others. In 2005, Deepspace5 released Unique, Like Everyone Else, and again Beat Rabbi delivered the singles in the form of "People Are People" and "Your Biggest Fan". It seemed like only a matter of time before fans would get to hear an entire DS5 album produced by the funk rabbit. Little did they know that the process had already been set into motion.
In the summer of 2003 Casey decided to create an album that would pay respect to the early 90's hip-hop sound. He began crafting beats fusing soul, jazz, funk, and breaks to make his own version of that Golden Era sound. The next step was to hit up his crew members, and get them to lace these tasty tracks with their witty rhymes. Nearly five years later the result is Deepspace5oul. The twenty-two track album features all of the Deepspace emcees but also offers tracks with each of the established groups within the large crew (something noticeably absent on other DS5 projects). Another unique feature is the presence of Illtrip, the long-time Deepspace member that was unable to participate on either of the DS5 crew albums. The highlight, of course, is Beat Rabbi's block-rocking beats, which are sure to please heads from the plains of Texas to the trains of New York.

Wednesday, January 7, 2009

The Biography Channel


I have written several artist Bios for Illect Recordings. During the next month I will share them with you and include a link to hear some of their music. The first one is Dert:


Dert may just be the most accomplished producer you've never heard of. The L.A. native first credits came in 1998, when he provided the bulk of the beats on LPG's sophomore album 360(Solar Music Group). Since then Dert has built up a catalog larger than JC Penney! As the in-house producer for Tunnelrats Music, D. Baker provided the sound on the vast majority of the crew's tracks for nearly a decade! During his tenure as TR's soul provider, Dert was able to collaborate with many of LA's finest emcees such as LMNO, 2Mex, Ahmad, and Mikah 9 to name a few.
Mr. Baker showed his fans a different side in 2004, releasing Fledgling on Illectronica. Like the Octavia E. Butler novel by the same name, the beat tape would turn out to be much more than one might expect. The all instrumental album was an eclectic mix of afro rhythm, synthy soul, and raw hip-hop. Of course this was just a glimpse into the genius to come from Dert's fingertips.
In 2006 Dert released the hounds on the underground! First he introduced the world to Derty Gonzales when he released Sometimes I Rhyme Slow, a remixtape featuring popular songs by Common, Kanye West, and many others. The twist was that all the beats were crafted by sampling Jose Gonzales' all acoustic work Veneer. The result was a beautifully arranged album that even earned the cosign of Jose himself! Next up was KRS-One's Life produced entirely by Dert and TunnelRat founder Dax Reynosa. Dert's music brought out the best in KRS, making Life one of The Blastmaster's greatest albums. Then showing off his versatility once more, Dert rounded off the year with the Footsoldiers' hardrocking debut LP Live This.
With all the critical acclaim that came in result of his tireless 2006, Dert Floyd still found time to treat fans to Westside Of The Moon as a free download in 2007. And when West Indian Girl was looking for a remix to "What Are You Afraid Of", Dert answered the call, and the answer received many plays on public and college radio. Even in this so-called downtime the man cooked up classics.
After laying low for a few months, the Dertiest of them all has blessed us with another beat tape. Picking up right where Fledgling left off, The Short List is another personal record filled with mellow headnodders, perfect to "just cool out and listen to". In acknowledgement of his many muses, Dert dedicates this album "to all the pretty girls, not the ugly ones." The music follows suit, blending soft synths and echoing drums to create easy listening for even the pickiest of music lovers.


Preview some of Dert's music: