Leg Up! Management » DĀM-FUNK

BIO

THE L.A.-BRED “AMBASSADOR OF FUNK,” DĀM-FUNK (NÉ DAMON RIDDICK), KNOWS BETTER THAN MOST PEOPLE THAT “FUNK” DOESN’T ONLY APPLY TO THE MUSIC, BUT IS AN OVERALL ETHOS, A WORLD VISION THAT ONE CAN ASCRIBE TO AND AN INDOCTRINATION FAMOUSLY ALIGNED WITH P-FUNK. “IT’S A LIFESTYLE — IT’S BEING ‘FREE’ AT ALL TIMES,” SAYS DĀM.

AND MAYBE IT’S HIS VOICE THAT EXUDES THE FUNK; A SORT OF COOL, TEMPERED, MELODIC WISPINESS. OR RATHER IT’S WHAT HE’S HIDING BEHIND THOSE NEBULOUS, IMPENETRABLE GLASSES. WHATEVER IT IS, IT SEEMS AS THOUGH THE SPIRITUAL FORM OF FUNK HAS MANIFESTED ITSELF ON DĀM’S PHYSICAL BODY. AND EVEN HIS VERNACULAR: “THE DRUMS ARE THE BACKBONE. THEY ARE INSPIRED BY THE ‘MOTHERLAND’! THE CHORDS ARE FROM THE ‘MOTHERSHIP!’”

BUT THIS ETHEREAL DIMENSION THAT DĀM PRODUCES THROUGH HIS WORK, ONE THAT PROPELS US TO COSMIC HEIGHTS, IS WEIGHTED AND ENTRENCHED IN A HISTORY OF PLAYING MUSIC. HE IS WORLDLY AFTER ALL. DĀM STARTED OUT ON THE SCENE DOING KEYBOARD SESSIONS WITH THE LIKES OF SOLAR RECORDS PRODUCER, LEON SYLVERS III (SHALAMAR, THE WHISPERS AND THE SYLVERS), AND WORKED ON THE OTHER END OF THE SPECTRUM WITH WEST COAST GANGSTA RAP ARTISTS SUCH AS MC EIHT, MACK 10 AND ICE CUBE. DĀM ALSO HAD THE OPPORTUNITY TO DEVELOP HIS CHOPS PLAYING DRUMS WITH LIVE BANDS AROUND LOS ANGELES.

HIS MATURATION AS A MUSICIAN AND THE DEVELOPMENT OF HIS OWN SOUND HAS YIELDED A DISTINCT AMALGAM THAT INCORPORATES MELODIC “CHORDS MIXED WITH HARD HITTIN’ CLAPS AND BEATS THAT ARE BASED IN FUNK,” SAYS DĀM. “I EMBRACE SYNTHESIZERS AND DRUM MACHINES VERY MUCH. THIS IS THE SOUND I DIG. MODERN-FUNK.” MODERN-FUNK IN THE SENSE THAT DĀM IS NOT DRAWING INFLUENCE FROM THE GRITTIER FUNK BORNE OUT OF THE ‘60S AND ‘70S BUT RATHER PASTICHES HIS OWN SOUND FROM ARTISTS SUCH AS SLAVE, (EARLY) PRINCE, MTUME, LOOSE ENDS, ROGER AND ZAPP, P-FUNK AND EVEN SONIC LUMINARIES/SPEARHEADS LIKE FRANK ZAPPA AND TODD RUNDGREN. “I WAS DOING THIS SOUND THAT YOU HEAR FROM ME TODAY BEFORE G-FUNK WAS EVEN A TERM,” SAYS DĀM. HAVING ROOTS IN ACTUALLY PLAYING MUSIC HAS INEVITABLY SHAPED THE WAY DĀM INTERPRETS MUSIC. IN UNDERSTANDING HOW CHORDS CONNECT WITH EACH OTHER, DĀM INTUITS THE PROGRESSION AND MODULATION WITH DEFT PRECISION TO MANIPULATE THE AUDIENCE AS HE PLEASES.

DĀM, LIKE FELLOW PEER MADLIB, CAN BE CONSIDERED A CURATOR OF MUSIC IN THAT HE IS TRYING TO REVIVE AND REINTRODUCE A MUSIC THAT SEEMS TO HAVE ESCAPED THE TASTE OF OUR CULTURAL MAINSTREAM. THE STIGMA ATTACHED TO THE ‘80S IS THAT THE MUSIC IS JUST AS BAD AS THE PERMS AND TEASED HAIR. WHAT DĀM IS TRYING TO SHOW US THROUGH HIS MUSIC AND DJING IS THAT WE HAVE OVERLOOKED SOMETHING, LIKE A GLITCH ON A VHS. “IT’S SIMPLY TIME FOR THIS GENRE AND ERA TO BE RESPECTED. THIS IS ONE OF MY MISSIONS THROUGH SHARING THE STYLES WITH PEOPLE.” AND AS A DJ, DĀM MAKES SURE TO SHOUT OUT ARTISTS AND TRACK NAMES IN ORDER TO SPREAD AWARENESS OF THE MUSIC HE LOVES: “HELL, THE DJ DIDN’T MAKE THE FUCKIN’ MUSIC…THE ARTIST DID!” DĀM IN TURN SERVES AS A CONDUIT IN WHICH WE CAN ACCESS THIS FORGOTTEN MUSIC AND ACQUIRE A NEWFOUND APPRECIATION.

DĀM CRYSTALLIZES A DISTINCT MOMENT IN THE MUSICAL TIMELINE, AN ERA OF BUZZY SYNTHS AND EXCORIATING BOOGIE, AND HE STILL HARKENS TO THE TRADITIONAL METHODS OF THAT TIME TO RECORD HIS MUSIC. “I FIRST STARTED MAKING HOMEMADE TAPES (YES, TAPES!) IN MY BEDROOM. THERE WAS NO EASY-TO-USE COMPUTER SOFTWARE BACK THEN. YOU HAD TO USE ELBOW GREASE TO SEE A COMPLETED SONG. THIS IS WHY I STILL RECORD THIS WAY MOST OF THE TIME. I LIKE THE WORK INVOLVED.”

THE TERM “OLD SCHOOL” COMES TO MIND WHEN THINKING OF DĀM’S AURA AND SENSIBILITY, AND IT WOULD PROBABLY BE AN ACCURATE REPRESENTATION OF HIM. THIS IS A MAN WHO PREFERS ANALOG TO PROTOOLS, A MAN WHO RELISHES THE DO-IT-YOURSELF PROCESS AND VINTAGE RECORDING GEAR RATHER THAN THE EASY, SYNTHETIC CAPABILITIES OF COMPUTER SOFTWARE.

SO, AS THE MAXIM GOES: OUT WITH THE OLD, IN WITH THE NEW. YET THE ESSENCE OF DĀM-FUNK SEEMS TO MUDDLE THIS APHORISM. ALTHOUGH HE IS AN EXTENSION OF HIS PAST, HE IS MOVING FORWARD TO RESHAPE THE SOUND AND PERCEPTION OF THE MUSIC HE LOVES. AND IT IS THIS FORWARD MOTION THAT BRINGS HIM BACK TO THE MODERN WORLD. HE MUST LIVE IN THE PAST TO BRING A NEW PRESENT.

DĀM IS CURRENTLY IN THE PROCESS OF PUTTING OUT A 5XLP CONCEPT ALBUM CALLED A FUNK ODYSSEY. WANTING TO REKINDLE A TIME IN THE ‘70S IN WHICH THE ‘PROG ROCK’ ERA PROLIFERATED THE NOTION OF A ‘CONCEPT ALBUM’, DĀM IS TRANSFERRING THIS IDEA TO THE GENRE OF ‘FUNK;’ THE FIRST OF ITS KIND.

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CHICAGO, IL