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D’Cal - The Opposite Of Ice
Website: myspace.com/dcalmusic
Location: Hackensack, NJ
HOW DID YOU GET STARTED WITH YOUR MUSIC?
I was born into a musical family. You either sung or played an instrument.
I can’t sing to save my life so I gravitated towards the piano and the
guitar and it just progressed from there. As far as producing – that
started because of my brother. He was rhyming at the time and I would go
through my parent’s record collection looking for breaks and I’d loop
those for him using a turntable and the record and pause button on a
cassette recorder. He got signed to Future Records, Teddy Riley’s label in
Virginia off some of the beats I did, but the album never came out because
the label folded. After awhile, sampling got too constricting for the
sound I wanted, so I decided to play all the instruments myself to give
the music more freedom and create my own sound.
WHAT ARE YOU CURRENTLY WORKING ON?
Currently I’m promoting my album, “The Remedy”. It’s an instrumental
hip-hop album. I produced it, mixed it, and played all the instruments.
It’s perfect for all the MC’s and songwriters out there who are looking
for quality tracks or those looking for an alternative to what’s out right
now. It’s available on my website, WWW.DCALMUSIC.COM, if you want the
physical CD and on iTunes, Napster, Emusic, and Rhapsody for downloading.
I’m also producing UNEZ, (WWW.MYSPACE.COM/UNEZ), he’s an MC, also from
Hackensack, NJ. We’re about halfway through his album, “Confidential”.
WHAT KIND OF MUSIC DO YOU LISTEN TO AND HOW DOES IT INFLUENCE YOUR MUSIC?
I grew up listening to all types of music, I still do – Hip-Hop, R&B,
Reggae, Rock, Latin, Classical, Jazz, – everything but country music. When
you listen to the album, you’ll hear the influences. “Indigo” is obviously
influenced by classical music. “Caldera” is definitely rock influenced.
“Above the Sky” is jazz based. I just tried to take certain elements of
the styles of music that I love and put them into a hip-hop context.
WHAT’S YOUR OPINION ON MAINSTREAM MUSIC TODAY? WHAT DO YOU LIKE OR NOT
LIKE?
I purposely haven’t listen to the radio in years. I think there’s a
serious lack of originality right now. There’s nothing that I hear that
really inspires me – no one is really doing anything new - it’s to the
point where when I want to hear something new, I create it myself. The
majority of artists that are doing or saying something different don’t get
much airplay anyway.
WHO DO YOU ADMIRE?
Musically, it would be Jimi Hendrix, Stevie Wonder, Prince, Outkast,
Jay-Z, and Dr. Dre. As a person it would be Muhammad Ali.
WHY WOULD PEOPLE WANT TO LISTEN TO YOUR MUSIC OVER SOMEONE ELSES?
There’s something for everyone on this record - regardless of what part of
the country you’re from, regardless of the way you rhyme or sing – you
will find at least one song that appeals to you on some level. If you’re a
fan of good music - you’ll want to listen. If you’re tired of hearing the
same song on the radio all day – you’ll want to listen. If you’re a MC or
a singer who’s rhyming or singing to established artists’ instrumentals
because you couldn’t find a producer or the producer you did find was
charging too much for the track – you’ll want to listen. Another reason is
the originality of the concept. I don’t think any producer has tried
anything quite like this before. Producers have put out instrumental
albums before, but I don’t think there’s been one where there’s no
sampling – one where one person plays all the instruments.
WHO HAVE YOU WORKED WITH AND HOW HAVE THEY AFFECTED YOUR WORK?
For the past couple of years I’ve worked with a lot of the local rappers
and singers out here, mostly doing production and session work. As I
mentioned before, I’m producing an album for UNEZ. There’s another MC out
of Paterson, NJ named ENVE that I’m about to start work with. The major
thing I’ve learned is the ability to adapt musically to whatever style or
sound that the artist is looking for.
WHAT IS YOUR LOCAL MUSIC SCENE LIKE?
There’s good artists in this area – but there’s not a lot of exposure and
there’s no real outlet for what people are trying to do.
WHAT SUGGESTION DO YOU HAVE FOR OTHER ARTISTS IN THE MUSIC INDUSTRY?
My suggestion would be to develop your own style – don’t copy what
everyone else is doing – be original and be true to yourself. And
definitely learn the business side of the industry.
WHERE DO YOU SEE YOURSELF IN A YEAR FROM NOW?
In the studio working with Jay-Z.
ANY ADDITIONAL INFORMATION YOU WOULD LIKE US TO KNOW?
Listen to the songs and you’ll learn everything you need to know.
WWW.DCALMUSIC.COM
WWW.MYSPACE.COM/DCALMUSIC - WWSMAG.COM
Discography
THE REMEDY - CD
Photos
Bio
In 2008, to call D'Cal an up & coming producer is like, in 1984 calling Michael Jordan an up & coming basketball player. While the statement is true, it doesn't fully emphasize the impact he is destined to have. This NJ native is a producer, arranger, engineer, and a multi-instrumentalist, playing all the instruments on his recordings. Several people familiar with his work has described him as hip-hop's "One Man Band."
As a youngster, he could often be found either in his room practicing on his father's guitar or pouring through his parent's record collection. It was through this record collection that he first began dabbling in production. By using the pause and record button on his tape deck connected to a single turntable, he began seamlessly looping the breakbeats of those song, turning them into instrumentals. He remembers, "I knew I was on to something when I first heard "Gin & Juice" by Snoop, the main sample in that song is a record that I had been messing around with before. It was real exciting for me because I felt that I, as young as I was, was thinking in the same ways that these artists were, in terms of what was hot, and that pushed me to dig and find the hottest records I could." That push soon caught the ear of his older brother who was signed with Teddy Riley's Future Records based in Virginia. "My brother took a tape of some beats I did down to Teddy and after he heard it he wanted to meet me. The plan was for me and my brother to form a group with him rhyming and me as the DJ - but my mother wasn't having it because I was barely in my teens at the time. But Teddy was real cool, he gave me a couple of tips and some real good advice and I just went back to what I was doing before."
So how does someone deeply rooted in sampling develop into playing all his own instruments? "Dr. Dre - 2001, that joint changed my thinking. I learned to play damn near that whole album from the piano parts to the guitar and basslines. At that point I was like, "I'm gonna put sampling on the backburner and concentrate on making my own beats from scratch. My quest became to be the Prince or Stevie Wonder of the hip-hop world, musically speaking."
That quest brings us to "The Remedy", his debut instrumental hip-hop album. With influences ranging from R&B and Rock, to Reggae and Classical and all points in between, he has crafted a sound that is beyond description, yet firmly rooted in hip-hop.
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