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Dead Celebrity Status
Blood Music (HRM Records)
Rappers Yas and Bobby escaped still-born Canadian rap-rock outfit Project Wyze to form Dead Celebrity Status. The duo's penchant for ultra-serious lyrics and dramatic arrangements remains, but the joints they've crafted on Blood Music are closer to straight-up hip-hop. The angry stance of '5 Deadly Fingers' recalls Eminem, the twosomes most obvious influence, while 'Walls Could Talk' exhibits a fatal amount of paranoia (think Swollen Members' Mad Child turned up to eleven) set up against a minor key orchestral assault. 'Someone I Once Knew' is a poignant track about female self-image and anorexia, and 'Erica', laced as it is with the sultry vocals of Joss Stone, is a highlight, but 'While U Were Asleep' is distrubingly misogynist and all too typical of contemporary hip-hop. To paraphrase Johnny Lydon, anger may be an energy, but it isn't always conducive to provocative art.
CK Dexter Haven. - Access Magazine
Dead Celebrity Status will play Lee’s Palace on Saturday night.
Nothing like getting an international celebrity to put in a few good words for burgeoning Canadian artists. Case in point: Dead Celebrity Status.
The Toronto hip-hopsters received both a plug from U.K. soul sensation Joss Stone in Rolling Stone this past September, but also a request that the 17-year-old contribute vocals on Erica, from the group’s newly released debut, Blood Music, on Bif Naked’s Her Royal Majesty’s Records label.
"I met them when they came to one of my Toronto gigs and they were so cool, really nice," Stone told Metro in a phone interview from Los Angeles. "Then I listened to some of their stuff and it seemed really cool, too. So that’s when I decided to hook up with them."
To DCS MC Yassen "Yas" Taalat, Stone’s non-paying contribution was nothing short of mind-blowing.
"For people like her to not only appreciate my music, but want to work with us, it’d have to be for the love of the music and not for the money," says Yas as he, co-MC Bobby McIntosh and turntablist DJ Dopey prep for a Lee’s Palace show Saturday night. "What that does to us is it keeps us strong, motivated and hungry to impress these people more the next time around."
Leaving a good impression means more now to DCS than when Yas fronted former hip hop/alt-rock outfit Project Wyze.
"We were very naïve to the whole game," Yas says of the Wyze years before their 2002 split. "We got signed up to 13 years by a major label and when you’re kids and you get dumped into a situation like that, you don’t know the ins and outs, what’s right or wrong or how you should best approach things. A lot of stuff happened that shouldn’t have happened but we just didn’t understand it at the time."
What DCS does understand is that they’ve attracted some big-name guest stars for Blood Music – Stone, Bif Naked, Dave Navarro and Stephen Perkins (ex of Jane’s Addiction), Jeordie "Twiggy Ramirez" White (Marilyn Manson, A Perfect Circle), DJ Lethal (Limp Bizkit) – largely due to L.A. producer Danny Saber (Busta Rhymes, Public Enemy).
"But it wasn’t about seeing how many stars we can get on the album," Yas says. "Honestly, we didn’t want to ask someone like Twiggy, because we didn’t want to impose on someone who’s a friend of Danny’s, while he’s hanging out with him on his own time.
"But one day Twiggy picks up a bass guitar, starts playing this riff for what would become In This Day And Age. Next thing I knew Danny’s laying down some drums, and we wrote a song right on the spot."
- Dec 9, 2004
Discography
Dead Celebrity Status - Blood Music (Oct 2004)
Photos
Feeling a bit camera shy
Bio
If inspiration ends when an individual loses passion for what they are doing, then Yas, Bobby & D.J. Dopey will be making music until the day they die. The fiery forces behind Dead Celebrity Status have been making music since they were teenagers. What is so special about their sound is their refusal to become stagnant and their drive to continually grow as creators and people.
The seeds of Dead Celebrity Status were planted as far back as 1988. At the early ages of 12 and 13, Yas and Bobby discovered their true home on stage. Creating their first group Project Wyze, they quickly built a reputation as gifted lyricists and explosive performers. Yas recalls those early days, I remember being so young, and playing some of our first shows. It was like 1991, Fear of a Black Planet just dropped, and we were one of the first Canadian groups to play with the legendary Public Enemy. That was incredible. It was experiences like these that impelled Yas and Bobby to become the innovative and imaginative artists that they have grown into.
One of the things that I am most proud of, says Bobby, is the diverse range of artists who we have been blessed to share the stage with. We went from Public Enemy to Warped Tour to an arena tour across the country with Ozzy Ozbourne.
The years spent in Project Wyze were strewn with many hardships. These difficulties, include touring across America in a dilapidated van with only enough money for one hamburger a day, and being shot at in Cleveland. It was during these trying times that Yas and Bobby began to conceive of a new vision for their music.
Dead Celebrity Status grew out of boredom and unhappiness. For real, Yas and I were frustrated and tired of dealing with people who were not on the same page as us. DCS was an outlet, and a way of challenging ourselves again. It was a new beginning.
Despite their irrepressible inspiration, the bridge between Project Wyze and Dead Celebrity Status was not easily crossed. In fact, the band spent the past two years plagued with the politics and red tape of the music industry. Notwithstanding their seemingly endless obstacles, Yas and Bobby began writing and recording what would later become DCS debut album, Blood Music at the end of 2002.
However, one weapon shy, they called upon an old friend, a genius behind the turntables, DJ Dopey. Dopey had already acquired international acclaim as one of the worlds premier DJs, winning myriad battles. Most notably, in 2003, Dopey garnered the most coveted DJ title, winning the Technics World DMC Championship.
Dopey muses, When Yas and Bobby came to me to start this group I knew there was something special. We understand each others creative vision. Its a perfect fit.
With new life and a new vision, armed with World DMC DJ Champion, Dopey, Yas and Bobby stared their adversities in the eyes and focused their energy on their new project. They quickly caught the attention of some high profile American producers, and while showcasing in LA, they garnered the interest of revered produced Danny Saber. Saber has worked with artists such as The Rolling Stones, David Bowie, U2, Busta Rhymes, Public Enemy, Black Sabbath and Jadakiss. From the moment we met him, we knew he was the obvious choice, Yas recalls. There was mutual respect with Danny from day one. Having an understanding producer was an integral part of making an album we believed in.
During the summer of 2004, the band divided their time between Vancouver, Toronto working on their album. It was during this period that they collaborated with some of the music industries brightest and best.
All of the guests that appear on our album agreed to do it for the love of creating music, and not for money. We consider these people true artists and friends for life, Bobby reflects. One can state with conviction that the most important story is the one that the music tells; the music should speak for itself, and DCS speaks volumes. Blood Music delivers an original dose of infectious melodies, seductive grooves and witty wordplay. It is an album born out of emotion and infused with honesty; an utterly candid cross section of the sentiments of its authors. Finally, it is an intimate look into the dark recesses of hip hop music.
Like the rising of the Phoenix, Yas and Bobby are reborn from the ashes of their past to bring Dead Celebrity Status to you and yours.
Music is blood, blood is oxygen, breathe it in.
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