D-Minus
Staten Island, New York, United States | INDIE
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Staten Island has been without a new face in hip hop or one not associated with the legendary Wu-Tang Clan for a long time. D-Minus a name known throughout Staten Island hopes to break through and make a name for himself and his label HighGradeMusic. Derrick Minus or D-Minus was born in Mariner’s Harbor a.k.a. “Jungle Nills”. Losing his parents at an early age he moved from place to place first to New Brighton and finally to West Brighton a.k.a. “Body Brighton”.
“I’m from all over the island says Minus. Everybody knows about me in my age bracket.”
He started rapping in high school with friends and they formed a crew called Young N Wreckless.
“We played ball together and we formed a bond says Minus. We knew each other from the neighborhood because we were in different cliques. Once we found we all rhymed we would rap with each other and sharpen our skills.”
The group was formed with another member‘s brother and two other younger kids who rapped. Young N Wreckless started putting out music dropping a mixtape called “Word On The Street” in 2003. “Word On The Street” got a local buzz for the group but soon the group disintegrated.
“Being in a group with six people different egos, minds, and agendas start taking priority says Minus. Things fell apart, I started hustling, and “Drazy” stopped rhyming.”
D-Minus soon found a new rhyme partner with his friend “Siegz” but they never put out the music they recorded. However he and his friend “Juice” were around each other so much doing music and other activities in street until “Juice” got caught up.
“Me and Juice did a lot of stuff together says Minus. I learned a lot about music from him. We ended up with 10-15 records. He got caught up and had to do time and I was the only one left.”
D-Minus was faced with a crossroad having given up on sports and people telling him about how good he was with music. D-Minus took the music route and started the HighGradeMusic movement. He is now preparing to release his album The Black Water Project in May. He named it after the mercenary group Black Water now named XE.
“The Black Water Project is a collection of all my experiences says Minus. In a sense it’s real covert, a lot of people are going to think it came from nowhere. The project is a wave, and the world will get the first wave.”
According to D-Minus the order of the tracks flows like a story. There are 10 tracks on the album and no skits. Some of the standout tracks are “Yak Man”, “Roll Up”, “Hard” and “Hush”. He has plans to shoot videos for “Hard” and “Hush”. The only guest appearances on the album are from Juice, currently incarcerated and Veech. The production was mainly in-house with Brandon Ross producing seven of the ten records. Fresh Sean produced “Yak Man” and Brown producing the tracks “Wrong One” and “Fuck The Party Up”. The Black Water Project will be available for free download and on ITunes, Amazon, and other digital retailers. It will also be available on the HighGradeMusic website.
The listening party for The Black Water Project is on the April 24th at club HK in New York City. There is also an official release party for the album on May 27th on Staten Island where he will be performing. As for future plans of D-Minus and HighGradeMusic they are simple.
“My plan is to take over the world” says Minus. We got other artists and want to move to different genres. We just want to put out good records and touch the audiences. It’s hip hop from the inner city in New York.
Facebook.com/D-Minus
Twitter.com/BrandonRoss_HGM
Yotube.com/HighGradeMusicTV
HighGradeMusic.net
- The Source Magazine
Discography
Still working on that hot first release.
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Bio
Raised throughout New York's borough of Staten Island. D-Minus, born Derrick Minus, began his journey short-handed due to the passing of his parents before his adolescent years. His adaptation to youth sport became routine, as his curiousness of the world beyond the court lines became more prevalent. However, growing up in West Brighton neighborhood streets in the mid 90's fueled with crime and violence crippled the community of constructive outlets for it's youth, which garnered feelings of uncertainty for an sports career.
During his high school years, Hip-Hop emerged as medium for transcribing daily life situations. D-Minus would later join with fellow neighborhood friends and form a collective of MC's aptly titled "Young N Wreckless". Influenced by east coast Hip-Hop staples (i.e. Wu-Tang clan, The Lox) the groups name often reflected their brashness in the streets. After releasing mixtapes throughout the early-2000s, the group would ultimately disband in 2004 primarily due to musical differences, and legal troubles. D-Minus would later form a MC duo with former Y.N.W alumni Juice, and release series of street-anthem records entailing brash warnings, illegal stunts with much bravado, Juice's time short-lived due to federal jail time for a major offense, leaving D-Minus to take up for himself again. Discontent with his the quality of music being ushered in New York City radio stations top-forty formats, D-Minus, the would later create his own imprint HighGrade Music, Inc. with brother Damon M. and local music producer and childhood friend Brandon R. in 2009.
Preparing for his 1st solo release under the HighGrade Music label, D-Minus has been gathering the right momentum to sustain his brand to the masses. In late 2010, acclaimed producer 3rd Dig'em scouted D-Minus for his 'Dig'em Snack' mixtape with the record titled "Them". Re-introducing D-Minus as Staten island's premiere underground MC whose grasping the attention of industry taste-makers and fans alike, throughout the city and to afar.
D-Minus is currently prepping for the studio release of,"The Blackwater Project",funneled through his indie label.The album will feature production from Federal Tracks, Fresh Sean, Brandon Ross, MR.B, also artist features from Juice and Veech The Don. This full length album is jammed-packed with telling experiences, compelling concepts and solid Boom-Bap production to subsequently complement D-Minus as Hip-Hop's fresh new voices.
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