Da UnXplained
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Da UnXplained

Spartanburg, South Carolina, United States

Spartanburg, South Carolina, United States
Band Hip Hop

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"Xtreme Band of the Week"

By Adam Wickliffe
ENTERTAINMENT WRITER
awickliffe@UpstateLink.com


THE UNXPLAINED IS ...
Derrick “Dirty-D” Ofori -- Rapper and producer
Teddy “T-Loc” McKissick -- Rapper (not pictured)
Lesley Robinson -- Manager and promoter

THE SOUND ...
A mixture of smooth drums and hard-hitting bass, the music of The UnXplained follows a range of hip-hop sounds from rugged to soft and mellow. Ofori says the music “is so diverse it’s really hard to put a label on it.”

THE MUSIC ...
The group’s music is “about life in the South. It takes it from a standpoint of two middle class individuals and being exposed to temptation but deciding not to take the temptations,” Ofori says.

THE INFLUENCES ...
Ofori explained that old-school artists such as James Brown and Marvin Gaye, as well as modern artists including TI, Scarface, Young Bloodz and Dr. Dre are influences.
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WHAT’S IN A NAME?
Over 10 years ago, members of the group belonged to The UnXplained Phenomenon. Several members dropped out, but the existing members wanted to keep the name and reputation of the group.

WHERE CAN YOU HEAR THEM?
This Spartanburg-based group will be playing today and tomorrow at the Bike Week festival in North Myrtle Beach and the Kool Breakaway after-party both nights. The band has a Web site at www.2darealness.com. They will also perform at the Car and Bike Show on June 24 in Atlanta.
- Greenville News


"Winthrop rapper puts his studies to early use"

Copyright The Herald Apr 6, 2001

Derrick Ofori remembers when he was booed off the stage during a talent show his first year at Winthrop University.

"It was an Apollo Theater-type experience," said the 20-year-old Winthrop junior, referring to the legendary New York showcase for African-American musicians and comedians. "I didn't let that discourage me. My friends supported me. When people saw that I could rap, the talent sought me out."

Ofori, who has been performing rap and hip-hop in his hometown of Spartanburg since the eighth grade, is now the chief executive officer of 2 Da Realness Records, an independent hip-hop music label he and four other Winthrop students created in 1998 to produce music and develop and manage local talent.

"The music was so natural to me, but I felt if I had the business sense to go along with it I could take it to the limit," Ofori said.

Tonight, the company launches the release of its second CD, "Southern Comfort," a 17-song compilation featuring Winthrop-based talent. The 10 p.m. event at the Rock Hill National Guard Armory, represents a sort of introduction for the company beyond the Winthrop campus, said Dana McKelvey, the label's marketing coordinator and one of the 10 artists featured on the CD.

"This is a chance to take a first glimpse at what 2 Da Realness Records is all about as far as talent goes and as far as a recording company," McKelvey said. "It's an opportunity for people in the Rock Hill community and the Charlotte market to see what we have to offer musically."

"Southern Comfort" celebrates hip-hop culture in the South: the clothes people wear, the cars they drive, the jewelry they buy, the food they eat, Ofori said.

"We take it back to the roots as far as the message our parents and grandparents gave us," he said. "We are not gansta rappers. We don't rap about shootings."

America's neighborhoods are teeming with youths who dream of being the next gangster rapper making it big on BET and MTV. And there is no shortage of small-town rap groups and bands who record their own music on CDs and peddle them from the trunk of their cars.

Ofori's vision is bigger, however. He dreams of making music and developing talent in the mode of Jermaine Dupri and his So So Def Recording company, stars of Atlanta's emergence as a hip-hop powerhouse. The goal of independent recording labels is to secure a distribution deal with Sony or one of the other major recording companies.

"I see myself, hopefully, still in South Carolina working with music full time and just being able to provide a way for anyone who has talent and has the motivation to push forward," said Ofori, who is majoring in business with a concentration in entrepreneurship. "I feel South Carolina has really been overlooked as far as entertainment is concerned. We would like to make South Carolina or Rock Hill or Spartanburg the next Atlanta."

Right now, Ofori's orginal business model is close to home - his father's Tropical Food Co., which manufactures foods from his father's native Ghana.

"I see the way he runs his business," Ofori said. "It's a different business, but you can follow the same rules and be successful."

Ofori's residence hall room serves as a board room and recording studio. His room is dominated by bunk beds and his recording equipment, including a synthesizer, keyboard, speakers, and drum machine. Posters of rappers Tupac Shakur and DMX and model Tyra Banks decorate the walls.

With the room's windows open, you can hear the sounds of traffic from nearby Cherry Road. Music from other rooms permeates Ofori's walls.

"When we are ready to record, we ask folks to turn down their music," he said. On any weekday afternoon, classmates and co- founders of the company, Alvin Hinton, Maxwell Hunter, Calvin Jefferson and Jason Rousey, are seated in Ofori's cramped room plotting strategy.

"The music business is a lot more involved than it appears," but being in school helps, Hunter said.

"A lot of people who are on the staff are business majors," Ofori said. "All we learn in the classroom, we come back and apply it to the record label."

Across campus, Nate Barber, director for the Small Business Development Center, is encouraged that students aren't putting their business initiatives on hold.

"Michael Dell started Dell Computers in his dorm room at Texas," Barber said. "It's doable. It's the kind of thing we would like to see more of. I like the idea that he is not only utilizing his talents to realize his dream, but he's helping other students realize their dreams."

Andrew J. Skerritt's column appears Sundays, Wednesdays and Fridays. To pass along column ideas or ask questions, call 329-4032 or e-mail him at askerritt@heraldonline.com.

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction or distribution is prohibited without permission. - Herald - Rock Hill, S.C.


"Marketer's business mix delights NAACP Fu Fu flour: Taste of Ghana"

BAKER MAULTSBY
Published November 19, 2000

The statue on the bookshelf in Edward Ofori's office depicts a West African woman making "fu fu" flour.

The woman is grinding the meal in a mortar with a long stick. It is arduous but important work, Ofori said, because fu fu flour is a mainstay of the regional diet. The meal is made from ground plantains, the tropical cousin of the banana, and used to make a dumpling-like base for all sorts of stews and soups that Ofori ate growing up in Ghana. Now living in Cowpens, Ofori has found a way to mass produce and package fu fu flour -- sort of a Minute Rice for lovers of the African pastry. His product is called Tropiway Plantain Fu Fu, and, though it won't be found on the shelves of local grocery stores, it has become something of an international culinary sensation. Ofori exports boxes of the flour to distributors in Africa, as well as major cities in the United States and Europe. He also sells a similar flour made of ground yams. His success has contributed jobs to the Upstate's economy and enabled Ofori to be a strong supporter of the District 3 schools. In recognition of those contributions, the East Spartanburg Branch of the NAACP presented Ofori with the "Torch of Freedom" award at its annual Freedom Fund Banquet Saturday night. "We try to recognize some of the small black businesses in our area," chapter secretary Willie R. Greene said. For his part, Ofori hopes his business success inspires young African-Americans. "Some think there's nothing here for them," he said Friday at his plant near the Spartanburg-Cherokee county line. "But I discovered there's a gold mine here. This is the best country in the world." Ofori's rise to boxed flour success wasn't an easy ride, however. He moved to the United States in 1978 from Ghana, where he grew up in the nation's capital, Ashanti, and studied food science. After struggling to find work in the Washington, D.C., area, Ofori moved to Cowpens, the hometown of his wife, Joyce. In Cowpens, the couple began making a living with an ice cream truck. All the while, Ofori was visiting the library, studying the process behind mass production of food. At home, he was trying out fu fu recipes and testing them out through limited marketing back home in Ghana. It was an idea he knew made sense. America had lots of pizza places, Greek diners and Chinese restaurants, but few ethnic eating options for a transplant from Ghana. "I thought, 'I'm from Africa. What do we have for someone like me?' " Ofori said. "I thought there might be a market for people from Africa." By 1986, he had hit upon the right mix and learned enough about food production to go into full-time business as Tropical Foods Co., Inc. He processed and boxed his fu fu flour in his own kitchen while developing a network of distributors and grocery stores around the world. As business grew, Ofori moved production into a trailer, then a rented a larger space near Cowpens. Now he owns his own facility just off I-85. Everything in Ofori's plant is automated with complicated and sprawling machinery. Venard Ross, one of about 15 employees, fixes the boxes that don't make it off the conveyor belt in perfect form. He called Ofori a "great boss" and touted the fu fu flour inside the boxes he was gluing down. Ross has enjoyed the pastry Ofori ate as a child. He even has used the flour to fry chicken. "It really brings out the flavor," Ross remarked. Ofori said developing a market in South Carolina would be a challenge he doesn't have time for. But Ross claimed he knows locals who have tried recipes with the fu fu flour and are now sold on it. Either way, Ofori, who estimates sales at Tropical Foods at seven figures annually, shares his financial rewards with family in Ghana. While maintaining relationships in Ghana, Ofori also feels a special connection to African-Americans, many of whom are descended from people sold as slaves from the Gold Coast - the region of Ghana where Ofori grew up and said "you can see the castles where they kept the slaves before sending them to America." It gives Ofori a sense of pride to be among the African-American population of his new home - a feeling that was returned by the NAACP Saturday night. "I can connect with African-Americans here because we all share the same blood," he said.

Baker Maultsby can be reached at baker.maultsby@shj.com or 582-4511, Ext. 7425.

TORCH OF FREEDOM * What: NAACP award honoring small black business entrepreneurs. * Winner: Edward Ofori. * Ofori's business: Tropical Foods Co., Inc. * Ofori's product: Making, packaging and marketing a specialty from Ghana, Tropiway Plantain Fu Fu. * Ofori's base: Plant near Spartanburg-Cherokee county line.

http://search.goupstate.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20001119/NEWS/11190361&SearchID=73246359634160


- Spartanburg Herald Journal


"With music like this, just sit back and enjoy the show"

Da UnXplained

Formed in 1994 on the streets of Spartanburg, Da UnXplained has become one of the hottest underground hip-hop groups in the state.

Members Michael "Hunga Painz" Anderson, Teddy "T. Loc" McKissick and Derrick "Dirty D" Ofori have been rapping since the age of 12.

The group describes its style as Urban Hip Hop/SLUM (Southern Life Underground Muzik).

- Spartanburg Herald Journal


"Hip-hop group heads to Bike Week"

Published May 26, 2006

Local hip-hop group The UnXplained will be the featured artist at the Bike Week Festival in North Myrtle Beach this weekend.

The group will perform from 8-10 p.m. Saturday and Sunday on the main stage at Atlantic Beach. Tickets for the festival are $10 per day. Call (864) 266-4202.

- Spartanburg Herald Journal


"Release party for UnXplained"

From staff reports
Published April 21, 2006

2 Da Realness Entertainment LLC presents the debut album release party for the UnXplained at Sharky's Night Club at 620 W. Blackstock Road. Doors will open at 10 tonight. Before 11 p.m., ladies get in free, and men pay $5. After 11 p.m., ladies get in for $5.

The UnXplained will perform a number of songs from its new CD, "S.L.U.M." (Southern Life Underground Muzik), including "Hit em' High" and the ladies anthem "Carolina Girls." DJ Storm will host the show.

Also today, the UnXplained will be at BJ's Music at 100 McMillan Drive in Spartanburg from 5 to 6 p.m. for a special meet-and-greet.

http://www.goupstate.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060421/NEWS/604210314&SearchID=73246360934560 - Spartanburg Herald Journal


Discography

S.L.U.M (Southern Life Underground Muzik) - LP
Carolina Girl - Single
Southern Comfort - LP
HollyWood - Single

Photos

Bio

“Trends End, but Trendsetters are Infinite” In the case of the UnXplained, setting trends and pushing the envelope has kept them in the music industry for over 5 years. The missing element of Hip Hop has reemerged in the form of two young versatile MCs Derrick “Dirty D” Ofori and Teddy “T.Loc Mckissick. Their unique use of soulful slum lyrics, heavy hitting futuristic beats, and positive soulful content has allowed them to separate themselves from both mainstream and underground artists alike. The UnXplained is a self contained powerhouse, with regionally know producer Dirty D and smooth lyrist T.Loc. They have been complimented as being a Dre. / Jay-Z combo or the rebirth of OutKast!

The group has been featured on several successful underground projects including Southern Hospitality and Southern Comfort. They have also been invited to perform with acts such as Eightball & MJG, Young Bloodz, Rocko, Yung L.A. and the 2009 HOT 107.9 BIRTHDAY BASH!. The UnXplained is now preparing to release their sophomore album entitled “HOLLYWOOD”