Last week I was sitting up at my favorite hair spot, gettin’ my mop clipped when my stylist and I started to get into a conversation about hip-hop. I suggested that she check out a book by Zach Combs (Big Zach), called “Headspin, Headshots and History: Growing Up In Twin Cities Hip Hop“, which will give her a solid overall view of the scene’s history. Her brow furrowed in deep thought and then she brightened and exclaimed, “Hey! I have that book at my house! My boyfriend is in that book!”. Turns out that her boyfriend – Dundee (Dean Brewington) – was a member of the Abstract Pack.
We continued to talk and she explained that he was starting up a new project with Digie (Roosevelt Mansfield) of Abstract Pack and K-Boogie (Kahlil Brewington); K-Boogie has played for Dessa of Doomtree and Black Blondie. There new project is “bass heavy, body rock hip-hop, that’s textured and influenced by dub styled sound systems. The debut EP is lyrically sharp with catchy hooks. The live show is a combination of MPCs, drums and electronics to give the live set a “band feel” but maintain a thick sound.”
I got a second to catch up with Dundee and ask him some questions about their project, upcoming shows, and a vision of honoring the great photographer, Jamel Shabazz.
Who are the members of Up Rock and what groups were ya’ll originally from?
The members are me (Dundee), K-Boogie, and Digie. Digie and I where with the Abstract Pack before we started doing solo music and production. Ocasionally we still all get together to create stuff. K-Boogie has played for Dessa of Doomtree and Black Blondie.
What was the catalyst for this project? When will it officially drop?
The beginning of this project started when Digie and I were working on the last Pack project. We both produced that last project so we kept coming to the crew with a bunch of different style tracks. Digie presented this hard bassie, dubstep style track and I wrote lyrics to it immediately! No one else was really feeling it so it got pushed to the side. After we finished up with the Pack’s digital release we would still share songs and ideas with everyone. Finally we came across some of the songs that he and I wrote verses to and said let’s put together a small EP and started writing and producing. We wrote the whole thing in two weeks and then K-Boogie came into the picture because we wanted to do something a liitle different live. We all just clicked and where in the same head space as far as what the sound is and how we want to present this work.
The EP officially drops March 9, 2012 (listen to featured single, below).
“Get In It”
Any shows coming up?
We have two shows lined up: Fri. March 9th @ Pizza Luce in Duluth show starts at 10:00PM.
We also will be performing Wed. April 18th @ Honey in Mpls, we have some prospects between the two dates but have not confirmed yet.
What else do you guys have in the works?
Up Rock is looking to put together a tribute exhibition to honor one of our favorite photographers, who blessed us with using one of his images for the official EP cover. Jamel Shabazz is an amazing photojournalist who’s work really reflects community and Hip Hop culture amongst so many other things. Up Rock is looking to honor Jamel Shabazz and the 10th Anniversary of his book “Back in the Days” if your not fimiliar with his work please check it out. If there’s is anyone interested in helping us make this happen please contact us, email, facebook etc… we need people who have art space, and other musicians that may be interested in performing. We would like to get Mr. Shabazz out to Minnesota for this tribute and introduce our community to his work! Please give a shout if your interested. Thank you.
You can link with Up Rock on [Facebook] x [Soundcloud]
