DC the MIDI Alien

DC the MIDI Alien is a Hip Hop producer who prides himself on perfecting the craft making beats and upholding the crate digging culture. A 10 year veteran of the Hip Hop art of DJing and turntablism, DC strives to push the Hip Hop culture forward and considers himself a student of all genres of music. Born and raised in the small, but diverse city of Portsmouth NH, which is about an hour away from Boston MA, DC's parents actually met in a band. His father was the bass player and his mother was the lead singer. DC was born in late 1980 and grew up around all different kinds of music in the household. When he was just 9 years old, he somehow got his hands on a Run DMC "Rasing Hell" cassette tape, and a Guns and Roses "Appetite for Destruction" tape. The music that his young ears absorbed influenced his eclectic taste in music to say the least, and would prove to be the foundation for his own music one day. DC began DJing in 1996, when a sports related injury forced him off his high school basketball team. The injury turned out to be a blessing in disguise as DC would one day be considered a top Hip Hop producer in New England. As soon as he could legally start driving himself around, he began to venture in to Boston MA, where he would see rap acts as 7L and Esoteric, Mr. Lif and Akrobatik, Porn Theatre Ushers and even one of Eminem's very early performances in 1999. DC continued to work at his scratching, DJing and his knack for rare groove hunting at local thrift shops and flea markets. As soon as DC put a home studio together and began making rudimentary beats on his Roland MS-1 sampler/ sequencer, he realized how much rap was tied to virtually every single genre of music in the world. It was all there; rock, jazz, classical, funk, soul, latin, everything. The foundation of rap, the boom-bap drum in a 4/4 measure, allowed those who enjoyed it to essentially enjoy other genres at the same time. DC became hooked on beat making and the fine points of Hip Hop production by studying legends such as DJ Premier, Pete Rock. Marley Marl and Dr. Dre. He was a frequent guest DJ on the 91.3 fm WUNH radio Hip Hop show "The Mothership Connection," and also DJ'd with fellow beatsmith Statik Selektah. DC met MC Nabo Rawk of Porn Theatre Ushers in 2001, and the two began to working in the studio together. Shortly thereafter, DC was introduced to Termanology, who at the time was 17 years old and had rapped on about 7 tracks total and had been in a professional recording studio a handful of times. Term and DC began to do some work, and out of these early efforts came the track entitled "Bangin'" on now debunked Centerfield Records. The track featured Term's counterpart Ed Rock, and the two young rappers flowed effortlessly over DC's production. The single got record breaking exposure for the next 6 months as DJ GeeSpin played "Bangin'" for 37 straight weeks on his JAMN 94.5 "Launch Pad" radio show that served as a showcase for up and coming talented Boston rap acts. The next few years DC spent doing mix tape tracks and refining his sound as a producer. Termanology and DC continued working and dropped the aptly titled "Out the Gate" in 2006. The album received good reviews and gained the attention and praise of NYC rap legend and Gangstarr Founder DJ Premier. From that point, DC began to work with other acts such as 7L and Esoteric ("Murder, Death, Kill"), Army of the Pharoahs ("Gorillas") and Granite State ("The Breaking point"). DC has since worked with artists such as AZ, Immortal Technique, Bumpy Knuckles, Wordsworth, Krumbsnatcha, Vinnie Paz, Slaine, B-Real, Sabac Red, C-Rayz Walz, Evidence of Dilated Peoples and Alchemist. The group 'East Coast Avengers' was created in 2008 by MC Esoteric, the trademarc and DC. ECA signed with Brick Records out of Boston MA. Having dealt with almost 8 politically corrupt years of the Bush regime, the three banded together and the result was a controversial yet socially aware album full of gritty production and razor sharp lyricism. The lead single, "Kill Bill O'Reilly" sparked a national outrage and even gained notoriety on Keith Olberman's "Countdown" on MSNBC. The subsequent album was met with good reviews and landed on many "Top Rap Albums of the Year 2009" lists. DC and trademarc are currently working on an album together that will feature rapper/ actor/ WWE Heavyweight J ohn Cena, and the ECA trio is currently in the beginning stages of a sophomore release that will further question authority and challenge America's idea of Patriotism. Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.