Step right up ladies and gentlemen... and welcome to the crazy world of D-Sisive's Vaudeville.
D-Sisive is a one man music machine cruising to the hum of his own engine. After last year's triumphant return to the hip-hop limelight with both his Polaris Prize nominated gem Let The Children Die, and his second classic full length of 2009, the acclaimed Jonestown, one would think the accomplished Toronto MC would be content to rest on his ever-expanding laurels. Not D-Sisive. The enigmatic one is back - and this time taking things to an entirely new level with the epic Vaudeville.
Produced in tandem with Andrew 'Fresh Kils' Kilgour and featuring a surprise cameo from legendary Canadian songsmith, Ron Sexsmith, Vaudeville is filled with incredible hip hop tracks, and slight of hand tricks. Smoke and mirror gags mixed with punch lines, and intense stories. An album that showcases the wide variety of influences and themes which only an enigmatic master of ceremonies like D-Sisive could pull off.
“Vaudeville is definitely new territory for me," D-Sisive says. "Itwas extremely challenging. The last thing I wanted to create was areplica of my previous releases. My mind doesn’t operate the sameanymore. I’m happier, older and have tapped into my inner love for themusic of Michael Buble. You can’t listen to ‘Haven’t Met You Yet’ thenwrite songs for the end credits of Celebrity Rehab.”
A happy D-Sisive? Well, as happy as song titles like "Percocet" "The Night My Baby Died" and "The Riot Song" allow him to be. It's no secret that D-Sisve has long looked outside of the confines of traditional hip-hop to find inspiration and this go-round is no different. But D-Sisive and Ron Sexsmith? Together on the same track? No one saw that coming. “Working with Ron Sexsmith was incredible," D-Sisive explains. "Very surreal. I’ve been harassing him for years to get on a song with me. Thank god restraining orders expire."
And despite his prolific nature, it seems unlikely we'll ever know everything that motivates D-Sisive. Still through all the smoke andmirrors, the tricks and the treats, it's a love of rocking the microphone unlike few others today that sustains D-Sisive's enduring appeal.
Vaudeville. The name itself conjures up images of past glories, shiny suits and fast talk, half-remembered from days long gone by. Sometimes it seems hip hop may go the way of Vaudeville, a fallen empire rendered irrelevant by the cruelties of time. MC D-Sisive however, b-boy to the bone, refuses to go down without a fight. Streets,backstage, city parks, it doesn't matter...
"It’s no secret that my work is fueled by beef." D-Sisive warns. "With the media. With gang members. With other artists. It’s part of my daily routine, and always pops up when least expected. Like the time Tom Cochrane pulled a pistol on me backstage at Roy Thomson Hall. He asked me ‘You ever talk with a gun in your mouth?’ Happens all of the time. Alan Frew (Glass Tiger) holding a butterfly knife to my throat in Union Station, while asking me ‘You ever talk with a gun in your mouth?’ And the time I emailed Jim Cuddy (Blue Rodeo) to be on Vaudeville. His reply, ‘Sure. Oh, wait! You’re not Sean Desman! Fu*k you. JC. -- PS You ever talk with a gun in your mouth?’ Why do people keep asking me that?”
|
