Brapp Artist Highlight: DJ Evi Denz
Meet DJ Evi Denz. Hailing from Essex, Evi Denz is a craftsman and connoisseur of the classic production style Boom Bap.
As a kid growing up with access to his mum’s record player, and the ample stack of disco and jungle she had collected, he remembers putting together play-lists and playing house-hold resident DJ. As soon as he was 18, armed with what had started out as his mum’s vinyl collection, he moved out to focus on music full-time.
Harnessing the power of the internet and his networking abilities, Evi Denz soon found himself moving in the right circles having his first big show opening up for Jehst and Micall Parknsun.
Things have come a long way since then and we caught up with Evi Denz to find out just how far.
When did you get your first break in the music scene?
“The real start of my journey in Hip Hop was when I was taken on by a local label in Nottingham, which helped me get a few shows; the first of which was supporting Jehst with Micall Parknsun. To be honest, I don’t think I did that well, but it spurred me on and I kept creating music for the label and managed to make some great connections.
I was then fortunate to get a spot on the radio, at Station FM, with Sonov Bedrock and the rest of the M.O.D crew who had affiliations with my favourite artist at the time, SMRG. It was an exciting time. I was on the real airwaves playing whatever I liked in the middle of Dalston. Next thing you know, I was getting exclusives from the likes of Triple Darkness who had invited me to come and interview them.
It was also around this time I founded a group called T.A.G Team (Terrorising All Genres) formed with a few old friends who all owned MPCs and used to share music on MySpace. To this day members include Dan Morze aka Inspecta Morze, Luko, DJ Nytmare and myself of course. We still jam live together and plan to do a show once we’ve polished our act up a bit!”
Who else have you worked with along the way?
“Over the years I have gotten to collaborate with some amazing people, including my good friend King Jesk, who’s part of Triple Threat (an extension of T.A.G Team) along with SSEF. I managed to get DJ Rasp (a two-times UK DMC Champion) to throw cuts on Triple Threats first album that also featured a member of the Visionaries.
Around the same time, a friend managed to get Wordsmiff, from The FLIP Family, to spark one of my best beats at the time. The results were great, though it’s still relatively unknown.
Then, through Morze, I was able to scratch my own cuts on a track he produced featuring the legendary J-Ro–and no, we didn’t pay for the feature–that ended up on Snoop Doggs top 20. Morze and I still work with each other frequently.”
So putting in the work, paying your dues and maintaining your connects has really carved out a lot of opportunities for you?
“Yeah, many of these types of opportunities have kept coming since then. I’m now successfully running a business selling beats and scratches. I also have many more features I’ve done that’ll hopefully get released soon; working with the likes of Superior Thought, Tenchoo and Tony D.”
Who else would you like to collab with if you had the opportunity?
“The people I’d really like to work with would be Kashmere, Biet Nun, Life MC and Kyza…these are the people that really get me excited in Hip Hop.”
Have you collaborated with anyone on Brapp yet?
“I’ve had M.O.N.G.O (@eightysix), holler at me. He wants to work on an EP, so were just going through new exclusive tracks I’m making, which I’m really excited about. We’re taking our time with this project, but having fun with it.
At the moment there so much talent on there, I’m glad for anyone to jump on my material. I’m not particularly looking for anyone else to reach out just now because the app is enough entertainment in its own right, but would be nice to have the legends take a pop, like Foreign Beggars, Si Phili and Micall Parknsun.”
As a producer, could you give us a bit of insight into how Brapp has been working for you?
“When it comes to the Brapp App I think its something that’s long overdue and it’s come along at the perfect time where the Rap scene is still an exciting place to be.
It’s a great way to road test your music before putting it out on other platforms. You can figure out what material other MCs, producers and DJs are really feeling. Plus there’s the added bonus of rappers and artists performing on your music without you having to give it away as an exclusive.
So, whether you’re selling beats or giving them away, the app still allows you to upload material for people to jump on, but still have the option of providing individual MC’s the beat if we chose to. This allows the MC to maintain sole exclusivity over the track and carry a sense of pride with it, knowing many could have tried to perform on it previously and been unsuccessful.
There’s the added sense of competition too; having the Brapp Charts for MCs and producers, plus the way stats are shown on beats and videos. It’s a great way of encouraging users to be more competitive. And I think that helps raise the bar because everyone’s working together and against each other at the same time, which pushes creativity up. And this really represents Hip Hop to me personally.
Overall I think it’s the first app to come along after SoundCloud to really excite people about music again. And it has given me some great material back too. I’ve had rappers from Defenders of Style, Witness MC, M.O.N.G.O and many more, spit on my tracks, as well as @silverback scratching on my beats and @zarahjones singing some quick hooks over the top too.”
Wow! That’s quite the in-depth review.. thanks! Anyone in the app you recommend we follow?
“I have to say as a DJ, there are plenty of talented producers on there that blow me out of my seat. I’ve always loved listening to other producers. Percy Filth (@percyfilth) is one that comes to my mind often. His style is inspirational for that lo bit, crushing, chopped and screwed style of Boom Bap that I love so much. Hearing him has led me on to listen to Bobby Tank (@bobbytank); yet again, mad synths and just a great dynamic sound by a very talented producer.
@lastdoghung is probably the producer most like me on here. He has very wide range of Boom Bap that he likes to write.
@chairmanmaf is someone I’ve been talking and listening to for a while. We’ve also featured on the album Cyclonious — The Chosen together. He’s a great producer and doing really well on Brapp, and deservedly so!”
What’s next in-store that we can all look forward to?
“At the moment I am planning to do shows with my man Yeti and show you how well the T.A.G Team throw it down live for the first time.
I’ll soon be promoting my solo efforts too with a new (as yet untitled) record I’m working on which has been three years in the making. It’s a collection of music I’ve produced over the years showing the diversity of what I like and what I’m capable of. It also ties up a musical era in my life as, going forward, I plan to expand further into different forms of Boom Bap.
You can hear more from DJ Evi Denz at brapp.tv/djevidenz and support him here:
facebook.com/denzil.evidenz
twitter.com/DJEviDenz
soundcloud.com/dj-evi-denz
instagram.com/djevidenz/
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Brapp® is an app that puts a powerful studio in your pocket. Producers can upload beats and anyone can record 1 minute videos on top, mix down the audio with powerful studio effects, add video filters and instantly share with their followers.
Get the App at brapp.tv/app or upload your beats at brapp.tv
