D-Sisive

On the verge of big things, D-Sisive suddenly disappeared from the scene. New single “Brian Wilson” is a heavy, rockin’ jam that details just what happened, from his big ego to laziness to the death of his father. It bumps hard but it’s no less touching for it. Only slightly more mellow is “Kneecaps,” which goes back a little further into D-Sisive’s birth as an MC, the death of his mother (which inspired his first release, J.A.C.) and the subsequent impact on both himself and his father. An organ-heavy dirge, “Laundry Room” highlights the hermit-like existence of our boy in a room, while short outro “Lights Out” examines the thoughts that run through his head while hiding there. He also disparages the life of an artist on “Intro [The Story of an Artist]” over a self-produced (as Orville Knoblich) “beat” composed of just piano, static and a bit of singing, and takes a humorous look back on his youth on the only comedic song on the album, the fun and funky “ThisIsWhatItSoundsLikeWhenWhiteboysListenToHipHop.” The other two songs, another organ-heavy dirge (“Up”) and a sanctioned hijacking of Tom Waits’s “Underground” (“Ambulance”), shy away from the personal but maintain the downer mood of the rest of the album. Those longing for dark, depressing hip-hop of a very personal nature need look no further than D-Sisive’s The Book (an acronym for “The Ballad of Orville Knoblich”).

What have you been up to since your attempt to get a major label deal fell apart?
Hiding. Afraid of the world. I got called to tour in the UK with Abdominal and DJ Format for a year. Came back ready to take over the world — again! Then my father got sick. Goodbye outside.

Do you feel like you’re starting all over again?
I’m definitely starting over again. Over the past six years I’ve started over again a few times, but I’d give up. It was difficult maintaining the energy to want it. I was consumed with so much personal bullshit that writing songs kept dropping on my priority list. And when I’d get some sort of spark, it would take a few minutes to think of something that would fuck up the whole process.

As an artist known for being both humorous and personal, why is The Book so dark?
I wasn’t in the mood to be funny. I was tired of being the court jester full time. I was going through some dark shit. Weird thoughts. Being funny was the last thing on my mind. Though the humour does poke its head out a little in my songs, I wasn’t feeling that angle for this project. - Exclaim Magazine

Back in the early part of the century, D-Sisive created a lot of buzz for himself with tracks on other people's albums in which he seemed to spend a fair amount of time bragging about his rapping skills. With The Book, his first official release, he's finally putting his money where his mouth was all those years ago. The album begins with "Intro (The Story Of An Artist)," which is part Daniel Johnston cover, part ponderous artistic manifesto, The disc quickly jumps into "Brian Wilson," an arresting exploration of the MC's personal struggles, family tragedies and artistic paralysis, and barely lets up from there. The rest of the album (save for the brilliant wigger evisceration "ThisIsWhatItSoundsLikeWhenWhiteboysListenToHipHop") continues to deal with these themes in such a raw and brutally honest way that it's at times hard to listen to, but even harder to turn off. The Book is such a compelling piece of music that it finally justifies every claim D-Sisive made in the budding stages of his career. He really is that damn good.
- Chart Magazine

5. D-Sisive The Book (Urbnet)
Honest and heartfelt hip-hop is rare, but with his long-awaited debut, D-Sisive opens up about the personal tragedies of his life along with other touching tales to which any person who has experienced loss can easily relate. With a tight flow over creative production that matches the sombre mood, the T.O. rapper avoids excessive gloom with a dose of the battle-hardened humour on which he built his name, dropping in playful punch lines and going all out on the scathingly satirical “ThisIsWhatItSoundsLikeWhenWhiteboysListenToHipHop.” D-Sisive is back and better than ever.
- Exclaim Magazine

3. D-SISIVE
The Book (Urbnet)

After a six-year hiatus, rapper D-Sisive ditched the pop culture references to deliver a formidable slice of urban life.

- Now Magazine

If you're skeptical about the healing power of music, Derek Christoff -- a.k.a. D-Sisive -- will convince you otherwise.

The 28-year-old rapper from uptown Toronto was going through hell -- dealing with anger and depression sparked by the death of his alcoholic father and being unmotivated to write rhymes for nearly six years -- when he found inspiration in what many of his hip-hop contemporaries would consider an unlikely and unfamiliar source.

Brian Wilson of the Beach Boys.

Wilson's music provided such a stimulus that D-Sisive christened the lead track of his brand new album, The Book, after him.

The blues-inflected autobiographical track is one of the most introspective hip-hop songs I've heard in years.

Listening to it is like reading pages from D-Sisive's journal.


Here's a sample of some of the lyrics:

"Lost the spark that I had when I started,
Burnt out, exhausted.
Went from potential to false promises to gone.
Dad died and I slipped in a coma,
I was awake but I listened to no one.
I was distant, I was pissed off, I was the last living Christoff."

A massive Brian Wilson fan, D-Sisive vividly recalls the morning he wrote the song.

"I woke up and like I do every morning I went to do the dishes," he says. "So I'm doing dishes, listening to Wouldn't It Be Nice (off the Beach Boys' classic 1966 album, Pet Sounds) and singing along to it."

Then inspiration hit.

"I'd wash a plate and come up with a line like, 'Wouldn't it be nice if I was younger, rewind a couple years and find hunger?' and then I'd wash a bowl and another line came to me, 'Now I stick another candle in the cake, another year without an album to my name.'

"It began writing itself so I turned the water off, dried my hands, turned on my laptop and I probably came up with the first 10 bars of that verse," he says.

"I was like, 'I got something here!' " D-Sisive says excitedly. "I got the same feeling I had six years before that. The hunger was back."

D-Sisive wasted no time rifling through his beat collection and knew he struck gold when he found the bluesy beat.

"I was like, 'This is it!' Then I got the bug and I began writing and writing, but I always knew Brian Wilson would be the opener."

But D-Sisive never expected it to create the buzz that it has.

He says it was a challenge to complete The Book because he kept assuming no one would want to hear his story. "I kept thinking this is way too personal," he says. "And you get very insecure about it. But then I started getting emails from people all around the world saying they could relate to what I was saying."

Hearing Brian Wilson on FLOW 93.5's hip-hop show The Real Frequency, he says, blew his mind.

In an interview, Arcee, one of the show's hosts said, "D's at peace with who he is and what he's been through. He's not trying to prove anything to anyone but himself.

"When you can do that, you can focus on being creative and not on your own insecurities about whether or not you'll be accepted or make it in the hip hop game," adds Arcee. "So, you end up with original songs (on the CD) like ThiIsWhatItSoundsLikeWhen WhiteboysListenToHipHop and Brian Wilson. The beauty of these records is that no else could have made them but D-Sisive."

And no one could make 'em laugh with hilarious lines and on-stage shenanigans like D did six years back.

"Anyone who knows me knows I'm a joker, but it's hard to tell on this record," says D-Sisive, whose mother passed away in '97 and whose dad passed away four years back. "When I was making music back then, I didn't really have any material that was strong so I used humour to cover lack of substance. I'd be like, 'At least I can go out there and make them laugh.'

"But," he adds. "That's not where I've been the past three years. I've had nothing to laugh about."
- Toronto Sun

One of the really sad things to witness in life is the waste of human potential. What is even sadder to witness is watching someone with the potential for greatness demonstrate that capacity, and then, lose their grip while on their journey to the top of the ladder. Of course, things are always a bit more complicated than what they may appear. An individual may have every intention of achieving to the ends of their limitations, however, it takes much more than talent to survive, and thrive, at the top of the slippery game of life.

It is not enough to have the ability to rise above the average; it also requires a healthy and balanced mental and physical state of being to keep it up - at least to some extent. The list runs a million miles long of individuals who allowed a glimpse of their brilliance, yet managed to smother their own illumination with a litany of unresolved issues. Lauryn Hill was never able to recover from whatever pain prevented her from following up "Miseducation". D'Angelo seems to be a shell of the individual who created the albums "Brown Sugar" - and the ultra-ambitious "Voodoo". Of course, the poster child for arrested potential is the legendary songwriter/composer, Brian Wilson.

For those unfamiliar with the story of Brian Wilson, suffice it to say that it is entirely too deep to explore in this review. You would be better served checking out his episode of "Behind The Music" or scanning his Wikipedia entry. Trust me; it is worth it. However, if you would like to listen to an artist describe a series of personal battles that mirror the struggles of the Beach Boys alumni; you can listen to this album instead. D-Sisive, despite having a lengthy hip-hop career, has never released an official album - until this moment. According to what I have read about him, he was well on his way to becoming a major hip-hop star in Canada - and, quite possibly, everywhere else - some years ago. Somewhere along the way, he managed to derail his own burgeoning career. This album attempts to explain what happened to D-Sisive during his "missing" years.

What comes out is a painfully dark, yet quite enjoyable and cohesive, album that describes someone seemingly suffering from drug addiction, clinical depression, and grief. His psychological problems, the death of his parents and his interactions with them while they were alive, provides the raw material for this album. D-Sisive has a gift for delivering deceptively rich and complex content with simple lyricism. Once you catch the premise of a track, you will actually find yourself pretty engrossed in the story he has to tell - even more so because you always understand exactly what he is talking about. The intro, aptly called "Intro", is a creepy tune, reminiscent of something from a psychological thriller that sounds as if it was being played on a toy piano. D-Sisive sets the tone for the album by singing a song that summarizes his fears that perhaps he allowed his door of opportunity to close - and that may have been the only real shot he had.

"Intro" segues into the song "Brian Wilson". If you pay close attention to the lyrics - and you are already familiar with the story of Brian Wilson - you will notice that D-Sisive brilliantly manages to spit his biography in a manner that draws comparisons to Brian Wilson's without actually referencing the songwriter. It is as if he is telling his story AND Brian Wilson's in first person narrative, but without actually stating that this is what he is doing. The dark music is the first of several dark, yet BANGING, sound beds that fit the tormented content to the "T" without being overbearing.

The rich wordplay continues with "Up", a song that manages to incorporate multiple contextual usages for the song title to narrate his decision to quit drugs, his mother's final days of suffering with cancer, and his father's alcoholism stemming from his grief with his wife's passing. "Laundry Room" may just be one of the best written descriptions of life with clinical depression that I have ever heard. The choice to incorporate a voice sample that states, "The living is done, and the dying has begun", is another master stroke making this album a delight despite its' depressing undertone.

Of course, in every life, a little light must shine. D-Sisive demonstrates that he has a sense of humor with the hilarious "ThisIsWhatItSoundsLikeWhenWhiteboysListenToHipHop". A song that describes D-Sisive's own attempts, to embody the "toughest man alive" theme that permeates the music he loves - all to hilarious effect. I'm transcribing the first verse, but the second verse is the real jewel. I did not think that it would be fair to give away the punchline that makes it so vital.

Verse One:

"My daddy said, "Pull your pants up"
Did Treach (Naughty By Nature) have to pull his pants up?
If Treach wore his Paco's half-ass
Fuck it; my family could kiss my black ass
That's when my daddy's hand raised
And that's - RapReviews.com

Like legendary Halifax realtor Scot Pottie, Toronto's Urbnet records has been on fire the last few months. First they hit us with the Carps EP Waves & Shambles, which we both thought was excellent (review & interview for your perusal), then came DL Incognito's new album, A Captured Moment in Time, which I kind of gushed over a little bit. Now comes their latest release that I'm going to have to break out the superlatives for, D-Sisive's The Book.

I've been a fan of D-Sisive's since his appearance on DJ Serious' 2001 effort Dim Sum, where he showcased his flow and humour on the pop star trashing Popped and the catchy, Eminem-distancing Critics. He was clearly a talented guy, but despite what he might've said ("I don't talk about murdering my girlfriend, Or raping twelve year olds and hoping that the world ends"), A number of people saw Canadian-Shady when they looked at him. He landed a production deal with some heavy management types, and there was pressure to produce an album full of radio-friendly jams. Well D-Sisive rebelled against that, lost both of his parents, and then got really depressed. The Book is D's brutally-honest, aural catharsis for this period in his life.

Sounds like fun doesn't it? Well, there are some heavy moments, no doubt about that, but there is also humour, and even when he's talking about wearing the same clothes for days on end and refusing to leave his apartment, I still find him likable. Sometimes the confessional, emo-rap is a chore to listen to, but I didn't find that to be the case on this album at all. I don't even mind the intro, which finds D-Sisive singing over some kids xylophone about his friends telling him to give up the dream and get a job before he breaks into a short verse. A verse that shows as much doubt and self-consciousness as you'll find in an MC: "I know I won't make them all throw their bones up, I just hope they don't laugh when I show up".

In case there was any doubt about the "tortured artist" theme as being one of the main narratives for this particular Book, the first real song on the album is named after the poster boy for depressed musicians everywhere: Brian Wilson. It's pretty awesome song though, opening up with what sounds like sound old-school blues guitar licks, before big echo-fied drums, synth bassline, and ominous strings come in. Lyrically D-Sisive does as good a job dissecting his rise and fall as I've ever heard an MC do, and lines like "I vanished into thin wind slow, a fat guy in a ripped little coat" make me laugh but also make me a little sad for the guy. It's a surprisingly enjoyable mix. Speaking of surprisingly enjoyable mixes, D samples a large chunk of Tom Waits' Underground for Ambulance, and the results are much more enjoyable than I expected. I should've know though, as D says of Waits: "He’s the Timbaland of stick bass and jugs."

The concisely named ThisIsWhatItSoundsLikeWhenWhiteboysListenToHipHop has a catchy, rubbery beat, and can likely be related to by anyone of the Caucasian persuasion who grew up on hip hop: "leaned back, like black comedians re-enacting how most people drive, this is how I roll when I'm in my Dad's '85 Olds". I mean who among us hasn't drove around in their Dad's gold Cutlass Ciera with a walkman and mini-speakers so they could blast their rap tapes? What, just me? I see. Moving on, the hypnotic drums and keys of Kneecaps make up one of my favorite beats on the album, and D's mixing of his love for hip hop with the story of losing his parents is pretty captivating. Solid song all around. Church organ provides the backdrop for Laundry Room, likely one of the most depressing hip hop song you'll ever hear. Well I should clarify that, as the most intentionally depressing hip hop song, as anything currently in the top 10 from people like Young Jeezy or Plies will likely depress you for a different reason.

Anyway, I think this is a great album and I encourage everyone to check it out. It's short, so the dark subject matter doesn't have a chance to get old, and every song is strong in it's own right. I said this about DL's album "simply put this is the best Canadian hip hop album I've heard this year and likely one of the best overall", and I think it goes ditto for The Book, so have yourself a listen.
- Herohill.com