T.O. Emcee D-Sisive Drops Hotly-Anticipated Debut ‘Let The Children Die’
Posted May 5, 2009 12:00 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
Derek Christoff is especially clear on one point: just because it took him more than a decade to release a debut album doesn’t mean that’s what he was working on the whole time.
Christoff, known in Toronto hip-hop circles since the mid-90s as D-Sisive, dropped his first-ever LP, Let The Children Die Tuesday, marking the latest chapter in a strange, arduous career that’s made the emcee one of Canada’s most unique.
“I’ve only been working on this for like a year,” the large, affable rapper says, pushing back the seat in his sedan to recline.
“When I first started making music I was more battle-oriented and that’s how I kind of built my name in Toronto – in battles and open mics.”
Maybe, but his album’s arrival at this point marks the fruits of a young lifetime of musical – and personal – labour and tumult that’s changed him from a punch line spitting battle rapper to musical storyteller worthy of Juno nominations and collaborations with hip hop notables.
And it almost never happened.
A string of compilation appearances had D-Sisive on the verge of Canadian hip hop stardom (if such a thing exists) at the start of this decade, but for personal reasons – namely the death his parents – those plans were derailed and the emcee spent the better part of 10 years in virtual obscurity.
“There’s been many times it was supposed to happen,” D-Sisive says of a debut that was delayed time and time again.
“There’s a lot of music in the vault, but a lot of it’s hideous and I’m happy I didn’t put out a record in 2001 when I was the buzz kid in the city and everyone was waiting for a record and it never happened and I’m glad it never happened.”
But now it has because as quickly as he faded back then, 2008 marked a triumphant, if difficult return for D-Sisive, a word-of-mouth fuelled turning point that helped make Tuesday’s release possible in the first place.
After hooking up with local brand URBNET, D-Sisive released highly personal and extremely moody The Book last year, an out-of-the-blue extended EP which put him back on the map and earned the Juno nod for best rap recording.
” The Book wasn’t even really a planned record and I hadn’t really released anything in seven years,” D-Sisive remembers. “I recorded maybe 12 songs and just picked the best nine … I don’t think we had any high expectations for The Book, we never thought it was going to go anywhere it did but it was great timing because now everyone at least wants to hear this record.”
The pre-sales alone for Let The Children Die suggest as much.
“Our goal was to hopefully double what we did with The Book, but right now we’re just crushing it,” D-Sisive adds, smiling with humility.
But the expectations are also different now. For all its praise The Book was also criticized for being too close to home, snipes D-Sisive took to heart and addresses on the new disc.
“Some people said the book was too personal,” he admits. “There’s nothing light at all on that record, this time I wanted to have a wider spectrum, and I think I did a decent job of doing that. Mind you it starts off with the most depressing song…”
True on both points, Let The Children Die begins slowly and on a sombre note that picks up where The Book dropped off, but also expands beyond the family tragedy handled therein and includes notable appearances by Canadian heavyweights Classified and Buck 65 and Detroit’s Guilty Simpson.
The latter’s inclusion has done wonders for early reception of the disc, with “Like This” getting radio play in the U.S. thanks in part to DJ Premier.
“I couldn’t even breathe,” D-Sisive remembers of the moment he heard the legendary NYC beat maker struggling to pronounce his name over the airwaves.
Of course in Toronto that name is familiar. It’s the record’s title that’s forcing eyebrows upward.
“I know this is not really good for interview’s sake, but due to the name I’ve kind of told myself I don’t really want to discuss what it really means,” D-Sisive says. “I want people to create their own interpretation of what it means. What it doesn’t mean is let children literally die, but we also had a lot of back and forth, and even between myself and the label it’s been a very controversial issue.”
That controversy’s at least a portion of what makes D-Sisive worth listening to. His experimental approach to hip hop, not unlike that of Buck 65, is if nothing else refreshing for its attempts at originality.
“My whole thing now is I’m trying to see where can I go creatively. Whatever the next record will be I don’t want it to be the same as this,” he assures.
But the fact he even feels confident about a future release after so many years of silence is proof alone of how far the artist has come. Just don’t treat it like he was working on this record all along. D-Sisive insists his previous efforts are evidence that’s just not true.
“It’ll be interesting, because a lot of new fans are going to discover that I’ve been there,” he says of Let The Children Die shedding light on his earlier work.
“Most of the catalogue I wish they wouldn’t discover, but I just don’t want people to think this is the album he’s been working 10 years for.”
Not even if it proves to be the one fans have been waiting 10 years for.
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D-Sisive hosts his official record release party at the El Mocambo on Thursday, May 7 with DL Incognito and Abdominal. Tour plans for 2009 are in the works.
Photos courtesy URBNET
