A lot can happen in a year. Just ask Demrick and Dizzy Wright, the latest super-duo that made (and are still making) major marks within Hip-Hop and music period. Early in his career, Demrick found himself moving to California from Philadelphia and collaborating with — and holding his own alongside — some of West Coast Rap’s biggest pillars; back at the start of 2016, Dizzy found himself without a label as Funk Volume (who was at the time partnered with Warner Bros. Records) collapsed amongst infighting between co-founders Hopsin and (Dizzy’s manager) Damien Ritter. After a successful tour, Demrick and Dizzy are building off of the new album Blaze With Us, a stoner-friendly record that sees the two emcees very much at the top of their game.
Recently, RESPECT. had the opportunity to chat with Dizzy and Demrick about the new album, Donald Trump, their past situations and more.
RESPECT.: How did you two come together to create this album?
Demrick: Travelling for The Growing Process tour, Dizzy hit me up and had me open up for him, and we just started making music on the downtime…instead of spending the days on the bus, we was spending [our time] in a nice studio in whatever city it was so we could relax, smoke and get creative. And then by the end of that tour, we essentially had a whole project…not a mixtape, but all original material. That’s kind of like what brought us together, [it] was just the road and the vibes…and needed a good place to smoke when we came to the city (laughs).
RESPECT.: As far as Blaze With Us, were you guys just building and making music or was creating this project a plan at the start of your recording sessions?
Dizzy Wright: I think like around the second or third time, when we realized that we were pumping out a lot of music. Like Demrick was just saying, “s***, we damn near got enough music for a project!,” and I was like, “s***, I think we should give ’em one!” (Laughs) …and from there, [Demrick] was just like, “I feel the same way,” and we just continued to work on music organically the way we was doing it, but when it came to the mixing and the making sure that it just sounded right. We took a lot of time, put it in a lot of hands to make sure it was quality music.
Demrick: Yeah, we definitely wanted it to be cohesive and make sense. I think that we agreed early on that we wanted to do something but we wanted to make sure that it was right and make sure it has songs with meaning, and if we were really gonna talk about marijuana on a lot of these records, we wanted to put the message in there too. So, we just took our time with it and made sure that it was just a solid piece of work, you know, we didn’t want to throw it out there and people just be like, “oh this just sounds like some songs that they did,” we wanted it to feel like a cohesive project.
Dizzy: And not only that, I knew that we were gonna be working together a lot this year. Like, me and Demrick’s relationship even got stronger this year, so I knew that we were gonna be touring and doing shows. [There were times when] Demrick just popped up on me, and I popped up on him in different cities just to f*** with each other in the studio and come to the shows and get down like that, so I knew that the relationship was being built kind of strong so I didn’t want to rush it, you know what I’m saying? So I was like, “let’s show the fans that we rock with each other, why we rock with each other, without overdoing it,” and then later on we give them the project.
RESPECT.: Demrick, we understand that — given your journey from Philadelphia to California — Kurupt was your big entry to a successful career.
Demrick: Yea, I was always rapping with my homies in Philly, and we had met Kurupt, and Kurupt just was like, “y’all got something, you need to come to L.A. for a visit.” And then when we came out there, you know, we were like, “f*** it, let’s go visit and see what Cali has to offer,” and we just were kids that were just recording in our little studio that we were paying for every month and all that, so when we came out here all of a sudden and we’re going to crazy studios and crazy sessions with Kurupt, he just had us everywhere with him, and he just looked at us and was like, “yo, if you really wanna do this, you should probably make a [long-term move to California] ’cause I can help introduce you to some people while you’re out here.” So, he was a really big part of the reason why I came to Cali for sure, because we was in Philly, we — or I — didn’t really have anybody who knew the ropes…we were opening up for artists that were there, and I was making my music and doing other things, it was kind of like a hobby but it was always a passion of mine to make music, I would spend all of my downtime making music. He just gave me that opportunity, that first look into what could be, “oh, these are real studios, these people are making songs, and they’re just like me.” And that kind of gave me that confidence that I needed to take it all the way 100% serious.
RESPECT.: Dizzy, we have to congratulate you for earning a second place trophy at the SoCal Cannabis Cup. Tell us how you got into making your own strain.
Dizzy: You gotta have a relationship with a grower. A grower that cares about the greenery and just takes their time. I’ve been smoking weed for a while now, a lot of it, and…I’ve invested a lot of money into it, and I was just tryna figure out how I could turn it into a situation where I started to make a little money back off of it, but also to be able to smoke really good. So, my boys over at Crown OG, I was able to build a relationship with them and we was able to work it out. And it’s been nice, it’s been really cool. The fans love it, and…I think that just being adamant and just, like, close to the stoner community, or going to the High Times Cups [and the] dab events, just all this s*** that the stoners like to do, it kind of kept me close to the stoner community, and everybody was eager to try it out.
RESPECT.: Being that the album also takes from Method Man and Redman’s classic Blackout! series, can we expect more tours and albums/collaborations from you guys as a duo?
Dizzy: That’s the plan, bro, that’s the plan. I mean we want to be able to create music forever…if we could give the fans music forever, every now and then give them a project, hit ’em with another Blaze With Us or whatever, I think it’ll be fun, you know what I’m saying? I think that marijuana is only being more accepted…we wanted marijuana to be legalized. That was the initial goal…and we dropped this project speaking about that, and it went recreational in both cities that we live in, Vegas and Cali — that’s not single-handedly on us, of course (laughs). We gradually played a part in that, we just want to continue to do stuff like that.
RESPECT.: Prior to this, you both created some great music with other big names as well (example: Demrick’s Serial Killers project with Xzibit and B-Real)…will we be seeing a continuation of releases like that as well?
Demrick: Well I mean, I think the goal for 2017 is just to get in the studio and create as much material as we can to give to the people, separately and together. At least, that’s how I feel about it…it’s about just continuing to create and make more projects that help move the people and motivate the people, and if we keep the legacy going, really, that’s kind of like a piece of it too.
RESPECT.: As you guys have said in this interview, Blaze With Us also contains some socially and politically-charged subject matter (including marijuana legalization) as well. Given that, what are your thoughts (if you have any) regarding America post-Donald Trump winning the election?
Dizzy: Go ahead [Demrick] (laughs).
Demrick: (Laughs) I mean…we’ll just see what happens, man. I think like…it definitely shocked me, me and my people was definitely shocked that Trump won. I think [on the Blaze With Us track] “Getting High”, you’re absolutely right, Dizzy made a statement talking about before Obama leaves office to just legalize [marijuana]…I look on the newsfeed today and it was talking about the next six states that are planning on going recreational. As far as that’s concerned, I think we spoke a lot about that on Blaze With Us and it’s cool to see it all come to fruition. I don’t know what’s gonna happen with Trump, man, I got my fingers crossed and…I just don’t like the fact that it’s bringing out a lot of hatred that I’m not really with, that’s not really my vibe, so…I just gotta see what happens. I’m praying for the best. I’ve seen that [Alabama Republican Senator Jeff Sessions, Trump’s nomination for attorney general] is really against marijuana. I sure hope that his words don’t…I sure hope that he’s not allowed to really make decisions for where we’re going as far as marijuana is concerned, but I don’t know. We just gotta see what happens, man (laughs).
Dizzy: As far as me man, I think that s*** is all over the place. I’m not really focusing on it. They say you shouldn’t focus on negativity, ’cause it only taints your mind. So, I don’t want to taint my mind and make myself feel a certain way about anybody. I just don’t even focus on that s***, I just kind of just…I’m looking past it right now, it is what it is. I definitely didn’t vote for Trump, but I definitely voted.
RESPECT.: Dizzy, we’ve already seen you express your feelings about Funk Volume’s unfortunate demise on various platforms. Almost a full year later, have you been able to reconnect with any of your former labelmates?
Dizzy: [Pause] S***, nah, I haven’t. I haven’t spoke to [Hopsin] since our last conversation when I was trying to keep him in Funk Volume, I haven’t spoke to him since then. Yea, me and Jarren [Benton] still vibe, but I haven’t seem him in a while ’cause he’s been working, he’s been on the road and I’ve been on the road…and I haven’t seen SwizZz in a while, neither. But I’m not purposely ignoring anybody or avoiding anyway, I’m just trying to focus on the right things for me.
RESPECT.: Being that you’ve both seen so much, is there any advice that you have for up-and-coming artists looking to break into the music industry?
Dizzy: I would say if you don’t work for it then it’s not worth having. It’s okay to take the slow route, and learn about loyalty and what’s important to you. Enjoy making music, just do that and learn the business and the game and take chances on the side, you know what I’m saying. ‘Cause there’s a lot of things you learn every single year…a lot of cats, they want to go from level 3 to level 10 because they think they got the bars. It’s real n***as all over the world that can outrap everybody, but they’ll never go as far as they want to go ’cause they’ll never know how to conduct themselves to the top. But, I would just say work smart.
Demrick: Exactly. I think what I would say to somebody that’s coming up is make your music for you, make something that you believe in and then start sharing it with people. And if people like it, there’s enough people in the world and there’s enough like-minded individuals where people are getting on the same wavelength as you…it builds from there. And the power’s in the fans. That’s it.
Demrick: Twitter / Instagram
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