He’s Ill, He’s Raw, and no He doesn’t want to hear your demo! Dezmatic is stomping through the east coast and one of the dates is april 5th at AS220. I had a chance to ask some question to this Behemoth. you know the drill by now.

HW:Ok so first off thank you for this interview and I would like to start off simple. Tell us for the people that might not know about you, who you are and what you do.
DEZ: Thank you too. so okay. my name is Dez. but if youd like you can call me Daniel. im a rapper. i rap. i do other stuff too. but if i had to live in a box with a label on it the label would read “RAP”.

HW: How long have you been rapping and was it always serious.
DEZ: Ive rapped since i was a little dude, which might be hard to believe … not that ive been rapping for a long time, but the fact that i was ever a little dude.

HW:You released an album on fingerprint records alittle while ago with Nobs? how did that whole mess come together and is their ever going to be a sequel to that project?
DEZ: I’ve known Nobs, Eibol, Losaka, and Hippo for a long time now. i know them all the same way i know all the rappers i know. shows. interweb. politics and bullshit. but as time goes on you see who’s really fam and who’s just rah rah and blah blah. Fingerprint is my family. Oh and YES Nobs and i are working on a follow-up. it doesn’t have a title yet but we have begun work on it. this go around we decided to invite some friends to be a part of it too. Seez Mics is on there. so is that dude Mac Lethal. both of whom im a huge fan of so it was really an honor to work with them. the sound is very similar. lots of rough rugged and raw. the last album got a lot of very positive feedback so we feel like ‘if it aint broke dont fix it’ about our formula. were taking our time with though for a number of reasons. but the main thing is we’d like to put an actual budget behind it and make an album that gets more than critical success. i mean, its nice to be the rapper that other rappers really dig. and Nobs got beats that other beat-makers is like, ‘yea that dude Nobs got heat’. but id like to get the rest of the world to pay attention you know? knock on wood.

HW: Are you still or were you ever officially signed to Fingerprint Records? and if not is their any issues involved with it.
DEZ: Aint nothing changed. i was never confined by a contract to FPR. it was just like, ‘yo Dez. we got this Fingerprint thing goin on and we’d like you to be down with it. ‘ so i got down with it. I was homies with them prior to that. but since then, shit is like i said, we fam. we go to each others’ weddings and birthdays and shit.

HW: what was your most memorable tour experience to date? I also read awhile back about problems with a tour van and having to cancel the shows? was their anymore to the story?
DEZ: Yea. the van dying on us in northern cali was pretty bonkers. that whole tour was as memorable as it gets. being on the other side of the country, dead broke and trading merch for food and sleeping in an autobody garage. it was just the icing on the cake. that whole shit was nuts. the ups and downs. one week we were waaaay ahead in money. the next we were all dead ass. I was going through the end of a relationship with a girl who I was pretty sure I was going to marry. then gyro got married at the end of that tour. I feel though, at the end of all of it, it was a test. how much shit can you eat? are you willing to get your teeth kicked in? that tour made me stronger. Im ready for anything at this point.

HW: Whats up with The Teenheart throbs project?
DEZ: THT is a full blown gang. we rob, stab, shoot, knuckle up and shut down everything we touch. that album will make you all wish you thought of it first. all praises due to the homie Rob Viktum without whom the Heart Throbs would not exist.

HW: I heard that there was a youtube show in development with your involvement, is any of this true?
DEZ: where the hell did you hear that? I wish people would let me know these things before they go and publicly announce them. haha. but yea, the Youtube shit has blown up for real though. Ive got some homies that do sketch comedy who go by the name Cuddlesmarket. they’re working on things. and of course, Onloq.com, Breakdown.tv, itshiphop.com - those are all the homies competing with MTVU and keeping up with the online television programming and shit. Ive been working very closely with management and my Cuddlesmarket homies on a program but it’s still in development stages.

HW: How many projects have you released to date and are all of them still available in one form or another.
DEZ: Ive done about 9 independent projects since i was about 21/22ish. at first they were hand-pressed got it for cheap joints. then going through pressing plants. most of them are out of print now. Behemoth I feel was my first REAL album, but it was still just me and the homie Nobs putting our money together and going as far with it as we could. I have yet to put out a ‘commercial release’. the hustle might be independent for the rest of my life. it might not. we’ll see I guess.

HW: I remember you being involved with Pitch Control Music. Are their any affiliations left and are their any future projects to look for from them?
DEZ: Ive said this before in other interviews. ill say it again. im still 518 all day. PCM is a network of people who are primarily based out of the upstate NY capitol region. many of them are good friends of mine but the ultimate goal is to take this shit to a bigger venue, a bigger stage. as some of us take that step, others fall back. but no matter who you are, where you are, bottom line is I rep for those who rep for me. that’s it. As far as projects from cats out of the Albany area - it’s non-stop. just come here and youll see what im talking about. there are so many of us now that even I have a hard time keeping up.

HW: The one rap collab (if you do these things) that you would love to do.
DEZ: Ive been fortunate enough to work with alot of different artists in the last five or six years. i cant really complain. i look forward to working more with cats all over. the homies in Cali Rheteric and NoCanDo, Im looking forward to doing work with them. P. O. S. still owes me a phone call. you know, it’ll all happen eventually.

HW: If you died tomorrow what would you want people to remember you for?
DEZ: that I was one of them dudes who’d put it all out on the table. no sneak-tip. no shady bullshit. brutally honest. raw onions kid.

HW: What can people expect to see from a dez show.
DEZ: same shit as above.

HW: Any closing lines?
DEZ: book me in your city. I promise I’ll destroy the shit out of the mic. I promise I’ll cut you a deal on the merch if you’re kinda broke. I promise I’ll be courteous. I promise I’ll be nice. I promise I’ll brush my teeth. we can do shots and make fun of the streetwear craze and listen to blonde redhead and billy ocean and watch shitty 80’s movies and go out for breakfast.

Here are some free tracks to check out from Dez

AWE -

2 Trillion 2 -

For more information (and a free cd) visit Dezmatic.com and Myspace.com/Dezfuckinmatic