Although he's dressed in hip-hop finery for his gig at Mr. Lucky, Funkdaddy is behaving like a nerd in a computer lab, compulsively turning knobs, pushing sliders and touching the tiny spindle coming out of the center of the record.
"It's to speed up the record," he insists. Sure it is.
As he introduces me to his wife, June, mother of their 23-month-old daughter, he manages to juggle the vocals of a rap song on one turntable, the music of a different song on a second, and scratches on the CD table on his left.
While still chatting, he turns around, buries his head in one of his boxes full of records, pulls out a couple of new candidates, and seamlessly switches all of the sound layers while scratching with a discreet Funkdaddy promotional prerecorded slogan. On the dance floor, no one seems to notice the transition. Which is good.
Funkdaddy, 36 (real name: Gregory Buren), has earned the respect of clubgoers, radio listeners and Northwest rap artists as one of the top hip-hop DJs and rap producers in Seattle. He has worked with artists including E-40, E-Dawg, Kid Sensation, Sir Mix-A-Lot and Cool Nutz.
Coming up
Funkdaddy
The DJ appears at Livio's Birthday Bash tomorrow at the Premier, 1700 First Ave. S., Seattle, featuring Young Thyn, Mr. Supreme, Byrdie, Unexpected Arrival and Sonny Bonoho. Details: 206-382-7870 or www.funkdaddy.com.
A couple of weeks after the Mr. Lucky gig, Funkdaddy took a minute break from mixing onstage at Premier — behind a young rapper he produces — to go into a record-scratching frenzy. Going faster and faster, crossing his arms to scratch on the opposite turntables, Jerry Lee Lewis-like, under his legs, behind his back, with his mouth, nose — then stopping all sound with his elbows, creating a long silence.
The crowd cheered and the scratching resumed but, if it were possible, even faster. Soon after, DJ Lord, Public Enemy's new DJ, took over to go on his own scratching fiesta, but some listeners weren't impressed — it seemed noisy, clumsy and obnoxious.
"I was pleasing the audience. Lord was pleasing the DJs with all the new tricks in the book," said an admiring Funkdaddy.
Early exposure to music
Born and raised in Seattle's Rainier Beach area, Buren developed an early taste for loud beats by hanging out in his Uncle Ray's souped-up black Ford Zephyr equipped with a booming stereo system. His father, Curtiss, also played guitar, exposing his two sons to music before they could talk.
In the early '80s, Buren started rapping and break dancing with his West Seattle high-school friends, inspired mostly by not-yet-famous Sir Mix-A-Lot and Nasty Ness, who co-founded Nastymix Records with Mix.
"[Mix] was trying to make it big at the time, putting out local tapes," Buren recalls. Intrigued by the complex scratching sounds in the rap songs of the era, the 17-year-old spent most of his free time trying to replicate those sounds on his grandmother's record player.
Later that year, he used money he saved from his job at McDonald's to buy his first equipment. Then a friend sold him Sir Mix's old drum machine and keyboard. While learning his skills, Buren grew frustrated, feeling he couldn't get close to what Mix had been able to do with the same equipment.
"I never got to that level," he says. "People don't know that, but Mix was a computer genius back when nobody had computers. To this day, I still don't know how he did it."
Funkdaddy was nominated for the 2005 Seattle Mayor's Award for Excellence in Hip-Hop, but Sir Mix-A-Lot won.
"He's done so much for Seattle," Funkdaddy says. "It's an honor to just be nominated."
Meeting Sir Mix-A-Lot
Over the years, Buren got involved with bands including M.I.C. (Masters In Control) and Crooked Path, which featured his longtime college friend and Husky wide receiver J.D. Hill Jr., who became Buren's manager for a time.
Fresh out of high school, Buren was hired to DJ for Seattle rapper Kid Sensation, who at the time opened for Sir Mix-A-Lot. Buren often DJ'd for both artists, and was ultimately hired to scratch on Mix-A-Lot's platinum record "Seminar." It was the beginning of a beautiful relationship.
Meanwhile, in 1987 Buren launched a third band, Ready and Willin' — featuring himself as DJ Ready — that received a fair amount of exposure during its six-year run with radio play on KCMU, concerts and rap contests in the Tri-Cities and Canada. Buren won several DJ and rapping contests in the late '80s and early '90s — "Every competition I entered, I won," he says proudly.
In 1993, Buren started the American Ethnic Studies program at the University of Washington. When his band Ready and Willin' broke up, he adopted the name Funkdaddy. He had already been mixing at private parties for years, but after his first club gig at Tropics, offers from the hottest clubs in town lined up quickly.
Rapper with the "right attitude"
DJ Supa Sam (Shaun Samuels), 27, the official DJ for the Seattle Sonics and KUBE 93, remembers hearing the buzz on Funkdaddy before he heard him perform.
"When I first moved to Seattle, I used to see all these fliers with the name Funkdaddy," he says. "I thought, whoever this guy is, I've got to meet him because he's where I want to be. In my opinion, since the days of Mix-A-Lot, you can't write a story about hip-hop in Seattle without bringing up Funkdaddy's name. He's very instrumental in getting people's records heard."
In 1996, Sir Mix-A-Lot requested his services yet again, this time as producer, on "Return of the Bumpasaurus."
"Seattle has some of the best rap producers, people like Funkdaddy," says Sir Mix. "Rappers with the right attitude we've been missing over the years."
Producing first hits
In his home studio in Belltown, Funkdaddy kept busy during the '90s producing rap beats for local artists for free or very little, until Hill met Bay Area rap legend E-40 at a hip-hop convention. E-40 hired Funkdaddy to produce tracks for two of his albums, "Element of Surprise," a gold album featuring artists such as Busta Rhymes, Master P and Too Short, and "In a Major Way," a platinum album featuring Spice 1 and 2Pac.
"He worked on my biggest album ever and helped us get to the next level," says E-40. He says that working with Funkdaddy was "complete collaboration and building raps from the ground up, all egos aside."
Funkdaddy produced Portland rap pioneer Cool Nutz's song "Portland Life II" on his "Verbal Porn" album. Says Nutz, "He's a pillar in Northwest hip-hop and he earned the people's respect over the years through his music — but also as a person."
Another longtime collaborator is Litefoot, a local Native American rapper and star of the film "The Indian in the Cupboard," who lives in Bellevue. "We were just at the largest gathering of native people in the world, the Gathering of Nations Pow Wow in Albuquerque. We had Funk come down and entertain the people, then he backed me up at night for my show," he says.
"In this industry, it is very hard to find people who are not 'industry,' " Litefoot says, laughing, "so it is a blessing when you find someone who is coming with truth, who lets his talents speak for themselves and who remains humble no matter what."
Moving the scene forward
For the past two years, Funkdaddy and local soul singer/songwriter Mr. Rossi have been hosting the "Saturday Night Street Party" at 7 p.m. on Seattle's X104 FM.
"X104 ... gives us the freedom to do what we want and say what we want, as long as we watch our language," says Mr. Rossi.
X104 FM's program director, Patrick Lagreid, who seems to know everything Funkdaddy has ever been involved with, feels he is the perfect host for the show.
"He's very proactive in keeping the hip-hop scene moving forward," says Lagreid. When Funkdaddy is not mixing at the hottest hip-hop clubs in town, doing his radio show or working on his next mix tape, he's wrapping up the production of Seattle rapper Livio's album "Cruel Intentions," due out in late September.
"He's my Snoop Dogg," Funkdaddy says of Livio (DellaGuardia), 21.
"As of right now, I probably have a hundred and some songs with Funkdaddy," says Livio. "He's one of our only hopes to kick down the door for hip-hop for the Northwest."
But Funkdaddy is optimistic: "If anyone from Seattle makes it, people will want more talents from this region, so we'll all benefit from it," he says.
Kriss Chaumont:
[email protected]
Copyright © 2005 The Seattle Times Company
E-mail this article
Print this article
Search archive
www.myspace.com/edawg206
"It's to speed up the record," he insists. Sure it is.
As he introduces me to his wife, June, mother of their 23-month-old daughter, he manages to juggle the vocals of a rap song on one turntable, the music of a different song on a second, and scratches on the CD table on his left.
While still chatting, he turns around, buries his head in one of his boxes full of records, pulls out a couple of new candidates, and seamlessly switches all of the sound layers while scratching with a discreet Funkdaddy promotional prerecorded slogan. On the dance floor, no one seems to notice the transition. Which is good.
Funkdaddy, 36 (real name: Gregory Buren), has earned the respect of clubgoers, radio listeners and Northwest rap artists as one of the top hip-hop DJs and rap producers in Seattle. He has worked with artists including E-40, E-Dawg, Kid Sensation, Sir Mix-A-Lot and Cool Nutz.
Coming up
Funkdaddy
The DJ appears at Livio's Birthday Bash tomorrow at the Premier, 1700 First Ave. S., Seattle, featuring Young Thyn, Mr. Supreme, Byrdie, Unexpected Arrival and Sonny Bonoho. Details: 206-382-7870 or www.funkdaddy.com.
A couple of weeks after the Mr. Lucky gig, Funkdaddy took a minute break from mixing onstage at Premier — behind a young rapper he produces — to go into a record-scratching frenzy. Going faster and faster, crossing his arms to scratch on the opposite turntables, Jerry Lee Lewis-like, under his legs, behind his back, with his mouth, nose — then stopping all sound with his elbows, creating a long silence.
The crowd cheered and the scratching resumed but, if it were possible, even faster. Soon after, DJ Lord, Public Enemy's new DJ, took over to go on his own scratching fiesta, but some listeners weren't impressed — it seemed noisy, clumsy and obnoxious.
"I was pleasing the audience. Lord was pleasing the DJs with all the new tricks in the book," said an admiring Funkdaddy.
Early exposure to music
Born and raised in Seattle's Rainier Beach area, Buren developed an early taste for loud beats by hanging out in his Uncle Ray's souped-up black Ford Zephyr equipped with a booming stereo system. His father, Curtiss, also played guitar, exposing his two sons to music before they could talk.
In the early '80s, Buren started rapping and break dancing with his West Seattle high-school friends, inspired mostly by not-yet-famous Sir Mix-A-Lot and Nasty Ness, who co-founded Nastymix Records with Mix.
"[Mix] was trying to make it big at the time, putting out local tapes," Buren recalls. Intrigued by the complex scratching sounds in the rap songs of the era, the 17-year-old spent most of his free time trying to replicate those sounds on his grandmother's record player.
Later that year, he used money he saved from his job at McDonald's to buy his first equipment. Then a friend sold him Sir Mix's old drum machine and keyboard. While learning his skills, Buren grew frustrated, feeling he couldn't get close to what Mix had been able to do with the same equipment.
"I never got to that level," he says. "People don't know that, but Mix was a computer genius back when nobody had computers. To this day, I still don't know how he did it."
Funkdaddy was nominated for the 2005 Seattle Mayor's Award for Excellence in Hip-Hop, but Sir Mix-A-Lot won.
"He's done so much for Seattle," Funkdaddy says. "It's an honor to just be nominated."
Meeting Sir Mix-A-Lot
Over the years, Buren got involved with bands including M.I.C. (Masters In Control) and Crooked Path, which featured his longtime college friend and Husky wide receiver J.D. Hill Jr., who became Buren's manager for a time.
Fresh out of high school, Buren was hired to DJ for Seattle rapper Kid Sensation, who at the time opened for Sir Mix-A-Lot. Buren often DJ'd for both artists, and was ultimately hired to scratch on Mix-A-Lot's platinum record "Seminar." It was the beginning of a beautiful relationship.
Meanwhile, in 1987 Buren launched a third band, Ready and Willin' — featuring himself as DJ Ready — that received a fair amount of exposure during its six-year run with radio play on KCMU, concerts and rap contests in the Tri-Cities and Canada. Buren won several DJ and rapping contests in the late '80s and early '90s — "Every competition I entered, I won," he says proudly.
In 1993, Buren started the American Ethnic Studies program at the University of Washington. When his band Ready and Willin' broke up, he adopted the name Funkdaddy. He had already been mixing at private parties for years, but after his first club gig at Tropics, offers from the hottest clubs in town lined up quickly.
Rapper with the "right attitude"
DJ Supa Sam (Shaun Samuels), 27, the official DJ for the Seattle Sonics and KUBE 93, remembers hearing the buzz on Funkdaddy before he heard him perform.
"When I first moved to Seattle, I used to see all these fliers with the name Funkdaddy," he says. "I thought, whoever this guy is, I've got to meet him because he's where I want to be. In my opinion, since the days of Mix-A-Lot, you can't write a story about hip-hop in Seattle without bringing up Funkdaddy's name. He's very instrumental in getting people's records heard."
In 1996, Sir Mix-A-Lot requested his services yet again, this time as producer, on "Return of the Bumpasaurus."
"Seattle has some of the best rap producers, people like Funkdaddy," says Sir Mix. "Rappers with the right attitude we've been missing over the years."
Producing first hits
In his home studio in Belltown, Funkdaddy kept busy during the '90s producing rap beats for local artists for free or very little, until Hill met Bay Area rap legend E-40 at a hip-hop convention. E-40 hired Funkdaddy to produce tracks for two of his albums, "Element of Surprise," a gold album featuring artists such as Busta Rhymes, Master P and Too Short, and "In a Major Way," a platinum album featuring Spice 1 and 2Pac.
"He worked on my biggest album ever and helped us get to the next level," says E-40. He says that working with Funkdaddy was "complete collaboration and building raps from the ground up, all egos aside."
Funkdaddy produced Portland rap pioneer Cool Nutz's song "Portland Life II" on his "Verbal Porn" album. Says Nutz, "He's a pillar in Northwest hip-hop and he earned the people's respect over the years through his music — but also as a person."
Another longtime collaborator is Litefoot, a local Native American rapper and star of the film "The Indian in the Cupboard," who lives in Bellevue. "We were just at the largest gathering of native people in the world, the Gathering of Nations Pow Wow in Albuquerque. We had Funk come down and entertain the people, then he backed me up at night for my show," he says.
"In this industry, it is very hard to find people who are not 'industry,' " Litefoot says, laughing, "so it is a blessing when you find someone who is coming with truth, who lets his talents speak for themselves and who remains humble no matter what."
Moving the scene forward
For the past two years, Funkdaddy and local soul singer/songwriter Mr. Rossi have been hosting the "Saturday Night Street Party" at 7 p.m. on Seattle's X104 FM.
"X104 ... gives us the freedom to do what we want and say what we want, as long as we watch our language," says Mr. Rossi.
X104 FM's program director, Patrick Lagreid, who seems to know everything Funkdaddy has ever been involved with, feels he is the perfect host for the show.
"He's very proactive in keeping the hip-hop scene moving forward," says Lagreid. When Funkdaddy is not mixing at the hottest hip-hop clubs in town, doing his radio show or working on his next mix tape, he's wrapping up the production of Seattle rapper Livio's album "Cruel Intentions," due out in late September.
"He's my Snoop Dogg," Funkdaddy says of Livio (DellaGuardia), 21.
"As of right now, I probably have a hundred and some songs with Funkdaddy," says Livio. "He's one of our only hopes to kick down the door for hip-hop for the Northwest."
But Funkdaddy is optimistic: "If anyone from Seattle makes it, people will want more talents from this region, so we'll all benefit from it," he says.
Kriss Chaumont:
[email protected]
Copyright © 2005 The Seattle Times Company
E-mail this article
Print this article
Search archive
www.myspace.com/edawg206
