Count Bass D
"Pre-Life Crisis"
Sony/Work Records
Count Bass-D is an artist who defies easy categorization. At a time when hoodies and Tims are standard-issue hip-hop gear, the Count
dresses down in his own wild selection of thrift-shop polyester clothes. When MCs seem to only rhyme about mackin' and packin',
Count throws down simple honest offbeat lyrics about everything from going to Sunday school to the lack of cash lining his pockets.
These days, when many a jam tends toward recycled grooves from yesteryear, Count Bass-D creates a totally unique sound
combining live instrumentation with the fat beats of the 808 drum machine.
His debut LP, PRE-LIFE CRISIS, is as original a creation as the Count himself. With a sensibility ranging from straight-up hip-hop to
smoothed-out soul, Count is also largely influenced by the jazz greats of the big band and fusion eras (hence his nom de rap, a tribute
to the great band-leader, Count Basie). Also thrown into the mix are singsong choruses and a surprisingly agile rhyme style reminiscent
of New York City's Old School MCs. Count Bass-D delivers sometimes hysterical, sometimes poignant lyrics on a wide range of
topics, yet he always stays true to himself and speaks with sincerity and intelligence.
Count Bass-D (Dwight Farrell) is the son of an West Indian evangelist and missionary and, while growin up, traveled constantly back
and forth across the globe. Born in the Bronx, NY, he's lived in Boston, Ohio, Florida and London, England. While other kids may have
had troubles always being the new kid in town, Count was more introspective, choosing instead to focus on his music. Growing up he
played in various church bands and school ensembles, receiving formal training on the bass, drums and piano. But hip-hop was always
his first love: "I explained to people that what I wanted to do was more like a band-type thing with hip-hop...just making hip-hop from
scratch. And I would be the band-leader, and instead of being Count Basie it'd be more like Count Bass-D, since I'm Dwight."
Count got his first break in the rap business while still a student at Middle Tennessee State University, where he hosted his own hip-hop
video show on the school's television station. Count Bass-D not only ran videos on "Da Show," but built his own gun-and-run
segments, acting as cameraman, producer, and rap journalist chasing down rap superstars passing through Nashville (Count's
newly-adopted homebase) and other towns in the Deep South. Chillin' with the likes of A Tribe Called Quest and The Leaders of the
New School inspired Count Bass-D to go for his own and soon he was blowin' up spots all across the Nashville (a.k.a. Cashville)
hip-hop scene.
By early '94 Count was signed to Hoppoh Records and working in the House of David studios in Nashville, writing, producing,
programming and performing tracks for his debut LP, PRE-LIFE CRISIS.
The album's first single, "Sandwiches," is typical of Count's bugged-out delivery and hilarious wordplay. "Sandwiches" is an
all-the-way-live funk jam about groupies and glamour girls who chew men up and spit them out. "I've had bad experiences with
glamour girls," says Count. "I'm just trying to tell brothers to look for a girl with a little more upstairs, with a little more substance, so
you don't get turned out."
This track comes with a guitar groove supplied by Mark Nash, accentuating the solid bass lines and slow-rollin' percussion provided by
Count himself. "It's played live in the true sense of live," he says in reference to all of PRE-LIFE CRISIS. "When I say I played the
stuff live I don't mean I played four bars and looped it, I played it just like if I was gigging somewhere. Like any other musician would
play it".
While "Sandwiches" definitely reveals the quirky flow and bizarre mindset of Count, it's the song "T-Boz Tried To Talk To Me" that
will have people bustin' out with laughter and pressing rewind in amazement. A detailed account of his meeting with singer T-Boz of
the world famous trio TLC (three years ago at an Atlanta concert) the track has to be one of the most honest and endearing
descriptions of an unrequited crush in hip-hop history: "Man, really, T-Boz tried to talk to me/You don't have to believe me/It may have
been a big mistake/And if it was my heart will break." Count seems to know all along that with no record deal and no clout, T-Boz will
pass him by. "It's not really a big deal," he says, with a smile. "Anyone with any common sense would know that I was too ugly to pull
a heifer like T-Boz anyway".
It's this self-effacing humor and goofy charisma that make PRE-LIFE CRISIS a must-hear listening experience. "Karmex" is Count's
mellow tribute to his favorite product, the all-healing lip balm; "Broke Thursday" is the album's most straight-up rap cut, with Count
telling tales of poverty and his struggling to make ends meet. All of the tracks here will have you bobbin' your head to the groove while
at the same time nodding and laughing at the crazy flow and on-point descriptions provided by Count. While others out there might be
playing a role or profilin' for profit, Count Bass-D has revealed his PRE-LIFE CRISIS, dropping an LP that immediately sets him apart
from the rest of the hip-hop crowd.
"COLUMBIA"
Reg. U.S. Patent & Trademark Office
Copyright Sony Music Entertainment Inc.