Duece Bug - Rock Foundation


Not a lot of rappers listen to Tom Waits on their way to the recording studio, or count the Connecticut hardcore band Hatebreed as one of their biggest musical influences. Duece Bug, however isn’t your typical rapper.

Priding himself on being unique, Duece Bug describes his upcoming album, Fuck Duece Bug, saying it’s “a little different, a little edgy,” adding “it definitely stretches the parameters of conventional hip-hop music. It even stretches the parameters of unconventional underground hip-hop music.” According to Duece Bug the album features “crazy live instrumentation,” including appearances by all of the members of the rock group Edison.

Fuck Duece Bug was produced by both Duece Bug and Kenny Cash from Factory Underground studios in Norwalk. With samples from everyone from Weezer, to Earth Crisis, to the aforementioned Tom Waits, Duece Bug sizes up the effort saying “it’s weird, it’s out there, but it bangs.”

Duece Bug’s musical history actually starts with classic rock, as he’d listen to the likes of The Doors, Lynard Skynard, the Grateful Dead, and the Steve Miller Band, as a youth. Hip-Hop, he says, was also always there at every turn, with artists such as Ghostface Killah having always had a place in his collection.

When he was in middle school Duece Bug formed a band with some friends. Calling themselves Blacklisted, the group was originally inspired by Nirvana, and other similar bands. Duece Bug and his friends, however, quickly found the punk rock and hardcore scenes more to their liking.The band continued to make music throughout their high school years, but like most high school relationships, they broke up after graduation, with each member going their separate way. Duece Bug found himself in New York City, at the Institute of Audio Research, meeting a bevy of emcees and producers.

Having written what were essentially raps during his time with his hardcore band, and having a longstanding appreciation of hip-hop, Duece Bug started to feel inspired to create some hip-hop of his own. “After going to school and learning production and engineering a little bit, that’s when I started to get into it, both the production and writing rhymes.”

Duece Bug quickly found that hip-hop and hardcore has some distinct similarities. “I can’t really say that writing rhymes is much different than writing lyrics for hardcore,” he explains, adding that hardcore and hip-hop are also similar in that “the scenes kind of come from the streets.” Duece Bug notes “you can’t really compare rap to many other genres of music, you can try reggae, and R&B, but hardcore has that same kind of street mentality.”

The similarities between the two genres’ writing styles and mentalities made the transition from hardcore to hip-hop a relatively easy one for Duece Bug. “The only thing that was difficult about the transition was that not a lot of people that I’ve dealt with (in hip-hop) come from a hardcore, punk rock, or even heavy metal kind of background, so when I have my vision, I’m working with producers, and they don’t have the same influences. Sometimes that makes it a little difficult, but (other than that) it’s been a pretty much seamless transition.”

Fuck Duece Bug is Duece Bug’s second hip-hop project, his first being his self-distributed demo, Consider The Source. While some artists like to flood the market with albums, Duece Bug decided to the stage instead, performing locally and opening for such big name act as House of Pain, La Coka Nostra, Method Man and Redman, Mr. Lif, Reef the Lost Cauze, and Ghostface Killah. The shows have been part of the paying dues process for Duece Bug, who feels so passionate about that aspect of the game it’s the reason his name is spelled with a Due in it. (For those of you looking for a reason as to why Fabolous spells his name the way he does... that may even be a mystery to him.)

Duece Bug’s next show will be his album release party for Fuck Duece Bug, which will be on July 30th at the Factory Underground studio in Norwalk, which features an event space and an art gallery. In addition to Duece Bug, legendary underground emcee Cage will be performing with DJ Chauncey, and Sean Martin of Hatebreed. Political Animals will be the opening act, and Ant Farm Affiliates emcee Pruven will be holding things down as the host.

Already excited for the show, Duece Bug says that much like how his music is different and edgy, his time on stage reflects that, as well. Energy will be in abundance on the 30th, as he notes “I bring that hardcore with me every time I perform.”

Story originally ran in the FairfieldWeekly.

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