Dirty D

When Disco D died this last January, I didn’t give it too much thought. I had just a dim awareness of his work – he’d produced a couple of tracks for some southern rappers. And I’m not that well versed in southern rap, so I pretty much ignored the story.

But then this week, The Village Voice did a really moving feature on the former David Shayman, and I just could not believe his backstory, his crazy rise to super-producer status, and most notably, the loss of what could have been.

The abbreviated story is this: skinny white kid raised in Ann Arbor pioneers Detroit ghettotech as a teenager, gets BBA from Michigan, moves to Brooklyn, produces hip hop superstars, hangs self in parents’ basement.

Disco D made a whole lot of filthy, hilarious music. His 2003 album, A Night at the Booty Bar, is filled with titles like “Gimmie Head,” and “I’m a Ho.” The whole record is pure ghettotech – that delicious mashup of Detroit techno, Miami bass, and crystal meth. You don’t need me to tell you the genre originated in titty bars along 8 Mile; seriously, where else would it come from?

D was a dirty birdy, but he also made some incredible beats. There is something about his work that is irresistible: it’s unapologetically electro and bass-heavy, with a touch of dreamy, hydroponic sound that ebbs and flows. The result is in songs like 50 Cent’s “Ski Mask Way,” a rich and nuanced piece with unmistakable street cred.

Shayman struggled with bipolar disorder as the source of his creativity and the curse of his mental health. The tragic part of this whole story is that when he was medicated, he was on an even keel but could not work – the drugs numbed his mind. So he could be crazy and talented, or sane and impotent. I guess in the end he chose neither.

Give a listen to a few Disco D highlights:

Disco D Feat. Princess Superstar
Fuck Me on the Dance Floor
A Night at the Booty Bar, 2003
So good, it makes me want to get a job at one of those 8 Mile titty bars.

50 Cent
Ski Mask Way
The Massacre, 2005
This beat is way too good for a horse’s ass like 50.

Trick Daddy
I Pop
Back By Thug Demand, 2006
What is that insane battery acid sound? Simple and slammin.