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Saturday, September 1, 2007

Fairfield Weekly write up on phenetiks

What up kids. Seems the AFA is on an interview/write-up frenzy. This is the write up for you homies phenetiks from the Fairfield Weekly "Best Group in CT" thing. Somehow, without being nominated, our fans fans voted us to the top, and boom.
Our favorite heavy metal group, "SMOKE", won their respected catagory of course. And Sketch's homegirl, Larissa DeLorenzo, was in there as well. Some minor facts got a little twisted by the writer...but it's because we're too futuristic for these cats...or something.

Hip-Hop/R&B

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Phenetiks
www.myspace.com/phenetiks



Straight out of Waterbury, the authentic and innovative hip-hop group Phenetiks is becoming a force to be reckoned with. Together for only two years, the men were life-long musicians, either as DJs or MCs, before they met through mutual friends. They mix edgy social observations and nostalgic explanations of music with catchy and experimental beats that immediately make you realize these guys are doing something completely different than what's "popular."

Deto-22, the group's producer, lays the beats down and, according to his MySpace page, Phenetiks is more than just a music group for him; it's a life-saving force.

"Phenetiks saved my life," the site reads. "I used to live in random parked cars and hustle Snickers to high school kids for drug money. I'd spend my nights with various homeless hookers playing setback and Scrabble and [I'd] eat cans of snowshoe peas." It wasn't until he haphazardly met Roc-one and JK1, both from New York, that he really tapped into his production skills. Then, after years of producing beats for local solo artists, the three men started Phenetiks with MC Protégé and DJ SirCumference.

Record label Rawkus picked them to be in their "Rawkus 50," a collection Rawkus calls "the 50 next important hip-hop artists," less than a month after Pheneticks submitted a demo to them. The label will get them a digital distribution deal along with promotional assistance and occasional shows in New York. Opportunities like this allow Phenetiks to "hardcore promote" their new album, The Revolutionary, Non-Pollutionary, Mechanical Player, along the East Coast, and each copy comes with the Rawkus seal.

Their songwriting is strictly collaborative. It starts with Deto-22's beats and then moves its way through the others in the group, sprouting lyrical legs until all the verses and hooks are nicely packaged and put together. "We call Deto-22 the creator and the originator because we can't make Phenetiks tracks without him, the Protégé says. "He has that certain sound." They bounce ideas off each other, and a song's not done until they all agree it's done.

Currently, aside from picking up as many shows as possible, they're collaborating with Smoke, this year's Best Hard Rock/Rock winner, on a live album to be recorded at shows between now and the end of 2008 and planned for an early-2009 release.

Hip-hop groups like Phenetiks show its struggle and passion to create art, not a struggle and passion to sell sneakers and over-sized hoodies. Listen to them and it's clear that if mainstream hip hop wasn't spoon-fed to the masses, nobody would eat it.

1 comment:

Othello said...

I thought Deto lived in a dumpster like Oscar the Grouch and Roc-1 lived in parked cars.

I heard that initially Deto made beats using the kitchen appliances that he pilfered from various homeless shelters thoughout CT, is that true or just another pack of lies????