C4 Entertainment proudly presents the brand new video for  D-Sisive “First Winter”.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Directed by Marc Andre Debruyne (www.videodirector.ca)

Production house: The NE inc

Video Producer: Rory Hashall , Bruce Carson

Sponsors: Muchfact, Kids Help phone

Request “D-Sisive -First Winter” on MuchMusic, Much More Music, MTV, MTV2, AUX now!

D-Sisive is the stage name of Derek Christoff, a Canadian rapper^[1], best known for his Juno Award-nominated EP The Book, his hit single “Nobody With A Notepad” (for which D-Sisive and collaborator Muneshine won SOCAN’s fourth annual ECHO Songwriting Prize) and his 2009 Polaris Music Prize-nominated album Let the Children Die (which was launched by the success of “Nobody With A Notepad”).^[2] Shortly after winning the SOCAN ward, he released a free album online titled Jonestown. His latest album, Vaudeville, was released June 2010.

Scandal interrupted D-Sisive’s winning streak when it was suggested that “Nobody With A Notepad” borrowed heavily from “Peddlin Music On The Side,” an early-70s solo recording by legendary songwriter Lamont Dozier (who, with Holland-Dozier-Holland wrote many of Motown’s biggest hits of the 1960s). “Nobody With A Notepad” allegedly contains extensive instrumental, melodic and vocal sections of Dozier’s composition and recording, including Lamont’s unaltered vocal performance of his song’s original chorus. D-Sisive has never publicly acknowledged his use of Dozier’s work, even as he accepted the ECHO Songwriting Prize (he thanked his producer Muneshine, but made no mention of his use of Dozier’s work). After Dozier’s efforts to privately resolve D-Sisive’s unauthorized use of his material were rebuffed, Dozier sued D-Sisive and his producer and label for copyright infringement in August of 2010. The lawsuit remains pending.

D-Sisive first emerged in the late 1990s with a number of independent singles which were popular in the Toronto hip hop scene, but took a six-year break from performing and writing due to a battle with depression following his mother’s death in 2001 and father’s death in 2007.^[3] The death of his mother inspired him to release the EP J.A.C., named after her.^[4] Despite this absence, he did feature heavily on DJ Format‘s 2005 album If You Can’t Join ‘Em… Beat ‘Em.

His bout of writer’s block came to an end when he was unexpectedly inspired by lyrics spontaneously coming to him while singing along to The Beach Boys‘ “Wouldn’t It Be Nice” on the radio — lyrics that became his breakthrough hit, “Brian Wilson”.^[3] He signed to URBNET Records, which released The Book on June 3, 2008 and Let the Children Die on May 3, 2009.

In 2009 D-Sisive took part in an interactive documentary series called City Sonic. The series, which featured 20 Toronto artists, had him reflecting on Planet Mars, an underground hip-hop showcase that changed his life.

Available on Itunes now!

I just wanted to give you some good news!  Over the weekend, C4 participated in New Industry Canada’s Producer Challenge featuring 16 of Canada’s top up and coming Hip Hop producers. The event was judged by none other then signed artist Mic Boogie, The super talented Richh Kidd ( Who also performed that night) as well as Toronto’s own D-Sisive and London representative, Shad K.

Here are my personal thoughts on the event :

Judging system 

Instead of numbers, judges had mics so that they could give their feedback properly and interact with the crowd. I think that numbers are stupid. No beat is a 10 and no beat is a 1.  It might be good for hurting someone’s ego and getting them to work even harder but it doesn’t say much about the work. I think this system was made by producers who know that one man’s trash is another man’s treasure. 

Audience:

The london crowd was pretty hype and respectful even if they didn’t like your beat. Everyone was there for hip hop and the growing interest in production. Last but not least, I am so happy that the crowd included ladies for once! I’ve been to a few battles now and the girls usually look like they were beaten and dragged there. Thank you to the ladies who were in attendance and made the crowd just a little less intimidating to look at. 

Competitors:

Overall, I think that the competitors were well picked. There were some crowd favorites who hailed from London but in the end Toronto took the cake as Big Pops faced C4 in a 3 beat final battle for the title. Like all battles, there were some bruised egos, some questionable calls and some upsets. I have to say big up to Mr Magic who got upset in the first round against Neena. Both had crazy beats. I’d also like to send a shout out to Vokab who held it down even though he lost in the first round. He’s dope and could’ve made it  further. You never really know what can happen at these battles and that’s why I keep going back wether I win or lose. 

Here are the videos which have been released so far.

Thanks to Tony Tsvardaris for his support and abundance of technological toys.

C4 VS. VOKAB 

Click here to view the embedded video.

C4 VS. NEENA 

Click here to view the embedded video.

C4 vs J STAFFZ 

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FINALS AGAINST BIG POPS COMING SOON!!

Congrats to Big Pops, HNF and all of the competitors, performers and judges. Big shout to Ruggedone from New Industry Canada who organized the events .

I’d like to say a huge “kiss my ass” to the sound guy who kept messing around with my volume. Once during the Neena battle and the next ( and worst time) in the finals again Big Pops. I heard he was trying to get more money from the promoters because of the night’s success. Gross.

Yours truly,

Jimmy Sweatpants