CLAN DESTINED

Let’s accept it as fact…. music’s greatest duos have been delivered courtesy of hip-hop. Each one of these duos has been a case of chemistry. Take legends like Eric B. & Rakim, EPMD, OutKast, Black Star or even Black Sheep. No one can deny the supernatural effect of two like minds, mics, turntables and personalities blending at the perfect moment. That paranormal science has shaped peak moments in music’s history. Balance is an essential component of any great chemical equation, whether it be life, nature or music. A healthy heap of friendly competition, mutual respect and a vital element of hunger... that very formula can yield magic. Think a minute about the duality of Ghostface and Raekwon, Black Thought and Malik B., or Q-Tip and Phife. They might all go down in history as shining examples of what can happen when chemistry and balance take center stage. As you read this, a new day has arrived for the duo. It’s evolving into an entirely new being, where the days of “you-do-this-and-I-do-that” Old World chemistry is dying. Now the blend is becoming more organic. Imagine giving each member of the aforementioned pairs the gift to both make beats that are universal and innovative. Now, give them both veteran status on the turntables, a knack for playing instruments and a confident swagger on the mic. Finally, mix in the x-factor of them both being raised atop the red clay of the South, and you have an unprecedented concoction. What you have are two young gentlemen with an album called ABBRACADAMN!!!, a charmed answer to the question “where can underground hip-hop possibly go next?” The gentlemen are AmDex and DT, and it is our esteemed pleasure to introduce you to music’s next great duo, Clan Destined.

Some words one could use to describe the meeting of musicians AmDex and DT might be ‘fate’, ‘yin and yang’, or ‘synchronicity’ - but ‘destined’ is the best fit. Both have strong roots in North Carolina, and DT has no qualms shedding light on his small-town upbringing. The 22-year-old describes Hickory, NC as a place with nice neighborhoods, pleasant parks and decent schools, but definitely a city racked by the crack epidemic and poverty. The two scenes are never far apart, and he did his time in both, gaining a sense of perspective at an early age. After discovering his gift for fierce rhyming during a New Year’s Eve party at 12 years old, DT eventually started DJing. The road eventually lead him to Morehouse College in Atlanta, where he would not only learn the particulars of the Black bourgeoisie and murder just about everyone on the battle circuit, but run into his future crew-mates, AmDex and Felix of The VJC. AmDex paints a mirroring image of his neighboring hometown of Raleigh, a bustling yet segregated city in the Research Triangle of North Carolina. Searching for something better, his mother moved to Atlanta and worked hard to give him wider perspective and better options. Young “Dex” started playing with rap when he was about seven years old and DJing when he was 16, right around the time he met DJ X-Ro, founder of The VJC, an offspring of the celebrated Project Blowed. Before long, DT and Dex met on the AUC strip and started sharing ideas on music, DJing, beat-sampling techniques and rhymes.

That conversation has evolved into Clan Destined (Clan D for short), a funk-fest of rolling, rumbling, revolving, relentlessly soulful beats with an electronic sensibility. The vibes range from loungey and chilled-out to all out trunk-rattle. You might catch Dex singing on a chorus on “Read The Signs”, or both of them scratching in their own vocals over live keys in “The Language”. The Yin and Yang aspect holds strong, DT being the more outspoken on the mic, a raw channel of verbal energy in a constant state of explosion, while AmDex weaves a cool, thoughtful spell that’s never short on a clever word. The youngest members of The VJC are poised to make their debut excursion with their album ABBRACADAMN!!!, set for a January 16, 2007 release on Domination Records/VJC Recordings. With an arsenal of visionary beat-craft and an uncanny physics at their fingertips, Clan D is on the brink of giving Atlanta yet another claim to one of the landmark pair-offs of this generation and raising the bar for the hip-hop duo. From now on, alchemy must be part of the equation.