In thinking about Amp, I forgot about how much he did to help Dilla when he was just a kid. Dilla was a talent that would have found a way without Amp, but we're all lucky Dilla had such a mentor. Detroit might not be unique in how its network of mentoring & influence works but the results have been staggering over the years. And it's a web that connects everyone alive & working today back to Detroit's amazing past.
On Monday, December 18, 2023, the Beauty and Belief Society < [email protected]> wrote: > Words. > RIP. > > Long time no hear kent. > > Def made his impact on some Dilla shit off the top, and if im thinking > correctly he's prob the guy who ended up lugging an obnoxiously heavy old > ass synth out just to record Over the Breaks. > > Lots of 313 folks like that during the same era. No disrespect. Just wanna > recogonize real for being real. > > Like... on some Mike Huckaby shit. > > For real I'm pretty sure I have a Prince Po 12" somewhere burnin' up for a > spin right now. > > Any Bling 47 fans out there? > > Don't mind me. I have no idea what I'm talkimbout > > 😉 > > On Mon, Dec 18, 2023, 9:43 PM kent williams <[email protected]> > wrote: > >> Amp was singular. I had a press pass the year he played the main stage >> at DEMF so I watched him from close up, checking his hands on the keys >> and how he interacted with thousands of people like they were friends >> on his couch. I drove into Chicago to see him again a few months >> later, and he was the same, but different. In both contexts, he read >> the room and modulated his performance for the space and audience. >> >> When I think of comparisons, Prince, Stevie Wonder, D'Angelo all come >> to mind. But it's more like they're all drinking from the same well, >> not that Amp was like them, in any imitative way. He was someone who >> you can identify from just a few notes. >> >> And it always seemed effortless, weightless. The funk flowed out of >> him like his breath. That's how you can tell that someone is an >> artist - they've mastered the mechanical demands of their music, to >> where they don't have to think about playing. They're just there in >> the music, and their goal is emotion and communication. The music is >> a seamless part of themselves they can share. >> >> When I think of Amp that's what I think of: his personality, his >> humor, his emotional connection. I will miss him a lot. >> >
