I had the pleasure of meeting Amp in 2004 at Movement. He did a voiceover for my college radio show back then. Real friendly nice guy and extremely talented.
On Tue, Dec 19, 2023 at 4:35 AM kent williams <chaircrus...@gmail.com> wrote: > 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 < > thequietoverh...@gmail.com> 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 <chaircrus...@gmail.com> >> 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. >>> >>
