Interview with David "D Funk" Faulk

( it's just a part of it...if you want to read more, you have to be patient :-)) 1) Did you work with Black Menace and Ghetto Twiinz? What happened to them? And PNC (Partners N Crime)? Yes. I worked with all of them. The artists on Big Boy Records back then were G-Slimm, Partners-N-Crime (PNC), Mystikal, Fiend, Black Menace, The Ghetto Twiinz, Elate' and Insane. I played all of the music (guitars, keyboards/piano, bass, etc.) on all of their Big Boy Records album releases. I still consider them all my friends and some of us still keep in touch when we can but so many people have gone their own different ways, you know? Time goes on and people's lives change, they have kids, get jobs, etc... It's hard to believe Partners-N-Crime's "PNC3" CD was around 19 years ago! I remember playing the instruments and us recording those songs like it was only yesterday. These days, Black Menace and Partners-N-Crime are still around. From what I understand, they are more into working with some of the younger up-and-coming rappers, mentoring them and building their own independent record label. I spoke with Mista Meanor (one half of PNC) only 3 or 4 days ago. He was looking for someone to design a logo for their label. I've always been just as much into art (drawings, computer graphics, etc.) as I am with music so I'll try to come up with something they will want to use. As far as The Ghetto Twiinz go, I really don't know much concerning what they are doing these days. Tonya (one of the twins) wound up getting married to DJ Precise but since he and I had a falling-out (see answer to question #10) and don't speak to one another, I don't really know much about their current lives. It's a shame too because I had always gotten along well with Tonya and Tremethia and really enjoyed creating music for them. 2) Do you have an idea/are you aware of the influence of G funk and down south rap on people in France and elsewhere (Europe, Asia...)? Do you know some French rappers or producers: beat makers? I actually had no idea. It's almost like New Orleans is in their own little musical bubble here and most of the people don't realize how much the rest of the world likes (or even hears) any of the music that comes out of this area although I'd assume that whoever is collecting the royalty checks and money from the sales would be well aware of where it's selling. To this day, I don't know much in regards to where the music I created was sold (or is selling). I was royally screwed over regarding all the music I did on those CDs. To this day, I don't receive a single penny in royalties or anything. I was verbally promised that I would be well "taken care of" when the money came rolling in and yet I watched as the owner of the label and the guy who got the producer credits bought Land Cruisers and enjoyed the money from record sales while nothing was ever kicked back to me. Nothing. Zero. After that, I knew I would never work with that label or DJ Precise ever again - and I never have. I have a number of gold and platinum record awards and plaques - all of which I'd happily throw in the garbage if I could have been properly compensated instead. Don't get me wrong though. I still consider the musical content and creativity to be the most important and enjoyable thing. I'll never stop creating, composing or playing. If ever there is an instrument within reach, I'll pick it up and get lost in my own little creative world for a while because of my love for music - not because I hope to make a "hit record" and a ton of money. But no matter who you are, if you created something with someone else only to find out that they not only got paid a huge up-front amount of money for it but that they can sit back while they forever receive royalty checks in the mail at their nice home and driving their expensive cars while you wonder how you're going to pay your next month's rent. Then you find out their plan from the very beginning was to use your skills or talent simply to make themselves rich because they had secretly been copyrighting everything in their name all along. If I sound a little bitter about that - I am. Even with a signed statement by the artist Mystikal (and some other BBR artists who were around in those days) confirming they remember me creating the majority of the music on those CD's, their is a law called the "statute of limitations" which basically states that - in my waiting for him to do the right thing - I waited too long to file the case. The only way around this now is for HIM to contact the copyright and publishing offices and declare that he did NOT produce, write and compose all of those albums by himself... and, of course, that is nevvvvvver gonna' happen. I was all set to bring a guitar, a keyboard, a bass and a drum machine into a courtroom and have them call out the name to any song from any of those albums and I would play 'em right there. Of course, I would then expect him to do the same because his not-being-able-to-play-anything would be proof enough... but I digress... 3) Let's talk about your career, how and why did you decide you would be a musician? Is the name "D Funk" related to D Train? Did you study classical music, jazz? Did you play with soul, funk or rock bands? I guess you could say it had to do with being born into a musical family of sorts. I never studied music and even to this day, I play entirely by ear. My mother used to dance on the stage in Dublin, Ireland where she was born and raised. She was always singing around the house when I was growing up and my oldest brother played in a rock band for as long as I can remember so there was always something musical going on around me I guess. We also had a little upright piano in the house but I didn't have an interest in music at that time yet - but I completely remember the day I wanted to get a guitar and learn how to play. I must have just turned 14 years old and I was hanging out with some guys who were much older than me - like in their early 20's maybe - and they would sit around smoking marijuana and playing their records and tapes and they'd just sit there listening intently. Music wasn't simply a background thing to them. I remember thinking it was strange when I'd go to talk about something and they'd be like,"Shhh. Listen to this song." Anyway, I remember they were playing a song and something was strange about it to my ears. I remember saying,"There's something wrong with your tape or whatever - it's like.. skipping or something..." because I couldn't tap my foot or hand to the beat. They said there was nothing wrong. The band was purposely playing that way! Well, that blew my mind and changed the rest of my life in ways of listening to and understanding music. The band's name was "Rush" and the album was called "Hemispheres". Well, to make a long story short, I soon bought a 2nd-hand guitar from a pawn shop and started out trying to learn songs by Rush and other odd-time progressive rock/jazz fusion music but even though I liked all that intricate stuff, I was a huge Prince fan and really enjoyed anything funky with lots of bass playing and wah-wah guitar effects. "Earth, Wind & Fire", "Cameo", etc.. - were all very influential to my playing style. Then, fast-forward a few years later to when I was 17 years old, I applied at a local recording studio and told them I'd do anything - cleaning up the place, whatever - in order to learn about recording and engineering. Luckily, they took a chance and hired me making $150 per week mostly making digital back-up copies of old reel-to-reel tapes and stuff. In the meantime, I started a band and was creating my own original music. The only music I ever really enjoyed creating with a band was always some weird mixture of funk and progressive rock/jazz fusion. Sometimes during the day at work, I'd be on my lunch-break or something and I would take every opportunity I could get to play the studio's instruments because the owner of the studio had a lot of great vintage keyboards and synthesizers, guitars and basses, a Baby Grand piano and a drum set, etc... It was a dream come true to be around all these instruments every day and really helped me learn and grow musically. Different local rap artists and labels would book time at the studio and eventually they would hear me playing one instrument or another and ask me to play on their songs. There's a ton of those early, early rap records from New Orleans that I was never even credited as playing on. I just saw it as a way to make some extra money while getting my own band going, you know? As far as the name, "D-Funk" goes, it came about by accident actually. Early on while doing the session work for different people, one guy didn't know how to spell my name and what should have been,"D. Faulk" (my first initial and last name), he had typed as, "D Funk". By the time I had seen it, it was already released that way but a few of the rappers I knew said I needed a cool producer name and that I should just keep using it - so I did. I wish I had a better story as to how I got my producer name but it was really just an accident. :) 4) How and why become someone who can play several music instruments? Besides Prince and maybe Bootsy Collins I don't know many of them being in front (and not behind the scene/ in the background). I just genuinely enjoy playing any musical instrument I can get my hands on. Every instrument seems to enable me to release a different aspect of my feelings or emotions. When I play a piano, I tend to play with a lot of dramatic and moody expression whereas when I pick up a bass guitar, my hands seem to naturally gravitate toward a funkier style with all the slappin' and poppin' a bass enables you to do. I mean, you simply can't create the same feeling and sounds on an electric guitar as you would be able to do with an acoustic 12-string guitar. They sound totally different and early on I realized that I didn't want to have to wait for another musician to be available in order to create a complete song. By learning as many as I could, I was able to record myself playing the drums and then over-dub a bass guitar, then a keyboard, then a lead guitar, vocals, etc... whatever you want. A lot of that inspiration came from people like Prince and Paul McCartney who I'd find out later that some of their best songs that I enjoyed so much were actually recorded by them playing all the instruments themselves in the studio. Of course, their bands were needed in order to play the songs live and stuff but it's a great way to really help yourself complete the writing (and recording) of a song without having to wait for other musicians and their schedules to coincide with your own.

Essonne G Funk

Mr "L'Heure Du Crime" aka G WAX le Parano G vous présente sa nouvelle oeuvre Enjoy!

Louisiana G Funk...in the 90ies

Alors qu'un certain album, "Four Deuces and Trays" est réédité par Big Boy Records, Il serait bon de regarder "behind the music", dans les coulisses, qui faisait quoi... David "D Funk" Faulk a travaillé sur cet album de G-Slimm, interview à suivre....David Faulk