Scarlem D began his love affair with music ever since he can remember.
Having a music manager for a mother back in the country of his birth (Russia) has exposed a young mind to the side of music from a different spectrum of light. The backstage view of musicians during various tours that his mother organized and promoted earlier on in his life has captivated him, but the drive and inspiration for music became locked within his subconsciousness, waiting for the right moment to re-emerge...After the fall of the Soviet Union, Scarlem D, or Dmitri as he is known to his loved ones (friends and relatives alike), emigrated to Brooklyn, New York along with the fam in August of 1993 to start life anew and walk on a different path. Upon settling in on the eastern coast of the United States and becoming completely immersed within something that was extremely foreign to him, Dmitri heard a sound that triggered something within him to start growing. That sound was hip-hop.Although unaware of it at the time, D was getting a daily dosage of something that would later on help him come into his own and help channel his self expression through ways which only a select few would comprehend. Being a big fan of Rock and Jazz music at the time, D began to scribble poems here and there on the rooftop of his Coney Island Avenue apartment building at the age of 12. Between school and basketball games, he started to develop a fondness for graffiti art and breakdancing until eventually becoming one with the krylon, as well as one with the floors of the subway stations, handball courts, sidewalks, the Brighton Beach boardwalk, and so on, and so forth...After a failed attempt at becoming a U.S. citizen, D and his family were deported out of the country in late June, 1997. His parents wanting only the best for the then 14 year old Dmitri and his 11 year old brother Uriy, did the next best thing, they got in the car and drove up north to Montreal, Canada. After being given refugee status in Montreal, the fam decided it was time to pay their respect to a country that has sheltered them and traveled from MTL all the way to Vancouver, B.C. to soak in the view of the beautiful country side and decided to settle in Vancouver for a little while. Although the city wasn't a place that D and the fam settled on, it did provide a very gorgeous summer for D, and will be a time that he will never forget. Finally settling in in the eastern part of Toronto known as Scarborough, D for once felt what it was like to have permanent friends, a permanent school, and a permanent place to live.Starting to write more and more poetry, D's drive, inspiration, and his soul finally peaked through in late 1999 upon hearing Canibus' unbelievable verbal array of microphone fitness on a leaked bootleg of what is known as "100 bars". From that moment on, D began writing hip-hop lyrics, going out to battle and cipher with his friends at Orton Park and Lawrence and develop himself as an emcee. Being a devoted skateboarder since the age of 15, and the fact that skateboarding and hip-hop go together like Guru and Premier, D consumed almost all of his time honing his lyrical skills. After being kicked out of his high school for skipping class to go either skate or battle, D was relocated to the Scarborough Center for Alternative Studies, where he crossed paths with someone whom would later on become as much a part of his life as oxygen is. That person was Elijah Blue.Leaving SCAS after completing a semester, and faced with a decision to either live on his own or go on and pursue a college education, D enrolled at a computer college which was a branch of Seneca College as a mature applicant to study graphic design. Completing his course and receiving a graphic design diploma, D went on a modeling hiatus after being approached by DC Model Group one afternoon while skateboarding downtown Toronto and handing out resumes. D still longed for something other than what was in front of him. Graphic Design never provided the sheer love and satisfaction that he received while pouring his mind out through rhyme.One fine day, after a photo shoot, D was on the subway eastbound at Broadview station when an event of cataclysmic proportions turned his whole life around. Pulling out of the station, the train suddenly stopped. Everyone was ordered to vacate the premises and told that shuttle busses would take them to Pape Subway station. A man decided to jump in front of the train and take his own life that day. While waiting for the bus, Dmitri noticed a familiar face among the faceless. The man asked D for a smoke and D happily obliged, noting that they were both in the same English class at SCAS two years earlier. Blue remembered, and it sparked a conversation. Blue found out that D has been an emcee the whole time, and D found out that Blue made beats the whole time, and not only that, but as studying to be a sound engineer at Trebas Institute. D spit some lyrics for Blue and Blue, being the man that he is, noted D's potential and gave him his e-mail address to keep in touch, not saying a single word to D about what was in store.Dmitri and Blue e-mailed back and forth for a year, and every letter to Blue would express the hunger that D had for the mic, the passion, the dedication, and the love for hip-hop that he longed to express. D. and Blue finally met up in early 2005 and the rest as they say is history.After recording a few tracks together, months apart, Scarlem D and Blue both noticed that the chemistry they had in the lab was undeniable and became more than just a couple of kids with lyrics and tracks, they became really good friends.It's now 2006, and Basement Theory (Blue's Production Company and the collective of Punjaican, P.A., iNA, Introspect, Shawna B., Nizam, GQ Styles, Axe, Dystracted, Sensi, Scarlem D, and Blue) is thriving with talent. D has come a long way since the rooftop days of Brooklyn, and the battle days of Scarborough. He is in the midst of completing his Debut album entitled COMPOSITIONS, which is a collection of his life and experience brought through a verse to the listener of Blue's cupcake thunder production and collaboration on many a track.Life has been but a journey for Dmitri thus far, and the multiculturalism of Toronto has brought out the best in the man. The battles, the sound of the skateboard wheels on the pavement, the b-boys and b-girls alike, the underground shows, the spoken word poetry, the beat boxing, the graffiti, the trains, the love, the pain, the joy... It has all been a big part of who Scarlem D was and who Scarlem D remains to be. Only time will tell which direction he will venture, but he knows for sure that it will be with Blue, and the rest of Basement Theory. He knows for sure that wherever the journey
will take them, it will only be where they need to be, where they want to be, where they were all destined to be. It has all been a long path in the walking, and this is only the beginning.A Composition of life, art, peace, love, and hip-hop, that was, is, and forever will be Scarlem D.Changes may take up to 2 mins to show on your profileLOVEMYFLASH CODE
