"To be alive is to survive. To live is to be good at it." These are the words of Damion "Dame" Rivers, Chairman, Artist and Songwriter, Currency Records. Being born and raised in West Philly, U.S.A. has shown Dame the reality of survival since September of 1982 when we was birthed by a single young bartender, her only child. As he grew, education and being a step ahead of the world was emphasized to him by his mother and step-father and he would constantly stand out as a "genius." "They ain't take a whole lot of s..." He says of them. "And they had a real agressive way of getting their point across."
During his early teenage years, Damion developed two passions. He developed his passion to be a part of hip-hop, the music that he loved, constantly listened to, and knew better than anything else. He also developed the natural human love for the almighty dollar. Being constantly immersed in the influence of the streets and as he states "not having the patience for minimum wage," he decided to earn money in the dangerous world of criminal
activities. He subliminally describes his past of illegal activitied as "doin' stuff and takin' stuff," not wanting to go into detail.
Shortly after entering his 20's, the reality of his dangerous lifestyle began to hit home. Seeing people very close to him hurt, murdered, and incarcerated showed him that there was no good end to the story he was beginning to write. Armed with the intelligence that always been the biggest asset in his survival, his undeniable talent and potential as an MC, and the business mentality learned from his stepfather, an entrepreneur himself, he pooled his resources and formed his record label and his songwriting business. As an artist, Dame channels the pains and joys of the experience of his young life, and paints pictures of a wide range of emotions associated with the human experience. From drum-charged anthems of life in the poverty-ridden ghetto to testerone-charged lyrics directed at the opposite sex, to tunes stationed in a dream world, Dame brings a unique style of versatility and lyricism often missing in today's corporate-driven music environment. Combined with the fact that the witty, charismatic MC with will say "Whatever is on my mind, no matter who it might piss off, especially in a song," the rap world is in for an experience it has never quite had before.
