Some days it seems that hip-hop music’s infatuation with the underbelly gangster lifestyle in the movies is a little too much. But then again, it always makes for great names for the artists.
In the “Godfather” trilogy, the Immobilarie is what pulls lost members back in to the family. It seemed to be an appropriate title for a rapper who had seen his share of family breakups and music-industry mishaps.
“I’m really about fusing the Immobilarie connection together,” says rapper Dibiase, who, with Brooklyn rhyme legend Jaz-O, has developed the Immobilarie family and created the album Kingz Kounty: The Album (Rancore Records). “With us, what you see and hear is what you get. We always say we don’t have a specific style because that limits you to a time zone.”
Trying to avoid a tag or a category that could stunt the growth of Immobilarie’s career, Dibiase and his family have an undeniably New York-based sound. But it is still their intention to grow out of the group’s history that has limited them to New York metropolitan areas codes.
Starting out in the Brooklyn Zoo in 1995, the wide-bodied Dibiase was a featured artist on the group’s album and made noise with the track “Masters of the Zuniverse.” Appearing in his first video with the single, his stage name at the time was Knux, and he got his first chance at real life as an artist on the road. Touring with the bald-headed bandits of Onyx proved to be a learning experience, and life as an artist enticed Dibiase to follow his dream of making it in the hip-hop industry. However, after an unexplained move away from the Brooklyn Zoo family, Dibiase was in search of greener hip-hop pastures.
Eventually joining another collective, The Council, Dibiase hit it big time with the debut of the ubiquitous single “We’re on Top of Things.” A huge radio hit and one of the most frequent requests during the late ’90s on the taste-making New York radio station Hot 97, the track was somewhat of a comeback for the late ’80s producer/rhyming star Jaz-O. Using a not-so-obvious Temptations sample found by Jaz, Dibiase, and current Immobilarie members Neilleon and Floss, shrugged their shoulders and ran with it, finding tremendous success.
However, after a falling out with Tommy Boy Records and creating a bond with his current home, Rancore Records, Dibiase decided it was time for a new name, for The Council just held too much of a stigma after parting ways with the legendary hip-hop label that recently folded.
“The biggest mistake in the whole situation was that Rancore did a joint venture with Tommy Boy,” he says, slouched on a loveseat at D&D Studios. “[The Council] were in industry parties, and that was a big mistake. The whole deal went sour and we just laid in the cut. There was a little gap and that was a lot of stress on the whole thing. So eventually I said, ‘Lets change the name,’ and if we are going to have a family, let’s do the Immobilarie thing.”
When asked where the title of his newest project, Kingz Kounty: The Album, comes up, Dibiase is quick to answer.
“We felt that Brooklyn was the origin of a lot of things. I cant say rap because I’ll have a million people from the Bronx beatin’ me up and chasin’ me (laughs),” he says. “Plus the real name of Brooklyn is King County, so we ran with it.”
Now faced with the daunting task of breaking out of the distinct sound and style that manages to follow so many New York-based artists around, Dibiase hopes to lead his soldiers in the battlefield and come up with a successful, nationally well-received album.
“I think the talent can supercede our past mistakes [in the music industry],” he says. “The world can have tunnel vision when it comes to our music. I just tell everybody to expect good music from us. We are not into the hoopla or politics of the whole thing.”
Dibiase, Jaz-O and the Immobilarie Family will be speaking at the Hip-Hop Generation Conference this weekend and will be performing at the Orpheum theatre, 216 State St., on Saturday evening. Check www.hiphopgeneration.org for more information.
