| Count Bass D | |
| Birth Name: | Dwight Conroy Farrell |
| Birth Date: | 25 August 1973 |
| Origin: | The Bronx, New York |
| Genre: | Hip hop |
| Occupation: | Rapper, record producer, multi-instrumentalist |
| Years Active: | 1993–present |
| Label: | Fat Beats, High Times Records, Chaos Recordings |
| Associated Acts: | MF Doom, MF Grimm, J. Rawls, Snoop Dogg |
Dwight Conroy Farrell (born August 25, 1973), better known by his stage name Count Bass D, is an American rapper, record producer and multi-instrumentalist who resides in Millheim, Pennsylvania. His production style is characterised by layers of short MPC samples and film snippets complemented with live instrumentation, and eccentric lyrics laid atop.[1] [2]
Farrell was born on August 25, 1973, and was raised in The Bronx and Canton, Ohio. At the age of four, his father, a West Indian minister, encouraged him to play music at his church. Farrell thereafter learned to play the piano, organ, drums, and bass. He then started gaining interest in hip-hop, becoming better at rhyming while rapping with friends.
In his late teens, Farrell enrolled at Middle Tennessee State University in Murfreesboro, taking advantage of equipment and facilities in the School of Music to finish his demo tape. He broadcast his first hip-hop video while on campus.
Farrell's demo led to a record deal with Chaos Recordings, where he released his first studio album, Pre-Life Crisis, on September 26, 1995.[3] The label found the album difficult to market, and he was dropped from their roster.[4]
In 1997, Farrell released his first EP, Art for Sale, on independent label Spongebath Records. The album was later released in Japan in 2005, on Octave Records.[5]
In 2002, Farrell decided to make a more hip-hop themed album. He bought an Akai S-3000 sampler and an MPC-2000 drum machine and quickly learned to create new sounds. With these tools, he released his second and most critically-acclaimed studio album, Dwight Spitz. It features appearances from other well-known indie MCs, such as MF Doom and Edan.[6] In 2004, Farrell produced and guest appeared on a track ("Potholderz") on MF Doom's MM..Food.
In 2005, Farrell released his second EP, Begborrowsteel, on Jazzy Sport Records. Act Your Waist Size, his third studio album, was released on Fat Beats Records in 2006. In 2008, Farrell released L7 (Mid-Life Crisis), a sequel album to Pre-Life Crisis, on 1320 Records.[7] He was 35 at the time of its release.
In 2010, Farrell teamed up with his old friend, producer and rapper DJ Pocket, to make two collaborative albums that year – In the Loop[8] and Activity[9] – both released on Domination Records. In 2011, Farrell and Insight the Truncator released a collaborative record, The Risktakers. On August 25, 2011, Farrell self-released his fifth studio album, #FULLCOUNT,[10] on his personal website. However, it appears that Spotify has since purchased the domain name.