“We both have that take-all mentality,” says D.E.B.O., born Manuel Reynoso, of his infamous Friday namesake. “Not so much as ‘I'ma take your bike’ but more like ‘let me hold your ears for a second.’”
Despite this lyrical intensity, clutching the attention of the masses is difficult for any bubbling New York City emcee. So D.E.B.O. took his flow to Washington, D.C. with intentions of placing Chocolate City on the national hip-hop scene even if he has hardly adjusted to the land wedged between northern lyricism and southern crunk.
D.E.B.O.’s story began in Harlem, where his love for basketball soon evaporated into rap romancing and street seductions. He learned to rap at age 11 and eventually established himself in the Harlem battle circuit. But “mistakes” landed the lyricist in prison, an experience he sees as more miracle than misfortune. “It was just a growing process,” D.E.B.O. says. “If I didn’t go away, I wouldn’t know that there were other things outside of Harlem.”
And he wouldn’t have met Tupac D, co-owner of entertainment production company Mad Power Unit, who was also serving time. The 22-year-old rapper’s gruff flow and punishing punchlines, akin to a husky-voiced Jae Millz, impressed the entrepreneur. After they were released, Tupac encouraged the Harlemite to move to D.C. “When we first got D.E.B.O. he was Harlem, Harlem, and more Harlem,” remembers Dominique Moxey, MPU co-owner. “He’s looking at things from a different perspective now.” Partner-in-crime Tupac interjects: “It’s like the difference between Ready to Die and Life After Death.”
D.E.B.O.’s broadened outlook is apparent in “Small World,” an irony-drenched street narrative describing a woman who unknowingly falls in love with the shooter of a stray bullet that wounded her as a child. “Small World” is featured on his P-Cutta-sponsored mixtape The Weed and The Dutch (Mad Power Unit/Outta Nowhere Records).
With D.E.B.O.’s foundation firmly planted as MPU Records’ flagship artist, the lyrical bully is poised to spark his own movement nearly 250 miles from his New York City origin. “Diplomats is really tearing Harlem down,” D.E.B.O. says. ”I'm not trying to hang on to anybody’s coattail. I’d rather just do it on my own.” Let the trailblazing begin.
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