With an ever-expanding global fan base of fans from 16 to 80 hinging on her every rhyme and clever twist of phrase, Rebecca “DawgGoneDavis”’ breakthrough success over the past 17 months has proven one thing – rap and hip-hop ain’t just for kids and hipsters anymore.
Since her freewheeling, autobiographical “Middle Age Woman – Hip Hop Style” reached #1 on the influential EuroIndieMusic chart and hit the top spot in Europe, Asia (including Russia) and South America, she’s been on total worldwide fiya – as in “Butt on Fiya,” her second single, which found her mocking the breast cancer she beat and compensating for her removed mammaries with a genetically blessed rear end.
Her offbeat yet “can’t stop listening if you tried” debut album Hot Dawgest Night includes these two tracks, along with six other smashes and the brand-new song “I Will Still Love You,” a clever and colorful ode to the music that captured her heart while playing basketball – from Smokey Robinson, Motown and Bobby Darin to The Crystals, Ronettes and Sex Pistols. The collection’s title blends her quirky stage name with her over the top appreciation for Neil Diamond, who also merits a mention (along with Elvis and the Black Eyed Peas) in “Middle Age Woman – Hip Hop Style.”
With a unique, hilarious, erudite, self-effacing and no holds barred approach to baring her wild and crazy soul and whimsically sharing her truth, DawgGoneDavis has tackled a wide array of concepts in her lyrics. Her #14 smash “Forever Music” expresses her equal passion for the classical music her dad played (Mozart, Haydn, etc.) and the classic rock her siblings graced her with (Elvis, Three Dog Night, Warren Zevon). “Anthem Pandemonium,” which reached #4, shares her conviction that she will not be a novelty or flash in the pan. “Blast out of the bottle/Going full throttle,” the rapper’s ongoing creativity will ensure that she will keep blowing the minds of open-minded rap, hip-hop and pop fans worldwide, along with the excited college kids across America she’s already got in her pocket.
As easy as you’ll find it to move on to the next track, DawgGone Davis has a lot in store for you as she gets on “Groovin’ At the Louvre” (#4), about a Kansas girl living it up on her first trip to Paris; parties with “beer, pizza, donuts, candy” and still feeling randy while singing the “Unemployment Blues” (#14); sings the trippiest, funkiest worship song you’ve ever heard (“I’m Here For Thee, #5); and taps into her social consciousness, urging “Let it Be Us” to “stabilize the needy.”
Behind DawgGoneDavis’ silliness, wit, poignancy and Type-A personality is her secret musical weapon, French- based collaborator and renowned Euro producer and multi-instrumentalist, Hellmut Wolf. Rebecca records her raps acapella at the “Audio Cave” studio in her hometown of Kansas City, then sends the .wav file off to Wolf to work his sonic magic – which includes anything from sensual, jazzy atmospheres and cool sax soloing, booming percussion and deep soul grooving.
“I was born a goofy jokester,” says Rebecca, the youngest of five children who has an MBA and comes to her music career after years as a successful IT professional. “I would write funny holiday story poems for my family each year. I think the combination of being able to see something in my mind or zombies in the sky comes as a genetic gift. Dad was hilarious and mom is deep and practical. From her I got great empathy and real-life intuition. I’ve always hammed it up around my wonderful nieces and nephews, and live to make them laugh.”
The aesthetic of DawgGoneDavis’ music and lyrics is an extension of her three independently published books, whose titles include “Yo Hans! Sebastian’s Back” and “Intergalactic Hans So Low.” All proceeds from her book sales go to Operation Breakthrough’s neediest and most challenged babies and children.
“In the late 2000s, when I began publishing my books,” she adds, “people started telling me I should put my fun and sad writings to music – and it’s so gratifying to see how it’s gone gangbusters. What inspired me to record these songs? Me being nuttier than a Payday bar, the knowledge and confidence that I have ‘it,’ I can do ‘it’ and am doing it with Jesus in the Pound, too.”