Dagnabit (Derrick Henry)
At an early age, Dagnabit was introduced to music by his father who was a member
of many singing groups in the Dayton, Ohio area. Actually seeing members from many
popular Ohio groups like: Lakeside, The Ohio Players, Zapp & Roger and Heatwave, gave Dagnabit the opportunity to see how true artists create classic and original music.
In the mid to late 1980’s, Dagnabit began to take interest in the hip hop art form.
He was a big fan of N.W.A and Run DMC, and when his cousins started their rap
group (Bloodline Organization), they reminded him of those two groups. He was aware of popular hip hop acts like: Eric B & Rakim, Slick Rick, Doug E. Fresh, DJ Jazzy Jeff & the Fresh Prince, and Kurtis Blow, but he really wanted to be a gangster rapper. As the hip hop phenomena grew, Dagnabit began to watch, learn and understand the elements of becoming an emcee.
In the early 1990’s, Dagnabit began rapping in ciphers with his friends. He was not
serious at the time, but he used to hang out in the lunchroom with his crew, free-styling and arguing about who they thought was the best rapper at the time (LL Cool J was his favorite in those days). He used rap artists like: DMX, E-40, Ice Cube, LL Cool J and Redman as blueprints for developing his own rap style. By the Late 90’s Dagnabit started a rap group called, The Graveyard Shift. He chose Graveyard Shift because he always seemed to have third shift jobs.
By the early 2000’s, Dagnabit was performing open mic sessions at local venues. He has also been featured on several mix-tapes, including: Advanced Hip Hop 101, I’m Connected, T.R.O.Y. 2011, and has performed at the same venue with many notable artists, including: Tech 9, Bone Thugs-N-Harmony, Freeway, Cassidy, Ray Cash, Twista, Paul Wall, Boss, Sadat X and many more. This multifaceted emcee takes pride in his versatility, artistry, and the ability to create a distinct and classic sound that is missing in a lot of today’s mainstream hip hop. Dagnabit is also co-owner of the Dayton, OH record label Graveyard Shift Entertainment.
Dagnabit has a unique concept for his album titles. G.R.I.T.S. (Get Real Ignorance Tears Souls) is the book style title for all of his albums, and the individual album titles are the chapters. The first chapter in the book of G.R.I.T.S. is Da Wooden Nickels Theory, which is an album-style mixtape introducing Dagnabit’s skillful rhyme style. The Dayton emcee is currently working on the second chapter of G.R.I.T.S., entitled I am Legend, and it will be his first official commercial album release. I am Legend’s first single, entitled: “Something In The Water,” is available digitally worldwide right now!