Scorpeze was born at a secret location in the main vein of American Soul and Funk—known to the rest of the world as Detroit, MI. A collection of Soul Brothers and Soul Sisters gathered at this location to perform a birth ritual to initiate the baby boy into the Soul Movement. As he grew, he knew he was different from other youth. His peers played hide and seek, young Scorp played Funk records and read liner notes. During the 80’s, when Black was no longer beautiful in the eyes of mainstream America, Scorp spent his childhood trying to decode the mysteries of music. Bashing away at his guitar and bass (both gifts from his father—a high ranking Soul Brother) and tinkering with a toy Casio keyboard, Scorp studied the blueprints of the Black geniuses of that era—specifically the last maverick of Black music, Prince. At the end of the 80’s, Scorp was seduced by the sound of what was to be a new Soul music. This music was called Hip-Hop. Now entering his teen years, Scorp saw a way to reconcile his Soul Brother teachings with modern music.
Scorp learned the art of hip-hop. Public Enemy’s landmark album, It Takes ANation of Millions To Hold Us Back, showed him the way. Within a few years, Scorp mastered the tools of funky beat making. Soon he was in demand to helm the boards for aspiring emcees in his circle, along with handling the rhyming and production duties for his first group—the hip-hop trio DarXide. At the same time that Scorp was leaving high school, hip-hop was in the first throes of mainstream corporate corruption. DarXide disbanded while on the verge of breaking through. Scorp took some time off to attend college and dig deeper into his study of music. Studying music theory under a veteran Detroit Yoda by the name of Ufuoma Wallace, Scorp began to develop his own Funk/Soul formula.
After college, Scorp weighed his options for a few years. He decided the best place to carry on his work was California. Settling in Oakland—a city with its own rich Soul history—Scorp began to lay down demos of his original compositions. When his efforts to find like-minded musicians ended up in vain, Scorp reluctantly decided to play all the instruments himself.
In 2005, Scorp decided to take his California life lessons back to the Midwest. He set his sights on one of his favorite cities, Chicago. While visiting Chicago to scope out living arrangements, Scorp was introduced to DJ Sean Haley by a mutual friend.
Upon settling in Chicago and finding out Haley was one of the last fellow Soul Brothers, a friendship was formed.
Being the birth place of Techno and breeding ground for New Wave, Electro-Funk, Disco, Boogie, and Booty music(the rest of the world calls it “ghetto tech”)—Detroit has its own distinguished dance music legacy. When the sun goes down in Detroit, the tempo of the music rises. Scorp had admired the dance scene from afar, but Haley pulled him in.
Hitting the clubs with Haley—who is a fixture on Chicago’s legendary dance scene—Scorp realized that Soul music had not died, but returned to the underground in the form of Dance music. No longer just repetitive electronic anthems, House music had blossomed with live instrumentation, jazz stylings, powerhouse vocalists, song structure, and outstanding programming. They called it Deep House. Scorp wanted in and asked fellow producer Haley to be down. Windimoto was born.
By this time, mainstream music had been completely corrupted by corporate America and the only way to really be creatively free was to go underground. Scorp saw a way to follow his muse.
“I can play my instruments, I can program, I can compose, I can produce…throw it all into a pot and get away with it. That’s what I dig about Dance music—the freedom. I can be funky, I can be soulful, I can be jazzy, I can get into the Latin and Caribbean things, or I can be reflective and emotional—and it all works. I don’t have to hold back anything and the audience will accept it. For a Black musician, you can’t ask for much more than that…” says Scorp.
Scorp is hesitant to place strict roles on what each half of Windimoto does. “I refer to us as a 2 man band. Sometimes, Sean will play the keys and write the music. Sometimes, I handle the drums and rhythm arrangements. No matter who does what on a particular jam, we come together and make music that meets our collective standards.”
“I get labeled as the musician in the group, and I guess that’s fair to say. But I see myself as a producer first, composer second, and musician last. If I had it my way, I would sit behind the boards and let better musicians bring their flavor to my compositions…and that will happen in the future…”
Scorp and Haley saw their first EP; The Travels Of Windimoto (InterDependent Media, 2007) meet with critical acclaim upon its limited release. Scorp feels that it’s only the beginning.
“The funny thing about that EP is that those were literally our demos. Those were the very first things we collaborated on. With the exception of Afra Natura, we did each of those songs in a matter of a few hours…just simple things to test our musical compatibility. We wrote those joints on the spot. Sean would come to the lab; we’d have a brew and a sandwich, fire up the equipment and see what came out. I’m shocked and humbled that listeners and critics took to it like they did. Initially, we only planned a single, but the label asked for an EP. We gave them those songs to test the waters. I guess it worked out because since then we’ve gelled as a creative unit and if the people dug those songs, then I can’t wait for them to hear the new stuff.”
Like his partner, Scorp doesn’t plan to stop at Windimoto. “I still want to do those Quincy Jones type albums where I’m mainly the producer and songwriter…collaborate with gifted musicians and singers and let it all hang out, ya dig? For now, I’m working on a secret project with a friend that will allow me to make my final stand in hip-hop. I need to get that out of my system and move on. I’m hoping that Windimoto will give me the opportunity to write and produce for other artists, both with Haley and on my own…we may even get a little label going on at some point. While all of that is going on, Windimoto will still be the base of my creative endeavors…”
According to Scorpeze, “WinMo is going to keep on doin’ it as long as we see fit.”
