I did not want to have to write this… We should never want to write these type of things. Because in writing I felt that somehow i was letting go, and that is something I am not prepared to do.

A little more than 48hrs ago i was laughing at Derrick. Last week we had a conversation about the Roland TR8. He wanted one. I told him the thing was garbage, but he was not listening. He was like “man I am looking at these KINK videos and he’s killing it!” I was telling him yo man that’s KINK he can make a shoe-box sound good, but the TR8 is hot garbage don’t do it. You know he went and did it… 🙂

So the night before last he hits me up like “ yo man…you were right that thing is a toy!” I was like why you don’t listen to your boy tho?? What am i gonna lie to you for?? 🙂 He said he took it back. It was a normal, funny, and innocent as any other convo we had, and just like that he was gone.

There are too many waves of emotions that hit you when u go thru something like this, but disbelief is the one that is dominant. Many of you were just getting to know what we in the Deepblak circles have known for a while. That Derrick Curtis was special. When i met Derrick i had heard his music via short doc on a visual artist named Joshua Mays who at the time was living in my hometown of Oakland. The doc said music by Deflon. Upon searching his music up i was floored. It turned out he was also good friends with Maf Maddix (Bro. Aten) who was friends with Afrikan Sciences. When i got to know him he was a really really shy, and extremely humble guy. A stark contrast for someone whose music had an explosive nature to it. But i knew instantly he had “it”…he had that “thing”. His sonic world was beautiful. Full of color, depth, and narrative. Listening to his stuff was a cinematic experience.

At the time he was doing a lot of beat driven music in the LA Beat scene mode. I told him i would love to hear what his uptempo stuff sounded like. So he cooked somethings and sent them. I will never forget myself and Eric (Afrikan Sciences) sitting in Berlin listening to a batch of joints he sent over just shaking our heads. We knew….you could hear it. We knew he was going to have an impact. His melodies, his arrangement, his sense of rhythm, his production, his synth handle, his chops on the keys, it was evident. It was such an inspiration for us. And what made it particularly potent is that he was in North Carolina situated light years from any type of scene, or hype around the type of music he was creating. He was the new kid that we knew was gonna take this further than we ever could. It was the beginning of a new chapter. And that is what makes this so hard to bare. I feel as though i have witnessed a rocket taken from the launch pad before it ever took off.

I was pitching him on coming out to Berlin for a minute kick-it with Eric and myself as he was gearing up to start performing LIVE. He always had so many questions in particular about Ableton. Much of it way over my head. I would always be like man ”you need to hit Eric with that he’s the guru”. So i thought the best thing would be hands on. If we spent a few weeks in the lab together we could all collectively work it out right there. I was really looking forward to that…

But the Creator has a Masterplan…

I do not question that which is greater than myself…but i hurt in my selfishness of wanting him to remain here…

I will miss him. I will miss our convos/skypes… and most important i will miss his creations, and the joy they brought me…

He was such a humble un-assuming soul. He was limitless in my eyes, and maybe that’s why he has moved on…

Maybe his gifts are needed for greater works on higher planes…

I wanted to wake up this morning only to believe that this was indeed a “Dream From Last Nite” but it was not. Its hard to type this. I can only be grateful for crossing his path… i can only be grateful for the time i was granted with him. His journey continues… and so does his music. I will always look up to the star filled night sky, and hope that in the stillness of the moment i can hear you out there.

Safe Travels Brother

Love, Respect, and Power

Armon

SHADES of TOMORROW- DEFLON from Marquis Bradshaw on Vimeo.