Dave Shayman, better known as producer Disco D was found dead this morning of January 23rd after an
apparent suicide. Dave was just 26 years old. The young producer was best known for his work for 50 Cent on Ski Mask Way started his career at 16 in his home state of Michigan. He also produced for the likes of AZ, Pitbull, Nina Sky, and Trick Daddy.
R.I.P. Dave, and best wishes to his family…
Check out the entry by urb.com for more on Disco D:
The Michigan-bred, New York-based producer—who was best known for his work with
50 Cent — began his career at the age of
discovered the then unnamed Detroit ghettotech scene via artists such as DJ
Assault and DJ Godfather, the still in high school Shayman dove head first into
the music scene, scoring his first residency at age 17, at Ann Arbor’s The
Blind Pig before he could even legally enter the venue. He began releasing
music soon after signing his first record deal before graduation with Bad Boy
Bill’s Muzik/Mixconnection label.
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Shayman remained in Ann Arbor after high school to attend the University of Michigan
Ross School of Business, starting his own label, GTI Recordings his sophomore
year. It was around this time that ghettotech’s popularity began to peak, with
Shayman appearing on several magazine covers. He issued his first major label
release, “A Night at the Booty Bar” on Tommy Boy in 2003.
After college, Shayman moved to New York and began a successful career as a
producer with a diverse pallette of urban sounds. He produced “Ski Mask
Way” on 50 Cent’s multi-platinum The Massacre and
the notorious Kevin Federline track, “Popozoa” which benefited from
Shayman’s connection to the Brazilian baile funk sound (he lived in Brazil
part-time) but he also continued to collaborate with underground acts such as
Spank Rock and the Brazilian group, BRAZA, who record for Shayman’s Gringo
Louco label. Shayman was also a perpetual business man, creating and licensing
music for commercials and video games. He even oversaw the marketing for aLeda,
a line of transparent rolling papers.
Shayman fought manic-depression for much of his adult life. He told URB in April of 2006, “It got
to the point where I tried to kill myself. It was bad.”
In 2001, I drove Shayman and another Detroit DJ to an event in Indianapolis,
Indiana where he was scheduled to play. Still in college, Dave sat in the back
seat of the rental car, smoking a foul dollar cigar and reading an economics
textbook with a portable reading light. An hour later, he was cutting and
scratching ghettotech classics like “Ass ‘N Titties” to the collected
ravers. This mix of high-minded business and down low funk made him a
successful producer. It’s unfortunate that despite his incredible talent, his
disease kept him from finding contentment.
