Aug 21, 20203 min read

DFUNDS DEBUT: SCAMMERS ELITE

DFUNDS has dropped his explosive debut single 'Scammers Elite' alongside potent producer; Luca Santamaria. The track hits heavy with honest, layered bars running us through Dfunds' past experiences, life growing up and the changes he's making moving forward.

Single artwork by Isabella Santamaria.

Luca and Dfunds have previously worked together on the tracks 'Warrin' and 'August 17th', lifted from the producer's recent extraordinary collaborative album alongside J Rhys; 'Memories'. As highlighted before, Dfunds grew up a close associate of fellow MC J Rhys and is now also turning his own focus to music. Dfunds lay down two intricate verses, packed with rhymes and wordplay, but up until Scammers Elite, this was all that was available to the public from the North Londoner.

Luca's distinctive, eccentric style stays unmatched. He exceeds himself here, once again orchestrating something that blurs the lines between your emotions. From the explosive intro, the beat drops into a tentative period minus the drums setting Dfunds up to spit his first hook. The track proceeds to accelerate from there with unique instrumental elements throughout to keep you engaged, allowing Dfunds to implement his countless flows.

'Scammers Elite' arrived on August 14th accompanied with slick visuals courtesy of Grace St George and Ben Stone. Running choppy transitions across an array of grimey locations, the video highlights Dfunds and the brotherhood amongst the JTR collective. A well-placed touch of cold, blue colour grading to tops it off to work really well; this theme was used throughout all the previews and marketing beforehand too so shout out to everyone involved with that (Insta tags at the bottom of the page).

The track speaks for itself; a vibey, underground anthem that showcases a raw, budding lyrical ability. Dfunds glides through his braggartly statements with such intent you completely forget this is even a debut single.

We caught up with him to find out more about the track.

Check out Dfunds' rundown below...

UKUR: We love the track! What was the main idea behind 'Scammers Elite'?

DFUNDS: ''The idea behind it was how I used to get by scamming people but I don’t really want to be just known for scamming.''

UKUR: What did you want to portray in the track?

DFUNDS: ''What I wanted to portray in Scammer's Elite was my journey from when I was 15 all the way until now. The trials and tribulations I went through, almost being locked up and how it affected my mindset and my outlook on myself, just wanting to better myself.''

UKUR: In the track, you chop and change you frequently switch up your flow, was this a conscious process when writing?

DFUNDS: ''The various flow changes were a conscious decision as I get tired of rapping in the same format very quickly and if I’m getting bored of myself I can't expect to keep a certain level of engagement with my audience.''

UKUR: Is music the 100% focus from now to continue on that path? DFUNDS: ''Music is a passion I am 70% focused on but I still want to take it even more seriously.''

UKUR: We can't wait to hear more, what's next for Dfunds? DFUNDS: ''I will be releasing another single within the coming months, hopefully then begin working on my first EP!''

UKUR: What's the focus going to be on for your future drops?

DFUNDS: ''For me and JTR, music has never been about how many streams or viewers we get but illustrating our experiences through our music. It is something that I can no longer see myself not putting energy into.'' UKUR: Who are your inspirations in music?

DFUNDS: ''Music inspirations for me from the UK scene are Dave and Headie One. I listen to both their music heavily and can relate to them on certain aspects. Headie one showed bare versatility in the (GANG) mixtape. Especially with charades. That heavily inspired me in my upcoming single.

Another influence of mine is Meek Mill. His passion for his craft and music is unrivalled in my opinion and I want to have that same desire to create music me and my guys can just chill to, if not then to an even greater extent.''

WATCH the visuals below...

Dfunds has arrived with a huge impact, surpassing the already sky-high expectations we had from his previously released short verses. We're already counting down the days until September to hear what he's got in store next. Until then, we will continue to update our playlist and will be covering everything JTR, Luca Santamaria and underground over on our Instagram page.

STREAM 'SCAMMERS ELITE' here .

and

Be sure to follow both Dfunds and Luca Santamaria on Spotify!