1978 born in Gelsenkirchen, Germany, he spent his childhood in his father’s homeland Nigeria, in order to return to Germany at the age of nine years due to the at that time dramatic economical and political situation in the west African state. Hope for imminent return was not confirmed, but Ray and his family got rapid entrance to the local society. He leads his musical roots back to the underground Hip Hop of the west coast. That’s where he got to know his partner since many years Johnny D.. Impressed by the different electronic music styles, along their journeys in the night life, the first UK Garage records of his roomie at that time drew his interest on djing. The fascination and variety of House music led to a style change early in his career. First very vocal-loaded, later he focused more on the deep, soulful and at the same time pushing beat.
Following the Chicago-House legend Derrick Carter, the expression-strong DJ is considered as a further hopeful talent of the Mannheim club scene. Influenced by the electronic movement in the Jungbusch (the part of Mannheim he lives in), he also integrated the technoid side of House music into his sets without leaving his musical origin. Ray works a lot with loops, loop-players and samples. His sound is heading straight forward. He describes his style to be deep-minimal, tech-house – a perfect match.
After the first Heimspiel party(25 djs on 5 floors) on which the biggest and most famous djs from the Rhein-Neckar scene played, Ray Okpara decided with Nekes Danias, Johnny Debese and Federico Molinari to open the Zoo Club in 2004 in Mannheim. There they stayed for one season. They booked Steve Bug, Luciano, Cassy, Eloi Brunelle, Pheek, Amir Javasoul, Losoul, Sean Dimitrie, Gabriel Ananda, Losoul… In march 2005 Ray Okpara moved to Berlin to get new impressions for his music. He gained already ground in the nightlife of Berlin, starting with a gig at the Pentagonik Release Party…and Ray is still travelling and still moving…
Drumpoet's aim is to release music with an attitude, music which is driven by the personality of the artist. DPC digs deeper and it's constantly on the run to find new talented artists who respresent the philosophy of musical freedom.
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