Dumbfoundead

Dumbfoundead
Birth name	Jonathan Park (Park Sung Man) 박성만
Also known as	DFD, Dumb
Born	February 18, 1986 (1986-02-18) Buenos Aires, Argentina
Origin	Los Angeles, California, United States
Genres	Hip hop
Occupations	Emcee/Entertainer
Labels	Knocksteady
Associated acts	Thirsty Fish (Open Mike Eagle, Psychosiz) Project Blowed Swim Team 8-Bit Bandit Jay Park Clockwise (Wax) DJ Zo

Jonathan Park (Korean: 박성만 Park Sung Man) (February 18, 1986), better known by his stage name Dumbfoundead, is a Korean American battle rapper originating from the Los Angeles Underground's Project Blowed. He is well known for his affiliation with the West Coast division of Grindtime and his participation in Jumpoff's 2007 World Rap Championships; both of which have given rise to his status as a strong web presence. He did a stint as the opening act for Epik High's Map the Soul tour. Dumbfoundead is a member of the hip hop trio Thirsty Fish and the Los Angeles battle crew the Swim Team.

Early years and influences

Born in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Jonathan "Dumbfoundead" Park (Korean Name: Park Sung Man) moved to Mexico then Koreatown, Los Angeles at the age of three. He was often seen as a class clown by his peers at an early age, and was exposed to hip-hop at 10 upon entering a community center in MacArthur Park and meeting Los Angeles "OG's" such as Mark Luv of Zulu Nation, Poppin' Chuck, Cre8 (RTN), and EZ Rock (Rocksteady). This first experience with hip-hop allowed him to develop the technique of freestyling and to educate himself on hip-hop's history and roots. A year later, he was taken to Project Blowed in South Central, LA by a high school friend. Here he would continue to hone his abilities as an emcee amongst the influence of "Blowdians" such as Otherwize, Riddlore, NoCanDo, P.E.A.C.E., and many others, eventually earning the title of "Blowdian" himself. One of Dumbfoundead's signature lines is "Get your bars up".

Music career

Project Blowed

As a member of the Project Blowed collective, Dumbfoundead is also a part of the group Thirsty Fish along with "Blowdians" Open Mike Eagle and Psychosiz, and a larger group, Swim Team, with members Sahtyre, VerBS, Alpha MC, Open Mike Eagle, Lyraflip, Psychosiz, Rogue Venom, DJ Zo, Kuest One, Dos Tres, and Uhuru. In 2007 Thirsty Fish released the album Testing the Waters, and in 2008 Swim Team released Ocean's Eleven. May 10, 2011 Thirsty Fish released Watergate.

Solo work

Under an independent label, DFD has released three albums: Super Barrio Brothers, Fun With Dumb and Clockwise. A solo album titled DFD was released on November 1st, 2011.

Dumbfoundead frequently collaborates with other artists; including Epik High, a popular Korean rap/pop group. He is featured on two full length tracks on the Epik High album e, "Maze" [2009] and "Rocksteady" [2009], and was featured as the opening act for the USA Map the Soul Tour in 2009. Since its inception Dumbfoundead has been a regular performer at the annual Asian Hip Hop Summit. Dumbfoundead has performed with many other notable artists such as Atmosphere, Jin, Traphik, E-40, Drunken Tiger, Jay Park, The Living Legends, Aceyalone, GZA, Jeru the Damaja, Pigeon John, WC, Abstract Rude, Del, Myka 9, KRS One, Busdriver, and many others.

He has also had cameos in several works including DJ Honda's "Let it Out" featuring Rakaa Iriscience, Money Harm aka Marvin Moore in 2009, Abstract Rude's – "Thynk Eye Can" (featuring Aceyalone & Myka 9) in 2010, "Al Bundy" by Intuition in 2010, and the Fresh Coast Documentary in 2008.

GrindTime/King of the Dot/Stomping Groundz

Dumbfoundead's first popularized Grind Time battle was with fellow Asian emcee Tantrum and received high praise—achieving some of the highest numbers of views for Grind Time battles of its era. Many have attributed his victory to his relaxed swagger and sharp humor that has become synonymous with his style as a battler. He often competes in competitions with fellow Swim Team rapper Sahtyre. An example of this is the 2007 World Rap Championships.

"... he had the weirder eerie f*cking kind of wit... that weird dirty extra evil kind of f*cking punchline..." – Jamie DeWolf, one of the judges of the Tantrum vs. Dumbfoundead battle.^{[citation needed]}

With the Tantrum battle being his debut of Grindtime, Dumbfoundead went on to battle Illusion-Z, F.L.O., TheSaurus, and Pumpkinhead in the Grindtime circuit, losing only to two time World Rap Championship and Scribble Jam champion The Saurus.

Dumbfoundead also went to Toronto, Canada to battle in King of the Dot, hosted by Organik. He lost in a battle against Canadian rapper Kid Twist.

Dumbfoundead is known as a comedic emcee for his jokes, disses, and rebuttals in battle. His videos have become quite popular through YouTube.

Acting career

Dumbfoundead announced in one of his video blogs that he would have a small role in a film titled Detention. 

Other ventures

In early 2009, Dumbfoundead hosted 'Kollaboration Hip Hop' and was also an interviewer during the R16 B-boy Festival in Seoul, South Korea. He has been featured on CNN, NBC Los Angeles, Fox 11 and Gizmodo for spearheading the LA Underground scene and creating such pieces as Jam Session 2.0 (released on January 20, 2010), which networked 8 artists in different locations to create one song. His ongoing YouTube series, entitled "The Homies", features fellow artists and peers and allows them to showcase their abilities. Features include P.E.A.C.E. of Freestyle Fellowship, DJ Zo, Open Mike Eagle, and PK of Kollaboration.

In 2010, Dumbfoundead played a significant role in the creation of Knocksteady, a hip-hop collective based in Los Angeles. Knocksteady aims to "push new music and media to the masses via select musicians and artists to create a unique lifestyle brand that promotes positivity and originality without losing sight of the greater social power."

Discography

Solo work

• Fun With Dumb (2009)
• DFD (2011) (#6 Heatseekers Albums, #41 Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums, #24 Rap Albums)

Thirsty Fish

• Testing the Waters (2007)
• Watergate (2011)

Swim Team

• Oceans Eleven (2008)

Other collaborations

• Super Barrio Brothers (2005) (with 8-Bit Bandit)
• Clockwise (2010) (with Wax)
• Cut + Paste (2010) (with DJ Zo)
• A New Kind of Sexy" (2011) George Watsky

References

Footnotes

General sources

• "Livin' the Good Life," Nicole Balin, The Source.
• About Project Blowed ProjectBlowed.com
• JumpOff TV World Rap Championships
• Potholesinmyblog Potholesinmyblog.com
• Kevin Nottingham Artist Spotlight Kevin Nottingham
• Gizmodo Gizmodo.com

External links

• Official Site
• The Urban Decadence
• Project Blowed
• The Stomping Groundz
• Dumbfoundead @ Youtube
• Dumbfoundead @ Twitter