Dragon Fli Empire (abbreviated DFE) is a

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

hip hop duo formed in 2002 from

Calgary Calgary ( ) is the largest city in the western Canadian province of Alberta and the largest metro area of the three Prairie Provinces. As of 2021, the city proper had a population of 1,306,784 and a metropolitan population of 1,481,806, makin ...

, comprising Tarik Robinson, also known as Teekay ( MC/ producer), and Adam Hicks, also known as DJ Cosm ( DJ/ producer). DFE's first album, ''

Conquest Conquest is the act of military subjugation of an enemy by force of arms. Military history provides many examples of conquest: the Roman conquest of Britain, the Mauryan conquest of Afghanistan and of vast areas of the Indian subcontinent, t ...

'', was released in August 2004. It was followed by ''

Invasion An invasion is a military offensive in which large numbers of combatants of one geopolitical entity aggressively enter territory owned by another such entity, generally with the objective of either: conquering; liberating or re-establishing con ...

'' in 2005, ''

Intermission EP ''Intermission EP'' is a "between albums" disc by Canadian hip hop duo Dragon Fli Empire, released in 2008 on Makebelieve Records. As the first offering of new music from the group since 2005, the EP was designed to renew interest in the group b ...

'' in 2008 and '' Redefine'' in 2009. Their music is inspired by classic hip hop beats like those of

Pete Rock Peter O. Phillips (born June 21, 1970), better known by his stage name Pete Rock, is an American record producer, DJ and rapping, rapper. He is widely recognized as one of the greatest hip hop producers of all time, and is often mentioned alongs ...

Large Professor William Paul Mitchell (born March 21, 1972), better known by the stage name of Large Professor (also Extra P. and Large Pro), is an American rapper and record producer. Based in New York City, he is known as a founding member of the underground ...

and Prince Paul.

History

Dragon Fli Empire formed in May 2002. They released the original version of their debut album ''Conquest'' locally in the summer of 2002 as a limited edition CD-R. The song "Mount Pleasant", a track about observations while riding

Calgary Transit Calgary Transit is the public transit agency which is owned and operated by the city of Calgary, Alberta, Canada. In 2019, an estimated 106.5 million passengers boarded approximately 1,155 Calgary Transit vehicles. It operates light metro (LRT), u ...

received airplay on

CJSW-FM CJSW-FM is a campus radio station, broadcasting at 90.9 FM, from the University of Calgary, in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. CJSW is a member of the National Campus and Community Radio Association and the University of Calgary Tri-Media Alliance i ...

CKUA The CKUA Radio Network is a Canadian donor-funded community radio network based in Edmonton, Alberta. Originally located on the campus of the University of Alberta in Edmonton (hence the UA of the call letters), it was the first public broadcaste ...

and

CBC Radio 3 CBC Radio 3 is a Canadian digital radio station operated by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, which plays a relatively freeform mix of indie rock, indie pop, alternative hip hop, folk, country and electronic music. The service, which lanuc ...

. An official version of ''Conquest'' was pressed and independently released in August 2004. The album was re-mastered and three tracks from the CD-R version were replaced with newer ones, including the DFE theme song "D-E-F". Their second album, ''Invasion'', was independently released in May 2005. Reaching number five on the ''

!earshot ''Exclaim!'' is a Canadian music and entertainment publisher based in Toronto, which features in-depth coverage of new music across all genres with a special focus on Canadian and emerging artists. The monthly Exclaim! print magazine publishes 7 ...

'' Canadian campus radio charts, it showcased a progression in the group's sound, and featured the tracks "Headphones", "Our Way", "Invasion" and "Tight Spot". The group collaborated with several other Canadian indie hip hop artists on the album, including Ndidi Cascade, More or Les, Epic, Mindbender and Touch and Nato plus live musicians like Kirby Small and

Tariq Tariq ( ar, طارق) is an Arabic word and given name. Etymology The word is derived from the Arabic verb , ('), meaning "to strike", and into the agentive conjugated doer form , ('), meaning "striker". It became popular as a name after Tariq ...

. In 2007, an album featuring tracks from ''Invasion'' and ''Conquest'' (''Inquest'') was released in Japan through

P-Vine Records P-Vine Records is an independent record label based in Tokyo, Japan. History It was started in 1976 by Blues Interactions, a firm founded in 1975 by Yasufumi Higurashi and Akira Kochi, as a record label focused on black music. The label name c ...

. The same year, a 12" vinyl release of the ''Invasion'' song "Roc the Crowd" featuring

Ohmega Watts Ohmega Watts, real name Milton Campbell, is an American hip hop producer and vocalist from Brooklyn, New York. He releases music under the name Ohmega Watts and as a part of the Lightheaded crew. Biography Campbell was born and raised in Broo ...

was released worldwide on Calgary-based label Bigfoot Records. DFE released an EP entitled ''Intermission'' in May 2008 prior to their third full-length album ''Redefine''. The EP reached number three on the ''!earshot'' and ''

Chart Attack ''Chart Attack'' was a Canadian online music publication. Formerly a monthly print magazine called ''Chart'', it was published from 1991 to 2009. While the web version appears to be available online, the domain is now used as a popular media outle ...

'' hip hop charts. ''Intermission'' also reached number three on ''

The R3-30 CBC Radio 3 is a Canadian digital radio station operated by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, which plays a relatively freeform mix of indie rock, indie pop, alternative hip hop, folk, country and electronic music. The service, which lanu ...

'' on

. Two tracks from ''Intermission'' were nominated for Radio 3's 2008 Bucky Awards. The group's third full-length album, '' Redefine'' released in Japan on

in October 2008 and in North America on Makebelieve Records in January 2009. ''Redefine'' featured collaborations with a number of high-profile artists including

Cadence Weapon Roland "Rollie" Pemberton, better known by his stage name Cadence Weapon, is a Canadian-American rapper based in Toronto, Ontario. Born and raised in Edmonton, Alberta, Pemberton released his first album, ''Breaking Kayfabe'', in 2005 with positi ...

Masta Ace Duval Clear (born December 4, 1966), known better by his stage name Masta Ace, is an American rapper and record producer from New York City. He appeared on the classic 1988 Juice Crew posse cut " The Symphony". He is noted for his distinct voice ...

Josh Martinez Matthew Edward Kimber (born August 6, 1977), better known by his stage name Josh Martinez, is a Canadian rapper, record producer and record label executive. In the early 2000s, Martinez started his own label, Camobear Records, to which fellow r ...

Moka Only Daniel Denton (born November 14, 1973), better known by his stage name Moka Only, is a Canadian underground hip hop artist. He has won 3 JUNO Awards, 5 MuchMusic Video Awards, and has been nominated for 11 Western Canadian Music Awards. Origina ...

and Raashan Ahmad. It reached number one for two weeks on the ''

'' and ''

'' hip hop charts, and was number three for several weeks on the ''

CMJ CMJ Holdings Corp. is a music events and online media company, originally founded in 1978, which ran a website, hosted an annual festival in New York City, and published two magazines, ''CMJ New Music Monthly'' and ''CMJ New Music Report''. Th ...

'' hip hop charts. The video for "Outside Inn" was the group's first to receive rotation on

MuchMusic Much (an abbreviation for its full name MuchMusic) is a Canadian English language specialty channel owned by BCE Inc. through its Bell Media subsidiary that airs programming aimed at teenagers and young adults. MuchMusic launched on August 31 ...

and MuchVibe. ''Redefine'' was also nominated for Best Rap / Hip Hop Recording at the 2009

Western Canadian Music Awards The ''Western Canadian Music Awards'' (WCMAs) are an annual awards event for music in the western portion of Canada. The awards are provided by the Western Canada Music Alliance, which consists of six member music industry organizations from Br ...

. The ''Ride On EP'' vinyl was released via Finnish label Traveller Records in September 2009, featuring four songs from ''Redefine''. Dragon Fli Empire was the first hip hop group featured on the annual ''MUCH does Calgary'' talent showcase on MuchMusic in 2005. They have also appeared on CBC-TV's ''

ZeD Zed is the pronunciation of the letter ''Z'' in Commonwealth English ("zee" in American English). Zed or ZED may also refer to: Entertainment Characters *Zed (comics), a character from the ''Hellblazer'' comic series *Zed (Kiba), the main chara ...

'' and '' The National''. The group has toured across Canada, Europe and parts of the U.S., and played festivals like

Shambhala In Tibetan Buddhist tradition, Shambhala ( sa, शम्भल ',''Śambhala'', also ''Sambhala'', is the name of a town between the Rathaprā and Ganges rivers, identified by some with Sambhal in Uttar Pradesh. In the Puranas, it is named as ...

, Montreal's Under Pressure, Ottawa's Alberta Scene and Yellowknife's

Folk on the Rocks Yellowknife (; Dogrib: ) is the capital, largest community, and only city in the Northwest Territories, Canada. It is on the northern shore of Great Slave Lake, about south of the Arctic Circle, on the west side of Yellowknife Bay near the o ...

. DFE has also played select dates of

Warped Tour The Warped Tour was a traveling rock tour that toured the United States plus three or four stops in Canada annually each summer from 1995 until 2019. It was the largest traveling music festival in the United States and the longest-running touring ...

and

Rock the Bells Rock the Bells was an annual hip-hop festival that originally took place in Southern California only, but has since toured throughout the world. The concert featured a line-up of high-profile alternative hip-hop artists, often headlined by a mor ...

as well as showcasing locally at JunoFest,

Sled Island The Sled Island Music & Arts Festival is an annual independent music and arts festival formed in 2007 and held in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. Each June, the five-day festival showcases over 200 bands, visual artists, filmmakers and comedians as ...

, the Calgary International Spoken Word Festival and the

Calgary Folk Music Festival The Calgary Folk Music Festival (also known as "Calgary Folk Fest") is held in late July each year at Prince's Island Park, Calgary, Alberta, Canada. July 2022 is the Festival's 43rd edition. The four-day Calgary Folk Music Festival annually featu ...

. Their music has been featured on the

MTV Canada MTV is a Canadian English-language specialty channel owned by Bell Media with the name and branding used under a licensing agreement with Paramount Global. The channel is devoted to talk, lifestyle and documentary programming, and also airs some ...

series Peak Season as well as the

OLN OLN (formerly Outdoor Life Network) is a Canadian English-language Category A specialty channel. OLN primarily broadcasts factual-based and adventure-related reality programming aimed at male audiences. OLN is wholly owned by Rogers Sports & ...

National Geographic Adventure Nat Geo People was an international pay television channel owned by National Geographic Partners, a joint venture between The Walt Disney Company (73%) and the National Geographic Society (27%). Targeted at female audiences, with programming fo ...

travel show Word Travels.

Discography

*''

'' - 2004 - Makebelieve Records *''

'' - 2005 - Makebelieve Records *''

'' - 2008 - Makebelieve Records *'' Redefine'' - 2009 - Makebelieve Records *'' Mission Statement ''- 2013 - Makebelieve Records *'' Banff Avenue ''- 2020 - Makebelieve Records

Japanese discography

*''Inquest'' - 2007 -

*''Redefine'' - 2008 -

Vinyl discography

*''Abstrakt Vinyl Compilation'' - 2005 - Makebelieve Records (features "Headphones") *''Roc the Crowd EP feat.

'' - 2007 - Bigfoot Records *''Ride On EP'' - 2009 - Traveller Records *''Hold Down the Fort b/w Right on Time ft. Von Pea 7"'' - 2018 - Beats House Records / Radio Krimi Records *''Record Store ft. J-Live b/w Fli Beat Patrol 7"'' - 2020 - Ill Adrenaline Records

Compilation appearances

*''

New Music Canada, Vol. 1 ''New Music Canada, Vol. 1'' is a compilation album released in 2004 by CBC Records. This release features songs from New Music Canada (CBC Radio 3). Track listing # Audio Lava, "Leaf" (3:59) # Insurgent, "Dissolving Behaviour" (4:45) # Danny Dop ...

'' (2004,

CBC Records CBC Records was a Canadian record label owned and operated by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, which distributed CBC programming, including live concert performances, in album and digital format(s)."CBC Records is the corporation's biggest h ...

) - "Mount Pleasant" *''Up North Trip Vol. 4'' (2006, Audio Research Records) - "Invasion" *''Underground Hip Hop Vol. 4'' (2006,

URBNET Records URBNET Records is an independent record label based in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. URBNET was formed by Darryl Rodway and Janusz Jarosinski in 1999 to provide distribution, marketing and promotional services to Hip Hop artists throughout Canada. U ...

) - "Tight Spot" *''Mellow Beats, Rhymes and Vibes'' (2007,

) - "Beauty Full" *''Beat Studies: Lesson Two'' (2008,

) - "Headphones" *''Mellow Beats, Sunshine and Twilight'' (2009,

) - "Paradise", "Speak to Me" *''Underground Hip Hop Vol. 5'' (2010,

) - "Rise"

References

External links

Dragon Fli Empire
official website
Dragon Fli Empire
at MySpace
Dragon Fli Empire
at

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dragon Fli Empire Musical groups established in 2002 Musical groups from Calgary Canadian hip hop groups Canadian musical duos 2002 establishments in Alberta Hip hop duos