Dombresky’s Rise as a House Music Mainstay Started with Hip-Hop Beats
Before becoming the house music mainstay he is now known as, Dombresky was a spunky up-and-comer rising through the ranks of the French music scene. However, before he started mixing electronic beats for Parisian partygoers, he was making the dance floor shake with commercial hip-hop tracks.
In an interview with Gray Area, the European DJ and producer acknowledged that the sounds of his speakers were not four-on-the-floor house beats. Instead, he was concocting a more subdued urban flow.
“Before Dombresky I was a hip-hop DJ in France for years. I was a mainstream artist, hip-hop and R&B, playing some clubs.” says Dombresky.
As his DJing career blossomed, Dombresky started feeling disconnected from the content he was playing. Alluding to his house music upbringing, he began to detach himself from the hip-hop scene, saying, “around 2015 I did not enjoy what I did anymore. I was like, I don’t really see the finality in this world. I still loved hip-hop, I come from hip-hop. It’s part of my blood. But I grew up on house music.”
Dombresky even tried to fuse his passion for hip-hop and house by introducing some house beats in his sets, to no avail.
“I tried to play some house music on my hip-hop sets but it didn’t work because it’s two different worlds, unfortunately. The hip-hop people didn’t really fuck with house.”
From then on, the up-and-coming French DJ shed the mainstream edge and donned a groovier, upbeat appearance. With it came a new alias, and that is where his journey as a house music powerhouse began.
After gaining some valuable music production knowledge from DJ Snake and Mercer, Dombresky began to set some attainable goals to further his reach in the electronic dance space. Luckily for him, one of his peers helped him obtain his first objective.
“One of my friends knew A-Track, so he sent him my track. He liked it, and *boom* I signed my first EP and reached my first goal.”
Having secured his label release, the Reaching Perfection EP, and having already familiarised himself with the French market, Dombresky knew he wanted his music to expand into other parts of the world. So for his next mission, he wanted to develop his sound across the pond.
After signing with a booking agency, Dombresky decided to take a gamble and try his luck with the American market.
“I remember I moved to America and I had $700, I was crazy. Actually, when you think about it, it was totally insane to do that but, I mean, if you don’t take risks I don’t think a lot of things happen.”
Once he began booking gigs in the U.S., Dombresky soon became the talk of the town, fusing his hip-hop know-how with his eclectic beats. Years later, he has become synonymous with house music, even going as far as releasing merchandise with sayings like ‘House Music Keeps You Young.’
But for Dombresky, fame and success mean nothing unless you have a long, storied journey to look back upon.
“It’s always about the journey, I care about that. That’s really important to believe in your journey.” he adds. “I never wanted to become famous super fast. I loved he journey, going up slowly, I appreciate the process. So yeah, now I’m here.”
