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Ieisha SelfEmpire fans love the drama, but more than that they love Empire‘s original music and for girl group DMK, their ASA performance literally stopped the show, making quite an impression on new fan, Terrence Howard.
“Terrence Howard just kind of came up to us and complimented us on our sound, our audition tape. It was like,’Did he really see it?’ It’s crazy to get compliments from somebody you’ve been watching on TV for basically your whole life” DMK’s Damoli tells ABC Radio.
The audition tape in question was one of 6,000 video submissions to FOX’s Next Empire Artist contest through with Detroit natives Damoli, Melanee and Kourtney were chosen to appear on the show. The ladies are making the most of the timing. Their new video “Major” has currently hit the web and this month released a self-titled EP they describe as “feel good music that everyone could listen to.”
Although the group’s members are all in their early twenties, their success didn’t come overnight — they’ve been together for 12 years; and they attribute their determination for succeed to Kourtney’s grandfather, the late Levi Stubbs — legendary lead singer of the great Motown group, The Four Tops.
“He also told us that no person is greater than the group. So him and his group were together for 50 years and the only thing that parted them was death,” says Kourtney. “So that’s a really big influence on us and how we’ve been together for so long, because he’s always drilled that into our heads. People would come left and right — get in your ear trying to break you up but just know that it’s a group for a reason.”
Now that the season finale has aired, the ladies are breathing a sigh of relief as they too were on edge to see if Jussie Smollett‘s character would make it through. As avid watchers of the show, the group was unanimous in saying he’s irreplaceable.
“He’s a phenomenal actor and the music that he brings to the show, the sound that he brings to the show is so amazing,” says Kourtney. “It would be weird. What would the soundtrack sound like without Jussie Smollett’s voice, you know? Some of the best scenes are from Jussie and Taraji, so what do you replace that with? I don’t know.”
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