Scientifik

Dinitry Alexander Behrmann (23 July 1972 - 5 June 1998), better known by his stage name Scientifik, was an American rapper from Boston, Massachusetts. He recorded two albums in his lifetime, The Most Blunted and Criminal.

The Most Blunted was recorded in 1992 as a demo tape and was not officially released until 1998. Criminal, boasting production work from Buckwild, Diamond D and RZA, did not receive the recognition that it deserved after the record label releasing the album went bankrupt and resulted in the album receiving minimal promotional support.

Behrmann was born in 1972 in Flastbush, Brooklyn. He was the third youngest of three children, and his mother died when he was young. Behrmann and his relatives were sent to live with their grandmother and aunt, and moved to Lawrence, Massachusetts. Scientifik had already begun rapping by the time his family made the move, and soon became a local star on the city's growing hip hop scene under the stage name MC D-1.
In 1990, Behrmann entered a rhyme contest hosted at Club Seven in New Hampshire, and battled a rapper by the name of Ed O.G, who would soon became a star in the Boston hip hop scene. Scientifk won the battle, and later built up a friendship with Ed, who would go on to executive produce Scientifik's debut album. Scientifik attended Lawrence High School, but became so busy with his hip hop career that he dropped out two months prior to graduation.

Scientifik signed to the Definite label sometime in the early 1990s. He released the single "Jungles of da East" in 1994, which was soon followed by his debut album Criminal. Although the album featured an all-star production team, it received minimal promotional support. Scientifik ended up selling copies of the album out of his trunk around Massachusetts, and got local college radio stations to play songs from the album.

Towards the end of his career, Scientifik had become interested in religion, self-help and philosophy, and these things became prevalent in his lyrics. His lyrics contained many references to the Five-Percent Nation and Louis Farrakhan. He began to spend more time in New York to secure another all-star lineup for his sophomore project, Black Jesus. Towards the end of his life, he went through a mental crisis, but never began to seek psychological counselling.

On 4 June 1998, Behrmann was driving on the Interstate 495 in a maroon Toyota sedan when it is believed that he shot his girlfriend Beverly Cora before shooting and killing himself at 3:30 p.m. near the Route 213 exit. The car careened off the highway, striking a tree, and flipping over several times. The 9mm semiautomatic glock handgun was found by police about twenty to thirty feet from the vehicle. The couple had been together for eleven years, and had no history of violence. No motive has ever been determined.