15 July 31 - August 6, 2025 dallasobserver.com DALLAS OBSERVER Classified | MusiC | dish | Culture | unfair Park | Contents to quit, too. He started in radio in 2003 (on-air in Dallas from 2013 to 2023), and DJed parties and nightclubs in the ’90s. By his early 40s, he didn’t want to be the old guy in the club, spinning new rap he didn’t like. When DJ Leo J in- vited him to do Saturday nights at BrainDead, and Medz joined him, he saw their potential to become a hip-hop duo. “I knew there was no pressure to play new shit, no pressure to pack a dance floor,” Menace said. “It’s just DJing. We are playing the music we love. And it became huge. So now I’m 100% back to DJing. I’m at home making new edits all the time, I am remixing shit. I’m looking for the instrumental of this. I’m 24/7 again.” They do at least 200 gigs a year, totaling 800 since they started four years ago, and earn a living in Dallas without traveling. “What I think we have captured right now is this select group of people that are about our age who have adult kids now, and so are back to going, ‘Hey, what do I do with my time?’ And we’re the only thing that’s providing them with what they want. They can’t go anywhere else and find the music that they love, that vibe that they loved,” Menace said. “All the clubs are now playing all the new stuff,” Medz said. Dance floors at clubs spinning new music often fill up more people standing around than those moving to the beats. Branoofunck’s crowd comes out to dance. “It’s not the same thing,” Menace said. “We’re giving people our age who are back to trying to go out something to do.” The Sound of Deep Ellum T he shows at Armoury D.E. resemble a block party tucked away off Elm Street. Their fans embrace East Coast rap, West Coast rap, reggae, R&B and soul, and don’t complain about the records they spin. In a block party environment, the crew with the biggest speakers usually wins. “The sound that we have travels at least this whole block, no matter which way you go. People can hear it from that point. And they’re constantly telling me, ‘I couldn’t find y’all, I just kept following the sound,’” Medz said. “Most of the time, they won’t come through the front doors; they go to the back. Find us and come through the front. We have that absolute block party mentality, whose speakers are bigger kind of mentality. And our speakers are bigger.” “I think that people hear it, they walk up and they see, ‘Oh, wait, this is different. A drummer is playing. They hear one of their favorite songs, and they see the crowd. That’s what is infectious about it, too. The crowd. It’s such a vibe,” Menace said. Branoofunck has established itself as “the sound of Deep Ellum,” concert promoter Gavin Mulloy said. Mulloy first saw them at BrainDead, which closed in 2021, and they im- pressed him with the depth of hip-hop songs they were play- ing that aren’t on most of today’s setlists. He followed them when they moved to Armoury D.E. “I have gone over there and seen 20 Sundays in a row at one point,” Mulloy said. “My buddy owns the bar right behind them, and even when they’re at capacity, you can sit on the back patio of Elm Street Saloon and hear them over there.” Mulloy says Branoofunck is making the neighborhood better by getting people to visit Deep Ellum regularly to see their afternoon or evening shows. “They just bring positiv- ity,” he said. “Their afternoon [set] is the happiest thing that goes on anywhere in Dallas and Fort Worth. It’s what Deep Ellum is supposed to be about when we do it right. It’s peo- ple that don’t know each other coming to hang out, and ev- erybody is just having a great time.” Branoofunck usually plays from 3 p.m. to 7 p.m. on Sun- days, but has shifted its hours from 6 p.m. to 10 p.m., just early enough to get your partying in before being a responsible adult for the work week. Josh Smith of Banjo to Beats, who, with Amanda Smith, became the entertainment directors of Armoury D.E. in early 2022, was responsible for booking Bra- noofunck. The couple saw their potential when Branoo- funck’s community was budding at BrainDead and wanted to find them a new home after the brewery shut down. Smith said Branoofunck brings an authentic connection to the local community, a passion for hip-hop culture and a high-level un- derstanding of past and present music trends. “Menace’s dedication to bringing creative edits and new twists on classic tunes, coupled with the layers created by Medz behind the kit, certainly helps to check all of those boxes,” Josh Smith wrote via email. What makes Branoofunck different is that admission is free. In Dallas, there are many options for hearing hip-hop, like going to a club with expensive bottle service to see a rap- per perform or paying for a ticket to a show. Branoofunck’s fans choose them because the goal isn’t to be seen; it’s about enjoying good music. “People are tired of that plastic club life,” Smith wrote. “They want real connections. They want to hear deep cuts and classics in an environment that is welcoming and non- judgmental. As a society, we are longing for communities similar to the one Branoofunck provides.” Branoofunck Worldwide A t every Branoofunck show, you’ll see someone wearing gold Branoofunck hoop earrings and a Branoofunck name plate, keeping their style a throwback to ’80s and ’90s hip-hop. Menace gives them a shout-out, urging fans to buy some merch and throwing in bad jokes about how their merch has expanded to pil- lowcases, nipple rings and other random memorabilia. Ja- nette Pantoja, their “merch girl,” said the energy remains the same at all their gigs. (Branoofunck also does Thurs- days at The Revelers Hall and Saturdays at The Alley Mu- sic House in Addison.) “The first time I ever went, I was immediately hooked,” Pantoja said. “It’s such an addictive feeling to be in that type of environment where everybody around you loves music just as much as you do.” Pantoja, who has a background in fashion and makeup, did merch for their opening slots for Raekwon, Pete Rock and Common before she became the designated hostess, greeter and merch correspondent at the party. She now sees regulars mixed with fans who travel across the country — and a few international ones — who hear about them through social media or the grapevine. “Slowly but surely, you start to meet everybody. And then it just becomes like this little family. There are regulars that everybody knows everybody, and then there are people that we know,” she said. “Like on Sunday, we know who the new people are. We’re like, ‘Oh, it’s their first time.’” For a pair who isn’t determined to travel, their success at home now has them thinking about taking the show back on the road. They just wrapped up a three-day residency at St. Thomas, where about 30 people from Dallas flew out to see them. “We want to do Branoofunck worldwide,” Menace said. “I’m getting hit up by people in Miami like, ‘Hey, I haven’t seen you in forever.’ We got a message from somebody in Australia the other day who wants to book us, so we’ll see what happens.” Give the Drummer Some I t’s an hour before Branoofunck wraps up their set at 10 p.m. The party has reached its apex, with people gath- ered in front to line dance. The birthday table has or- dered several rounds of shots throughout the night. The get down is going up, taking us through unexpected corners of music that go from Digital Underground’s “The Humpty Dance” to Chaka Khan’s “Ain’t Nobody.” Two guys at the birthday table are rapping along to Bell Biv Devoe together before absolutely losing it when Michael Jackson comes on. Carmalita Robinson has been dancing all night. She is a Branoofunck fan who comes at least once a week. Her first time was in 2023 after her sister told her about them. Seeing them took her on a trip down memory lane. At Armoury D.E., she can relive her younger days when she listened to ‘90s and underground hip-hop with her friends. Now in her 50s, she’s in a different place, but the en- ergy from back then remains the same. This is therapy that makes her feel good and happy. “What I love about this place and the vibe is that you have all walks of life. You have all kinds of people,” Robin- son said. “You have all ages, all races, and there’s never any negative energy. Everybody is just having a good time and vibing to the music. Everybody is feeling it, and that’s what we are here for. It’s all love, and you can feel the unity.” Even though they don’t play hip-hop songs past 2010, they keep it fresh by playing modern tracks like Kendrick Lamar’s “Squabble Up” and Clipse’s “So Be It.” This Clipse song wasn’t even officially on streaming, yet Menace already had a rip of it. Medz has hopped off the stage, saying what’s up to fans who stick around. He gets a few hugs. He took one break during the set, his endurance unmatched. They’ll be back on Sunday to do it again because the party doesn’t start until Branoofunck walks in. Mike Brooks Branoofunck fans dance at a July 2025 Armoury show.
