Leor Dimant was born to a Latvian-Jewish family in Riga, when it was part of the Soviet Union. His first contact with music was through his father Grisha Dimant (1951–2007),[1] who performed in a rock band with his friends as a guitarist.
In 1976 when Dimant was four, he and his family emigrated to Italy, where they remained for a year until they obtained a visa. His parents chose to move to the New York area. There, his father performed in various Russian clubs and restaurants, mostly in Brighton Beach.
Dimant and his parents lived in Jersey City, New Jersey for some time. They moved to Los Angeles in 1987, where his father got a job at a new Russian restaurant. His first introduction to hip-hop was in Jersey City, when his school held a talent show with several students performing a rap song, and Dimant was amazed. Once he moved to Los Angeles, he quickly became interested in hip hop culture, including breakdancing and graffiti. Before learning to DJ, he started off as a beatboxer. He later practiced DJing using his friend's turntables and mixer.[2]
Career
Everlast and House of Pain
In the late 1980s, Dimant became friends with a rapper who, at that time, dated rapper Everlast. When Everlast was about to go on a European tour with Ice-T and Rhyme Syndicate, he mentioned that he would like to hear Dimant beatbox, and they met. Everlast was impressed by his beatboxing skills, and he invited Dimant to be his DJ on the upcoming tour. Dimant, who was only 16 at the time, decided to do so and dropped out of school.
After the tour, in 1990, Everlast's first solo album, including a track featuring scratching by Dimant, was released to both critical and commercial failure.
In 1996, on the eve of the release of the group's third album, produced by Everlast and DJ Lethal, things began to go sour. DJ Lethal claims it started to become a hassle, and simply was not fun anymore. The day the album was released, the group broke up.
Limp Bizkit
On House of Pain's final tour, Limp Bizkit, an up-and-coming band from Jacksonville, Florida was hired as a supporting act. DJ Lethal and the band became friends, and later, Limp Bizkit hired him to do some work on their recordings, eventually asking him if he wanted to join them. DJ Lethal accepted the offer, and the band became one of the most popular nu metal groups during the late 90s and early 2000s, selling more than 40 million records worldwide.
DJ Lethal performing with Limp Bizkit at KROQ Weenie Roast 2019
DJ Lethal wanted his contributions to the band recordings to be more original than typical DJs in bands at the time. "There are a couple of other rock bands that have DJs and they're just like, [mimics a chirp scratch] 'Hey, what's going on? Let me spin around a couple of times and show off that I can spin two records.' So I definitely knew I didn't want to be just another DJ in a rock band. I wanted to be another instrument—a part of the band, like another guitar player."[2]
On March 17, 2018, five years after his departure from the band, DJ Lethal reunited with Limp Bizkit on stage during a concert in New Zealand. He later announced through Twitter that he had officially rejoined Limp Bizkit.[3]
In a 2009 interview with the Latvian newspaper Diena, Dimant professed to still feeling "Latvian" despite his many years in the USA. This connection stems from the fact that he was born there, and has a grandmother, other relatives, and many friends of the family there. He mentions Laima Vaikule as an important family friend who encouraged him to maintain contacts with the country of his birth.
During his early years growing up in Riga, Dimant spoke mainly Russian at home and at school. He says his parents could speak Latvian, but did not want their son to learn it, so that they could have private conversations without him being able to understand. Nevertheless, Dimant can still recall several phrases in Latvian, such as "Nevajag viņam!" ('He doesn't need [it] !').[4]
^Tamuļeviča, Džeina; Tamuļevičs, Dainis; Baņģieris, Artis (May 19, 2009). "VIDEO: Limp Bizkit mūziķis DJ Lethal joprojām jūtas latvietis". Diena (in Latvian and English). Retrieved May 20, 2009. Note that the interviewer incorrectly interprets that by the phrase "Nevajag viņam!", Dimant means to say "Nestāsti viņam!" ('Don't tell him!').
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