I don’t judge anybody for choosing to do what’s lucrative or to go a direction based on what’s happening in music. Why do you choose to stay true to your core values as a conscious rapper?Īt the end of the day, I have to be myself. I’m independent, as in I’m a boss of a larger team. I’m not going straight to TuneCore or owned by another entity and being told what to do. It’s licensing it so this company can have ownership and get behind it like their own, a shared endeavor.
When this is done, I will get all my masters back. is still counted as an independent release in that I have ownership over my masters. I have a strong team and strong backing from Empire. They’re not holding the artists back in ways that some of those restrictive agreements that traditional labels do. They have label services, label professionals, but they’re ahead of the curve in that they allow artists to maintain ownership in their masters and creative rights with how they want to sound and when they want to release. It is a label, but they’re the forward-thinking label that allows you to come up with distribution agreements. I had the support of a very equipped team, from my management to Empire. A lot of people look at independence as “Do it by yourself,” but nobody is successful by themselves. I released Black Habits independently, but not absolutely independently. Do you consider them independent releases? They did the right things so I could shine and that’s what I’m proud of and grateful for most.īlack Habits and War & Wonders were both released on WoodWorks Records/Empire.
#Rhythm and flow d smoke tv
They made wise decisions, from selecting the judges to, to how they told stories that would allow people to connect in an environment that still has reality TV elements. But there were elements they did correctly because people behind the scenes were committed to doing something authentic for hip-hop. It doesn’t look like something that allows an artist like me to rise to the top. That’s the reason I was about to pass on the show. I don’t want to compare myself to the other contestants, because they’re all incredible artists, but it was a special opportunity for somebody like me, because those type of shows don’t see artists like myself often.
Rhythm + Flow was one of those God-sent opportunities that, given my experience in music and my family in Inglewood, I had a different level of preparation for. There’s no better feeling than to finally be proud enough to say, “I can let this go and give it to the world.” But before that moment, there’s no more difficult feeling than, “All right, we got to do more.” Given how much work is put into these projects that aren’t in our comfort zone, not just the recording but the inner work we do to make sure we come from an honest place, this feels amazing.ĭo you believe winning Rhythm + Flow fast-tracked your trajectory? 29), he announced his North American War & Wonders tour, set to begin in Detroit on Nov. Up next, D Smoke will release a new novel, which he says is practically “a movie,” and on Wednesday (Sept. Also exciting for D Smoke: he wed singer Angelina Sherie on July 24, a milestone he celebrates in his album cover, which depicts his new wife adorning a gold necklace on him as he moves “one step closer to God” in marriage. 25 on Billboard’s Heatseekers Albums and Independent Albums charts, respectively, and has earned 52,000 equivalent album units to date, according to MRC Data.įor War & Wonders, D Smoke co-executive produced alongside DJ Shanks, and received contributions from producers including Marlonwiththeglasses, D.K. The project followed the Inglewood native (born Daniel Farris) winning the 2019 inaugural season of Netflix’s hip-hop star search competition, Rhythm + Flow, with judges Cardi B, Chance the Rapper and T.I. The bilingual teacher-turned-rapper scored two 2020 Grammy nominations thanks to the project, for best new artist and best rap album, and also gained an outstanding new artist nomination from the NAACP Image Awards. Sir also appeared on “Closer to God,” a duet featured on D Smoke’s 2020 debut, Black Habits.
0 kommentar(er)
