DVNEHPPY

Houma, Louisiana

EP:

Sublime

Q: Why the name Sublime?

D: I always drew inspiration from the band Sublime back in the 1970’s, 1980’s. That was one of the bands I listened to during my experimental phase with music, as far as just listening to different genre’s, trying to figure out what types of music I actually like as a person. I just remember that band sticking with me. I would definitely say one of the top 10 bands of all time. Whenever I listen back to the project, that name jumped out to me, Sublime. Might as well just pay homage to the homies. They gave me some great music; I’m going to give great music. It’s a great name.

Q: Why was “Sublime” the single off of the EP?

D: I feel like that was the song that tied the whole project together. It was one of the first songs I wrote for the project. I wouldn’t say that I morphed the other songs around that song but I guess you can say I kind of did. I drew inspiration from that song and kind of took bits and pieces and put it through out. It kind of trickled down.

Q: How much time do you spend in New Orleans?

D: As of recently, a lot more time than when I was growing up. I would say I started being in New Orleans when I was 17 or 18. I didn’t have my own wheels so when the homie would say we’re going to New Orleans, I would say, “aw shit, fuck it, Imma come.” Walk around the French Quarter doing all that Jazz. The energy in New Orleans is phenomenal.

Q: Do you have a preference of where you want to live?

D: I haven’t gotten to that stage yet because I’m still like “I just want to stay home right now.” Especially with my little girl, I have a little two-year-old, and I don’t want her growing up without seeing the majority of her family. So I would like to stay down here for a little bit longer but I do have aspirations to move. Whether it’s New Orleans, there’s no telling. But I have considered Austin and Atlanta, Georgia. It’s still Saints all day though, don’t get it twisted.

Q: What would you say are your musical influences?

D: Childish Gambino is a big influence. Mainly because of the fact of his whole way that he came up, being a nerd. Going from nerd to rap sensation is just incredible. I feel like that’s the same boat I was in, still in. I’m a fucking nerdy ass dude.

Q: What is your relationship to your father and has he had any influence on your career as a musician or your life?

D: When I was younger I would say that me and my dad didn’t have the best type of relationship. And that was mainly due to him being incarcerated. After he got out, he got out right when I was just finishing second grade, but there wasn’t that connection. Growing up, I just had the women in my life. It was my mom, my grandma, my two aunts. My uncle D lived in the house as well. RIP to him, the greatest uncle of all time. I didn’t feel like I had a male model. I felt like that up until I hit my teenage years. We all get that phase of rebel and I was kind of like “Man, I don’t have to listen to you. You weren’t really there. Why should I listen to you?” But at the end of the day it’s still my dad at the end of the day, I love him. As I got older, as I started to hit my adulthood, when I turned 18 we would sit there and actually have conversations.

I remember the first time they caught me smoking. My mom brought me to his barbershop on the East Side of Houma. They sat me down; they laid out all the stuff my mom had found. It was like the weed, pipe, grinder. My dad said, “What are you doing?” And I just said I’m doing me, just being as kid. He asked me if I had aspirations, don’t you have interests you want to pursue. I hadn’t really thought about it, I was just living in the moment. I remember him specifically, “You’ve got too much intelligence to try and live a hood type lifestyle. That’s not the way we’re raising you.” It was basically him calling me a poser. I felt played but after that I sat back and really thought about it. I was like some of the stuff I am doing is stupid. I could do something that could potentially ruin my future. If I ever wanted to be president of the United States but if I got something on my record, that’s not going to happen. That made me take step back from reality and reevaluate shit.

I would say after that my relationship with my dad really started flourishing. I would say he’s my biggest inspiration and one of my biggest supporters. After I dropped Sublime, he called me obviously in tears and was like “This is the best thing I’ve ever heard in life and it came from you.” It was a big weight off my shoulder. I don’t feel like a failure. But you know how secretly you just want you’d dads approval. I don’t have a comparison but it was just fucking phenomenal. Basically that how me and my dad’s relationship has developed over time. Our relationship has opened up a lot.

Q: When naming the song were you thinking of “excellence”?

D: Yes and no. I was really just thinking of the band. I just remember the feeling their music invoked when I discovered them. It was the same feeling I felt when listening back to the project.

Q: What is in your listening rotation?

D: JPEGMAFIA, Don Toliver, Isaiah Rashad, DVNEHPPY

Q: Do you want surpass people you know or other artists?

D: That’s everybody. I treat it like a big ass competition. I’m in this bitch to win. I don’t like second place. I’m not settling for second place. It takes me a little bit longer but when I do drop it, I make sure it’s A-1 and it’s official. And I make sure that it always touches the people.

Q: Do you feel that new artists should do more collaborations?

D: I feel that it can go either or. If you want to have collabs on it go for it. It’s your music.  You’re doing it to please yourself not please other people. If you are doing it please other people then that’s kind of pretentious. Whenever I made “STFU” I knew Quavius Black was the person I wanted to have. I had wrote the first verse and I was stuck for a while. I tried writing a second verse and wasn’t feeling it so I thought that a feature would thrive right here. I hit up Quavius and he said he was down for it. After that it was gravy.

Q: What’s the most you’ve ever spent on a shopping trip?

D: The most I’ve ever spent was on one pair of shoes. I don’t really spend a lot when I go shopping. For the most part I’ve always worked retail or known someone at the store. So the most I’ve ever spent was $220 on a pair of NMDs. Everyone was hyping them up so I got them. But honestly I don’t even wear them. Shout out to Vans.

Q: What does it mean to be a “monster behind designer garments”?

D: It gives you that feeling of a vile being in a sense. You know that you’ve done something that’s fucked up. You know that internally and the more that you ignore that type of action the more it festers inside. It can start off as a little speck but that speck can eventually start growing into this vile, disgusting ass being. Eventually that’s the person you start feeling like whenever you look in the mirror. And until you confront that issue, that person is going to always be there. So when I looked in the mirror I saw all these nice ass clothes, I see the style, but on the inside you feel like a monster. I don’t feel like that any more. I feel like I’ve surpassed that point in my life. We love to see a king grow.

Q: What was the process of making Sublime?

D: Overall, Sublime took about 9 months. I don’t really like telling people that but fuck it. I had to pick out all the beats first. “Sublime” was actually the first song I started working on. I wrote that song and I knew the basis that I wanted the entire project to be on. I wrote to all the beats, I made all the corrections as I went by; rehearsing to make sure it’s a stable tempo to perform it. That’s another to consider when writing as well, because yeah you can write this incredibly complicated ass bar but can you perform it. The number one thing with my music is that I want people to interact and I want people to be to sing along. I want people to have a good time at a DVNEHPPY show. I want people to “catch the vibe.”

Writing took me about four months. Three months writing and like two months editing. Recording took about three months. Play it back in the car, trying to catch a feeling. I would say two months around the actual planning of releasing it. I had to drop the single first in February. Then the whole project at the end of April. I really wanted to take this project seriously. I did research on how to market myself. I had to figure out how to label myself as and artist.

Listen to Sublime now:

Apple Music: https://music.apple.com/us/album/subl...

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/album/26y91j...

Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/thedivinehippy...

Connect with DVNEHPPY:

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thedivinehi...