Following our write-up of a series of new releases from Mute Davinci, we were gifted the opportunity to interview the hard-working rapper and artist to find out more about what drives him and what his hopes are for the future. Here’s the conversation in full.
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Hey – thanks for the interview! You’ve been busy this year – what’s been your main plan of action as an artist in 2019?
Most definitely dealing with my own mental health as I’ve been developing myself as an artist. Other than that, just giving back to the fans and keeping everyone positive. Also, I can’t even lie – around the time of the last article I most definitely had no clue what I was doing for my own career, I literally just had some tracks stacked up and figured I would drop them to see what happened. Breaking News, which was the first EP, most definitely caught traction and then all of a sudden boom, I’m on like one hundred and something news outlets defining me as Breaking News it was insane. I had to make my own plan from there.
For those who don’t know, how would you describe your sound and your approach to making music?
I feel like I’m unique in a few ways being that most of my family is from Chicago, at the same time another portion is from Alabama, and well me, I live in Tennessee. I’ve been around so many musical influences from Frank Sinatra, to Kid Rock, to Nelly, Keith Sweat, and so many more on top of those that just gave me a different vision when I hear a beat come on.
I would describe it as me being myself and being me really, I just let loose in the booth and leave my soul in there. I realized that in doing that, I began to influence a lot of people though, I’d describe it as a way to use the negatives through an art form like music and turn them into nothing but positives.
If you can only choose one, which of your latest tracks would you recommend to new listeners, and why?
I would say So High which I just randomly found a beat for and created in a very messed up mental state one day, or Facts Spoken which is actually one of my homies’ Khris Too Lit songs. I’m a feature on it and I feel like the message we were both able to portray together as two people going through entirely different struggles currently is something that could quite possibly do way more than some people are giving it credit for. Peep what I’m talking about in my verse but at the same time peep the phone call effect sort of like a jail phone, also you have to peep Khris Too Lit verse entirely it’s some of the realest words I’ve ever heard in my life and a lot of these so called “real” ones out here need to hear it. Real has a different definition to people that really came out of the street. Sometimes, we should take a break from all the fame, likes, follows, clout in other words, and just honestly take a look at the state of things around us. There’s real life people having to deal with things out here daily that 60% of the American population would still think is a movie.
Do you always write from a place of honesty and personal experience, or does fiction come into play on occasion?
I guess I could answer like this, did you just hear the music, or did you feel it?
What are the main values you want to represent in the hip hop world?
First off I just want to be myself and have fun, basically encourage everyone to do the same thing too. I mean the rap game is pretty solid right now, I just want to get in and keep it that way, work with some major people, and connect others that really have talent out here. At the same time, we all have a message to send. I slick want to help independent artists like myself too, whether they’re dealing with the mental toll this takes on you, don’t have a team, the money behind them, no clue what exactly their plan may be, I want to help them deal with that. I’m actually already doing this in a way. If you visit this link here and follow the instructions, you can get things like radio play, tv placement, and more for just like ten dollars or less. My blog has some free promo tips as well.
We all started off somewhere, just don’t be ashamed if you’re not really buzzing right now and get the actual exposure you need. It’s what most artists lack.
What are your thoughts on mainstream hip hop at present, and your hopes for the genre going forwards?
I think the mainstream scene is very hard to get into without either having a huge bag up, which takes a good amount of time if you want to get it legitimately, or you can always clout chase. Or end up in a situation lol. The thing is though, people like to say oh no just submit here, do this, do that. When you do those things though, it leads to a lack of product on the musician’s part because they have to spend so much time finding channels to submit certain things to. Now, submission sites are charging money to a lot of artists too. DistroKid hasn’t been sending out artist’s money like they’re supposed to and somehow they still have people fooled into buying a new plan. Some people honestly still do not know about Spotify playlists, Last.fm, Reverbnation, Tonden, and a lot of other things that could really help you save time as a musician. I’m not hating by any means, the mainstream rap wave is super straight right now. For independents though, the game could always be easier. With no risk though, comes no reward I guess.
If you could collaborate with anyone at all, past or present, who would you choose – and why?
Past – 80% of all rappers, that was the most iconic wave of hip-hop to me and it will always be that way in my opinion. Tupac, Biggie, Snoop, Geto Boys, I could honestly go all day. Times change though, different struggles bring different art as always.
Present – Future, Rich Homie Quan, and Lil Baby. Future pioneered a new wave with the early tapes, Rich Homie put out that song #Listen which is one of the hardest songs ever to me, and investments lol that probably inspired half the artists out here to sign themselves, Lil Baby, I just mess with Lil Baby and everything QC has going on period, they locked down a city and the industry runs that city. They did it all from the streets and everyone knew everyone if that’s not a dream of any hip-hop artist out here then they’re slipping. It’s like a bunch of friends got together one day just on a let’s take over the world type tip. Mad respect that way.
What’s next for you?
Focus on my money, rebuilding a team, and just marketing strategies. The game has changed so much in the last five years with all these platforms and how popular social media has become, you can’t avoid that at all or your career is doomed for real. The most important thing I would have to say is, putting out quality content for my fans though. Thank y’all for the support!
Is there anything else we should know?
I’m on all major platforms right now, over 20 songs, in the last three months I locked down Google’s search engine, put out plenty of heat, had multiple interviews, and been on FOX, CBS, ABC, NBC, Telemundo, and more!
Here’s a link to mostly all of my stuff, you can find me on Reverb Nation, Last.FM, and really anywhere you could possibly think of other than that. Shoutout to Chattanooga by the way, for a pretty overlooked city we have some major upcoming talent out here. Check me out on Google if the link you were looking for isn’t on that landing page. Also, go check out that Freestyle I did for my guy Gwoppo that was taken far too soon not too long ago. Me and this man had some insane content coming out. Just never got to finish it. One more thing, here’s my EPK.
Everyone struggling needs to stay positive, no matter what y’all are going through, if you take 5 minutes to literally sit there close your eyes and just imagine what you want, I swear one day, you will have that. It will give you a drive like no other and you’ll be thinking about that picture you painted so hard that you may just forget, even for one second, what the actual true problem was.
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Find & follow Mute Davinci on Instagram or YouTube or visit his Website. Check out more of the best independent releases via our Hip Hop Playlist.
