Hailing from the beautiful twin island country of Trinidad & Tobago, Danii is a Caribbean native who is daring to be different with his artistic style. Since migrating to Canada in 2012, the island prince has been making waves in the music scene with the help of another rising talent, producer Caleb McLean. Albeit from different cultural backgrounds, the two have successfully managed to marry the integrity of the Toronto rap scene with the cadences of Danii’s T&T upbringing- the result being a dynamic and distinct sound.
This delightful musical amalgamation is exemplified in his latest trap single “St. James Flow”,
which pays homage to his Caribbean roots and effectively showcases his writing prowess. The
rock-inspired trap song begins with the ringing of a school bell as if you to notify the listener that
class is now in session. Ironically, Danii’s lyrical jars are not for the faint of heart ; despite the
ringing of school bells, his content is not child’s play. In the undeniably catchy hook, he asks
“Tell me if you really want this war?” not because he is fearful but because he is the one who
brings the smoke. And who can really handle all this lyrical smoke? We can! And we are hot for
this budding rapper who is destined to follow in the footsteps of fellow T&T native Nicki Minaj
and ignite the North American rap scene.
Listen to “St. James Flow” here and get to know more about Danii below!
Hey Danii, great chatting with you! Tell us a bit about yourself.
If it’s anything people around me knows is that I care more about others than I do myself, I’m a hard worker, I don’t ask for handouts, I don’t ask for favours, if one way doesn’t work there is a million other ways to get it done, I’m the type to pray for something then go get it not just wait around for it, Music has been my passion since I discovered I was good at it and then turned into be great at it, spent 17 years of my life growing up in Trinidad, some of the greatest things in my life happened back home, Now I’m in a position where I can go hard for my family and the people that believe in me because for them I’ll do anything and that’s really me.
What is your writing process like? Do the lyrics come first or do you hear a beat and then the lyrics flow?
My writing process is different id say from most artist in my circle, most artist wait for an instrumental before writing, but for me I create the idea of the song in my head, then I create the title, then I create a rough hook, then I send that to my producer and he creates the beat around that and from there the lyrics just comes naturally too me because I already knew what I wanted to write before getting the beat.
What inspired “St. James Flow”?
St.James Flow came to me when I realize that I had music out but no music reflecting where I grew up or what it was like living in St. James (hometown) and I wanted to experiment rapping in my Trinidadian accent which I did on the second verse of that song, it was really just a reflection of my environment, the opening of the first verse was really how hostile how area was “I told em n*ggas I ain’t with the sh*ts but if they really wanna it I could give it too em, I was bournes road raise if you get the talking imma have to just stick to ya, in the black tida with the black rims with the black tint and the black tims in the back road we strapped in” We was really fight first talk after sort of bunch and the song reflected that.
How would you describe your sound to a prospective fan? What do you believe separates you from the pack?
I get ask this question a lot and I always say the same thing, what separates me from other artist is that I’m willing to experiment with new sounds and ideas to evolve and in terms of my sound, my music is so unusual to the listener when you hear my music you’re confused as to how I can even flow on something like this but it captures you and now all of a sudden you know the lyrics to the song, my sound is unique to me and unique to my listeners and they are open to me giving them different vibes with every release which makes it that much better.
What’s next for you in 2019? Any upcoming projects that you are excited about?
This year has already been such a great experience musically, the next step is giving my listeners music every month into a playlist I created called “More Of Me Less Of Them” i plan to release almost 15 songs this year including a short film & two music videos, and if the world is good too me I’ll be giving them a surprise 5 track EP by the end of the year, they didn’t know that but I give y’all the exclusive inside scoop. YDMForever.
Connect with Danii on social media
www.instagram.com/ydmofficial