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Meet the Artist Who Moves with Confidence and Determination: D'NME

Writer's picture: BUZZ LABUZZ LA


Burning up the North American hip-hop scene, D'NME is standing behind his thought, invoking rhymes, creating the material that challenges beliefs and idolisms nationwide. Born Roderick Anson in Toronto, Canada, D'NME first arrived in the underground Toronto rap scene in the late 2000s with his first mixtape, "The Death Of Me." D'NME skillfully honed in on the emergence of the digital music market and independently released his second mixtape, "Guns & Roses," in 2012.


Staying true to his indie roots, D'NME has appeared on several underground collaborations and was featured in the Indie Grind Spotlight edition of 'Hip Hop Weekly's' magazine. Since then, D'NME has shown no signs of slowing down, creating and releasing several more projects. His love for creating authentic, "in your face" lyrical rap has garnered D'NME great notoriety in the independent scene and has been featured on blogs such as Thisis50.com, RespectMag.com, and Allhiphop.com. His seasoned approach in building his artistic creations comes from the many lessons he has learned over the years and takes complete accountability for the directions he takes his flow.

Discover D'NME today and listen to "Untouchable" here.



Hey D’NME, welcome to BuzzMusic! We’d like to start by saying you just might have blown our speakers with your hard-hitting single “Untouchable”. What made you want to write a track that emphasizes authenticity, and staying away from stupidity?

Thank you for having me. It’s great to know that “Untouchable” resonated with you guys. To be honest, I really wrote “Untouchable” for me. I guess you could say the love I have for authentic, in your face, lyrical rap inspired me to write the song the way I did. Regardless of what direction I go in, musically, I always want people to see me as an MC first. I take a lot of pride in the art of rapping, so when it comes to me as an MC, you’re definitely going to get a lot of authenticity because I approach rap with that competitive mindset.

With regards to the underlying production with “Untouchable”, the beat ranges from old school to modern-day hip hop. Where did you want the production to take the song? How did you originally want the track to sound?

When I was in the studio with my producer, Jon Bonus, I asked him to make me something that gives me the freedom to just straight-up rap. Jon is so dope at crafting music that compliments my rap style, but he’s also very strategic when it comes to producing. So even though there’s an old school feel, he made sure that the production also maintained a current sound as well so the record wouldn’t come across as too dated. The last thing you want to do is have great rapping on a beat that doesn’t grab the listener’s attention because it sounds too old. As far as the content goes, I’d be lying if I told you that I knew exactly what I was going to rap about when Jon was making the beat. I knew for sure that the track would be rap heavy, but that’s about it. I actually started writing the lyrics for “Untouchable” a year or so after the beat was made. A lot of times, I need to live with a beat for a while before I write something to it. Once I wrote the first four bars, I started to think: “Ok this is going to be one of those types of tracks where I’m showing off my skills and making a statement as a true MC.”

Within your single “Untouchable”, your lyrical content serves nothing but confidence and knowing who you are. Have you always captured this self-assured tone, or was it a journey to build up that striking confidence?

I’ve always believed in myself, but that unshakeable confidence I have is definitely something that I’ve built up throughout the years. All the years that I’ve invested in rapping gives me confidence, but more than that, a lot of psychological conditioning has played a huge part in my confidence. I constantly repeat affirmations and visualize myself in that greatest rapper conversation. I think you have to believe that you’re the greatest in whatever you do to really make an impact and attract great things into your life. I’m of the belief that you have to champion yourself and see yourself as great before anyone else does. 

We’ve heard that you began releasing music of your own through mixtapes in the early 2000s. Coming such a long way in your career, what lessons have you learned after releasing music for this long? I’ve learned so many lessons over the years, but one of the most important lessons that I’ve learned is that you have to take one hundred percent accountability for your career and for the choices you make. The music business has a lot of twists and turns, but if you are honest with yourself and take accountability, you’ll become immune to the trials and tribulations that a lot of others have fallen victim to. We hear horror stories every day of bad deals or certain opportunities that fell through, but if we step back and really look at every situation, it starts with the individual and their choice. For me, if something doesn’t go as planned in my career, I don’t blame anyone, I take accountability, revise my strategy and continue to move forward.

 

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