Life Updateeeee 111523

LIFE UPDATEEEEE 111523

For Immediate Release.

Hi.

For anyone reading this, I just wanna say thank u. I very randomly had the urge to write this blog post, so here it goes.

As you know, I just recently released my newest baby, Hell Now, Heaven Later — a “passion project” album if you will. For the soul, from the soul. My sixth project to date and my fourth full-length studio effort. Technically speaking, I worked on that album from about August 2020, when the first song on the tracklist was written (“Rx”), to about the very top of 2023, when I recorded the final vocals for the album on a song I needed to make some last-minute changes on (“Trae Young”). So, about two a half years, almost. I took some breaks throughout that time, too. I worked on a bunch of other music that didn’t make this particular project. And, I even realeased a project during that time (My COVERBOY EP released June 2021)! Haaa.

So there was a lot of time that passed and naturally, a lot of shit that happened between the conception and the completion of what became this album. After I officially finished it in December/January, it was sent off for mixing/mastering — which took a lot longer than expected this time around. This extended time gave me almost an entire year to sit with my album. To sit completely in it and analyze every single second of it. I’ve never given myself this much time to sit with a finished project ever, and at times I grew extremely impatient. But every time I listened to these songs, they evoked the same strong emotions and feelings as they did when I wrote/recorded them, and I knew I had a solid body of work on my hands — one I could be proud of for not only years to come but for the rest of my life. These songs stood the test of time. I wasn’t indending to land a record deal or a hit record. I didn’t give a single shit about none of that for this record. I needed to put this out for my healing, my soul, in hopes to help heal others too.

There are moments on the album that literally make me cringe. LOL. I’ve never been so damn vulnerable, and it’s pretty scary for me because I’ve always been such a private person. As I got older and into the latter half of my 20s, I subconsciously became even more private and closed off — and in turn, my music did too. Don’t get me wrong: I’m very proud of D Money and COVERBOY, and I was very intentional about those projects, but they are just surface-level songs. They don’t give you the real me. They give you Damez, but not Damién, you know? I feel my first 3 projects — Midnight on Cloud Nine, The Art of Extravagance, Boy Meets World — had a mix of surface-level songs and also songs that really dug beneath to give you a much more introspective view of me as an artist and as a person. I wanted to return back to that. I got so tired of putting on this façade like I was this happy, confident, ballin’ ass nigga. The truth is, I’m pretty fucking lonely. I’m broken. I’m lost. I’m scared. I’m scarred. And the depression/anxiety I’m living with hasn’t necessarily moved out just yet. But we workin’.

The universe has forced my life to slow down, almost completely, as I’m currently recovering from an intense surgical procedure I had on my neck last month. I haven’t had this much “down” time since 2020’s quarantine, but moreso since my college days — because for the first time since then, I have all of this time alone. It’s been a gift and a bit of a curse, too. I was able to plan, design and release some Merch for the first time in my career. I needed this time to mentally and physically reset more than I probably even realize. But its also given me too much time to sit with my thoughts, haha. Yall know I gotta stay busy to keep my mind off things, and I just haven’t had that crutch for about a month now. It’s forced me to face and deal with a lot of things I’d been burying and running from with a busy schedule. As you can hear on the album, it’s evident to me that I’ll never be the same mentally/emotionally. But being worried sick if I’ll ever be completely the same physically, too, has not been so kind to my mental health. :/ I’m so ready to get back to dancing and working out and perfoming and recording! Ugh.

But nonetheless, I’m still here dawg. I feel blessed to still be able to tell my stories and do what I love while I’m here. I do NOT use the word “friend” loosely, especially at this stage in my life, but I feel very blessed to be able to call the people in my life that term and know without a doubt that there’s so much meaning behind that word. I’m so proud to watch my friends/family grow and evolve. I thank God for my Javï Bear. I am listening to God and the Universe and I’m allowing this chapter to do what it is supposed to do, whatever that is…

I am disciplining myself to get completely focused as I close out both this recovery process and the year 2023. I have some exciting things happening in 2024 and honestly, thinking about what’s to come is what is keeping me mentally afloat. I’ll be stepping away from social media for some time and only posting to promote my work really (I’m gonna try my best too, anyway. Ha). At this very moment, I’m listening to beats and scouting some production for my next project. I already have the name, concept, sonic direction, pretty much everything. Lots of records already done too. I’m finally ready for my R&B/Pop project, Taking a break from the rapping for a bit, and I’ve been simultaneously working on it for years while writing and recording other projects. Songs about love, relations, the feels, all that. I’m trying new things, new genres, new collaborations. My discography is growing. I’m expanding my sound and my sonic palette. It’s time.

I can’t wait to share more music with the universe.
Thank you from the deepest depths of my soul for listening to my art.

D

OH! And COP SOME MERCH!!!! :)