Today we’d like to introduce you to D-Trait.
D-Trait, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
Where it all started for me was my childhood, where I was conceived (Philly), where I was born (Denver), where my parents are from (US•mom) and (Nigeria•dad), where their parents are from, places we lived and things I saw. My parents split up at an early age, I was 3 or 4, so I’ve always felt like I’ve been caught between two worlds and each world has two alternate realities in it, I had to learn to navigate all four realities.
On one hand, my mom is one of the hardest working people I know! She is the most kind-hearted, loving person I’ve ever met. My mom’s work ethic comes from her mom… my Grandma, who’s name is Will. R.I.P when faced with a tough task my Grandma “Will” used to always say “where there’s a will, there’s a way” #doubleEntendre #BARS lol but my mom always carried that spirit and taught me that you can have whatever you want if you’re willing to educate yourself and put the work in to get it. I saw her working literally three jobs to support me and my siblings. On the other hand, I saw some of the closest relatives to me in and out of jail for various reasons, afflicted with drug addictions, caught up in the street, or living off the system… a stark contrast… two completely different realities. I mastered both.
On my Dads side reality is that My Dad is a full-blooded Nigerian man, raised partially in Brooklyn, NY, a former star athlete and hardworking making me half Nigerian but American born (first-generation boy) and American raised… my fellow American Nigerian millennials know being a kid in America with a Nigerian name is not easy when you don’t have other Nigerian influences around you. Being an African kid period is hard in a country that sheds such one-sided and negative light on an entire continent as if there are not 54 individual nations with they’re own currencies, their own financial status, and their own individual “places on the world front”. “They make it seem like all things Africa are bad, which is not true, but that has nothing to do with you fighting kids at your predominantly white school because your name is Tundé (Tune-day) (insert shrug emoji). 🤷🏾♂️ Reality is I was an American kid with an American upbringing and Nigerian roots. Raised in the ’90s on 90’s nickelodeon, Disney, WB and Cartoon Network shows… super soakers (until the droughts killed em off) and playing outside. I’m as American as they come… lol but there is another side to my American-Nigerian life.
Reality number two was that all families have issues and nobodies family is perfect but it seemed like all my Nigerian family were superstars at life… Lawyers, Doctors, physicists college professors you name it… seemed like majority of my cousins grew up in two-parent households and seemed to have a smooth road paved for them… their parents did homework with them, they had big houses and had nothing but the best. I’m not saying we were poor. I think we were lower middle class when I was a kid but the life my Nigerian family in America was living certainly wasn’t MY reality. I look at how my parents are living now and the beautiful lives they’ve built for my siblings and I’m proud of their growth and think about how I want to be able to do those things for my kids one day (I don’t have any yet) but I really feel like it was the stark contrasts of these four realities that shaped and hardened me.
Combine that with feeling like I was isolated and didn’t fit all the way into any culture (other than sports and music) then frost that with the fact that I went to school with kids who got Porsche’s when they turn 16, but I went home to share the bed or the floor with four cousins in my Grandmas’ small apartment, while simultaneously I had friends that lived in a trailer park. I saw life from every angle, I traveled a lot, I moved a decent amount and I saw a lot and that’s why I can relate to anyone, that’s why I can talk to anybody because I’ve been around EVERYBODY! from billionaire to dope fiend from rags to riches seen and interacted with them all. It’s why I am so good at seeing people’s pain because I know what it looks like, I grew from pain, you can put me anywhere and ill come out on top. So for me really that’s what started it all.
Fast forward some years to Me going to the greatest high school in the city… George Washington High school “G-DuuuB” and this is where I really first started making my name and doing shows. I used to go by D-Money but it was too cliche and I wanted to have a name that means something; in the process of me thinking of a name I thought: “who are you” what do you do” why do the people need YOU? and I got it. “THEY NEED ME! I’m the trait the game has been missing… hence “D-trait”. “At George, I used to stay and battle after school like everyday! #still undefeated and from there people came to know who I was but I didn’t really start recording heavy until probably my senior year. From there I grew, my circle shrank, and I’ve sharpened and increased my focus every year… I took a three almost four-year hiatus from 20-24 and then I came back with a vengeance, I dropped 12 seasons in 2018 which is a project record basically 2014-2017 it’s about the hardest three years of my adult life and the pains, the wins the losses and the triumph in growing from a young man to a MAN. I’ve been doing shows, touring, and bubbling up ever since!
In the last two years I’ve quickly become one of the cities’ most known unknowns and I’ve slowly but surely become one of the cities’ best-kept secrets. 2020 I’m looking to break out of that mold and become a household name. It’s time to make waves, not ripples.
Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
Definitely not, lol, I didn’t have the easiest path, no silver spoon, I’ve always known WHAT I want to do. I just didn’t know how to do it or who to turn to for help. I didn’t have a clear outline of HOW to do what I wanted to do. No rich uncle to show me the ropes in my field. I had to learn it on my own, had to learn the difference between professional promise makers and REAL professionals who actually get results. I had to learn the business and every aspect of it on my own… It was a blessing because it gave me the strength, the work ethic and the knowledge that I have now but while your losing sleep and spending time/money/resources going through it, not knowing who you can go to for information is hard. Early on in my career lack of mentorship was definitely an obstacle. Add in your normal independent artist struggles of having to worry about the roof over your head and the food on your table at the same time and you start to feel like your creativity is in a box. Like you have limitations because as an artist you are a business and your business is like a plant… your plant can only grow if you water it and the more you water it the faster it will grow… so being in a position where you have limitations on how much water you can give limits how fast you can grow and you start to feel like you have limitations on what you can create.
Prime example “I could think of the PERFECT song and truly envision the “Perfect song” feat. Drake even going as far as to write the drake verse for the song… but if Drake is not on that song for whatever reason weather its budget or something else the idea is now forever compromised because you would have to settle for something outside of your vision based on limitation or if you wanted to shoot a video in Paris for example but just didn’t have the money to take the trip… again you’d have to compromise your vision and that has always been an issue to me.. its like going to outback after making plans to go to Shanahan’s even if you love the food when you get there, you’ll still wonder how much better the original plan could have or would have been. Like I said you have to choose what you water because your water supply is limited. I couldn’t juggle two jobs, school, music and football. So I dropped school… I couldn’t juggle two jobs, school and music… so I dropped music .. I got hurt and couldn’t juggle 3 jobs and anything else.. so I dropped football not because I wanted to but because I had to live. The three almost four years I was apart from music were the hardest and most miserable years of my adult life felt like nothing was going right and I literally hit rock bottom.
Can you give our readers some background on your music?
D-Trait is short for “D” as in “the” Trait the game is missing. That being said, I am all about the character and content of the music I touch! Music is not something you should hear… it’s something you should feel! I’m a solo R&B and Rap vocalist shaped by the 90’s, and molded by east coast parents. As D-Trait I am most known for my unique freestyle ability, I can rap about anything for days! Lol. People oftentimes highlight my delivery and lyrics referring to them as crafty Or “well-constructed punchlines”. I honestly just feel like I have my own unique way of weaving cadence, lyrics and vocal melodies together that’s just me. I don’t sound like or try to be like anybody else and that’s why people like D-Trait.
More recently I’ve also become known for my talent in writing and arranging lyrics and vocals for other artists both male and female; It’s something I’ve always done, but as of late I’ve had a lot more opportunities to do it and put that side of my game on display and because of that I think people are finding that I have a unique way of bringing peoples stories to life through my creative process through the songs I write for them and my ability to coach them to delivering a dynamic performance of that song in the studio. I’ve been blessed with a God-given gift of being able to connect with people on another level, and that allows me to tap into unmatched levels of vulnerability if you ask me that’s what allows me to pull the best performances out of people… that’s how you make songs that give people that special feeling that has been missing in music for far too long. The music has to come from somewhere… I make dope music that makes people feel! & experience emotion! I make music for! And from! The soul I make music to impact people’s lives! Having a positive one is what I am most proud of.
If you had to go back in time and start over, would you have done anything differently?
Honestly … no. I might enjoy reliving something’s twice.. but other than that Everything that I’ve been through, everything that I have done , every place I have lived all made me who I am. besides that, my passions have been the same since before I could talk lol 🤣 of course as you grow and mature, goals shift, things like legacy and the woman I want to do both speakable and unspeakable things with come into focus but beyond that, as Genuine would say, “I’m the same old G”. 😂 Anybody who knows me… will tell you to THIS DAY! My greatest passions have never changed. CARS, SPORTS, MUSIC! #LIFE! Lol As a kid I LOVED machines! Things that move! Particularly if they were Italian, were based in bologna (sant’agata bolognese) and cost a hundred grand! If I went back… that Passion wouldn’t change. As a kid, I was Allen Iverson, Barry Sanders, Deion Sanders, Scottie Pippen, Jerry rice, MJ, or Mike Vick 9 out of ten times I left the house… the experiences I’ve had and friendships I’ve made through sports and a sports mentality are invaluable.. I wouldn’t change that.
Growing up, I’d been a lot of places and saw a lot. Spending time in places Like Philadelphia, New York, Baltimore, Denver and even living in Vail half the time for about ten years of my childhood helped to shape Who I am in a lot of ways, it made me well rounded and cultured.. as a kid I hated it. I’ve always been a city person, a city kid, so growing up partially in Vail was difficult for me. At one point, I was one of like three black kids at my school and of the three, I felt like I was the only one that identified with black culture… black hairstyles… black fashion, black music or life as an African American person in America period. Needless to say, I felt isolated in a lot of ways. And that pushed me to music… if I could go back.. I wouldn’t change that.
The feeling of isolation made me feel like all I had was sports and music… I always said I would use one of those to fuel my other passion which is CARS. I’ve always loved music and like so many others I turned to music because it was always there for me when I had nothing or nobody else; DMX, Juvenile, Twista, Busta Rhymes… genuine, usher, Missy Elliot and so many more. They saved my life for real… they gave me an outlet… a place I could use and place my anger, my pain, my suffering, my emotion without detriment to my life they gave me permission to explore my creativity as a musician and I would Never change that.
Pricing:
- Performance Booking: $150.00-$1,500.00 depending on venue
- Features: single verse=$150.00 Chorus=$150.00 per song/verse and chorus together= $200 per song.
- Personalized song writing: $250.00 per song, includes 4 hours of in studio arrangement and coaching. Additional $25.00 per hour if more than 4 hours is needed. Also includes one complimentary revisit of song in studio (touch up session) not to exceed 2 hours.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://k3.rose.myshopify.com/
- Phone: 720-448-2603
- Email: bookdtrait@gmail.com
- Instagram: @ddashtrait
- Facebook: @D-Trait
- Twitter: @ddashtrait
Image Credit: Ishan media @ Dream Is Grind’s “Kushgroove”, d.woods photography Suggest a story: VoyageDenver is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you or someone you know deserves recognition please let us know here.
