Artist Interview (w/ Video!): DBA
Reporting by Emmett Favreau
We’re back with yet another artist interview! This time, we interviewed DBA, a 19-year-old rapper and musician on campus who hails from Brooklyn, NY. This interview is super exciting because it marks our return to making videos! (We have at least one more coming before the year’s over… watch out for that 👀)
If you’d prefer to read the interview instead of watching it, we have a transcript of the video (and links to DBA’s music!) down below.
What does DBA stand for?
So DBA is actually my initials. So my real name, actually more like my given name, is not actually Brandon but it’s my preferred name. I don’t really tell people my first name cause like, then people start calling me that and I don’t really like that. “A” is Aviston because that’s my middle name. My last name is Forde and I just didn’t wanna put “DBAF” because that doesn’t make sense.
There’s a lot of rappers blowing up right now. How do you feel you stand out and what do you want to bring to the table as a rapper?
I feel like, as a rapper… well, I wouldn’t even call myself a rapper, I try to call myself an artist half the time. But yeah, there’s a lot of artists and certain rappers blowing up right now, but I feel like only some of it is well done. Like, there’s some artists I listen to like Rich Amiri, especially lots of underground stuff, and I think an artist like him is very versatile, and the others, you know, really just sound like other people, and I don’t, like, want to act like those other people. That’s my main goal. Just to kinda create music for all, that’s the reason I don’t want to stick to one genre, and I try to, like, go into different lanes that I can, so I think the best thing I can do is just try to be myself, think about my experiences that go on in my life and just put that into my music. I might stretch the truth, but, like, you gotta do what you got to do just to, you know, get that emotion across. That’s what I feel separates me as an artist. I try to really evoke emotion and, like, explore a lot of feelings.
I’ve noticed that a lot of your music has a mix of trap (as seen on “fashion”) but also some Jersey dance styles (as seen on “crave you”), but then you also have songs where you completely switch it up to a more pop sound (as seen on “get over it”). What inspired your versatility in sound?
So my versatility… I would say what inspired me was really just listening to a lot of stuff growing up. I was one of those people that kinda got made fun of for listening to artists that people didn’t like at first or or didn’t want to indulge in. For example, I was listening to Brent Faiyaz in like, 2016, 2017. No one knew who that really was before Fuck The World dropped. No one was really tuned in before that, or before he was on Juice WRLD’s album. But I really like that kinda stuff, and it was really just my goal to really just get different ears for different music. That’s why I kinda sample a lot of stuff from places. I like to do that because, at the end of the day, it just brings people’s cultures together. If I could bring like, the Brazilian culture and then the Jersey club culture together just as a random two, I could put it together and it’ll work perfectly. So, the goal is just to make anything that sounds good to the ear, I guess.
So how does production play into that? Do you have a favorite producer that you like working with? Or is it just going all out yourself?
Okay, so, I’m kinda just willy nilly with with whatever and who I choose. My little brother George, he’s a videographer now, but he used to make a lot of my beats, and he made my first few songs and shot my first music videos. But, I would say production-wise, it’s really just me going out and asking people or trying to work with a certain artist. But my favorite producer is probably… so there’s this artist Cash Cobain, him probably. And definitely one person I like to use is this one person named Sahara, and he’s just phenomenal. He just knows how to capture the right amount of melodies. And TORYONTHEBEAT. I think those few are really good.
One thing I really like about your songs, especially when performing live, is your voice. Did you get into music knowing you wanted to sing? Do you have a background in singing?
Yeah, I do have post vocal training. So, I used to play basketball a lot, and then I stopped after a while, so I started singing because I really liked music and it was, like, my second hobby. So I joined a chorus that was outside of school for a little bit, and then I joined the chorus in school, and then I quit in high school, cause I was like “there’s too much homework”, and I’m not trying to play a saxophone in, like, a two bedroom apartment in Brooklyn. So I quit all of that, and then I just kinda kept singing on my own, and that’s how I got my voice. My voice is very gone now, but that’s because I was doing a lil’ too much. But right now, that’s probably just where my vocals came from, and why I like to sing.
You’re from Brooklyn, New York. Do you feel that your hometown influences your sound and style?
For sure. I mean, Brooklyn is like, that’s my home, so like, everything I’ve seen is what I’ve grown up on. A lot of it’s really Jamaican music though, cause I live in a Jamaican household. I love the whole New York drill scene, I love just certain artists, you know, I lived a couple blocks away from the Biggie mural. You’re kinda just surrounded by music at a certain part. Like J.I the Prince of N.Y lives five blocks to the left of me. This rapper 26ar lives like three blocks the other way. Tazzo B… like these are all rappers, but these are all people that I see randomly. So when I see them now I’m just like, oh, word. But you’re just surrounded by it, so at a certain point you just kinda listen and gain knowledge from everybody around you.
How do you find balance in being an artist and going to Wes?
It’s hard. For sure. It’s a reason I don’t drop a lot, cause I’m really just working, and there’s a lot of stuff I’ve stood on, but I’m not really going to put it out unless it’s quality. But, since it’s, like, school right now, my goal is to focus and just get what I need to get done, done. If I can get what I can get done situated, I feel like music will just be like that *snaps*. That’s why I stayed here over break. Like, fall break, I didn’t leave, I didn’t go back to New York, everyone went to New York. Even people who don’t live in New York went to New York, and I was like, “I’m not going back”, and they’re like, “why?”, I’m like, “I need to sit down and make music”, then they’re like, “you can do that anytime”, I was like “nah, but it’s different”. Like if I’ve got a whole four days to myself to record and be able to be as loud as I want in this house, I’m going to do exactly that.
What’s your favorite song to perform live? Favorite song you’ve recorded?
To perform live… damn, that’s hard… For me it’s “actin’ a fool” which is, like, an unreleased song. It's the last song I play at every show though, it’s the one where I always run in the crowd ‘cause that’s my favorite song, so I would always jump in the crowd for that one. But it’s definitely that one, or probably “swang”, I like “swang” a lot. I think those two are my favorite to perform. But my favorite song regularly? “get over it”. Hands down. That’s my favorite song ever.
If you could collaborate with any 5 artists on your next album, who would they be?
On my next album… damn, ‘cause, I don’t even do features, you guys probably know that, I don’t have any features on my stuff. I would say, number 1, I’m gonna have to put Woodie on there, you know I have to, that's the homie. And then I’m going to say Erykah Badu, I’ll definitely put her on there. I would say Smino, I’d put Smino on there for sure. And then, honestly, I’d probably put an artist like Bandmanrill, that’s just, like, the Jersey type of vibe. Okay, so, one more, dang… Lil Yachty. Hands down.
What was / what will be your “made it” moment if anything?
Honestly, when I perform a show that’s, like, not at Wes and I feel good about it. And I haven’t done that yet, I haven’t performed out of Wes yet, so, that. I feel like my “made it” moment would also be, like, when I know, just seeing it happen, I’ll know just by the way my phone’s looking. So, like, I’ll do that and then, honestly, Rolling Loud. That’s, like, one of my dreams, to perform at Rolling Loud. So I tell myself I’ll at least set a goal for myself, like, right here I have a positivity book my mom gave me. So, like, everyday I read this thing, and it tells me, like, what I want to do, and I write down on the side what I want to do. So Rolling Loud is one of my biggest dreams to perform at and I just want to, I told myself next year I don’t want to be at school, I want to be, like, touring. Spring I don’t want to be here, I want to come back here on some coming home type of stuff. So, I have a lot planned in store, now it’s just time to put in pain.
