With many Hip Hop fans bemoaning the force-fed nature of music in all genres, San Francisco’s own Davinci believes he’s is ready to stimulate the famished Rap world. Today, the Fillmore resident releases his debut album The Day the Turf Stood Still and has set different goals than the typical emcee. That may start in the fact that he’s giving this retail-released album to HipHopDX readers for free.
“Our goal wasn’t really to break the single into the major market. We really are just trying to feed the music to the people who have an acquired taste for it now,” Davinci told HipHopDX of the work and his plans. “I mean, I listen to the radio and nothing on my album is like that shit, that’s the TV 106 & Park type of music, and that ain’t me. We’re not really expecting for the people of that realm to just jump on board and understand my music. My material is kind of like a full-course meal that is going to take a while to work through, but once you do eat it, you’re going to be full and not want anything else for the rest of the day.” The emcee compares that to the “fast food culture” of Hip Hop in 2010. “I want to deliver something that’s going to stick to people’s ribs. It’s a lot of content and I don’t think people will grasp it right away because it’s not what they’re used to being fed, but for the others, we want to feed them and let them know who I am and what I’m trying to do.”
Coming from the same streets as San Quinn and Messy Marv, Davinci says he grew up with Rap aspirations. “I always rapped. Rapping was something that I had just picked up easily back when I was real young like nine, 10, 11 years old. I would take my thoughts and put it on paper and just record it on the little karaoke machines with my brother, cousins, and people from the neighborhood in our spare time.” After years of the hobby, Davinci says his charted growth led him to look at making recreation into vocation. “I knew I could make a career out of it, not only for me ’cause I loved it, but also because the messages that I was portraying in my music I felt were missing for Hip Hop. There’s a lot of artists out that actually have a message in their music, but it still can be more. I remember when I was a kid I needed game from the OGs because I needed to learn and a lot of people in my life were locked up or had passed away, so I felt like I wasn’t getting a lot of the street knowledge that I needed to get. I would try and learn through the music so that’s why I wanted to be able to teach a message through my music as well.” By carrying a different message than the traditional Gangsta Rap from the Fillmore District, Davinci stands apart even before The Day The Turf Stood Still.
As an active emcee within the new class of Bay Area emcees, Davinci assures listeners that there is way more to San Fran than Hyphy, trolleys and Full House. “What you see on TV is only like one corner of San Francisco. When they shot the commercials, that’s only a part of the city. As far as the communities in San Francisco or the Bay Area period, it was a lot of minorities that stuck together. There’s a side of these communities that have never had an opportunity to show themselves to the world. I try and paint the picture in my music and videos the best way that I can. When you look on post cards you will get the impression that San Francisco is all rainbows and sunshine with sailboats under the Gold Gate Bridge, which is fine because that’s a good tourist attraction that brings money to the city, but there is a whole other side to the contrary. There’s a large amount of public housing, a horrible homeless problem, and slim job opportunities. What the media portrays in only half true and that’s what I’m trying to get everybody to see.”
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With retail versions of his CD available, Davinci is offering new listeners a free download of his debut. With that gift, he tells listeners, “I’m not trying to just jump into the music industry and get into all of the politics and beefs or dumb shit. I just want to do me and have people respect me as an artist. My content is a little more specific. I really want every album that I do to cater to a specific theme. It’s a lot of good artist out here in the Bay.” The young emcee continues, “What’s going to set me apart is my ability to be specific and the images that try to get across. I would hope that people understand what I’m trying to do. As far as Davinci, as an artist, I just want to make the type of music that people can listen too by themselves. My music isn’t necessarily something you would listen to when you’re on your way to the club, but maybe when you’re on your way home. I want a person’s ‘alone time’ because that’s when they will really be able to pay attention.”
Check “Guys Wanna”
by Davinci.
