G Soulja A.K.A. Da Vinci
I love rapper and hip hop recording artist G Soulja A.K.A. Da Vinci’s honesty. His songs are bold and brave and hold nothing back. Da Vinci’s music highlights how incredibly hard this music business can be.
I agree with Da Vinci’s fans that his single Look At Me Now is my favorite too. When I asked him about this song, he revealed that it reflected his disappointment with his fan: “It’s one of those songs where I express a lot of aggression and anger towards my local support. Some of my fans were ‘sleeping on me,’ as we like to say. My worldwide fans weren’t showing much support.”
Da Vinci collaborates with many other recording artists. I especially like the single and video he made with SyKotic Beatz, so I asked him about this project: “We made this single, because me and SyKotic Beatz went through a situation where we got played. We thought we were getting this nice record deal, and it ended up being some kind of scam. One of my other home boys, Tokyo Black, went through it with us.”
Another great collaboration project is the single Did Dat, which he produced with rappers Styles and Skrapp. What does Da Vinci look for when he collaborates? “Styles and Skrapp are two artists with me on my label Loud Music Team. Mainly, what I look for is whether we can flow on the same pattern or delivery, and I look to see if we have the same kind of story line that will make a good song.”
The recording label Loud Music team has been making records for about four years. Da Vinci started the label around the end of 2011. He worked alone for the first couple of months, then he started searching for other artists. The first artist that joined the label was Yung Styles. In 2012 Tony Low, KYng, and Skrapp joined them. Each artist brought his own originality and style. With Skrapp, it was southern style; with Tony Low, it was club type flow; with Yung Styles, it was smooth voice; with KYng, it was punch lines; and Da Vinci brought his motivational lyrics.
At the end of 2014 going into to 2015, Loud Music team turned into a fairly large label with even more new talent. They now have K-Wood, Dre Dreamz, Q Key and QuadTones in addition to the original five artists. The label is also affiliated with other artists such as Craig Millz, SevenOnDaTrack, TokyoBlack, ConBaby and Sykotic Beatz.
Who can we credit as Da Vinci’s music influences? “I listen to a lot of Kevin Gates nowadays, but I look up to artists like Little Bootsy, Lil Wayne, Plies, 50 Cent and Snoop Dogg.”
Da Vinci has been rapping since age 13: “By the time I hit 17, I knew that I had the talent to vibe in this game. I’ve connected with many collaborators along the way, through high school friends, friends I met after high school and business. We just get together and start making music and take it from there.”
Social media plays a big part in Da Vinci’s marketing strategy: “You’ve got to promote yourself and your music. The biggest key is promotion. I spend a lot of time on Twitter and Facebook.”
Da Vinci advises recording artists to invest in themselves: “The first thing you should do is get money and invest in yourself. Find somebody to invest in you or get a job. If you don’t have money backing you, it’s going to be hard to do a lot of things you need to do. Invest in studio time or buy your own studio equipment. Invest in music videos. Invest in clothes, because appearance plays a big part. Some shows require you to pay to play; so if you’ve got to pay money out of your pocket to get your music heard, that’s what you’ve got to do.”
What’s up next for Da Vinci? “Loud Music Team is what’s up next. I’m about to put their music out there. I’m trying to help those on my label to achieve the success that I’ve got. Check out DaVinciBack.com. That’s where I’ve got all my new music. I’m always releasing new music and free music.”
I wish Da Vinci all the best with his solo career and the artists on his Loud Music Team Label. I know he’ll go far.
The Amused Now Featured Artist Series
G Soulja A.K.A. Da Vinci
DaVinciBack.com
@davinci859
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Cynthia Kahn, Founder of Amused Now
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