Diduric Jean Claude and Alexander King, lived literally diagonally across the hall from one another when they first met at Howard University and wrote their first song together that very same day. Since then, neither of them removed their foot off the accelerator. Quickly the brand, DnA (D.Derek and Alex) was formed and the two went on to takeover. DnA went on to winning competitions, performing at the Howard Theater, becoming known as Howard's Hottest artist and building a bridge between their hometown, New York, and their new home, DC.
Alex King grew up and studied the flows of Jay-Z and enjoyed the smooth melodies of Aaliyah which results in him thinking outside of the box when he creates music. King is an artist of many trades - singing, rapping, and producing are only a few on the list.
D.Derek was inspired by the work of artists such as Lupe Fiasco, Outkast, Common, Jay-Z and others. His music is concentrated around lyricism. After hearing Lupe Fiasco’s verse on Kanye West’s “Touch the Sky”, he realized he did not have to be a street rapper. He uses his lyrics to tell his story about his life – a kid searching for happiness. D.Derek's words was his best attribute. Along with his mind, it’s what has kept him alive.
What do you think
your greatest opportunity has been so far with your music career?
Alex: Going to Howard University, being exposed to thousands and thousands of people at the same time is like whoa, we're all here for the same reason, but at the same time different reasons.
Diduric: Just to put out an album. Just to be able to put out some music, that's always an opportunity and that's always a gift that a lot of people don't really appreciate. Just to be able to put out music. That's the biggest gift.
Diduric: Just to put out an album. Just to be able to put out some music, that's always an opportunity and that's always a gift that a lot of people don't really appreciate. Just to be able to put out music. That's the biggest gift.
How would you
describe your music to those who have not heard it?
Alex: Unappreciated.
Diduric: Undervalued.
Alex: Dope as hell. Really unique. I don't think anybody has that sound. At first it may seem weird to you like on certain songs like, "Trapped in My Mind." That's not something that very convention.
Diduric: You probably won't listen to it more than once.
Alex: *laughs* You will listen to it more than once. A lot of people hit me up like, "Yo, what's the thought process behind that?"
Alex: Dope as hell. Really unique. I don't think anybody has that sound. At first it may seem weird to you like on certain songs like, "Trapped in My Mind." That's not something that very convention.
Diduric: You probably won't listen to it more than once.
Alex: *laughs* You will listen to it more than once. A lot of people hit me up like, "Yo, what's the thought process behind that?"
Earlier, you
performed at the Howard Theater. What was that experience like?
Alex: The first time we actually had quality sound. It just made me know that I had to do quality shows.
Diduric: That's kind of, I would say the best place we ever performed at, but it wasn't the best crowd that we ever had.
Alex: They had a full sound engineer, full table, everything. Lights, anything we needed. Videos on the screen, they pulled it up in less than a second. Anything you told them, they had it ready. There was free catering for us, V.I.P rooms, sodas everywhere, anything we needed, we said we wanted. We wanted to put somebody on the guest list, could happen like that *snaps fingers*.
Diduric: It made us know that..
Alex: There's levels to this.
Diduric: Not even just that there's levels. It made us know that we're capable of performing at that level.
Alex: Because the people that worked at the place we're like "Yo, y'all sound amazing. I want to write y'all information down. Y'all need to be back here."
What was the inspiration behind, A Little Taste of Success Vol. 1?
Diduric: A little taste of success, it's that one thing that you just been itching for. *Alex shoots in Diduric's ball* Thanks *laughs*
Alex: Yeah, it's that one itch you been itching for.
Diduric: This was our first project together, as a collective, so we were just wanting to put something out that was impressive, that we felt made sense and would inspire.
Alex: The main thing behind the album was inspiration. A Little Taste of Success, if you really look at the album titles, they're all supposed to inspire you. I think it's about everybody, not just about ourselves, but just showing how our stories can relate to everybody else. If you really listen to the track list, it's like "Til My Speakers Blow," if you listen to that, *sings* 'This is for the closed doors that I saw, For the open mics that I did, To the nay sayers that's growing up with them big dreams as a kid.' Everybody, has somebody telling you, 'no' to your dream.
Diduric: We started my verse, 'Pick a career not a dream they said, this rap s**t ain't as easy as it seems they said.'
Alex: It's poetry in everything.
Diduric: It's all an overcoming thing.
Alex: Yeah, it's that one itch you been itching for.
Diduric: This was our first project together, as a collective, so we were just wanting to put something out that was impressive, that we felt made sense and would inspire.
Alex: The main thing behind the album was inspiration. A Little Taste of Success, if you really look at the album titles, they're all supposed to inspire you. I think it's about everybody, not just about ourselves, but just showing how our stories can relate to everybody else. If you really listen to the track list, it's like "Til My Speakers Blow," if you listen to that, *sings* 'This is for the closed doors that I saw, For the open mics that I did, To the nay sayers that's growing up with them big dreams as a kid.' Everybody, has somebody telling you, 'no' to your dream.
Diduric: We started my verse, 'Pick a career not a dream they said, this rap s**t ain't as easy as it seems they said.'
Alex: It's poetry in everything.
Diduric: It's all an overcoming thing.
What does M.M.F.G.
stand for?
Alex: Ahhhhh, wait for that. It's a full song. There's five people in this world that have the full version. Well six. There's six people in this world that have the full version of that song.
Diduric: But it's coming out soon.
Alex: That song has been done at the same time as "No, No, No" was done, the same time "Pushing Myself Away" was done.
Diduric: That's our most anticipated song. That's all it is.
Alex: And F**k With Scrubs "F.W.S."
Diduric: But it's coming out soon.
Alex: That song has been done at the same time as "No, No, No" was done, the same time "Pushing Myself Away" was done.
Diduric: That's our most anticipated song. That's all it is.
Alex: And F**k With Scrubs "F.W.S."
If you could perform
with anyone in the world, dead or alive, who would it be and why?
Alex: Biggie, because if you got Biggie on the track then you that f*****g man.
Diduric: I would say Bob Marley, because I feel like he's just so intuitive with his vision. If you work with Bob Marley, he only thinks one thing, that's positivity about Blacks and his people, Rastas and Africa.
Alex: I would say Biggie because he's just so unique storytelling wise. I just like his storytellng. It's amazing.
Diduric: I would say Bob Marley, because I feel like he's just so intuitive with his vision. If you work with Bob Marley, he only thinks one thing, that's positivity about Blacks and his people, Rastas and Africa.
Alex: I would say Biggie because he's just so unique storytelling wise. I just like his storytellng. It's amazing.
Where do you see DNA going in the next 5 years?
Diduric: I don't think we have a limit. The sky's the limit.
Alex: The sky's not the limit because there's footprints on the moon. Sky's his limit though. *laughs* But like he said there is no limit.
Diduric: We could just be chilling here. The same room that we playing pool in could be a different room, but way bigger.
Alex: What does that mean?
Diduric: In a sense of like things change like this *snaps*. What I'm saying is the same room that we're in right now can be a way bigger room tomorrow. Things can change tomorrow. We can be here having this interview with you today and tomorrow we're at a different magnitude. And that's all because of the talent, the confidence and the talent.
Alex: The sky's not the limit because there's footprints on the moon. Sky's his limit though. *laughs* But like he said there is no limit.
Diduric: We could just be chilling here. The same room that we playing pool in could be a different room, but way bigger.
Alex: What does that mean?
Diduric: In a sense of like things change like this *snaps*. What I'm saying is the same room that we're in right now can be a way bigger room tomorrow. Things can change tomorrow. We can be here having this interview with you today and tomorrow we're at a different magnitude. And that's all because of the talent, the confidence and the talent.
What advice would you have for the youth of today?
Alex: Set a goal and reach that.
Diduric: The advice I would give people, do your research. A lot of people just want to fight but they don't know what they're fighting for. They see a lot of people, they know what happened, but they don't really know what they're fighting for. They just following the crowdAlex: Too many different crowds fighting the same cause and not even knowing their fighting the same cause.
Diduric: The thing I would say, is do your research and if you really gonna do this, do it.
What are your up-to-date performance plans? New releases? Music videos?
Alex: We just been feeling real unappreciated right now. When I say we feel real unappreciated, truthfully we had two albums sales.
Diduric: Yeah, we had two album sales after the first week.
Alex: After the first week right.
Diduric: The first week was our best week.
Alex: The first week we had a lot of sales.
Diduric: We had a discount price, which is the $5 sales.
Alex: We sold a lot and then when we put it on iTunes, it's like *snaps*
Diduric: We only sold two albums, so we felt like this morning we had a talk that we felt unappreciated.
Alex: And we're going to do something about it. That's going to be our next album
Diduric: That's the next project. It's a project called Unappreciated and it's going to be ten time better than A Little Taste of Success.
Alex: The tour coming up is a college tour. It's under the deans list.
Diduric: Yeah, it's a college tour that my friend named Nigel Scott Moore, he does a tour that's 30 days long and it's the most successful event of the year and I've been trying to get on it for a while, especially since I hooked up with Alex, what better opportunity to do it than with DNA. We got on it and in October we're going to start. I don't really know too much about the dates exactly because we have school in October. The dates will be out though.
Diduric: Yeah, we had two album sales after the first week.
Alex: After the first week right.
Diduric: The first week was our best week.
Alex: The first week we had a lot of sales.
Diduric: We had a discount price, which is the $5 sales.
Alex: We sold a lot and then when we put it on iTunes, it's like *snaps*
Diduric: We only sold two albums, so we felt like this morning we had a talk that we felt unappreciated.
Alex: And we're going to do something about it. That's going to be our next album
Diduric: That's the next project. It's a project called Unappreciated and it's going to be ten time better than A Little Taste of Success.
Alex: The tour coming up is a college tour. It's under the deans list.
Diduric: Yeah, it's a college tour that my friend named Nigel Scott Moore, he does a tour that's 30 days long and it's the most successful event of the year and I've been trying to get on it for a while, especially since I hooked up with Alex, what better opportunity to do it than with DNA. We got on it and in October we're going to start. I don't really know too much about the dates exactly because we have school in October. The dates will be out though.
Is there anyone
special you would like to thank for making your dreams come true as far as an
artist?
Alex: My parents, my music teachers and every inspirational woman in my life. Everything we write about, our experience.
Diduric: I would say God, because the only person who really controls the factors that puts together. The people that surrounds me and the things that happen. I can really thank all of them. Be thankful for all those things, but those things wouldn't be in place if it wasn't for God.
Diduric: I would say God, because the only person who really controls the factors that puts together. The people that surrounds me and the things that happen. I can really thank all of them. Be thankful for all those things, but those things wouldn't be in place if it wasn't for God.
“Our goal is to make music that lasts forever,” DnA.
Check out their song, 'No,No,No' from A Little Taste of Success below.
CONVERSATION