Dali Rose stands his NYC ground – personally and professionally.
Lauryn Hill’s seminal LP, The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill, was rich in tapestry and love. It is a gorgeous album from start to finish with live instrumentation and lyrical content that made it a lush masterpiece, as well as a critic and fan favorite upon its release in 1998. Then, she went AWOL. Besides releasing the angry “Black Rage,” Hill has been performing her original material over different beats and sounds for variation purposes, but she refuses to debut any new material.
The last time we heard any new material from D’Angelo was 2014’s Black Messiah project. He rarely releases any new material, either, but when he does, it is inviting and superbly written.
Another reclusive R&B star is Frank Ocean, who hardly does any press. His music, also honestly written, reflects the times we are living in. Music these days is dominated by synthetic beats and standard lyrical content, so while a new Frank Ocean album may be on the way, there is not much to fill in the gaps in the meantime.
Maxwell is another R&B artist using live instrumentation in his music, but let’s face it – traditional R&B has gone by the wayside, as it has branched out to computerized beats.
In walks Dali Rose. True grit, honest music, and personal lyrics, he combines the styles of all the artists mentioned, and with a raspy, sultry voice to boot. He writes poetically from his heart and sings from the depths of his soul, and he is only 22. If Lauryn Hill, Frank Ocean, and D’Angelo wouldn’t have paved the way for modern R&B, we wouldn’t have such a brave young man coming forward with such intentional music.
Born in Atlanta as Drake Hunt and now a New York City resident, the singer loves Earl Sweatshirt, King Krule, the aforementioned D’Angelo, Jimi Hendrix, and others who have a sleek sound and a message to get across. There’s a block on the Lower East Side where the singer lives that made him really feel the adversity that can come with residing in New York City, as crack addicts lined up on his sidewalk. Seeing, experiencing, and living in this Lower East Side neighborhood made it easier to write and make the meaningful music he creates.
Rose is a vocalist and keyboardist as much as he is a songwriter and stylist, and that shines on his upcoming EP. Titled Heaven and out on April 25, its lead single is “Boy Tried to Fly,” which explores themes of abandonment, love, and hope in a dystopian culture. On it, he croons, “I’m so afraid to feel – it hurts.” As the singer tells us in an exclusive conversation, the song “is about making it in life, feeling lost, and keeping hope alive.”
Beginning when he was young, the people in Dali Rose’s life taught him everything they could in order for him to fly high. He particularly took advice, strength, and lessons from his mother, his father (Grammy-winner Van Hunt, notorious for his own R&B tunes), and their close family friend Dionne Farris (from Arrested Development).
“I was always singing around the house. Guitars were around, and so was music,” Rose says. With a voice like Macy Gray mixed with Stevie Wonder and a timeless individually that was influenced by Nina Simone, the genetic makeup of Dali Rose is complete with harmonious storytelling and swagger.
The singer reveals an admission between all of this, though. “I never wanted to do music. I wanted to be an activist, but I got more in touch with my feelings, and a lot of change can come from music if you put a lot of intention in your art. I want to give that impact back,” he explains.
Born in the early 2000s following the 9/11 attacks, and growing up during the 2008 recession, Rose has a lot of national and global strife to reflect on, and through an impressionable young lens. He looked back on those events to help him put together this EP, and even the title track, “Heaven,” is a play on words, so to speak. The artist bravely asks, “What if we put all the disadvantaged communities together in a ghetto together? And if Heaven came out of that?”
Rose has been through his fair share of personal battles, as well, which he is open about, including mental health struggles and issues with alcoholism. He writes fluidly about this on one of the songs on Heaven called “Big Bear.” He describes his addiction and the monster he may have become if he didn’t change his life around.
In “Death n’ Taxes,” he describes love in a world gone awry, mirroring the landscape he grew up in. “Life is a gift,” the singer says. “Surround yourself with healthy people. It helped me to grow and become a man. It’s all that corny stuff mom and dad taught us growing up. That is all true.”
Dali Rose’s EP coming out later this month is a diamond in the rough that deserves to earn the reputation of Hill’s Miseducation or Ocean’s Blonde, as it exhibits true passion and dedication, while also illustrating the grittier side of R&B – something that lacks in today’s mainstream music culture.
Rose concludes: “I just want to have a family one day and make classics. I’d love to make a Blonde that stands the test of time. I recorded Heaven here in New York City. What’s important is I want to keep the same spirit and same authenticity alive when I make music.”
DALI ROSE’S DEBUT EP WILL BE AVAILABLE WHEREVER YOU LISTEN TO MUSIC ON APRIL 25!
UNTIL THEN, YOU CAN CATCH DALI ROSE LIVE IN NYC AT POWEREDBYUS O APRIL 11, NUBLU ON APRIL 18, & CLUB BERLIN ON APRIL 26!
