Danny!

Danny!
Danny! performing live at the CW Midtown Complex's Loft in Atlanta, Georgia, May 2, 2009
Background information
Birth name	Daniel Keith Swain
Born	August 18, 1983 (1983-08-18) Killeen, Texas
Origin	Columbia, South Carolina, United States
Genres	Alternative hip hop Chillwave Electronica Electro-hop
Occupations	Rapper Record producer Songwriter
Years active	2004 - present
Labels	Definitive Jux (2007 - 2009) Interscope Records (2010 - )
Website	DannySwain.com

Danny!, also known as D. Swain (born August 18, 1983 in Killeen, Texas), is an American rap performer and record producer from Columbia, South Carolina, a former student of the Savannah College of Art & Design and, previously, a recording artist for Definitive Jux Records. L.A. Weekly has called Danny! "the best new artist that Def Jux has signed". Garnering praise—and fielding minor criticism—for being an atypical rapper relying on sampled tracks, Danny! released five self-produced studio albums, three instrumental albums and even a greatest hits compilation prior to his affiliation with Def Jux. He is often seen wearing his trademark oxford shirt and pinstriped necktie, a fashion style he adopted during high school.

Danny! is most notable for his critically acclaimed self-released albums Charm and And I Love H.E.R., the latter named by ABC News as one of the best 50 albums of 2008. 2011's Where Is Danny?, despite internet leakage that hindered sales, has received universal acclaim for its cartoonish lyrical content and "lo-fi" production; in press coverage prior to its release Spin revealed that the record would be less of a departure from Danny!'s musical direction but more of a return to original form, sounding "[as] over-the-top as The Slim Shady LP a decade ago". Recently revealed by The Roots drummer Questlove as Jay-Z's new favorite artist, Danny! is currently signed to Interscope Records after being upstreamed from a six-month-long development deal.

Biography

Early life (1999 - 2001)

Danny!, the only son of military parents, moved to Columbia, South Carolina in the late 90s. He attended Richland Northeast High School and began pursuing music as a hobby during his sophomore year. Shortly after selling his first beat at age 17, Danny! began to take producing music more seriously. He started penning his own lyrics—after initially being reluctant to rap—and eventually recorded makeshift songs primarily as a showcase for his production. Early Danny! songs mimicked rapper Eminem's multi-syllabic shock lyrics; Danny! has openly admitted to copying Eminem's flow early on.

College years (2001 - 2004)

After graduating from high school Danny! matriculated at Claflin University, a liberal arts college located in Orangeburg, South Carolina, and enrolled in the college's fledgling "Call Me Mister" program. While at Claflin, Danny! began to experiment with sampling, gradually straying from keyboard-based production. Danny! has stated that hearing a demo version of Freeway's "What We Do (Is Wrong)" for the very first time was the definitive point in which he decided to incorporate samples into his production.

A campus-wide grade-changing scandal halted the production of Danny!'s self-produced debut album and forced him to leave Claflin University in November 2003. Danny! was accused of orchestrating a scheme in which 300+ students' grades had been altered in exchange for money, and was expelled from the university.

Career (2004 - present)

The College Kicked-Out

Main article: The College Kicked-Out

After spending nearly a year rebuilding his reputation and networking with local rappers back home, Danny! released his debut album, now renamed The College Kicked-Out (formerly known as The Danny Swain LP), in late 2004. The record's content would become overshadowed not by Danny!'s dubious past, but by critics who panned the effort as an amateur version of Kanye West's own debut album, The College Dropout. Critics felt Danny!'s style of production at the time, which heavily utilized pitch-altered vocal samples, was far too similar to West's. Artists in the Columbia area ridiculed Danny! and refused to continue to work with him, which Danny! would allude to in much of his later work.

F.O.O.D.

Main article: F.O.O.D.

In early 2005, Danny! was accepted to the Savannah College of Art & Design and relocated to Savannah, Georgia accordingly; it was here that he began to work on his second project, F.O.O.D. Highly bothered by the reception to The College Kicked-Out, he spent much of F.O.O.D. verbally attacking his detractors. Otherwise decent songs on the LP were overshadowed by the out-of-place, retaliatory tracks. Nevertheless, Danny! began to develop a moderate following—albeit primarily on the internet—and fans began to praise him for his production efforts, usage of satire and, at times, humor that ranged from quirky to self-deprecating.

Breakthrough

See also: Charm (album)

In March 2006 Danny! officially released his third and allegedly final record Charm, a concept album in which he has credited the song "Poor Charlotte" from The Miracles' City of Angels record as his inspiration. The album was notable for featuring an underlying theme of escapism, narrating the story of a musician who wants to achieve success through music and be reprieved of the day-to-day routine in his hometown. The protagonist, which is believed to be Danny! himself, dreams that he actually becomes famous and wealthy, only to realize towards the album's closing that perhaps fame wasn't meant for everybody, particularly him. The album ends with the musician awakening from his dream, only to be approached by a label executive shortly afterwards. Lauded by a variety of music critics, Charm went on to become Danny!'s biggest success and, ironically, help make the entire premise of the album come true in real life.

Promotional photo for Danny!'s second album F.O.O.D.

Charm and selected tracks from the album made their way onto the shortlist for the Grammy Awards of 2007, making Danny! the first hip-hop artist from South Carolina to achieve such a feat.

Instrumental Albums

See also: Dream, Interrupted, Dream, Fulfilled, and Dream, Extinguished

Shortly before the Grammy recognition, Danny! quietly released an instrumental album, Dream, Interrupted, abroad. A sequel, Dream, Fulfilled, was also released overseas in April of the following year. Both albums, which Danny! has jokingly referred to as "sensationalized beat tapes", are extremely rare; only a small number of copies exist stateside and are thus highly sought after in the US. Rumors of a third and final installment to complete the trilogy—Dream, Extinguished—swirled for months before Danny! actually confirmed its release in the wake of And I Love H.E.R. being delayed. However, Dream, Extinguished was abruptly withdrawn the day before its release; in June 2009, more than a year-and-a-half later, the album was finally released.

Definitive Jux

See also: Danny Is Dead and And I Love H.E.R.: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack

Despite his success, Danny! had long insisted that he had no plans to ever release another record commercially after Charm. However, in January 2007 Danny! finally received his big break when he received a recording contract with Definitive Jux Records by proxy. The record deal "forced" him out of "retirement" to record an album for the Def Jux label and release a 12" single -- to be accompanied by a music video slated for an exclusive premiere on mtvU -- with fellow Jukie Mr. Lif.

The project would be mysteriously delayed for several years before a single, titled "Just Friends", was finally released by Definitive Jux in early 2009. Despite a glaring absence of promotion from the label the single managed to chart on the Billboard Hot 100. In the years preceding "Just Friends"'s release, Danny! significantly increased his musical output and self-released a staggering six records in a year-and-a-half span, of which only two were actual studio albums (Danny Is Dead and And I Love H.E.R.). Danny! would continue to gain acclaim on his own merits, appearing on URB Magazine's website as part of their "Next 1000" campaign, as well as features from Pitchfork, Okayplayer, Allmusic, Complex Magazine, VIBE, Rolling Stone, Scratch Magazine, Creative Loafing, IGN, XXL Magazine, BBC News, Northern Express Weekly, Popmatters, The Fader, Blender, mtvU, Billboard, Spin, L.A. Weekly and the Village Voice. The self-promotional DIY approach has since been mimicked by other underground rappers such as Mickey Factz, Odd Future and Charles Hamilton, albeit slightly more successfully.

Present

See also: Where Is Danny?

To date the outspoken producer/rapper remains reclusive, completing Where Is Danny? in early 2010. Interscope Records would later sign the artist and quietly release the album near the middle of the following year. Payback, Danny!'s first record with all-new content since 2009, was completed toward the end of 2011.

Discography

Main article: Danny! discography

Studio albums

Album	Year
The College Kicked-Out	2004
F.O.O.D.	2005
Charm	2006
And I Love H.E.R.: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack	2008
Where Is Danny?	2011
Payback	2012

Instrumental albums

Album	Year
Dream, Interrupted	2006
Dream, Fulfilled	2007
Dream, Extinguished	2008

Compilations

Album	Year
21st Century Masters: The Millennium Collection: The Best of Danny!	2007
Behind The Beats, Vol. 1	2007
Behind The Beats, Vol. 2	2007

EPs

Album	Year
Danny Is Dead	2007

Singles

Album	Year
"Just Friends"	2009

See also

• Alternative hip-hop
• Hip hop production

External links

• DannySwain.com
• Cafe Surreal² (official blog)
• Gone Danny Gone (official Tumblr blog)
• Wanderland (official message boards)
• Danny! on MySpace
• Danny! on Allmusic
• Danny! on AOL Music
• Danny! on ARTISTdirect
• Danny! on MTV.com
• Danny! on VH1.com