Amarii Davu is an American hip hop recording artist from Nashville, TN. At the age of 14, Davu began his music career with rap group The Remedy. After releasing two projects with the trio before they disbanded and decided to work on his solo music. In 2011, Davu released his solo debut mixtape 6:15 Daydreamsz and was nominated for two music awards: A Nashville Independent Music Award for Best Hip Hop Solo Artist and a Hip Hop in the Ville Award for Artist on the Rise.

Davu is currently residing in San Diego, California. He is sharpening his screenwriting/directorial skills.

In this interview spotlight, I chat with Amarii about this music, challenges, technology and more.

Full Q&A along with links and music below.

Where are you from and what style of music do you create? (In your own words, not necessarily in marketing terms or by popular genre classifications.)

I’m from Nashville, TN. Born and raised. I’m currently based out of San Diego. I moved out here last April to realign myself, honestly. I performed at The House of Blues and made the decision to stay here. It’s been a journey of growth and I’m grateful that I did it.I create music that’s healing. I create music that’s inspired by the experiences I’ve faced. I create music that tells my story. To me, the most important thing that we have is our story. So we gotta honor it.  I get to honor my story every time I write a verse and then share it with people. That’s a blessing.

What led you down this path of music and what motivates you to keep going?

The love of expression led me down this path and my faith sustains me. I’ve learned that if I don’t have faith in what I’m doing then I start feeling empty in regards to my purpose. I find motivation in my search to get the answers as to why I was given this ability to make music. I find motivation in challenging myself during my creative process. I try making songs that have tempos or sounds that I’m not comfortable with. I’ve really learned how to trust my process and to focus on being authentic. The authenticity of the music I listened to when I first fell in love with music is what intrigued me enough to create my own music.

How is this new release different than previous ones? Were you trying to accomplish anything specific?

For starters, this is the first collaboration I’ve had the chance to release. Lyric Reddick and I got together in May last year after only knowing each other for a few weeks and came up with the idea of Cognac. That beat came on and it was an instant vibe for both of us. It came together effortlessly, man. I think we were both trying to give a new side of ourselves to our respective audiences and at the same time, be true to our individual sounds. I realized with a few of my previous releases the content was very heavy. Police brutality, mental health awareness, family issues. I wanted something that was, for lack of better words, light. Something that made people chill and vibe out. Celebrate good times and success, ya know?

Name one or two challenges you face as an indie musician in this oversaturated, digital music age? How has technology helped you (since we know it does help)?

I think the biggest challenge I face deals with quantity versus quality. People want content so frequently. Social media has programmed most people into thinking that creatives are machines and that’s just not how most of us function. Most artists prefer to take their time with their craft. It’s really a game of quantity over quality and that’s wild to me. I always want to make sure the quality of the music I release to speaks volumes over the amount of music I’ve released. That’s just me.

What was the last song you listened to?

No Commas by D Smoke. What that man say? “Ain’t no dollar sign tag on some peace of mind, Jack.” It’s just the truth. I mean, I feel like the power of money can give you freedom to do more.  For sure. But it’s not the cure for peace. And we come from these places, especially in black America, where cash is king and is supposed to solve everything once you have it, but history will tell you otherwise. 

Which do you prefer? Vinyl? CDs? MP3s?

Vinyls. I’m slick hurt about it, too. I left my vinyl collection in Nashville. But vinyls just sounds better. It’s warm. If you listen to some of your favorite albums on vinyl, I feel like you’re hearing the album in the tone that the artist intended for it to be enjoyed. I’m going to love the day I hear one of my own albums on vinyl.

How about this one…. Do you prefer Spotify? Apple Music? Bandcamp? Or something else? Why?

TIDAL because Jay-Z created it. If I’m correct, I believe TIDAL pays artists more per stream.  I tend to support most things that Jay-Z is a part of. It’s the reason why my favorite cognac is D’usse.

Where is the best place to connect with you online and discover more music?

I’m active on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram. All my pages are under the name Amarii Davu. My music is available on SoundCloud, all streaming services, and I performance and music videos on YouTube.

Anything else before we sign off?

Much love to my city, Nashville, my Tribe, my family, and my team. I love all of y’all. Stay tuned to my social media for when I release my EP Roses 4 The World. I like to be secretive about my music drops, but I’ll inform everyone in due time.