Bloomington’s Darius’ new album uses music as therapy

Darius’ new album, called “Perception” continues the idea of ​​music as therapy that he used in previous releases. The Bloomington-based rapper dishes on falling in love, becoming a father, and dealing with naysayers.

He spoke with WGLT’s John Norton about the album ahead of its March 23 release.

WGLT: The title track is a good start. You start with “be true to yourself, be true to yourself.” Does this apply to your lifestyle, your music, or both?

Darius: The chorus comes from a conversation I had with my mom. My mom always said “no matter what happens in life, whether it’s music or not, always stay true to who you are.” So it’s easy for us to, you know, follow the next trend and follow other people or do this because it’s popular, you get lost in it. And we see people do this all the time, whether it’s celebrities, we see athletes do it, we see activists who end up going down certain routes. And then you lose yourself along the way, and when you get to the end of the road, you’re now a product of what you’re trying to be. So now you’re at rock bottom because you haven’t stayed true to yourself. You are the remains of what you try to be.

I can’t lie I have to doubt sometimes
My watch is wrong right now
Responsibility, I show it
In other words, growing
To be a better man than my father
He’s not gentle, I really need his hug
Relationship trauma when I seek his love
Selling trauma for pay I’m a plug
This world is so evil that I would be a fool to choose it
I can’t burn because I’ve made up my mind
To keep the man away from the furnace
It is more urgent that I learn it
I can’t save anyone
Conscious because my goal
I’m selfish, I know what it costs
I’m useless when I’m not looking
– From “Perception” of Darius

How hard is it to find out who you are and be true to who you are?

I understand who I am by understanding the person who made me, right? So much more like a God thing. When I understand who God is, I understand who I am. And that allows me to stay in my lane and not go out of it. When I understand who God is and why he made me, it’s good, so you didn’t make me like everyone else. You made me different? Or am I trying to be the same as everyone else? I wasn’t meant to be. Once I knew who he was, I knew who I was.

“Bad Guy” is another song from this new album.

Yes

It’s a really catchy song.

Yes

Well, you can sing along with.

Yes, definitely.

But there is a thread that people are critical of you. Maybe they are jealous. Maybe they’re… whatever. And that seems to be a thread that runs through a lot of this album, as well as the last album.

yes Ever since I started doing music I’ve faced a lot of this… people envying me for my success. And not just music, just in life, like people who envy the success I have in life, are jealous of the success I have in music. I’ve had people lie about things I’ve done. And it’s like, “You’re painting me as a bad person. Why so? Is it because of your jealousy? Is it because you don’t like exactly the person I am? Or is it because you want to be famous for spreading this lie or whatever? The fake reality is about me, the bad guy. I’m telling them what I’ve been because I’m going to tell the whole story. I look at it as whoever paints me as a bad guy, he’s only going to tell his side of the story, which I said in the text I said…

And told a story that is a country
Sounds like a cosign
To let the truth die
– From “Bad Guy” by Darius

It’s a real thing because “you’re only going to tell your side of the story, but let me now tell it from both sides.” Because if we explain everything that’s going on, whatever you try to paint me as, it’s going to be washed away. Because now the truth is coming out. The truth will set everyone free. So now that the truth is out, your ego will be inflated. Because now there is no one to support you, because the truth is out. The guy you tried to paint as the bad guy is now like, hold on. He wasn’t the bad guy.

Michael Jordan is famous for using this (mildly) as motivation. Is it similar for you?

Oh, 100%. I tell my wife all the time. Like Michael Jordan, sometimes I have a free space when it comes to music, because sometimes I’ll let that fuel me to make even better music. Or even go harder. What I do is, “okay, you said I was this, this, and this. Okay, cool if you feel like it. I’ll show you better than I can tell you because even with my music I remember when people didn’t believe in me. It’s letting them know they’re not being selfish, but it’s so they know, ‘Yo, you were wrong about what you said. You said I can’t do XYZ. You’re right. I can’t just do XYZ. I did ABCDEFG. I did everything you said I couldn’t do. The voice

Let’s go to another song from the album. “Act Right” is… I take this as a love song.

Yes, it’s a love song.

And you have some news since the last time we spoke.

yes So now I have a wife and a son on the way so baby KJ. He will be Darius like his father but we will name him KJ. you know, king. This will be his middle name. This is a song I wrote for my wife. I was like, you know, I don’t have a lot of love songs. But you know what? I want to be very diverse as an artist. I think I’ll write a song about my wife and just see how it goes. I wrote it and she said, It’s fire! Love it! She fell in love with him. She was like “you really need to put it out there”, I said “got you”.

She made me feel so good that I wasn’t acting right
She calls me daddy because she said that’s how I act
She shows me angles just to see what that back looks like
She gives me love when I can’t seem to act right
– From Do Right by Darius

It’s always nice when the subject of a love song loves that love song, right?

This gives it more fuel. Definitely.

What are you most proud of on this brand new album?

Same with the last project: the vulnerability. It boils down to this because there is another easter egg in this project. And it will tease my next project, which is “Note to Self.” So that vulnerability I talked about in the last verse. This will let people know about the next project coming up.

Darius’ new album “Perception” is out on March 23rd. He plays Nightshop in downtown Bloomington on March 25.

You can also hear his music on WGLTs Highway 309, available 24/7 at WGLT.org and weekends on 89.1FM.