L.A. based rapper DeLon has something cooking. The nimble lyricist with an ear for hooks will be putting out his next EP, “Awake,” in March next year after a three year hiatus.
The latest single from the project, “For Real” tackles consumerism and image obsession.This choice of subject matter is no fluke, no one-off play for love from the heads. The genre-flexing hip hop artist has always put social issues front and center in his music. We sat down before his barnstorming set at The Viper Room last weekend to talk about touring, spirituality and his next two projects.
How’s the tour going?
It’s been going great. I mean you learn a lot when you’re on tour. I’ve changed my show seven or eight times to mold it to what would be the most entertaining show for the crowd.
What are some changes you’ve made?
You’re going to have to see when I get up there. *laughs
Put it this way, I put some 90s hip-hop in there. I dropped some verses in there that are portraying what I do as a lyricist. I mixed it all in like a DJ, with those songs flowing into original tracks so it’s more palatable.
You’ve been doing this for awhile now. Seems like you’re picking up steam. Where’s your head at? How are you feeling?
I feel like I gotta fill in the gaps. You have a talent here, you have a talent there—I think next year is about making everything cohesive. Really making it stick so the public can resonate with it. I think the Sun EP, my first one, was an introduction and now Awake is a little bit of reading, as if it was a book. It’s getting to the crux of the matter. The next one, Alive, it’s gonna be like when you’re coming down the hill and you’re just having fun.
What inspires you outside of hip-hop?
The first thing that comes to mind is my girl. She’s just a solid rock. It’s easy for me to keep my sh*t together with her. She’s my muse. Beyond that I think just helping people and reaching out. I’m just passionate about seeing it all come together. When I say we I’m not even talking about hip-hop; I’m talking about we the people. Whether you’re an immigrant, whether you’re black or you’re white, doesn’t matter. We as a people in our generation have not yet combined our forces to become what the generation above us is. We’re still all kind of doing our own little thing.
It seems like it’s coming together right?
It’s coming together now, it is. And I think next year will be a good confluence of events. We’ll have a new president. I don’t know what’s happening with the presidential race. That shit is crazy—I don’t like any of the contenders, not a single one. So that’s a real issue. And that shows you the state of our environment when you can’t find a president you like.
It’s such a varied field, too. It’s weird. Going from the Trumps to the Sanderszzz. I don’t think I’ve seen that before.
Yeah it’s crazy. I think that speaks to a generation that’s disjointed. I think musicians have the power to join people. That’s why I became a musician. I hope through time—and not through lyricism, because being preachy has never been a good way to get people to like you—and through living the truth that you are…
Jesus was a great man, right? I’m a Buddhist, so I’m not necessarily a diehard believer in Christianity, but I do believe Jesus existed. And I do believe if anyone had an ounce of the qualities that man, they would be an incredibly pious human being. And the reason is because he lived his truth. And I think our generation needs to live more of our truth.
