Danny!

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Danny!
File:Danny Swain 2016.png
Promotional photo in Melbourne, 2015
Born Daniel Keith Swain
August 18 (2024-08-18)
Killeen, Texas, United States
Residence Atlanta, Georgia, United States
Other names
  • D. Swain
  • D. Swizzy
  • $WAIN
  • Brawl McCartney
Occupation
Years active 2004 – present
Home town Columbia, South Carolina, United States
Website www.dannyswain.com
Musical career
Genres
Instruments
  • Drum machine
  • keyboards
  • sampler
  • synthesizer
  • vocals
Labels
Associated acts

Danny Swain, better known by his mononymous stage name Danny! (/ˈdæniˈ/ dan-EE), is an American recording artist and record producer.[1]

Danny! is a former student of the Savannah College of Art & Design;[2][3] he often wears a wool necktie and an Australian open crown slouch hat, and has gained notoriety for prank-calling celebrities.[4] In 2012 Danny! rose to prominence shortly following the proclamation by The Roots drummer Questlove that there was strong interest from JAY Z;[1][5][6][7][8] he was subsequently signed as the flagship artist to Questlove's re-launched Okayplayer Records after years of being loosely affiliated with the company.[9] In support of the new venture Danny! made his television debut on Late Night With Jimmy Fallon in September 2012,[10] premiering his song "Evil" alongside The Roots.

Prior to this Danny! was most notable for his efficacious DIY approach to his music career, handling virtually every aspect all by himself[9]—from composing music to web design and even promotion—without the aid of a management team to varying degrees of acclaim. He would field praise for his self-released concept records Charm and And I Love H.E.R., the latter named by ABC News as one of the best 50 albums of 2008,[1][11] before releasing the "anti-album" Where Is Danny? in early 2011. After signing to Okayplayer Records the following year Danny! completed his trilogy of conceptual albums with Payback,[1][9] cited by Allmusic[12] as one of the best hip-hop releases of 2012. In 2013 EBONY listed Danny! among other rising artists in their "Leaders of the New School" piece, predicting that Danny! would have a "breakout year";[13] GQ would later reiterate the same[14][15] regarding Danny!'s music production.

Early life

Danny!, the only son of military parents,[16] moved to Columbia, South Carolina in the late 1990s. He attended Richland Northeast High School and began pursuing music as a hobby during his sophomore year.[1] Shortly after selling his first beat at age 17, Danny! began to take producing music more seriously. He started penning his own lyrics and eventually recorded makeshift songs primarily as a showcase for his production.[17] Early Danny! songs mimicked Eminem's multi-syllabic shock lyrics;[16] Danny! has openly admitted to copying Eminem's flow early on.

Career

2004–06: Early beginnings, Charm and instrumental albums

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Main articles: The College Kicked-Out, F.O.O.D., and Charm (album)
File:Danny-LNWJF-Sep2012.jpg
Danny! performs with The Roots, September 2012.

After spending nearly a year networking with local artists Danny! released his debut album, now renamed The College Kicked-Out,[1][5] in late 2004. The record received mixed to unfavorable reviews, which Danny! would allude to in much of his later work.

In early 2005, Danny! was accepted to the Savannah College of Art & Design and relocated to Savannah, Georgia accordingly;[1] 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—and vulgarly—attacking his detractors.

In March 2006 Danny! officially released his third record Charm, the first of three planned concept albums (succeeded by And I Love H.E.R. and Payback, respectively). 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. Lauded by a variety of music critics, Charm went on to become Danny!'s biggest success at the time and, coincidentally, help make the entire premise of the album come true in real life.

Charm and selected tracks from the album made their way onto the shortlist for the 49th Annual Grammy Awards,[5] making Danny! the first hip-hop artist from South Carolina to achieve such a feat. During this time Danny! quietly compiled an instrumental album, Dream, Interrupted, and made it available abroad; within two years the sequels Dream, Fulfilled and Dream, Extinguished would also be released.

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It's all people telling you to do this and that…[but] when you do what they say and it still doesn't work in your favor, it's like, 'well, I was fine the way I was'. You just got to keep moving. There's no guarantee for anything.

- Danny!, on instinct and perseverance
(GQ, 2014)[15]

2007–09: Media recognition, MTV and And I Love H.E.R.

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

Danny! received his first big break in January 2007 when MTV played a role in securing him a recording contract with an underground hip-hop label, at the time helmed by El-P of Run the Jewels fame.[3][18] The record deal allowed Danny! to record an album for the label and release a 12" single to be accompanied by a music video slated for an exclusive premiere on mtvU. Though the label's involvement would not amount to a released album—only the single "Just Friends", which managed to chart on the Billboard Hot 100[19]—the deal did establish an ongoing relationship between Danny! and MTV, who would begin using his music extensively in various programming for years to come.

Danny! would continue to gain acclaim on his own merits, appearing on URB Magazine's website as part of their "Next 1000" campaign,[20] as well as features from Pitchfork,[21] Okayplayer,[22] Allmusic,[23] Complex Magazine,[5] VIBE, Rolling Stone,[24] Scratch Magazine, Creative Loafing,[25] IGN,[26] The Source,[27] XXL Magazine,[28] BBC News,[29] Northern Express Weekly,[30] Popmatters, The Fader,[31] Blender, mtvU, Billboard,[32] SPIN,[33] L.A. Weekly[34] and the Village Voice. The self-promotional "do it yourself" approach has since been adopted early on by other emerging acts such as Odd Future, Lil B and Charles Hamilton albeit slightly more successfully. Danny! has asserted numerous times that he implements such tactics by necessity, not by choice, as he has never been successful at procuring artist representation[27] despite a growing presence in the mainstream.

In 2008 Danny! released the critically acclaimed faux-soundtrack And I Love H.E.R., cited at the time by publications such as Pitchfork, L.A. Weekly and ABC News as one of the best releases that year. And I Love H.E.R. was notable for introducing yet another musical direction for Danny!, who was experimenting with hip house, downtempo and electronica during the record's inception to produce a sort of "lounge-hop" hybrid that has since become his definitive style, though Danny!'s output would become significantly more experimental and nuanced in subsequent releases.

2010–11: Interscope era and industry tipping point

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See also: Where Is Danny?
File:Danny! & Common.png
Rapper Common greets Danny!, Philadelphia, 2012.

The outspoken producer completed the Relapse/Madvillainy-inspired Where Is Danny? in early 2010. Interscope Records, through their short-lived digital distribution program with Tunecore,[35] would quietly release a revamped version of the album near the middle of the following year to widespread acclaim.[5][36]

While Where Is Danny? was considered a courageous and critically acclaimed effort, the album was nonetheless largely ignored by mainstream media, due mostly to Danny!'s perpetual lack of a proper record deal and publicity team at the time, but also likely to the abrupt shift in musical direction for Danny!. By the time Where Is Danny? was finally given a major label release on Interscope the momentum for the now two-year-old album had dissipated. The perceived apathy to a record he considered his "fully realized masterpiece" was Danny!'s tipping point with the industry; it was during this time he began excessively prank-calling fellow celebrities and going through a self-proclaimed "social media meltdown", alienating acts such as Childish Gambino and Busta Rhymes[37] while conceiving "Project Lucky Seven", later known as Payback.

2012–present: Breakthrough, music licensing and The Book of Daniel

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See also: Payback (album) and The Book of Daniel (album)

While developing Payback—at one point scrapping an "all-star" version that featured appearances from Bruno Mars and Pharrell, among others—Danny! offered Where Is Danny? as a free download on his Tumblr blog[38] after it was revealed to the public by Questlove that JAY Z had a strong interest in him,[5] dubbing Danny! "Hov's fav[orite] cat".[1][28][39] It was later announced that Danny!'s distribution deal with Interscope had been terminated, making way for an eventual signing to Questlove's relaunched Okayplayer Records.[9]

During this period Danny! also provided production for Danny Brown (whose own career ascension in 2011 would later cause people to confuse the two), Wale and Cody ChesnuTT.

The retail version of Payback was completed toward the top of 2012[5] but was continuously delayed throughout much of the year due to the lack of substantial fanfare. After months of strategic postponements, public interest would reach its peak when Danny! made his national television debut on Late Night With Jimmy Fallon on the week prior to Payback's scheduled release date, premiering his song "Evil" with The Roots. On September 25th Payback was made available in many digital outlets, peaking at # 9 on the iTunes hip-hop charts.

The title track for Where Is Danny? was featured in a commercial for SONOS starring Questlove in late 2012. Long fascinated with music licensing Danny! subsequently signed on as a composer for Sony/ATV's Extreme Music production music library in a joint agreement with MTV[40] and silently transitioned into a more prominent producer role throughout the course of the following year, landing instrumental placements with various Viacom television programming as well as adverts for Nordstrom, McDonald's and the FOX animated series Bob's Burgers. However, GQ Magazine revealed in early 2014 that Danny! was indeed working on a new studio album,[15] initially titled "Deliverance" but later changed to The Book Of Daniel after the book in the Bible.

Discography

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Main article: Danny! discography

Studio albums

Album Year
The College Kicked-Out 2004
F.O.O.D. 2005
Charm 2006
Danny Is Dead 2007
And I Love H.E.R.: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack 2008
Where Is Danny? 2011
Payback 2012
The Book Of Daniel 2016

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

Singles

Album Year
"Just Friends" 2009
"Evil" 2012

Production credits

Artist Song(s) Album Year
Danny Brown "Exotic", "The Nana Song" The Hybrid 2010
Danny Brown "Counterfeit", "Hey!"* Detroit State of Mind 4 2010
Lil B "The Game On Lock", "Illusions of G" Illusions of Grandeur 2 2012
Wale "Never Never Freestyle" Folarin 2012
Cody ChesnuTT "Scroll Call (Danny Swain's Okayplayer Remix)" Landing On A Hundred: B-Sides & Remixes 2014

Film & television

Song(s) Where Featured Network Year
"Intermission (interlude)" Jersey Shore After Hours MTV 2008
"Cafe Surreal" aMTV promotional bumper MTV 2009
"Ebony Flower" Wainy Days My Damn Channel 2009
"Check It Out" Disaster Date MTV 2011
"The Groove" Dina's Party HGTV 2011
"The Groove" Love Lust SundanceTV 2011
"The Groove" 2011 Comedy Awards Comedy Central 2011
"Cafe Surreal", "The Groove" Red Bull Signature Series: Supernatural NBC 2012
"Cafe Surreal" The Association ESPN 2012
"Crasy Sound" Elbow Room HGTV 2012
"Evil" live performance on Late Night With Jimmy Fallon with The Roots NBC 2012
"God Bless The Child" Breaking Amish TLC 2012
"Loser" Breaking Amish: Extended Episodes TLC 2012
"Misery" Rockstar Presents: XDurance Series (with Rob Adelberg) YouTube 2012
"Pineapple Gumdrop" LXTV 1st Look NBC 2012
"Still Standing" Life After: Karyn White TV One 2012
"Where Is Danny", "I Ain't The Walrus" Sonos television advert featuring Questlove cable 2012
"Cafe Surreal" Crown Royal: Best Of promotional clip during 2013 NBA Playoffs TNT 2013
"Malice In Blunderland" The Challenge: Rivals II MTV 2013
"Man On The Moon" Snooki & Jwoww MTV 2013
"One Day It'll All Make Cents" The Show with Vinny MTV 2013
"Torture" World of Jenks MTV 2013
"Gibraltar (Danny!'s Pride And Vanity Remix)" Just Blaze interview[41] Okayplayer 2014
"Check It Out" Nordstrom anniversary sale summer promo[42] cable and radio 2014
"Take Me To The Muddy Grass" Bob's Burgers FOX 2014

See also

References

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  9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 9.2 9.3 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
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  27. ↑ 27.0 27.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  28. ↑ 28.0 28.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  29. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
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  40. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
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External links

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