Danny!
South Carolina’s Best Kept Secret

Shortly after the release of Kanye West’s College Dropout in 2004, a SC rapper/producer, Danny Swain, stepped on the scene with his debut album The College Kicked-Out. The title of Danny!’s album and a style that mirrored Kanye, led to many criticisms about Danny! being a Kanye wannabe. But the story behind Danny!’s album was deeper than many could imagine. When Danny! began working on his album in 2002, the title of his album was The Danny Swain LP, but during his junior year at Claflin University one incident would change D. Swain’s life forever. Danny! was accused of being the ringleader of a grade fixing scandal (a story that made its way to local and state news). After the smoke cleared, Danny! found himself expelled from Claflin, back home, depressed, and all his plans of a career in music, over.

Following a change of heart, D. Swain returned to the studio and put together The College Kicked-Out in 2004, which allowed Danny! a chance to therapeutically vent his frustrations through his music. Although Danny! had accomplished his goal of releasing an album, The College Kicked-Out was laughed at by some South Carolina luminaries. While the criticism slightly discouraged D. Swain, it didn’t stop him from making music. Danny! returned in 2005 and fired back at critics with his follow-up album F.O.O.D. (Finding Out Our Destination), and proved everyone wrong with his third album Charm. Third time’s the “charm,” get it? Charm is a conceptual album that follows the life of a MC that finds success, only to fall victim to the industry’s pitfalls. By far Charm is Danny! greatest work to date, and has been critically acclaimed by credible media sources like Billboard, AOL Music, Vibe.com, VH1.com, and okayplayer.com, arguably making Danny! South Carolina’s most heralded MC ever. Amidst all the success, Danny! has made it public that Charm may be his final album as a MC.
Still slept-on by his home state ,South Carolina, the 23-years-old rapper/producer is currently a student at the Savannah College of Arts & Design. And he’s still puzzled about why his name is never brought up when SC gets mentioned. And his questions are justified as Danny! continues to make noise. He’s just released a instrumental album Dream, Interrupted, making this the fourth album released through his independent record label 1911 Music. In the coming months, Danny! will be featured on AOL Music during a listening session, in which Danny! will perform live music from Charm. Who better to get the “exclusive” from Danny! than the Carolina King of Publications? Randy Exclusive and Danny! discuss how SC and the Kanye comparisons hurt D. Swain’s soul, what happened at Claflin University, and if Charm is really his last album.

So what happened at Claflin?
All I can really say is mistakes were made. People were trusted that really shouldn’t have been. Things were done that shouldn’t have been done. I learned my lesson of who you roll with. It kinda has an effect on your life in some ways, you gotta watch who you talk to and tell things to. That’s how you get caught up. It’s one thing to say, “ that’s my homeboy, that’s my friend.” You can’t say that’s your friend, that’s your homie if you can’t even trust them. So I was trusting a whole lot of people that I really shouldn’t have been. I got accused of changing a bunch of grades for people at school, and that came back to haunt me. It still comes back to haunt me every now and then. But it’s all past me now. I’m definitely in a much, much better position. If I was still there at Claflin, I’m sure I wouldn’t be doing what I’m doing now. I wouldn’t be as far along in my music career as I am now.

So after Claflin, you moved on to the Savannah’s Arts College?
I got kicked out of Claflin in 2003 fall, and I didn’t reenroll in school until January of 2005. I took that whole entire 2004 and just worked.

Tell me about your first album The College Kicked-Out.
That’s my baby. I don’t care what everybody says about it, that was a pretty personal and pretty well put together album for somebody just doing it. It caught a lot of flack mainly because of the title. Some people were comparing me to Kanye West. Some people were saying I was biting on Kanye West. So it was kinda like a double edged sword, “Oh you’re pretty good but you remind me of Kanye. Matter of fact, you remind me too much of Kanye.” So no one wanted to give me the time of day. It didn’t help that I named my album The College Kicked-Out. I did it as a reference to [Kanye], but also for people to know what happened at Claflin, you know what I’m saying. People understood that. People that didn’t get it were the ones laughing at me and saying things. Like Charlamagne [and I] had some words over the air, and we kinda went back and forth a little bit. But that album was pretty personal, it was what The Danny Swain album was supposed to be. And instead of talking about what happened sophomore year, it told more about what happened junior year before I got kicked out, and what happened when I came back and things like that.

So what happened between you and Charlamagne?
Charlamagne’s on the radio, he does what he does. That’s his job to be a shock-jock. I gave my CD to Prince Ice, and I guess Charlamagne got a hold of it. He was like, who’s this cat that calls himself Danny!. He got kicked out of school. Why you trying to sound like Kanye...yada, yada, yada. So he was on the air talking about me. And people were calling in like, chill out dude is kinda cool, he got some good beats. I called in and most of the conversation got edited out. He was like I’m trying to help you out. I’m trying to get you some publicity. But when [he] played it on the air all you heard was you’re wack, you’re this, you’re that. So it was kinda a one-sided thing. I don’t got no hate for the brother. At the time I didn’t think it was necessary. But in retrospect I guess it all worked out. He got his ratings I guess, and I got a little publicity.

What about your second album?
The F.O.O.D. album, that was a good one too. I don’t think it was as good as the first one because it didn’t have the fresh sound. That yeah, “I’m Danny!, I don’t care what ya’ll think about me.” It was more like, back against the wall. Oh this is what ya’ll are saying about me. So I was lashing out at everybody. Every album that I put out tells about me, and what I’m going through in life and tells a story. So that one [was] me at the crossroads like here I am at school with a second chance. Am I going to do something to fuck this up too? Or am I going to do something right? It has a lot of songs dealing with that. I had a song dealing with an affair I had with this lady at work. I had a song addressed to Charlamagne [and] the whole thing that happened on the radio. The only thing about this one was it didn’t get a lot of attention. It wasn’t really promoted that well.

How do you feel about SC sleeping on you?
People don’t discuss me when they say “South Carolina MCs.” They say everybody else, but my name doesn’t come up. It’s kinda frustrating. Maybe it’s not my place to be one of South Carolina’s [best rappers]. Maybe I should think outside of South Carolina. That’s the kinda stuff I think about.

Talk to me about your Charm album.
Man, so much stuff. So much thought went into that album, it’s crazy. It’s supposed to be a play of the phrase “third time’s the charm” because it’s the third album. I put in a whole lot of work. I ain’t going to say I’m the best rapper in South Carolina but I felt like I still should have been recognized. I figured [Charm] was going to be the one that was going to get me out there. Charm, the premise is a whole story about this guy, a musician, that gets the recognition he wants but along the way he tastes fame and everything is so different for him. And he’s like, is this what I really wanted? So like the album he discovers that fame, fortune, success, recognition isn’t all that he wants it to be. So at the end of the album he wakes up like, aw snap it was all a dream. And then he gets a call from an A&R saying I want to sign you. So now the opportunity really is coming. Based on the dream will he take that? [I kinda leave] you hanging. Charm is definitely the album that got me more recognition than ever before. But I’m thinking about calling it quits and just focusing on the production aspects, school, and some other things besides just putting out an album.

But Charm is critically acclaimed.
Yeah, and I really appreciate it. I can’t thank these cats enough for taking the time of day to listen to it, you especially. It feels good for someone to say I heard your stuff and I really dig it. Vibe didn’t have to listen to my album but they did. Okayplayer didn’t have to listen to my album but they did. So I want to say thanks to anyone that took the time to listen to it.

So with everyone rating it so highly, why would you want to walk about from the rapping side of music?
The love is always going to be there no matter what. It’s therapy, it helps you deal with things. I was dealt with a situation where I was talking to someone that was married, you know, that wasn’t the right thing to do. Instead of beating myself up in the head about it, I made a song about it. At the same time I’m [quitting rap] because maybe I need to better myself as a person. I need to sit back and see what I want to do in life. I’m a year and a half shy from graduating. If something never happens in music, do I want to have a degree under my belt? I want to focus on producing for other artists, definitely. There are other artists in the Carolinas that people haven’t heard yet. But I don’t think I’ll ever be recognized for what I bring to the table. I will never call myself the greatest rapper in South Carolina but I do think I have a lot to offer. It’s crazy you ask that, cause I get crazy love everywhere else but the Carolinas, I don’t feel like I get love here. You say my name [and it’s like] that clown that put out the first album. I’m basically quitting because I don’t feel like I’ve reached the level that I should be in this point of my career.

With Kanye being a great rapper and producer, it would seem like being compared to him would be a good thing. Why do you feel like it’s more of a negative than a positive?
I view it as both sometimes. It depends on how they say it and who says it. If someone says hey I like your album, it reminds me of Kanye. I can see that cause me and Kanye have a lot in common. We both produced first, figured we could rap later on. He went to school, dropout out. We do have a lot of similarities. But when they say, you’re trying to be like Kanye or your style is too Kanye for me, it’s not intentional. I don’t sit around saying how would Kanye say this or how would Kanye do this. So for that reason it hurts so much and why it’s so negative is cause when people say it they don’t realize how they’re saying it to me. It comes across to me as you’re intentionally doing this, and I’m not. Me and him, I think have very different sounds. The only reason people can point the Kanye finger at me is cause of the title of my first album, and I take blame for that.

Talking to you, you seem as if you wear your emotions on your sleeve. Would you agree with that?
Everyone says that. It’s getting to the point to where maybe it’s true, I never saw it like that. Really, I thought that's what music period, not just rap and hip-hop, was all about. Especially if you write your own songs. You write about going through stuff, you get over it. What I’m basically doing is giving people my life. I put myself out there because I want people to know this is what I go through.

I’m anticipating your next album so don’t put the mic down on me?
I’m not calling it quits for sure, for sure. Just for right now. [I’ll] push what I have, and try to make something happen out of that. Because I think I have a lot of songs in my catalog that I can shop as a demo. That’s what I’m doing right now. What I’m trying to say in a round about way...the next album I put out should be with a major deal, or a major label.

For more information on Danny! logon to www.dannyswain.com or www.myspace.com /mcdanny

Randy Exclusive
Staff Writer
IndieStreet Magazine
www.indiestreetent.com
randy@indiestreetent.com