We were lucky to catch up with Darius King recently and have shared our conversation below.

Darius, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Do you feel you or your work has ever been misunderstood or mischaracterized? If so, tell us the story and how/why it happened and if there are any interesting learnings or insights you took from the experience?

I’ve always been misunderstood, in fact for the longest time I didn’t even know who Darius really was until I got a lot older. Even now one of the biggest misconceptions is that because of the way I choose to express my creativity and/or fashion sense, means I want to be a woman and that’s far from the truth! My pronouns are and will forever be he, him, his and I love being a man, I get influenced from people like Andre 3000, Dennis Rodman, Andy Warhol, Prince, the list goes on. They helped show me, so now I show boys and men that it is nothing wrong with being a bad *bleep* from time to time, especially when you do it right I love the controversy it causes both good and bad. We all have a feminine side people are just scared to show it!

Darius, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

Darius King is literally the epitome of “jack of all trades”. I sing, I act, I’m a fashion fanatic, oh yeah and I do hair, which is probably what you most know me for!*King chuckles* I’ve been in the beauty industry for going on 7 years and I can honestly say for someone who came into this completely blind sighted, not even wanting to really make this a career I just didn’t want to be broke, I’ve came a long way and I’m doing pretty darn great if I do say so myself. It has been far from easy however with all thanks be to God of course, none of this would be possible without him!

Is there mission driving your creative journey?

Since I was a child I’ve had dreams of being larger than life taking care of my family and loved ones and really being the patriarch of my family. I’m so blessed to be living my dreams and it’s only getting better by the day! I’m no where near where I want to be however the things that keep me motivated are definitely my family, my son K’yori, the fear of being broke and the fear of leaving this earth without leaving my mark, so everyday I have to get up and go even harder than the day before I’m literally in competition with myself!

How can we best help foster a strong, supportive environment for artists and creatives?

In so many words society can do a lot more, starting with us a creatives supporting each other! If we work together more than we tear each other down, not just as creatives but in this world as a whole this world would be a much better place. A lot of creatives sit on so much talent and are scared to share with the world because this time period is wicked! Especially because of social media it has a lot of people brainwashed which is why everyone looks the same and lives the same on the internet, it’s sick honestly *King chuckles*

Contact Info:

• Instagram: @iamdariusking

Image Credits
@treyshotme