We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful D. Santos. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with D. below.

D., thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. We’d love to hear about a project that you’ve worked on that’s meant a lot to you.

I’ve released recently “Community Resistance” which is a protest song about the Metro Surge crackdown in the Twin Cities and how beautifully the community have come together to keep their neighbors safe. As an immigrant and a songwriter, I decided to bring a little bit of my experience during these times. I strongly believe that “Community Resistance” has been my best work so far. Not only lyrically speaking, but also from the initial idea and execution until the end. FUCK ice!

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

I’m from Brazil and have been living in Minnesota since early spring of 2020. I’ve always enjoyed listening to music, and singing along is one of the things that I really vibe with. Back in the day, I was part of a pop rock band playing bass and also writing but life decided that I needed to fly solo. So, a decade later I landed at MSP airport.

Then, I went through life’s experiences and overcame most of them – still working on myself -, that’s when a pen and a paper became my allies. I decided to disconnect from the rest of the world and take a deep look at into myself to keep fighting. It was just my puppy and I.

When people hear the whole story they ask me how I got through it all, and honestly I can’t say anything but my ancestors and angels were looking out for me. That’s one of the ideas I bring into my music. Being in my space making music helps me to create art that could help somebody in this big world as much as it has done for me.

***DISCLAIMER***: I’m not here to force anybody to believe in whatever I believe, so no stress if you think that doesn’t resonate with you. It’s all cool.

Is there mission driving your creative journey?

Yes, there’s only one. My goal/mission is to give back to the communities. Because of that drive I ended up naming my record label “Studio88”. In numerology, the number “8” is an infinite number. With that said, all blessings the Universe bring into my life it all will be given back to the community.

For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?

Connecting with people without speaking the same language but using the universal tool to share my message which is through music. English isn’t my first language and I rap in Portuguese (Brazil). So, when I’m up on the stage and see people vibing with my music there’s no words to describe the feeling. However, I provide live translated lyrics for those who enjoy to follow along.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://linktree.com/d.santosofficial
• Instagram: https://instagram.com/d.santosofficial
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/d.santosofficialbr
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@D.SantosOfficial

Image Credits

Photo black bucket hat (Ace Taylor – Iseeeatownwealth Photography)
All other photos (Personal Archive)