We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Dante Henry a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Dante, appreciate you joining us today. What’s been the most meaningful project you’ve worked on?
The most meaningful project that I’ve worked on so far is my most recent one called “Dante’s Inferno. February last year, I was struggling with finances and didn’t know what my next step was as far as musically and mentally. I’d recently lost my job and I didn’t know where to go next. One of my best friends, Gabe, one of the producers for “Dante’s Inferno”, had sent me the instrumental for “Ironic.” Now, at the moment, it was the only record that I’d recorded, and from there I was still lost. I’d kept creating and creating to keep myself busy. After I’d came to the conclusion that I was making an album accidentally, I continued to figure what records I wanted to push and what records were my strong suit. The amount of music that I’d sat on from last year was a hefty one, but I focused on what I wanted to release. I had moments last year where I cried, moments of trial and error, and I eventually settled down on ten records that stuck out to me. “Cornerstore” was first and I’d never really tried out that style and sound before, but all of my friends loved it. “Relying On Me” was second and showed my vulnerability more than anything. When the time came to drop, I’d kept delaying the project because I wanted to wait until the time was right as well as rollout my project as best as possible. I was more than excited to release my album and I enjoyed every second of it.
Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers
My name is Dante Zaran “Dzh” Henry and I’m a hip-hop artist and producer based out of New Jersey. I started making music when I was eleven years old and practiced honing my craft as well as release projects, demos, and beats online on SoundCloud and became consistent with it. It wasn’t until 2019 that I really focused on being an artist and started creating a name for myself. After releasing projects, singles, performance here and there, I met incredible friends from all over the country from California, Oklahoma, North Carolina, Atlanta, etc. I’ve been more than happy about the progress that I’ve made and I can’t wait to continue down the line keep going with what I’m passionate with prayerfully full time.
What do you think helped you build your reputation within your market?
One of the things I know for a fact that helped build my reputation is being myself, introverted, and being humble. I’m known for staying in and being humble simply because all my music is really just an extension of myself. I make sure that whatever I write or create actually come from who I am and occasionally, be ignorant and silly. I’m aware that I can’t careless in all of my situations and I let that be known in my music and make sure I’m vulnerable too.
Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?
It was actually just as recent as last month, but my album had charted on iTunes in the Hip-Hop category. At the time, it was probably around 5am and I was working at the airport, which is still my current occupation, and I saw that my album had charted under lots of other artists. I honestly couldn’t believe it and my friends who’d helped me out were surprised as well as I was and excited too. I almost cried and went into a moment of silence instead. Not only was I thankful, but I was grateful for how far I’d came because something like this had never happened to me before and I was super excited because this was my 1st time be apart “charting artists before.” It made me feel good, but it also showed me that I need to aim higher and make better and bigger goals to a better future for music.
Contact Info:
- Website: allgoodfamrecords.com
- Instagram: dantezaranhenry
- Facebook: Dzh
- Twitter: dantezaranhenry
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCI_Dxo87DQXpm6uh-MjWTUw
Image Credits
Taken by Anthony “Apollo” Torres