We were lucky to catch up with Danté James II recently and have shared our conversation below.
Danté, appreciate you joining us today. Can you talk to us about a project that’s meant a lot to you?
I dropped an EP back in January of 2023 titled, “Version 27”. This was part of my birthday series where I would release music on my birthday. I have this thing where around October/November I start to get really introspective about my life, where I’m at, progress I’ve made, mistakes and things of that nature. But this go round it was different. For the 2 years prior, on my birthday projects I had just been in this mellow space and still affected by the divorce of my parents and just emotionally not fully being present. On this project I had a mindset change. My mom asked me one day, “son when are you going to get back to glory?” and that stuck with me! Its okay that this bothered me but now I have to work on moving forward and figuring out what in life is it that I actually want? How can I move on? What can I do to get back to being truly happy again. So as I was writing and producing this project I realized I was writing the finale of the series. I felt like I had said everything that I wanted to say and I didn’t want to do another project like this until I was in a better space mentally and physically. It’s funny because after a year God has been SOO good to me soooo new birthday project coming January 2025 haha.
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
My name is Danté James and I’m a Christian artist, producer, engineer, oh and I’m also a drummer. I have always been involved in music ever since I was young. The only difference now is that I’m a recording artist. When I was really young, I started off playing drums and I still play them to this day but I wanted another creative outlet. I’m introverted and shy and I realized that I could speak about who I felt on a track and that changed so much for me. Later on it evolved into I could use my creative outlet to speak for others who might feel like me and show them that it’s okay to be different, it’s okay to hurt but we still have to move forward. I speak about my faith a lot and I share my mess ups and all because we aren’t perfect but I want to show people that God still loves you despite your mistakes.
I’m most proud of my catalogue. There’s no project that I have that sounds the same, I’m growing on the daily and I love to experiment. That’s why my last project at the end of 2023, “Love, Tae 2” was heavily hyperpop influenced just because I wanted to try something different. I also just performed at one of the biggest shows of young career, I was able to open up for Tedashii, Mike Teezy and many others. God been showing out for me this year haha.
In terms of me, I’m shy, introverted and quirky but on stage you wouldn’t get that at all. I love music, I love God and I love anime and that’s why you hear all of those influences in my music. I really just want to leave and make an impact in this world in my generation and each one under it. You can be different, express yourself and live for God.
Any insights you can share with us about how you built up your social media presence?
Me and my DJ have this mindset of throwing things at the wall until something sticks. Social media, music and almost everything you do is just about experimenting things and finding what works and what doesn’t. The success that I have found that works for me is that people love my weird and quirky side which is, me. Logic said in one of his songs that people this day and age don’t buy the music they buy the brand. People will be more likely to support you if they like who you are, so I just say be yourself and you’ll attract the fan base that you want.
Is there something you think non-creatives will struggle to understand about your journey as a creative?
Perfectionism is super hard and draining. If I don’t drop something for a couple months it’s because I waited too long to release it and now my skill level has surpassed the old thing I was working on. I mix, produce and master most of my stuff so I literally have my hands in everything and can change ANYTHING I wanted at any point in time… It’s a blessing and a curse haha
Contact Info:
- Website: https://dantejames.gumroad.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ohtaemaestro/
- Facebook: https://m.facebook.com/solodantejames?mibextid=LQQJ4d
- Twitter: https://x.com/ohtaemaestro
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCmqoxjvQ9JqJaeBdsdJkJwA
- Other: https://lift.bio/dantejamesii
Image Credits
Christian Fisher