Love songs from the perspective of young Black men are still alive and well. DVSN, the duo comprised of singer Daniel Daley and producer Nineteen85, is dedicated to telling tales in the pursuit of modern-day romance.
The group released its latest project, Working On My Karma, on Oct. 28. The duo spoke about the 12-track album recently with rolling out.
How are you guys feeling about releasing the album?
Nineteen85: It’s interesting. I feel like it’s a bit of a relief because now a lot of the stuff we were trying to explain, but couldn’t get into, it now makes way more sense. So I think, it’s early, but I think for now that’s the biggest feeling I have of just, “Oh, man!” Finally, people get to see the full picture and understand what went into this, and why we felt so strongly about certain things coming out first in the order of the way the whole sequence was displayed to people.
Daley: I’d say the same thing. To be honest, it’s just like after you put so much focus into one thing for a period of time, it’s a relief to finally release it. You put that much into something, and now the world gets it back.
You have a few samples on the album, including one from John Legend on “Take It Slow.” How do you all decide to use samples and which samples to use?
Nineteen85: I’ve always had an unorthodox approach to sampling. So working with JD [Jermaine Dupri] was really cool because I feel like he’s one of the few producers [who’s] sampling pretty similar sounds. Like even if he takes an obvious sample, he won’t do the obvious thing with it. For instance, on “Last Time,” he was the one that had the idea to chop that up and loop it up in that way, and I think he has such an awareness of what worked and how things will work in the future. That’s one thing that’s always been consistent through his records. He has such a timeless ear and songwriting style.
Daley: It’s like a guilty pleasure for me to be able to do songs like that because the rapper in me and the old rapper in me and the super hip-hop head in me is always jealous when I hear these crazy beats that these rappers get to go on, like soul samples and instrumentals like that. So for me, I get to kind of tap into that side.
With you all dropping a week before Drake and 21 Savage, it’s officially OVO season. How do you guys feel about it being OVO season?
Daley: No, we’re excited, man. It’s exciting times. We are definitely trying to own the moment, own the season, own the air and keep the tradition of being the people setting the tone outside.
Nineteen85: Yeah, I feel the same way. I kind of feel the same way I felt when we put out “If I Get Caught.”
