The latest generation of rapper talks vocal chops, messages in the sky, his forthcoming album, and much more
There has been a bubbling movement characterized by high BPMs, erratic electronic and synth-based production, and pitch modulated vocals. Whether an artist is singing or rapping, they may be categorized as Glitchcore or Hyperpop. Whatever the label, if you dig it, it probably didn’t take long before you came across the name David Shawty. Though he may be a new face for a generation who grew up on Yung Lean and other viral acts, David Shawty is not exactly a novice. With his oldest available post on SoundCloud dating back three years, David’s ascent in popularity is backed by a history of consistent releases. Though time moves faster on the internet when it comes to music, David’s name has stayed in the conversation, in part, due to collaborations with other recognizable acts such as MexikoDro, Callari, fadedblackid, and the late Hella Sketchy. While he has earned a respectable following through these collaborations, what is even more noteworthy is his stylistic growth. His recent association with the internet’s newest musical movement places David in a position to not only ride a wave but to become one of its most active influencers.
David, who originally hails from Seattle, has had dramatic artistic development since his first foray into music. Like other young artists, he began rapping in high school, during which time he began taking the craft more seriously. Finding himself amongst the growing Plugg scene, he eventually found an audience who grew up alongside him. Eventually, as any good artist finds, he had a desire to branch out and experiment. Different producers led to different sonic qualities, but it seemed wherever he went he was positively received among fans. As the singles, EPs, and videos kept coming, David found himself following various paths of experimentation, taking influences from sounds as diverse as horrorcore and acoustic guitar.
Today, David’s sound has evolved to a more exaggerated version of what it once was. In the spirit of the growing Hyperpop genre, he has embraced and ran with wild autotune and vocal manipulation, as well as frantic and fast-paced production. Songs such as “Pressure” or “here comes the sun” are examples of this overstated style, though David has no plans to remain within one lane forever. In planning his next moves as an artist he has many things in mind: multiple projects and collaborations lay on the horizon as well as departures in style. Underground Underdogs had the opportunity to gain further insight into what David’s future has in store, as well as how he has developed as an artist, and as a person.
First and foremost, in your own words, who is David Shawty?
He’s a human being, I’m pretty sure, who likes to write songs, and go outside, and look up at the sky and look for shapes in the clouds.
Looking up at the sky is crazy. Sometimes if you look up at it on a really clear day you start to see things.
The sky is powerful. You can look up at it sometimes and it just enhances your mood. It can do a lot for people, it’s like a health supplement, like a natural free health supplement we all have access to.
How did you first get into making music?
I’ve just been around music so that’s how I got into it I guess. My dad played instruments and sang and shit, same with my brother and my mom. We went to church and they did worship leadings and shit and then they’d play Christian music so I’ve just always been around music. I learned how to play guitar when I was 7 and then I just started writing songs. I only recorded my first song when I was 15, back in 2015. Me and my friends would freestyle on my phone and then one day I wanted to make a real song so I got a mic at this place called Hasting’s by my house. I got the mic and recorded a song I wrote over the 10 Bands Drake beat and that’s where it all started, my origin of music. I’ve just been around it and decided I wanted to record it.
That’s really interesting. I knew you had played music before, and actually had a question about that that I’ll save for later, but I never knew you grew up going to church. Are you still religious or spiritual?
Somewhat. I’m spiritual, not really religious. I believe in spiritual things. I would say I’m agnostic if you want to put a name on it. I think there are a lot of possibilities of what is going on behind the scenes and I think it’s cool to think about.
The craziest part is that you’ll never know.
Yeah, exactly, there’s no way to know. Accepting those things is important to being happy, I think. There’s so much unknown, like there are colors we cant even see that bugs see. There are things we just can’t understand because our brains aren’t able to understand them. We can’t even comprehend how time really works: For us it’s linear, but that’s just this dimension’s time. Time isn’t really linear. We just comprehend it like that.
Going back to your early days in music, what are some of the biggest musical and non-musical differences you see in yourself now?
I would say when I first started making music I was just rapping, rapping, rapping, you know. Not that I’m not rapping now but I was just writing bars you know, kinda old school. I’d say that’s probably the difference. My stuff is more free form now. As a person I am completely different. Back then I was 15 and naive and hadn’t experienced a lot at all. I was just a kid and really ignorant, how we all are when we’re 15 and we just haven’t experienced life.
Going back to the fact you know how to play music and know music theory, how do you think that has affected the way you make music?
I don’t know if I would say I know music theory; I guess I do, but in a less taught way. I kind of know it naturally, but I don’t quite know how to read music. Just growing up doing it made it easy to figure out and came more naturally to me.
How did that go into making your recent song “would i find?” That’s you on the guitar, right?
Basically I was in this outskirts area at someones house, took some shrooms, listened to some Daniel Johnston, and when they started kicking in I went outside on this trampoline in the backyard and was just looking up at the stars. After a little bit I was looking around at the people and wondering what they were thinking and I just wrote a fuckton down and ended up writing that whole song. I went back inside and ended up filming a video because I knew it was going to be a song. I just got home today from that little trip actually, and re-recorded the song, put it to the video, and just released it.
I really enjoyed how much of a departure from your regular style it was. I think that is something important for an artist to be able to do, and to do it in such a long piece is really unique.
Yeah, it’s a fat fucking song, and it’s definitely different from what I’ve made previously.
At around 15 minutes in length you have to go into it knowing that a lot of people are probably not going to listen to the full thing, so to put it out anyways is big.
Yeah, I just liked it a lot and put it out. I always put out music I like. It’s not to please anyone, it’s just for me and I feel like the only reason I’ve gotten so far and gained any type of following is because I always put out what I like and never compromised. If someone doesn’t like it then that’s fine they don’t have to listen, but if they do listen it’s great.
Speaking of your following, it has grown quite a bit recently but you are anything but a recent artist. Why do you think people are starting to pay more attention now?
I think it’s just because of a steady inclining grind and a couple viral moments here and there. After people saw the viral stuff they saw it was consistent and it went from there. Now I just feel like I have to be consistent and keep putting out good shit. I’ve got a mixtape and an album done – well not done – but they exist and I’m gonna keep working on them. It’s in the works.
In the recent boom of popularity around your type of music and music that is similar people have been throwing around terms like Glitchcore or Hyperpop as a genre title. How do you feel those terms apply to your music and what may be more accurate?
I don’t mind it. Whatever people want to call the music or whatever is easiest for them is fine with me. I don’t really care too much about titles or genres so if someone wants to call it Glitchcore that’s fine with me. I’ve got nothing against it. I think if it makes it easier for people then there’s nothing wrong with it. People get too caught up in titles and at the end of the day I don’t think it matters. I get it if you do though but to me it doesn’t.
The topic of labels actually brings me to my next question, but in a different context. I know you recently made statements about your own personal sexuality describing it as just “David.” Would you care to speak on that more?
Basically the way I see it is like how I said before, I don’t care about labels that much you know, I don’t see myself as a boy or girl, I’m just David. I’m just a human, I can do whatever I want. I can do things people think a boy or girl might do and dress a certain way. I can do whatever because I’m just David. Same thing with sexuality. I can like boys and girls or whoever, it’s just David. It’s basically like a freeing term. I don’t want to be boxed in anywhere so I just think my name fits best. People who want to be in that box and fit into that stuff are totally cool too, though, and I see that because there’s community there. It makes sense and I appreciate all that. It’s not for me but it makes sense.
Do you have any advice to any listeners or other artists that are struggling with their sexual orientation and how they identify?
What I would say is just to not worry about pleasing people or fitting into anything. Think about what you like and what you want and what you really feel like. If there’s a category you don’t have to fit all the criteria, you can just find what you like and go for it. Just figure out what you like and what you want to be, then just go and reach for that. I just want everyone to be happy; life isn’t so serious and it doesn’t have to be. There are people out there though whose situations suck and they can’t control it and everyone should try and help those people, but you have to help yourself to be able to help others. The first thing to unlock is yourself because that’s when you can start reaching out to others. It’s like using tape without making it sticky; you have to make the tool right in order to use it effectively.
You have a history of creating music with established and talented vocalists and producers. Who are some that you would like to work with again and who would you like to work with in the future?
That’s a good question. There are a lot of people I’d love to work with. I almost can’t even answer the question because there are so many. I love working with a lot of people, I will say that. One person I’ve always wanted to work with is Yung Lean because he was a super big inspiration for me. I guess I will also say Black Kray. I’d really love to work with those two people right now. Those are two of my all-time favorites.
You described the music you have coming up as largely self-produced, could you talk a bit about that and your style of production?
So I have my album which is all me, no features or anything, and I have the mixtape which is where the features come in. On the album it’s all David-music with 808s and stuff but there are also some folk vibes and guitars in there. Some tweaker stuff and some Jazzy stuff. It’s a mixed bag. I’m excited to release it when the time is right, it’s a good body of work. The mixtape is where the collaborations really come in though.
Can you tell me about the tools in your production repertoire?
Yeah, so I work in FL Studio and also do some acoustic guitar stuff. I use a lot of stock plugins honestly, just try and piece stuff together from that. I found a lot of sounds on FL that stand out to me so I just used those and tweak them until I like what it sounds like. I have friends that use Ableton and Logic. I like them all, but FL is just what I’m used to. Logic seems like it’s intuitive for making full songs and FL is better for making beats. I might get into the other DAWs though. I feel like you can do pretty much anything with any of them you just need to understand the DAW. Ableton is pretty intriguing too.
Who are some contemporary artists that you find inspiring or just want to shout out?
Hold on, let me check my phone. There are so many people. I just did a song with Bby Goyard. He’s a really cool artist, check him out. I fuck with PPG Casper a lot, Summrs always slaps. I know I’m gonna forget a lot of people though [because] there are so many people. I guess whoever I say is just luck of the draw. Shout out to Lil Xelly, Zelly Ocho, 10cellphones, grandferno, Osquinn, ITSOKTOCRY, Kevin Kazi, and The Microphones. Oh yeah, and shout out Britney Spears. Everyone I forgot I’m sorry. I’m tired, don’t be mad at me.
Lastly, do you want to talk about anything we haven’t touched on? Anything to leave off with, something you have upcoming, etc.? The floor is yours.
I’m dropping my album relatively soon, same with my mixtape. I’m just going to keep dropping music in the meantime though. I don’t know when this is going to come out but I’ve got a merch drop coming up so go buy that and if it is already out thank you to everyone who bought it. I love all you guys for real, we’re in it for the long haul. That’s it.