User:FuriousFreddy/Danny!

Danny!, also known as D. Swain (born Daniel Keith Swain, August 18, 1983 in Killeen, Texas ), is an American hip-hop performer and record producer from Columbia, South Carolina, a former student of the Savannah College of Art & Design and, most recently, a recording artist for Definitive Jux Records. Garnering praise -- and fielding minor criticism -- for being an atypical rapper relying heavily on sampled tracks, Danny! released five self-produced studio albums, three instrumental albums and even a greatest hits compilation prior to his affiliation with Def Jux. He is often seen wearing his trademark oxford shirt and pinstriped necktie, a fashion style he adopted during high school.

Danny! is most notable for his critically-acclaimed self-released albums Charm and And I Love H.E.R., the latter named by ABC News as one of the best 50 albums of 2008. L.A. Weekly has called Danny! "the best new artist that Def Jux has signed in recent memory".

Early Career (1999 - 2001)
Danny! began producing at an early age, but by the time he was 16 years old he had developed a style all his own courtesy of the keyboards and sequencers his mother would buy for him. A hobby he had only intended to pursue "for fun", Danny! began to take producing music seriously when he sold his first beat at age 17. Following his initial reluctance to rap, he started penning his own lyrics and eventually recorded makeshift songs first on his boombox (via cassette tape), then later on his personal computer. Early Danny! songs mimicked rapper Eminem's multi-syllabic shock lyrics; Danny! has openly admitted to copying Eminem's flow early on. thumb|left|Though [[The College Kicked-Out, Danny!'s debut album, received fierce criticism for its derivative title, it succeeded in establishing Danny! as a unique talent and served as a refreshing departure from the South's crunk movement of the time.]]

College Life (2001 - 2003)
After high school Danny! matriculated at Claflin University, a liberal arts college 50 miles from his hometown of Columbia, and enrolled in the college's fledgling "Call Me Mister" program. While at Claflin, Danny! began to stray from the keyboard-crafted beats he was known for and started experimenting with sampling. Influenced greatly by rapper and producer RZA, Danny! used a sampler to loop up soul records and started creating songs that he felt had more structure to them. The success of Ghostface Killah's Supreme Clientele and Jay-Z's The Blueprint further validated the relevance of such a style of production for Danny! and inspired him to work on an album of his own; Danny! has stated that hearing a demo version of Freeway's "What We Do (Is Wrong)" for the very first time was the definitive point in which he decided to incorporate samples into his production.

A campus-wide grade-changing scandal forced Danny! to leave Claflin University in November 2003, just as he was putting the finishing touches on his debut album, then titled The Danny Swain LP. Though no proof or evidence was ever presented, Danny! was accused of orchestrating a scheme in which 300+ students' grades had been altered in exchange for money, and was expelled from the university.

Post-Claflin (2003 - 2006)
After spending nearly a year rebuilding his reputation and networking with local rappers back home, Danny! released his debut album, now renamed The College Kicked-Out, in late 2004. Much to his chagrin, the CD's otherwise feel-good vibe would become overshadowed not by Danny!'s dubious past, but by those who panned the effort as a carbon-copy of Kanye West's own debut album, The College Dropout. Critics felt Danny!'s style of production at the time, which heavily utilized pitch-altered vocal samples, was far too similar to West's. Artists in the Columbia area ridiculed Danny! and refused to continue to work with him, which Danny! would allude to in much of his later work.

Danny! was later accepted to the Savannah College of Art & Design and relocated to Savannah, Georgia accordingly ; it was here that he began to work on his second project, F.O.O.D. Visibly bothered by the reception to his debut album, he spent much of F.O.O.D. verbally attacking his detractors; otherwise decent songs on the LP were overshadowed by the out-of-place, retaliatory tracks. Nevertheless, Danny! began to develop a moderate following -- albeit primarily on the internet -- and fans began to know him for his rich production, usage of satire and, at times, humor that ranged from quirky to self-deprecating.

Breakthrough (2006 - 2007)
In March 2006 Danny! officially released his third and allegedly final LP Charm, a concept album in which he has credited the song "Poor Charlotte" from The Miracles' City of Angels record as his inspiration. The album was notable for featuring an underlying theme of escapism, narrating the story of a musician who wants to achieve success through music and be reprieved of the day-to-day routine in his hometown. The protagonist, which is believed to be Danny! himself, dreams that he actually becomes famous and wealthy, only to realize towards the album's closing that perhaps fame wasn't meant for everybody, particularly him. The album ends with the musician awakening from his dream, only to be approached by a label executive shortly afterwards. Lauded by a variety of music aficionados and online magazines, Charm went on to become Danny!'s biggest success and, ironically, help make the entire premise of the album come true in real life.

Charm and selected tracks from the album made their way onto the shortlist for the Grammy Awards of 2007, making Danny! the first hip-hop artist from South Carolina to achieve such a feat. This was particularly noteworthy due to the fact that Danny! was neither signed to a record label nor an artist management agency at the time. None of his selected songs, however, made it from the short list to the second nomination ballot, which comprises artists and songwriters who receive the top five votes in a category (and are from then on classified as "Grammy nominees"). Despite not making the cut as a Grammy nominee, Danny! chronicled his album's recognition by the Recording Academy on his Myspace page in a four-part blog series nonetheless.

thumb|right|In late 2007 Danny! revealed the name of his upcoming fifth album, [[And I Love H.E.R.: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack|And I Love H.E.R.. The album's cover is clearly homage to the Beatles' poster for their 1964 film A Hard Day's Night; it is rumored that the album's sound will also be reminiscent of what was popularized by bands associated with the "British Invasion" of the 1960s.]] Shortly before the Grammy announcement was made, Danny! quietly released an instrumental album, Dream, Interrupted, abroad. A sequel, Dream, Fulfilled, was also released overseas in April of the following year. Both albums, which Danny! has jokingly referred to as "sensationalized beat tapes", are extremely rare; only a small number of copies exist stateside and are thus highly sought after in the US. Rumors of a third and final installment to complete the trilogy -- Dream, Extinguished -- swirled for months before Danny! actually confirmed its release in the wake of And I Love H.E.R.: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack being delayed. However, Dream, Extinguished was abruptly withdrawn the day before its release.

Present (2007 - )
Despite his success, Danny! had long insisted that Charm will indeed be his final album as a solo artist. Citing such reasons as a desire to finish his education, an oversaturated market and a fickle audience, he had mentioned in various interviews that he had no plans to ever release another LP commercially. However, in January 2007 Danny! finally received his big break when he signed to Definitive Jux Records (in partnership with MTVu). The record deal forced him out of "retirement" to record an album for the Def Jux label and release a 12" single -- to be accompanied by a music video slated for an exclusive premiere on MTVu -- with fellow Jukie Mr. Lif.

The project would be mysteriously delayed for several years before a single, titled "Just Friends", was finally released by Definitive Jux in early 2009. Despite a glaring absence of promotion from the label Danny! increased his musical output and self-released a staggering six records in a year-and-a-half span, of which only two were actual studio albums (Danny Is Dead and And I Love H.E.R.). Danny! would continue to gain acclaim on his own merits, receiving features on URB Magazine's website as part of their "Next 1000" campaign, as well as features from Pitchfork Media , Okayplayer , All Music Guide and Billboard. The self-promotional DIY approach has since been mimicked by other underground rappers such as Mickey Factz, Charles Hamilton and Kid Cudi, albeit slightly more successfully.

To date, the outspoken producer/rapper remains reclusive, making sporadic appearances while promoting his pseudo-soundtrack And I Love H.E.R. and continuing to receive features in various hip-hop related publications and websites as an artist on the rise.

Discography
Studio albums

Instrumental albums

Compilations

EPs