Certified Fresh: Deniro Farrar – A Living Cult Classic

The overt lack of balance in Hip-Hop seems to be a dwindling issue if the gauge is the amount of fans outraged over the music’s one-sidedness. Building on that thought, how can a culture that currently echoes braggadocio over a humbleness ever become an even playing field that’s based on one’s ability to relate to an artist? Fortunately, there’s a few MCs who fit that bill and have the skill set to boot. And one just happens to be Deniro Farrar.

Farrar is a man built on principle, which says a lot during this day and age. His prior dealings in the streets undoubtedly has played a part in his demeanor and candor. It even shows in his appearance — namely an interesting hairstyle choice, which he described as “a signification of growth” during a recent interview with Sway. “It is the lifestyle. It’s hair, mind, and body. Everything’s going to grow at the same time,” Farrar said.

While his music can be sonically erratic at times, there always seems to be a form to his function, while discussing things like his mom’s past issues of substance abuse (she’s 20 years clean), experiencing fatherhood, and how his brother’s incarceration has affected him and his family. Farrar actually coined his brand of song “Cult Rap” because it comes from an earnest place that fans have gravitated towards – like a cult.

The latest development in this new genre is Farrar’s most recently debuted EP, The Rebirth. But before you stream that, get familiar with an artist likely to make a big splash in Hip-Hop.

Who: Deniro Farrar is a Charlotte, NC native who’s much different in sound and belief than the majority of rappers in regular rotation. Credit that to the “Cult Rap” that he spits whenever he’s given a chance to enlighten through his well-rhymed anecdotes.

Credentials: Though fairly new compared to fellow rappers, Farrar has released five mixtapes and two EPs, beginning with his debut Feel This in 2010. Since then, the southern spitter saw his star rise before reaching an early peak in his career with a pair of 2013 releases —  The Patriarch and The Patriarch II. Farrar is signed to Warner Bros./Vice Record, which were the first to show interest as early as his inaugural project.

Fun Fact: Farrar recently began reading a new book a week. His latest conquest was author Paulo Coelho’s classic novel The Alchemist, which he says inspired him to chase his “Personal Legend.”

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Photo: Jessica Lehrman, Instagram

Hip-Hop Wired: How does The Rebirth EP differ from past projects?

Deniro Farrar: The Rebirth EP, it’s more of a confessional than anything. All of my last bodies of work, they were more like trying to display and showcase my talent, while this moreso this is a more organize body of work.

It really sums up everything about Deniro Farrar people didn’t know – from my past life in the streets to dealing with my relationship with my mom to dealing with my little brother’s incarceration to just leaving a lot of that stuff behind, because it’s been carrying it on. It’s like a burden on my shoulders through all of these projects, so now this is the confessional. This is me letting go and moving on to the next chapter in my life.

HHW: Would you call the process therapeutic?

Deniro Farrar: Right. That’s what it is.

HHW: Some would say that you’re music is descriptive enough and needs very little clarification, so why decide to do a vlog series in advance of The Rebirth?

Deniro Farrar: Visuals bring everything to life. The music is a script and I feel like the visual is the actual movie. I had to incorporate that because they go hand in hand. People like to actually see what they’re listening to. And I wanted to give the people that – something that they can have an emotional attachment to, something that they can see. That’s all it really is.

HHW: How did you coin the phrase “Cult Rap?”

Deniro Farrar: It originated from having a cult following…. From me calling my following a cult following. Music that isn’t really forced upon the masses that isn’t on the radio. It’s basically substance-based music; that’s what gave me the whole concept to actually brand it as “cult rap.”

It’s like these people who follow my music – they’re cult followers – and the music they’re listening to, they actually gravitated towards that without it being forced upon them, so it’s cult rap. I came up with the definition for cult rap from what the body of work entails, which is music that isn’t influenced by materialistic sh*t, flamboyant activities. It’s solely based off of substance.

HHW: By definition, it sounds like you’re not the first to do “Cult Rap.”

Deniro Farrar: Oh yeah, most definitely.

HHW: Who inspired your style, rap-wise?

Deniro Farrar: I never had inspiration with music. My life is my inspiration. The sh*t that I’ve been through in my life is the inspiration. I draw from that, I never pull from a rapper. I have artists that I like, but I never had anything that was really influenced in the music that I made until now.

I’ve never listened to an artist so much that I hear them in my music. That’s why it’s so hard to identify [my influences], because I don’t really listen to artists for that. I just listen to them because I like them, so I don’t have any to be completely honest.

HHW: Do you plan on telling North Carolina’s story?

Deniro Farrar: I’m actually telling that story right now. As far as North Carolina, it’s blocked off in segments. I can’t really tell the whole North Carolina story, because I live in North Carolina, but I live in Charlotte, NC. We’ve got Charlotte, Raleigh, Fayetteville, all of these different entities to the state.

I can only tell Charlotte’s story and it hasn’t been told. Just the lingo period, the way we enunciate words… a lot of people from this city, they’re gonna know – being from this city – what I’m talking about when I talk about certain things or when I bring up a certain series of events. It’s really not for the world to understand, because everybody not from Charlotte. But when a person from Charlotte hears certain things or they hear me mention a certain name, then it’s going to hit home for them. When local people hear the music, I’m telling the story, but to the world, I’m just a guy who has some real honest music.

HHW: Do you hope to eventually get radio support, local or otherwise?

Deniro Farrar: We getting a lot of love right now on satellite radio. I don’t really get a lot of local radio support, which is fine. I’d rather be global than local any day. The satellite radio thing is a global thing; everybody’s listening to satellite radio. I’m getting a lot of spins on there right now with my single “Bow Down,” so it’s actually going really, really well. It is what it is.

HHW: How did you go about selecting “Bow Down” as a single?

Deniro Farrar: The public selected it. When I dropped it, it got over a hundred and something thousand listens in the first week and a half or so. So I didn’t pick it, they picked it.

It was just a single that I really enjoyed. I made it with my little brother Denzel Curry from Florida. We threw it out there to see what the world thought about it, and the world really embraced it. They made that decision. It’s like ‘Aiight, let’s give them what they want.’

HHW: What made you select Warner Bros./Vice Records as your label?

Deniro Farrar: Because they’re not your typical rap label and I’m not your typical rap artist, and I feel like they were a better suit than anybody. I can’t really see myself signing with a lot of these labels. I feel like they really understood the brand and where I was going with my music. They where willing to give me full creative control over my music, which a lot of artists lack and a lot of artists aren’t grateful enough to have. Once I seen that, it was a no-brainer.

Essentials

“Big Tookie”

“Look At The Sky” ft. Flosstradamus

“The Calling”

“Bow Down” ft. Denzel Curry