Our Artist Spotlight series continues with Denzil Porter.  He’s personally one of our favorite artists coming out of the Bronx. Denzil is the barKING.  With TeamBackPack.Net’s top verse of 2015 and 1/3 of arguably the best cyphers we’ve heard in years there are very few lyricists that can challenge Denzil’s pen.  With his own label, Wreck House, in house production and other artists on his team, Denzil is set to become a legend.  Read on to see our interview with Denzil, hear our favorite song of his, and stay tuned for new projects from the 28 year old visionary.

What part of the Bronx are you from? Where did you grow up?

I’m from the Wakefield section of the Bronx. The 2nd to last stop on the 2 train. Nereid ave, Although most of the street signs say “Nereid Ave”, much of us who grew up in the area still refer to it as “The 8th” since it is still E. 238th street. My stomping grounds was the infamous White Plains Road. Where many of us attended school, picked up street smarts, made gangs, families, friends and enemies.

How has living in the Bronx inspired or influenced your work?

Influence my work? Nah, the Bronx didn’t just influence & inspire, it made me who I am. The good times, bad times, struggles & rumbles created who I am, and it also created an art form using the same exact recipe.

The Bronx is well known for its artistic background and creating the demographic I speak to today, but I think the bittersweet difference with growing up in the Bronx is the competitive nature. My home has a very notable gang history, which you can see reflected novels like “The Warriors” by Sol Yurick, I feel like this “competitive togetherness” falls from that tree. The togetherness being how we gang up, make sets in our neighborhood and support our selected local act, the “competitive nature” is how we go about it… that person is the best to that side, because he represents that side. Every side thinks they are the “best side”, there is so many sides, and growing up in The Bronx, when I attended Truman High School, there were times you had to prove your side, crew or gang was the best via battles, face to face or track for track. I’m not all the way sold on this because I think people get so focused on that one side, they can’t support anyone else, even if they know who the best is, but what it does, is make you stronger. A drive to be the best, even after becoming the best from your side, you wanted to prove your side was the best overall.. so it feels like you against the world. Being from White Plains road, and just like many and unlike some, I had to go through it to get a name for my crew and myself. From Battles, fights, arrests, and even good times like throwing events and parties and trying to be the best. Being one of the voices & leaders of the pack gave me my strong drive to be the best, and whom ever I work with should also be escalated to that. That drive in me, comes from growing up in The Bronx. That’s the culture and the principles we live by.

What’s your creative process?

It’s hard to pinpoint what my creative process is because its inspired by so many different directions, so I guess you can say it starts with Inspiration. Growing up, writing picked me up when I was down. If there were a feeling I felt, I would vent via writing & hiphop. Though I am known for wordplay and witty punchlines, my ability to tell stories came over time. Telling what I’ve done and seen. Eventually being able to step into other eyes and tell their story. It’s a blessing to be able to do more things than one, but my favorite place to gain inspiration is from within. When I get a feeling, or in a mood, or something that happened at that moment… a song is something that stamps that moment for me, and also stamps the moment for the listener who relates. Timeless… that’s what it becomes. Once I have the inspiration, the rest is history. I hop in the studio, most of the time, my home studio (in the Bronx); which is a plus because I can vent on this feeling as I have it, which gives a natural emotion in the performance of the record.

What ideas, if any, do you want to inspire with your art?

I want to inspire many things in my listeners, viewers and followers. One major thing I would like to inspire is the idea of “More”, not in a greed & selfish manor, but in a more: thought driven focus. We are “MORE” , We are “MORE” than they think we are (Who ever they are?..) , we are “MORE” than we think we are, we are “MORE” than what you see on a screen, and when you realize you are “MORE”, you want more, but more of the right things. I want to inspire people to want more, and to know more that they are using more of what they are told they are… you confused yet??

For example: There is more to New York youth then guns, drugs and being arrested… AND there are more reasons than one to get caught up in these things. People have said I speak for a side of New Yorkers no one taps into that much anymore. The guy who is probably selling drugs, but not for glorification, but for his kids, the guy who is not a shooter, but he is shooting back, the guy who was not peer pressured, but pressured, and the guy who knows how to make gold out of the shit he just crawled out of. After finding out the mechanics of how to rap, (not who I am today, but at the time of my earliest satisfaction of my work), I wanted “MORE” knowledge.. I went from reading magazines and writing flash cards of definitions for simple words like “Hertz” (the S.I unit of frequency) to having my own home studio, to a list of achievements to follow all because I wanted to know more!

I stumbled into rap, my passion is writing. I express it through my music. I’ve never seen it as a way out of the streets or a come up for my family, it was just something I’ve done for so long, and became better with age. A career that seems fit from birth. Many people see rap as a way out, or basketball, two careers that are physical and mental. Some of the most competitive careers in the world and I do not blame them one bit. Options are so limited, and even when its not, we believe that they are, when there is so much more out there.

I want to show my listeners there is MORE! More to life!

Any plans/dreams in the works you could give a little preview of?

Do you want me to rap or something? That’s when my dream works best. For now I’m working and focusing on these upcoming bodies of work that I am looking to release soon. I have something for all ears, and energy. I managed to do something not much people try to do today. I managed to be myself, (but don’t tell anyone.. that’s my secret recipe). I have so many projects done and in the works, not including the O.C.D (Oswin Benjamin, Chris Rivers, Denzil Porter) group project; but I know, and feel like I owe the world tons of music, and my plans/dreams are to share that with everyone… not just making music, but releasing it.