DC the Don Talks New ‘Rebirth’ Album, Redefining Himself & ‘The Grinch’: ‘None of My Other Albums Count’
The genre-bending Milwaukee emcee's new album promises a new beginning. Read the Billboard interview.
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“I was on my phone the whole flight and I got f—king sick to my stomach,” Milwaukee rapper DC the Don tells Billboard the day after the 2024 U.S. presidential election (Nov. 6). “That’s enough politics for the rest of my life… people are very insufferable on both sides.”
On the one hand, Milwaukee has had a banner year thanks to J.P. taking the city’s sound to a national level with his breakout hit “Bad Bitty.” On the other hand, Milwaukee – really, Wisconsin at large – has been under an increasingly dramatic microscope as America prepared to vote for its next president. Ironically, Milwaukee’s sonic energy is nowhere to be heard on DC the Don’s latest effort – and that’s just the way he likes it.
Rebirth, DC’s fourth studio album (which dropped in October) serves as the beginning of a new chapter for the 5-year-old rapper. Featuring previously released singles such as “God Level” and “Fly Enough to Be Virgil,” as well as collaborations with Hello Forever, Ambré and Damoyee, Rebirth finds DC revising the sounds that he fell in love with as a kid. From gospel-influenced choir arrangements to notes of punk, indie pop, Afrobeats and R&B, Rebirth widens the gap between DC and his peers. Ye looms large over the record – there are several glimpses of Yeezus and The Life of Pablo sprinkled throughout – but DC synthesizes all of those influences into an album that’s as honest as it is urgent.
“Growing up, I had music that literally spoke to me,” he muses. “I don’t think a lot of kids today have had that.”
Rebirth is angsty record; it equally harnesses the innate high-octane emotions of adolescence, the overwhelming period that follows the frontal lobe fully developing, and the tension of the American people during election season. Across the set’s 18 tracks, DC is somehow able to make sure the record doesn’t crumble under its own weight – a testament to his growth and maturity as a rapper, producer and curator.
Ina far-ranging conversation with Billboard, DC the Don dissects Rebirth, gushes over his love for film and reflects on how his priorities and responsibilities as an artist have changed as he’s grown up.
Ye’s influence is all over Rebirth. Was he someone who you were specifically looking to while crafting this album?
In general, Kanye is the most influential artist of all time in my eyes. I really appreciate how much he cared about music because I shared the same feeling growing up and listening to music. The way that I felt when I heard his shit was a feeling that I wanted to bring back to my music. I wanted these kids to have that same experience that I had growing up with Graduation or when I first heard “Touch the Sky” and all those songs. That’s why I fell in love with music.
I lost sight of that because once I started getting buzz for my music and making a name for myself, I wanted to appease and please people versus actually making the type of music that makes me want to make music.
Going back to the sounds that I grew up with and sampling the “Black Skinhead” record… I think that brought more validity to what I do in my eyes. It helped me open my mind more as a creator. Kanye was my diving board.
The song structures across Rebirth are really dope and “Stella Rose” is a good example. What inspired that track?
I was going through a breakup, so that definitely helped. Every song on Rebirth points to a specific era of my life and the style of music that I was listening to at the time. The shit I was going through at the time helped me feel like I was fully explaining myself in a way that the audience had never heard before. I got to put out every version of myself. Right now, I feel that this is the most authentic project I could have put out. I grew up on R&B and soul. I grew up in church, so I was very influenced by the choir and that’s how you get that last section of “Will You Be Mine” where I’m belting vocals – I’ve never even done that before. It just felt natural, it was the type of shit I used to listen to when I was a kid.
I was just authentically being myself as much as possible. That’s why some songs are sporadic – that’s how it was in the moment. I had no sleep; we were at camps recording music at these Airbnbs for weeks. I would stay up for four days straight losing my mind and shit, and on the last day, we’d make the most insane song.
As you were revisiting those older parts of yourself, did you come across any sounds and styles that your forgot you used to enjoy?
I’ll say conscious rap. I used to live and die by Kanye West and Nas and J. Cole. And Kendrick Lamar! That f—king “Sing About Me, I’m Dying of Thirst” song is one of my favorite songs of all time. That’s why I used parts of the lyrics that really spoke to me because I remember hearing it for the first time and thinking, “This n—a is a god.” I don’t know how he came up with that.
These are all the things that I love and I knew I would get some type of backlash for it, but I didn’t give a f—k. I wanted to feel a part of what I like. I wanted to borrow that energy instead of borrowing the energy of the bullshit everyone else does. N—as follow and copy these waves of shit that doesn’t mean nothing to anybody. Nobody’s gonna remember this growing up. Songs that remind you of an era of your life are a lost art. I haven’t had a song like that lately, and maybe it’s because I’m getting older. But I just wanted to give those kids that listen to me the same feeling that I got when people actually cared about the song structure and the way that the cover looked and the way that the mixing sounded and these different voice modulations and stuff. It’s not just about seeing how distorted we can make something sound or how we make a sound viral on TikTok. That ain’t gonna do nothing for these kids.
I’ll go back home and pick my brother’s ear like, “What are you listening to?” And he’ll put on some shit and I’m sitting there looking at him like, “This is what you listen to… first thing in the morning?” And it sucks because I [used to be] a victim to the mentality of making microwaveable songs and saying certain things that aren’t good for me or my people. I don’t want my little brother to hear me saying shit like that. I’m disappointed in a lot of the ways that I used to go about making music – and that was because I was a product of the shit that I’ve heard. I’m glad that I finally got to take a step back and look at the full scope of music and the full scope of my life and the shit that I liked when I was 16, 17 years old.
Was there a specific moment that triggered that switch in your approach to music? Or was that just a side effect of you getting older?
I think it’s both. The last year of my life was rough. I was unhappy in my career. The life that I wanted to create for myself didn’t pan out how I wanted it to. Not financially, but the way I felt mentally about my music. I didn’t like the way my career was going. If I looked at the artist “DC the Don” from an outside perspective [at the time], that’s not who I wanted to be. I wanted to represent what I feel an artist should be — especially when you have people that will buy every piece of merch that you put out, go to every show that they can, and fly to different cities to come see you. I’ve watched my crowds grow over the years, and those same 50 kids from a couple of years ago are still here. They grew up with me and I actually have some type of hold over their ear or their mental. Whatever time they allow me to have of theirs, I should be making it worth it. I want to do something that is fruitful for them to listen to because they changed my life.
I had songs on this album where I cried recording… that’s never happened before. Those are the type of moments that really made me realize this was the right way to approach what I’m doing. I gotta be honest in what I do. I can’t convince the world that I’m going to shoot up a club, but I can convince the world that I was heartbroken and dealt with it – just like you.
You’re from Milwaukee and spent a lot of time in LA growing up, but Rebirth feels very separate from those two music hubs. What do you think about those scenes, and do you want to incorporate those musical influences more on future projects?
I never really had overwhelming support from either city, so f—k them and they sound. I love my city to death, but f—k the sound. I am the sound. That’s how I look at it. I want to inspire these kids to make music like I’m making it. F—k going backwards and doing what they’re doing. I love Milwaukee music. I grew up on it, it’s a completely different vibe from what I do. There’s this artist named J.P., and he’s got an amazing vocal range; he reminds me of Teddy Pendergrass, I want him to sing a complete soul bridge or chorus on a record.
But it’s hard to convince people to understand what I hear in my head. I got some crazy ideas, and sometimes people don’t really share that same vision. God willingly, one day they will, and they’ll understand and trust me in my creative vision. Until we get there, I have no need to appease any sound for nobody. If they wanna come over here, it’s fun over here. I ain’t going back to y’all.
Hello Forever appears on two tracks on the album. How did you end up linking with them?
I met them while hearing them singing at a karaoke night at this bar my friends and I go to. [Samuel Joseph] has an amazing vocal range and they’re all very creative hippies. He may not be the biggest star in the world, but there’s no reason why I shouldn’t make music with him because it sounds so good and he’s a good person. It’s a lot of motherf—kers that don’t sound great, aren’t good people and people still jump through hoops to work them. I’ve done that and come out with a different perspective on those artists, I don’t want to work with them afterwards. I’d rather work with people like Hello Forever because they understand the process.
[Joseph] made five different versions of that outro on “Can You Breathe.” Me and him fought back and forth about me using the raw version of him singing on a voice memo I recorded with my phone. He made this overly produced version, but I thought [the voice memo] sucked the energy out of the room and really made people listen to the lyrics. The fact that he really fought for his preferred version means he cared about it; that’s all I ask for from the people I work with. Everybody was very into this project and that made me feel special. It made me feel more free in what I was doing.
Would you say this was your favorite album to make?
Easily, it’s not even close. I hate to feel like this, but in a lot of ways, none of my other albums count. I love everything that I did and I don’t regret no work that I put in, but none of those albums count because those weren’t fully me. I feel like [Rebirth] still isn’t fully me because there’s so much work I have left to do. This is just the start of showing the world who I actually am. It’s 100% a rebirth for me, but it’s also me showing myself who I am too. There’s a lot of things that don’t excite me anymore – partying, being codependent, situationships, doing things that hurt my soul for quick financial gain or enjoyment. I’ve been maturing, that’s literally all it is.
Are there any plans to tour this album?
Yeah, I’m going on tour in the spring. We’re working on a Europe run as well. There’s also another artist that I’m doing a co-headlining tour with. I can’t share details yet, but I am really excited about it.
Almost every song was made [with the live show in mind]. I’m a big ass kid, bro. When I’m rapping on certain beats, I hear it in the stadium with big reverb in mind. I sing it in a way where I could imagine 40,000 people singing it back to me. That’s always been a humongous part of why I like music: performing. I’ve taken a step back from that in this past year to hone in on my music, so I’m hella excited to get back out there. I have a ton of different ideas with acoustic versions and live arrangements and stuff.
What do you have planned in terms of visuals?
I directed a full short film for the album, and we’re dropping that in a month or so. It has every music video from the album plus more clips that aren’t going to be released as solo videos. We built this whole world to help people understand what this album is.
Film is another humongous part of myself that I finally got to explore. I’ve always wanted to be a director. My favorite film is The Grinch – it has undertones of racism, elitism, all types of s—t. As a kid, I might have missed some of that, but the more I watched it… that’s a good f—king movie!
I’m not the best lyricist yet – eventually I will be – so we put in film. I’m breaking out of the 2016 curse. And I loved 2016, that’s what made me really wanna do music; seeing the young n—as come out and be carefree was super inspiring. But hip-hop originated from something completely different than what it is today, and all of it is just as important. It’s lyricism that’s important, it speaks to people.
Lil Wayne and Jay-Z said they don’t write, so everyone stopped writing. I started writing more and it’s really therapeutic for me. On the flight after the election, I put on some calm beats and just started writing. We gotta honor the history of what hip-hop really is.
