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Forget D'Angelo, Bilal and Musiq, there's a new soul sensation in town.
Forget
D'Angelo, Bilal
and Musiq, there's a new soul sensation
in town. His name is Dwele, and he's
the latest in a long line of artists to emerge from the Detroit area,
ready to take on the world with his raw and uncompromising talent.
Born and bred in Motor City, Andwele 'Dwele' Gardner, 25, (whose first name loosely translated in Swahili means "God has brought me"), grew up with his mother, father and younger brother in West Detroit. Dwele's love of musical instruments began at the age of six, when his father introduced him to the piano. However, tragedy struck when his father was fatally shot while trying to help Dwele's uncle in a dispute outside the family home. As he was only ten at the time, he didn't know what direction his life was going in, and turned to music as a form of therapy. "The loss of my father really inspired my creative side," Dwele recalls. "It was a really frustrating and confusing time for me. I think the music helped to guide me; it was crazy, but music was a way of expressing my emotions."
By the age of 14, Dwele had started rapping, and continued to do so throughout high school and college. It was around this time that he started making the important contacts that would lead to his record deal in 2000. "I met Slum Village and a lot of different people on the hip hop side of things. I would pass out tapes with a mix of rap and vocal songs on it, and people would always come back saying that they really liked the tracks with the vocals." Inspired by the likes of Stevie Wonder, Marvin Gaye and Miles Davis, Dwele focused on his new-found singing talent, and in 1998 he made his first demo, 'Rize', a compilation of about two years' work. "After hearing the response from my tapes, I was like, 'Let me put this demo out there and see how people like it.' I made 100 copies because I didn't know how well it was going to sell. I sold it at The Shelter, the club that was portrayed in the movie '8 Mile', and also at Café Mahogany, a jazz club where poets would go and read poetry on Tuesday nights. I took it out there and they would play the music and say, 'This is Dwele, a new artist from Detroit. You can buy his CD at the back.' They would big it up like that, and I ended up selling out the 100 copies in a week. I should have made more, you know!"
Although his demo was a huge underground success, Dwele didn't make 'Rize' for the purpose of finding a record deal, unlike many new artists trying to break into the industry. "I was doing it because it was what I loved, what I'd always done." It came as a pleasant surprise then, when Slum Village's management, Tim Maynor and Ron Estill, approached him and offered to take him under their wing. Maynor and Estill spotted in Dwele the potential for him to become a star in his own right as a singer, songwriter, and producer, but it was the 2002 collaboration with Slum Village on 'Tainted' that propelled the Detroit native into stardom. "We'd been working together since '97, '98, so we'd done a few songs together, and 'Tainted' was the one that just happened to blow up. It was good though, it's always fun working with them."
The widespread success of 'Tainted' was just the exposure Dwele needed, setting him up perfectly for the release of his debut album, 'Subject', which was released in May this year. An unusual title for the project, 'Subject' was chosen by Dwele because, "I look at my album as my work of art," he explained. "Like a sketch artist or sculptor needs a subject to work on, whether it's a glass of water or a woman. The artist needs to study everything about the subject, down to the curves of the subject! This album talks primarily about my relationships with women, so the woman was my subject." The gifted singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist, (he plays the keyboard, piano and trumpet, and is learning how to play the bass, guitar, and harmonica), also produced eight tracks on his debut, and worked with producers including G-1, Pete Kuzma and Phatman on the rest of the tracks. "A lot of times I produce the music first, sit back and listen, then let it dictate what I write," explained Dwele. "Other times I start a composition with a lyrical concept."
The first single to be lifted from the LP is 'Find A Way', a song that was cut out in LA, with producer G-1. "When he came at me with the music for that tune, I thought of palm trees, the summer vibe and everything. It kind of just pushed me to go back to a past relationship, and I wrote 'Find A Way' as a result." With so many excellent tracks on the album, Dwele finds it hard to single out any one of them as his favourite. "There's a lot of them, but 'Truth' is one of my favourites, just 'cause it was fun to make, and I know I was speaking the truth on it. Everybody's been through it in relationships, when you say something you shouldn't have said, or you didn't say something you should have that messes up your relationship in the future. 'Without You' is a personal favourite too."
Although 'Subject' has been categorised as a neo-soul album, Dwele feels that this doesn't quite do justice to his music as a whole. "Neo-soul is, I guess, how you would describe this CD, but I do a lot of different things with my music, like fusing hip hop and RnB. I didn't really get a chance to rap that much on this album because the record label wanted to break me as a singer, so they didn't want to confuse people. There was already some confusion at the time, like, I would go to a store and find my CD in the rap section, because they knew me from the Slum Village song. But it's cool, I rap with my vocals."
The fierce competition from established acts such as Maxwell, Musiq and D'Angelo was slightly daunting for Dwele, but he was somewhat curious as to how his music would be received. "For a minute, I was like, OK, they're waiting for me to bring the album out, and when I do, they're gonna compare me to these people. So I was thinking 'Am I gonna be just another one of these artists?'" Dwele needn't worry about this however, as his album, although primarily soul, touches on different music tastes, ensuring that there is something for everyone. "I touch on the club joints a bit, just trying to cross over a little, just enough. People have been really supportive of the album, so it's cool. I mean, regardless, I'm just gonna do me, I just gotta do me."
Proud of his home town, Dwele reckons that Detroit has a lot more talent to offer, although he's not sure whether it could emulate Philadelphia's success as 'Soul City'. "I love Philly Soul, I'm even friends with a lot of artists out there. But Detroit is doing its own thing. I think that the Philly scene, as far as soul goes, just happened to emerge before Detroit did." And judging by the response he got when he played the first of two live shows at London's Jazz Café the night before this interview, the fans are definitely loving Dwele's unique sound. "The crowd was real fun, real cool. I even danced, and I never dance!" So what can people expect from his live performance? "A lot of fun!" he exclaimed. "Of course, I have to do the songs on this album, but I also try to do some of the songs from prior to this album as well. That way, people who might not have heard this album but know past stuff, or fans who have just heard this album, can enjoy the show, so I try and make that connection."
Sometime
in the future, Dwele would like to build on his production credentials,
but at the moment he's just happy that people are enjoying his music.
"I'm really focused on perfecting my live show. Right now, I'm just
having fun being an artist." If you didn't get a chance to catch
him at the Jazz Café, make sure you reserve your seat next time
Dwele's in town, because with a guy this talented, you'll be guaranteed
a great show.
Related Links:
www.dwele.net
www.virginrecords.com
