Discover DE'WAYNE : "A Young Kurt Cobain .. Not Blonde Enough For Rock'N'Roll"
5 years after rebelling against his parents' life plan and leaving Texas for LA, the talented young artist is today making music with Anti-Flag & Tom Morello.
Recently signed to Hopeless Records, the alternative Singer/Rapper from Houston, Texas, is fearlessly stepping into the rock scene as a genre-blending lover.
Just like walking through a museum, De'Wayne Jackson walked through the music world stopping by every genre that touched his soul, studied it and tried to incorporate it into his art. He kept reinventing his sound while exploring his identity. Today, with the release of his first 2 singles via Hopeless Records, "National Anthem" and "Radio-Active" in addition to his recent collaborations with Anti-Flag on
“A DYING PLEA VOL. 1” plus “A DYING PLEA VOL. 2”, we can scream: This is De'Wayne !
Stream Radio-Active below.
"A Dying Plea Vol. 1" is a powerful song on which Anti-Flag teamed up with De'Wayne, Tom Morello, Marcia Richards (The Skints ), Jalise Della Gary and was premiered on the election day.
On NOVEMBER 17, 2020, the track was followed by "A Dying Plea Vol.2", featuring again De'Wayne, Tom Morello, Marcia Richards as well as Jordan Montgomery.
Watch the powerful video of A Dying Plea Vol.1 below.
The winding road in music De'Wayne has walked started when he was young. He grew up with the Houston R&B scene, Hip-Hop and gospel music and began writing songs at the age of 14. At a young age, De'Wayne already knew he was not born to fit a mold and refused to settle for the life path that his parents planned for him. Jackson wanted more but didn't know what he was exactly looking for until he moved to LA at the age of 19. He dove into a self-discovery journey that was far from being easy. The friend with whom he moved left, and the 19-year old from Houston found himself alone in a small studio apartment in LA with nothing. Talking to Interview Magazine about his life when he moved to Los Angeles, De'Wayne recalls:
"I had a blow-up mattress that didn’t blow up after a couple of weeks. I was working two jobs at Sherwin-Williams and Taco Bell, and I was dealing with life"
Despite not having anything, Jackson never lost faith in himself. The hardships he overcame opened his eyes to real life and made him understand that creating the career he wanted could take many twists and turns toward building a sharp skill set and finding a deeper connection with his true self.
L.A allowed him to finally find his taste and figure out what he really wanted to do; getting into rock music was the start of a whole new chapter in De'Wayne's life.
"Young Kurt Cobain Coming up. I don't wanna be erased"
This line from his latest release Radio-Active, refers to De'Wayne finding out there was a rock'n'roll kid in him who didn't come out until he heard Nirvana's "Nevermind". And now, he doesn't want to be held back from stepping into the world of rock'n'roll.
In an interview with MTV, De'Wayne talks about his turning point :
"It was one of those moments where you're in your small studio apartment and Nevermind was a recommendation. I had never heard it. I'm not ashamed to say that. I had never really sat with rock music until I came to L.A. But, man, once I heard that shit, I was like this, I'm just as rock and roll- whatever the fuck that means-as any of these kids. That was just my energy..I was like, oh yeah, this is what I want to do. Once I heard that sound and that angst, it just connected with me way more than a song that my parents showed me or something I heard at church or something I had experienced back home."
However, for a young black man who has been influenced by an uncommon formula of music genres, trying to integrate the rock scene presents another challenge. He expresses in another line from the single Radio-Active:
"I’m not blonde enough for rock n’ roll so I won’t get no radio."
The 25-year old is aware of the challenging path he chose, but he is not afraid. Talking to Kerrang this year, De'Wayne mentioned he always had faith in his journey despite having no reason to believe in anything other than himself.
And on why he thinks people should check him out, he told Kerrang :
“I think they need it. There’s a turn happening in alternative music and rock music right now that’s so beautiful and so fresh. It may not look the way people have always envisioned it, but trust me, they should listen. I think they probably prefer really good songs, and if they take a listen to what’s happening right now in this world of new wave, punk, whatever you want to call it, it’s a really good thing. I think they should definitely understand that there’s a big shift going on right now, and we’re a part of it. And I hope they will be, too."
Watch the first live performance of Radio-Active during the Hot Topic's Mental Notes live stream event:
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