« 2010 Bay Area Freshmen 10 Recap: DaVinci »

With nominations for the 2011 Bay Area Freshman 10 coming to a close tomorrow, we thought now would be an appropriate time to look back at our 2010 Freshman and acknowledge the grind that they put in since being included in the inaugural list. So for the next 10 days we’ll look at one MC at a time and highlight their careers up to this point, as well as what they have done since becoming a Bay Area Freshman. Every artist’s career plan and philosophy is unique, but no matter who you are, taking advantage of legitimate buzz can never be wrong. Because in this fickle, over saturated world that we like to call hip-hop, the second you stop releasing content and doing shows, unfortunately seems to be the second many forget that you ever existed. So let’s see how the first Freshman class performed since they were named some of The Bay’s top prospects.

Davinci:

2010 stood out for Bay Area music largely because it was one of the first years in a while that the rest of the country slowly began to listen to and acknowledge the artists that we have to offer. 2010 stood out for Davinci because he might have gotten more love from the internet taste makers than any other MC in the Bay. It was a tremendous turn around year in the career of Davinci. Up until he dropped the widely acclaimed The Day The Turf Stood Still, he had been largely unheard from since releasing his debut, Butter and Gunz: The Street LP in 2007. Yet with the full push of the SWTBRDS Creative Collective, Davinci was able to have his free album heard by fans and critics country wide. The combination of Davinci’s vivid imagery of the dramatic changes that have occurred in The Fillmore and the refreshingly grimy production handled almost entirely by the trio of Al Jieh, DJ Ammbush, and Big D, led to the project consistently receiving high praises both locally and on a national level. 

DaVinci - Mash On Em

 The Day The Turf Stood Still was also undoubtably the reason for Davinci’s inclusion in The Bay Area Freshman 10. Yet unlike some artists who immediately go back to the studio after a release, Davinci spent a lot of time pushing his project properly and doing what he could to expand his fan base beyond The Bay. This led to his inclusion at many big hip-hop showcases across the country including A3C in Atlanta, The CMJ Music Marathon in New York City, and most recently SXSW in Austin, Texas. At the same time, his focus on performing has also meant that there has not been a lot of new content coming from his direction since he dropped The Day The Turf Stood Still. He did “The Beginning” with XXL Freshman Big K.R.I.T. and probably had the stand out verse on The Giants’ playoff theme song “Black & Orange” which featured fellow Freshman 10 member, Roach Gigz, and Frisco staples, San Quinn, Big Rich, and Cellski. It also happened to be the first of the ridiculous  and overly redundant number of professional sports team remixes of Wiz’s breakthrough hit. Additionally, he recorded a handful of original tracks for some blog sponsored mixtapes across the country, including “Wild Side” which he did specifically for Thizzler’s own Under The Bay Season 1: The Mixtape. Most recently he shot a really ill video for a track entitled “Blame Game” inspired by Black History month.  

DaVinci - Wild Side

And for everyone wondering when they are going to hear more new music from The Don Jon Davinci, 2011 should be a good year, because he is planning on releasing both Feast or Famine and The MOEna Lisa. 

DaVinci ft. Big K.R.I.T. - The Beginning

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Free Projects:

The Day The Turf Stood Still (2010), Butter & Gunz 2: The Stimulus Package (2009)

Pay Albums:

Butter and Gunz: The Street LP (2007)

Videos:

Concrete Jungle Juice (Produced by Ammbush):

Blame Game (Produced by Al Jieh):

Black and Orange: 

Ben (Produced by Big D):

What You Finna Do (Produced by Al Jieh):

Get:Live Sessions w/ Davinci: