For rising rapper D’NME, artistic freedom and creative control mark the authenticity of a music artist. These also help musicians stand out and showcase their real talents, whether through a bold and daring form of lyricism or a unique style of song delivery. Without these two, artists would have to fit into the mainstream arena, where expressing their musical niche would be close to impossible.
Roderick Anson, more popularly known as rap artist D’NME, may not fit the mold, but he has been making significant noise in the rap industry. As a completely independent Canadian rapper, he has capitalized on his complete artistic freedom and control over his music. He has taken on some daring moves as he creates music featuring raw lyrical content. He also has experimented with his unique rapping style to give the listeners a different feel when they hear his songs. All these have landed him to where he is today.
D’NME is the first Canadian rapper in history to receive the accolade “Freestyle Of The Week” from the DogHouse radio show. He has been featured in Hip Hop Weekly magazine’s Indie Grind Spotlight section and many other influential platforms such as Respect. Mag, Power 105.1, and USA Today.
The up-and-coming musician entered the Toronto rap industry in the late 2000s with his first mixtape, “The Death of Me.” Several more mixtapes followed, including “Guns & Roses,” which was hosted by the late DJ Whiteowl in 2012 and the mixtape “I Smell Blood In The Water” hosted by Southern Smoke DJ Smallz. He has also recorded a freestyle for the legendary hip-hop star Sway Calloway, which was aired in Sway’s popular show Sway In The Morning.
Recently, he dropped his single “Untouchable,” which has been streamed over 150,000 on Spotify. He takes pride in this single as this has been one of the most authentic songs he has ever created. Here, he exhibited complete control and freedom in creating the music. For this track, he went all in with the rawness of the lyrical content. And it garnered much spotlight on different platforms.
For Spotify alone, the rapper has over 50,000 monthly listeners. Last 2019, he had over 250,000 listeners from 79 countries, and overall, he had more than 400,000 streams. His YouTube channel is also growing with 10,000 subscribers. Several of his videos have reached millions of views. The most viewed video is “The Stars,” reaching over 4,000,000 views, followed by “Can’t Nobody Do It My Way” with 2,000,000 views.
Today, the talented hip-hop artist continues to make music with the hopes of inspiring more people to chase their dreams without having to change themselves. Authenticity makes one stand out from the rest of the competition, and this is what has brought D’NME in the limelight in and outside Canada’s rap scene. He believes that to achieve success, artists have to continue growing and getting better and that in the end, growth is more of a journey and not a destination.
To get to know more about D’NME, feel free to reach out and connect with him through his site.
