DaVinci is a young MC from The Fillmore district of San Francisco, and today marks the release of his debut album “The Day the Turf Stood Still.” Growing up in the Fillmore district of San Francisco was no easy task for DaVinci (as well as for local Bay Area rap legends San Quinn and JT the Bigga Figga), and he aims to tell his universal story through rap. Homeless at the age of 13, he learned how to survive a neighborhood rife with drugs, turf wars, and gentrification. “The Day the Turf Stood Still” is a direct reflection of what his friends and family have been through, and what many still continue to suffer from.
The album is released by local independent record label SWTBRDS, with production from Drums and Ammo. The album consists of 17 tracks with a raw, hard, vintage hip-hop feel. DaVinci draws much of his inspiration from artists like Scarface, Jay-Z and 2Pac, whose classic, emotional and visually-descriptive style influence the sound of the album.
In the album’s lead single, “What You Finna Do” produced by my boy Al Jieh, DaVinci speaks on a topic that is hotly debated here in San Francisco- gentrification. Lower-class families in San Francisco are being pushed out of their own neighborhoods for what politicians dub “urban renewal projects.” Gentrification is a very serious issue, and it’s one that DaVinci feels strongly about:
Speaking on his inspirations for penning the song, DaVinci explains, “I was inspired to write this song to address an open ended question to the neglected inner-city communities world wide.” The video’s chilling depiction follows DaVinci through his home city, or at least the city that used to feel like home.As the video plays through, it’s clear the city that has raised DaVinci is rapidly changing – not only do the corners that provided DaVinci’s livelihood now house trendy coffee shops, but the District’s illustrious history is being whitewashed as families are being pushed out and neglected with urban renewal. “If you don’t have the money to live here in the Western Addition, you have to go,” says the vocal sample setting the song’s tone as the single begins.
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Hi There!
I am contacting you on behalf of my company, Audible Treats. Audible Treats does marketing & publicity for DaVinci. Thanks for recently posting about him on your site. I’d like to know what email address I may send information (including press releases, videos, and mp3s) to on behalf of artists that I think that you might be interested in featuring on your site.
If you are interested in being contacted by us, you can check out our current roster on our website (http://audibletreats.com/download/) . If anything piques your interest, please let me know and I can send a CD and any other information you would like out to you.
Kind regards,
Karen