MDuke

Who are you?

I’m MDuke. I was born in California, raised in San Antonio.

What is your message to your listeners?

I try to push optimism number one. I always want people to be left with some type of feeling of an upside or just seeing that tomorrow can be better. I'll make songs and get deep and sound emotional, but there's always going to be some hope. Honestly, that's what I want people to get. Secondly, I want people to never hold back. I feel like people just fall in line a lot in life. I want to inspire people to get out of the matrix that they live in, what they've been told, what they expect, and what people expect them to do. I feel like that's what I'm here for. Like someone who is 100% comfortable in life will hear a certain line and realize they can still change for the better. They don’t have to settle.

Growing up, what inspired you to do music?

My family always inspired me. They always loved me making music. Even when I was younger and I was making music that wasn’t so appealing to the ears and I was saying some more outlandish things, they've always supported me. My mom, she's always sang in church, singing in the choir and leading the praise team. Even her father, my grandfather, was on the organ. It’s just in me. That's all I know. I was raised in music.

When did you get started?

I started making beats when I was 12. I started making my first raps when I was 13. Then when I was 14, I was like, yeah, this is what I'm doing. I'm going for real with it. Honestly, I was in love with Kanye back then, Pharrel Williams, Timberland. They were some of my biggest inspirations back then. I was playing the drums and the drum line. And my big brother, he plays drums for Brian McKnight. So he made sure I was right.

 Who are some of your musical influences?

I've always admired people able to put together bodies of work. Lupe Fiasco, he didn't just put out an album full of songs. He had a whole story and songs tied together and it was way deeper shit. Same with Kendrick. They don't just make music. They use it as a tool to really paint a picture. That's why I'm inspired by all the artists, from Common to Jay-Z,  Kanye, you know, they all paint. The picture is completely different. 

What is your view on the Dallas rap scene and how exposed it is to the outside world?

I feel like it's very exposed at this point for a certain style of rap as any city usually is. I feel like it's definitely kind of biased as far as what I see. I'm not from Dallas so I can't speak for it, but I know for sure I've seen a lot of different styles.Like my boys Free Blck. are going stupid. Their project is crazy. They played me the project a month before it came out in the studio,we were working on some other shit. It blew me away for sure.