Interview: San Diego Rapper Amarii Davu Discusses His Debut Album "Roses 4 Tha World"
Photo Credit: Whitney Gaston
Congratulations on the completion and release of your debut album "Roses 4 tha World"; what led you to give it that title and what does it represent?
Thank you. We hear the phrase “give people their roses while they’re here,” right? I wanted to give my roses to people while I’m still here and able to do so. I wanted it to be a gift to those that have supported me since day one. So the name eventually came to me.
It represents finally getting in a space to create freely. It represents turning the bullshit in my life into something positive and meaningful. It took a minute to release “Roses 4 tha World”. It took four years actually. Initially I was just dropping tracks on SoundCloud because I wanted to test the waters and see if people would actually fuck with an album from me.
Tell us about your creative process for the album's nine songs, and the producers that you worked with.
I just wanted something different. I wanted to create something that had substance but didn’t leave you with a heavy feeling after turning the music off. Half of the project was recorded in Nashville with my engineer Adam Leeds and the other half was recorded in San Diego with my engineer Alexis Sanchez. Their different approaches really shaped the sound of the project.
Some of my older tracks like Cost of Melanin, Hopeless, Joy & Pain were both socially conscious and personal. They’re great but I can’t deny the heaviness that I feel when I hear them. I started trying to figure out how to create a depth in my lyrical approach while mixing it with a lightness and joy in the production.
But I still wanted it to feel black as hell, gritty, smooth, Southern fried, and a lil West Coast. Working with producers like shrmpboy, Play Dat Beat Wee Wee, Capx, and the others brought me into that exact space. After getting out to Cali, I was exposed to different sounds because I was experiencing a whole new culture. “Roses 4 tha World” became a product of this melting pot of sounds.
Would you say that there is an overarching theme or concept to the album's songs?
It’s meant to be heard all the way through. “Roses 4 tha World” is a story. If you listen to the “R4TW” (the last track on the album) and immediately listen to “Wake Up” (the first track of the album), you realize why my Mom was worried in her voicemail. It's meant to be listened to on repeat. It’s multiple parts of my journey put into one piece. You’ve got glimpses into my childhood and the way I saw the world then (Dollamarijuana), you’ve got my struggles with love and matters of the heart, (Too Close and Healin’), it’s even got my struggles with mental health and suicidal thoughts (R4TW) and everything in between.
As with most art, the interpretation of “Roses 4 tha World” is up to the listener. I don't wanna encroach on the experience. It’s just an honest interpretation of my life experiences.
I love hearing the different interpretations of what certain songs mean to different people. It lets me know that the creation of the project was more divine than anything; it goes beyond my intentions.
Were there songs that you recorded for the album that did not make the final track list? If so, why did they not end up on the album?
I recorded about 15 tracks for “Roses 4 tha World” and I wrote upwards of 30 tracks that never got to the recording process past doing a demo on my phone. Keep in mind, I’d been working on this album for four years. Perfection is a big thing for me artistically. During the writing process of “Roses 4 tha World”, I got to a point where I felt constrained with writing. It didn’t feel organic. So I started memorizing freestyles. I would listen to beats on repeat and start freestyling to them.
For me, when I freestyled, it gave me that raw shit. I was able to connect with the beat and ride it without overthinking it. I would freestyle until I had verses and hooks memorized for months at a time and then record them. So the album isn’t actually written. Once I adopted this technique, a lot of the tracks that weren’t created through freestyling were cut off of the album.
I also went through a lot of mental and spiritual changes throughout those four years and some of the throwaways didn’t connect to who I was after awhile. I’ll probably end up keeping those tracks for myself.
With the album now released, what are some of your goals musically for the rest of 2021?
I want to expound on the album some more. Create more visuals, perform more, and keep pushing the audience to more audiences. I’m already working on another project but I haven’t decided when I’ll let the world hear that one. We’ll see.
I want to do more writing for other artists. I'm a songwriter as well and I want the opportunity to flex that skill even more. I think I'll just let the Universe guide me like it's been doing and let what's for me come to me.