D. Savage Interview: Cali native works on himself ahead of 'Bulletproof Love' (2024)

• Exclusive

• Thomas Galindo
• August 11, 2021

While D. Savage continues his rise in the underground, he doesn’t want — or need — to be boxed in as a rapper. Rather, he’s setting his sights on much bigger aspirations than just rapping.

“I want to be like a mogul, a philanthropist, or an entertainer,” he said to OGM. “I ain’t no motherf**kin’ rapper, but I rap I guess.”

Growing up in Los Angeles, D. Savage would have opportunities most wouldn’t — like regularly getting picked up from school by Tyler, The Creator in his two-seater. Making music and shooting videos in his car early in his career, D. Savage gained a following off the strength of his viral hit “I Know.”

The internet soon caught on to D. Savage’s fondness of making videos in his car, as he went viral once more for goofy suspicions that he was living out of his car. Although there was no validity to those claims, D. Savage found them funny — even later inking a sponsorship deal with Tesla Motors to double down on the joke.

Since his come-up with “I Know II” and SoundCloud fame, D. Savage hasn’t released much music — with his most recent full-length project being 2019’s Trust No One. This was the turning point for him in a not-so-great way, as he started to question the quality of his music and his creative direction soon after this release.

While grateful for his SoundCloud era fame along with some of his closest friends like Trippie Redd and the late Juice WRLD, he is ready to leave the antics, atmosphere and music of that time behind.

Since Trust No One’s release, D. Savage has accumulated over 800,000 Spotify monthly listeners, releasing a handful of tracks over the course of 2020 and 2021. “IDC” with Trippie Redd and his latest single “Don’t U Change” are an apparent revitalization of his early sound, fine-tuning it ahead of his upcoming LP, Bulletproof Love.

I’m about To Drop an Album in A Month!! …. Y’all Wanna Hear Some sh*t Tho??

— D Savage ! (@dsavage3900) August 7, 2021

With new music in the works, D. Savage sat down with OGM host Hakeem Rowe to discuss his close friends in the industry, his vitality, SoundCloud and being on the road in his Our Generation Music exclusive interview.

HR: You did just drop a song called “Don’t U Change.” The song was hard. It felt like you had three different flows in it and it was damn near two different songs in one. What was the creative process?

DS: “When I be recording, I might do the first four bars, then come back to the song in a month. Because that sounds good so far. It’s on to the next song, I’m tired of that sound. I came back to it and finished it. We were in a studio in a session, I brought my laptop up there and I’m just surfing through songs I got on that sh*t and I find that song. I’m like, ‘Oh f*ck, I gotta finish this sh*t. I’m tweakin’.’ Then I probably finished it in like a week or two.”

HR: What is (you and Tyler, The Creator’s) relationship like these days? Because Tyler was one your biggest champions back in the day, he loved everything you did.

DS: “Bro, I love that n**** to death. We both went to the same mile school, at different times. He’s a little older than me obviously. Me going to his school, and him in the process of becoming who he was at that time, I was like ‘damn, these are the same halls he walked at a time.’ One thing leads to another, we end up clashing. I love his family to death, not only him. But that’s a solid n**** right there. f*ck rap, f*ck music, all of that other bullsh*t, I’m talking about this dude f*cked around and picked me up from school type sh*t. In the 2-seater. That n**** is my n****. I love him to death. Shoutout Tyler.”

HR: You’re working on a new project, you’ve been dropping singles for it. Bulletproof Love. What inspired that name and what inspired the project overall?

DS: “I was real skeptical on the name at first because I just didn’t know if it stuck right with me. Shoutout to Skeem from Sacramento, one of my big bros that had passed away. He pushed BPL heavy. It’s kinda like a west coast thing. He pushed that sh*t heavy heavy. That was like the stamp.”

HR: If you could tell younger D. Savage any advice, what could you give him? What would you tell him?

DS: “Basically, don’t stop. Surround yourself with the right people. If I could tell myself one thing bro, calm down bruh! I was a hothead for no reason at times. Times that really f*ck a n**** up though. Put it like this: You don’t wanna bring the streets to the industry on certain occasions. Because the industry like looking at the street sh*t, they don’t like actually (experiencing it). That type of sh*t I would refrain from. And just who I had around me bro. At 18 I went to jail with a $250,000 bond. For hanging around with the wrong n****s tryna play with me. So, just keep yourself around the right people basically.”

HR: You’re obviously cemented as one of the most influential people that came out of the SoundCloud era. How do you feel about that whole era?

DS: “I’m embarrassed. You gotta think about it. I’m not on the billboards. I’m not on the radio. I’m not doing all these tours with a Lil Baby or a DaBaby or a dope ass artist that’s running sh*t. I’m here with Our Generation Music though, doing an interview. I’ve done Rolling Loud multiple times. I’m doing $20,000 shows. It’s a blessing for me to be from that SoundCloud era, and still be able to pop my sh*t how I want, comfortably. It’s a lot of n****s from that wave that are probably flipping burger patties right now. It’s only a select few that got to climb to the top of the mountain and get on a helicopter and dip. We left a lot of n****s on that mountain that’s still on SoundCloud tryna get that going back on.”

• 2:24 Traveling after COVID
• 2:50 The feeling to be back on stage & performing
• 3:15 Falling into Rap
• 3:59 Current state of Rap
• 7:00 D. Savage & the story behind living in his car
• 10:35 The reason behind D. Savage not dropping music regularly
• 12:36 Getting his life straightened out
• 13:20 Inspiration behind Trust No One
• 13:40 Mental health Battles
• 14:00 Speaking on Juice WRLD RIP
• 15:00 Free Da Gang
• 15:20 Racks on Me
• 16:30 Don’t U Change
• 17:10 Recording style on the Freestyle
• 18:34 Producing before rapping
• 18:55 D. Savage was his producer name
• 19:00 Tyler the Creator
• 21:00 Inspiration behind the new sound and direction
• 21:34 Current list of artists D. Savage listening to
• 23:48 Bulletproof Love
• 24:34 Producers involved on his upcoming project, Bulletproof Love
• 24:59 Trippie Redd, Matt Ox, K Suave, Lil Gnar featured on upcoming project
• 25:27 Thought behind getting out there and doing features and open to collaborations
• 26:00 Fake Love
• 27:30 What keeps D. Savage motivated
• 29:30 1400 house, The Ranch
• 29:53 How Trippie Redd & D. Savage met 31:30 the song IDC
• 33:00 Music between D. Savage & Juice WRLD, and first time they met
• 37:56 Celina Powell
• 39:48 The advice D. Savage would give his Younger self
• 44:00 Trusting the process
• 45:00 Tik Tok
• 46:30 Thoughts on the Soundcloud era & feeling blessed
• 50:54 Where does D. Savage see himself in 5 years
• 52:00 D. Savage the actor
• 53:00 RIP Heath Ledger
• 55:50 Message to Our Generation

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