Darrell Kelley – Police Brutality

By starrymag | July 17, 2021

By: Jamie Steinberg

 

 

Q) How would you describe your sound?

 

DK: It has a tasty hint of Gospel, a delicious dash of R&B and the notable nuance of Soul.

 

Q) Who are some of your musical influences?

 

DK: That would run the gambit from everyone from Mahalia Jackson to Sam Cooke to Lizzo and many, many artists along the way.

 

Q) Many people claim celebrities shouldn’t comment on politics. What makes sharing your point-of-you in your music so significant to you?

 

DK: Because it’s my obligation not only as a man of God, but as a human being too. If you see a crime being committed and say nothing, then your silence makes you an accessory to that crime.

 

Q) Talk about the story behind your new song “Police Brutality.”

 

DK: With the death of every person of color at the hands of the police it’s no longer a question as to if systemic racism runs rampant in our law enforcement agencies, because unequivocally it does. As simply put as possible, that’s exactly what this song addresses.

 

Q) What makes this song relevant to the current state of our country?

 

DK: The relevance is that more people and organizations in our world are beginning to recognize this problem and are standing up against it to do something about it. Just look at the way Coca-Cola and other huge corporations threatened to move their businesses to another state after Georgia, which by the way is where I live, underhandedly changed the voting laws in an attempt to disenfranchise minority and lower income segments of the population.

 

Q) How does the video for the track play into the message behind it?

 

DK: It tells it like it is as well as showing these many discouraging discrepancies the way they really are.

 

Q) You also have a song that celebrates our first African American VP – Kamala Harris. Why was it so important for you to honor this milestone?

 

DK: First off, I wanted to commemorate Black History Month in a fashion I believe we’ve never had the opportunity to do so before; Harris, a former junior Senator and former Attorney General for the state of California, along with Joe Biden, defeated Donald Trump and Mike Pence, the incumbent Republican President and Vice President during the heated and bitter 2020 elections last November. This makes her not only the highest-ranking female ever elected in the USA but also the first African American as well as Asian American to hold this Vice Presidential office. This may also make the song “Kamala” the first song ever written and recorded about a duly elected United States VP.

 

Q) What is your song writing process? Do you need music before you can create lyrics?

 

DK: To write drunk and then revise sober. LOL—that’s just a joke! The idea is usually the genesis, followed by the lyrics and music. It’s really not that complicated of a process.

 

Q) How much of hand do you have in the production of your music?

 

DK: Being the executive producer, along with being the composer and performer, always has me intimately involved in all my productions.

 

Q) With concerts currently on hold, what have you missed most about being on stage?

 

DK: The audience, of course. There is always a symbiotic relationship and energy existing between a performer and their audience that’s nearly impossible to describe only in words.

 

Q) Where are some of your favorite places to perform and what makes those locations so significant to you?

 

DK: Well, The Coliseum, Madison Square Garden and Giants Stadium come to mind as great venues to perform at because they’re big, huge and legendarily wonderful.

 

Q) Who would you most like to collaborate with on a song in the future?

 

DK: Of today’s current artists I’d name one that I’ve already mentioned: Lizzo. She is just amazing on every level, and I believe through that shared experience we’d both learn a lot for each other.

 

Q) What album/band are you currently listening to and why do you dig them? 

 

DK: Unity, which is one of my earlier ones. An artist must occasionally go back to travel down roads they’ve traveled before to best know how to deal with what’s on the road ahead of them.

 

Q) You are a part of social media. Why is that such an important way for you to connect with your fans?

 

DK: I could share dozens of URLs with you and your readers but if you take the road to https://www.facebook.com/darrellkelleysmusic you will find it will lead you to the roads for all my other ones.

 

Q) What would you like to say to everyone who is a fan and supporter of you and your work?

 

DK: Please keep on listening and, most importantly, keep the faith, Baby!