“Y’all sound just as whack as I look black
There ain’t many touching my level matter of fact
Some was hot when they started, but they ain’t keep it in tact
If you someone I parted with, please pardon my back
Pardon the raps I write about you, pardon the stacks,
I been a part of the movement, a part of the trap,
I try to make ’em understand without dumbing it down
But that’s hard any lower and I’m touching the ground…”
These are the quick-witted words of Columbia sophomore and rapper Lavell Deshawn “D-Flaire” Miller, 23, from his original song titled “Much More” off of his mixtape “Here Goes Nothing…The Mixtape”.
“I wouldn’t call myself conscious…though that’s what I’ve heard the most,” he says.
“D-Flaire”, a moniker given to him by his mentor and friend Ricky Brown, originally became involved with music back in high school as a singer. It was later on that he decided that his true calling lay in the lyricism of rap.
He applied to Columbia College and began studying in the AEMM/Music Business program to “chase his dream”. It was here that he began to network and form connects with others in the artist community. A friend of his, Jeremy “Jon De Pledge” Johnson, began a group of solo artists that collectively formed “The UC” (or “The Uptown Celebrities”) and “D-Flaire” quickly joined.
“I don’t want to be in a category. I don’t want to uphold an image,” he contends. “I write about whatever I’m inspired to write about. If you want generally good music inspired to inspire…you want to listen to me.”
In the future, “D-Flaire” hopes to move to New York for grad school (“that’s the Mecca of hip hop”) and continue inspiring others through his music.
“In the far future, I want Jay-Z status,” he says with a laugh. “I want to be an entrepreneur, not just a musician. A mogul who inspires others to be the best they can be. But in the near future…just D-Flaire.”
You can check “D-Flaire” out at facebook.com/dflaire or twitter.com/dflaire. You can also find him on d-flaire-bandcamp.com to hear some of his music.