DirtyWhite is a nickname. It comes from the Foreigner song “Dirty White Boy”…a couple of my friends started calling me that when I was like…17? I guess. I definitely didnt like it at first…but it gradually evolved into something that I grew to enjoy. I took it and ran with it, started to brand myself and my music accordingly. Shoutout to Scott and the boys haha. They’re the ones that burned it into me…it makes sense though, right? I’m white and definitely have a dirty streak lol. My music definitely reflects both sides of that dichotomy.
I listened to the cover of reasons and was so surprised that you on musically talented what led you to remake such a classic song?
So…just to be clear, Reasons isn’t a cover. It’s a classic song though… Reasons is a song I wrote myself when I was 19 with a broken heart. I fell deeply in love with a girl named Holly while I was attending a boarding academy in the mountains of North Carolina. I was woefully unprepared emotionally, however, and I fumbled my chance with her. I haven’t been the same since, to be honest. Broke my own heart because of my own emotional immaturity. I wrote that song as a last ditch attempt to get her to understand how deeply I was affected by it…and that failed too…she never acknowledged the song or me after that. Through the years though, many people have been blessed by this song. It won first place at my college talent show, went viral on Facebook on a live performance video, etc. And I’d love to think maybe a few people have been forced to reconsider their relationships and maybe love each other a little better. This song proves, truly, ignorance is bliss.
I enjoyed looking at your video called nothing; please tell me what inspired you to make that. Do you think that you will get backlash from the video?
That song was heavily motivated by national politics, as well as personal experience. When I wrote this song I was surrounded in my personal life by leeches…folks that were just around me for the benefit. I was looking after too many people, paying too many bills for people who didn’t give a damn about me. I started thinking how politicians do the same thing as those people I had around me…make promise after promise just to take advantage of people…to garner votes, support, resources, etc. I wrote the song to shout them out and hopefully make people think. Once I linked with my videographer, Marq, from BigRaggz Films, he suggested I stick with the political theme and bring in some legit actors to play the roles. I reached out to my good friend Brent Moore Gaskins, and he brought along GG Bell, they both came down from Charlotte and did a phenomenal job with the role, blessed me with some awesome acting. She played his wife, we rented locations for the shoot, vehicles, etc, and spent nearly 12 hours shooting, tweaking the script and making it perfect. Shout out to all my friends and associates that came out to the shoot, we had cameos from the Beach Bumz, TVM Killa, DJ Young Will, JKing Visuals, etc. It was a great time and I grateful for each one of them. As far as backlash? I definitely expect backlash, as a matter of fact I’ve already experienced it. There were definitely some negative comments made about the video… people trying to put words in my mouth, etc. This video however was not meant to comfort, it was not meant to pander, it was meant to challenge existing stereotypes and create progressive thought patterns in its viewers. If you don’t like the video, I’m sorry, but I definitely wouldn’t do it differently.
After looking at your website and everything about you, please tell me about your upbringing?
I was raised in the country, in a little tiny town called Delco, North Carolina. I was born in Wilmington, but my parents took me to the country to raise me. I am the oldest of 5 boys, and we grew up extremely conservative, as a matter of fact we were actually 7th Day Adventist. Our parents raised us extremely strict, we didn’t have Tv’s, cell phones, computers, the Internet, anything that anything that normal kids had. Most things that people take for granted, as a matter of fact, we were kept away from. I grew up mostly without friends, my best friends were my little brothers. We could hang out with the church kids some, but even most of the church kids were considered to liberal and loose for us to associate with. It wasn’t until I turned 16 and gained legal emancipation that I was able to leave home, never to return. It was at that point that I began to explore the vast world of music before me. I immediately fell in love with hip hop, and began listening to Lil Wayne, Eminem, Ludacris, and many many more on a regular basis. I fell instantly in love with hip hop, specifically the dirty South sound… I knew hip hop would be my destiny.
What inspires Dirty White?
Many people inspire me, I have an amazing circle around me, comprised of a lot of talented individuals, too many to name. Firstly, my management team consisting of Shawn Bonner and Anthony Burkett, also Ms Tara Thomas and her agency…Young Will, TVM Killa, Bobby Dollaz, The Beach Bumz, October, Johnny Angus, Jon Ward, James Souden, Sugar Tongue Slim, Universe the King, Scotty ATL, Breeze Davis, etc. Musically, however, I’m inspired by Lil Wayne, Eminem, Black Thought, Royce da 59, Yelawolf, Mac Miller, Suicide Silence, Disturbed, Lamb of God, Run The Jewels, Stevie Wonder, Smokey Robinson…and I could keep listing them off.
You are so multi-talented. Would you please tell me which genre is your favorite and why?
My favorite genre to create would probably be rap. I also highly enjoy heavy metal, love ballads, acoustic piano, acoustic guitar, singer songwriter, etc. It’s really hard to name a favorite. I would probably say rap because it’s so versatile, it’s so easy to incorporate different influences into wrap, while still keeping your sound consistent. I also highly enjoy writing poetry, bar heavy rap is some of my favorite of all time.
I saw you playing the piano. How many instruments do you play? And where are you self-taught?
I probably play a total of about 7 instruments, guitar, banjo, piano, synthesizer, organ, bass guitar, drums, probably more lol. And yes I’m basically self taught, I did take one year’s worth of piano lessons back when I was 11 years old, and that definitely put me on the right track. The majority of my musical experience comes from messing around with it myself and learning through chord books and YouTube videos. A good ear for music definitely doesn’t hurt either, shout out to my mom for spending lots of time in church choirs while I was in her uterus.
People will label you as a crossover artist is that a label you can deal with?
Yeah, I don’t think that’s a big deal really. A crossover artist is simply someone who is talented in multi genres and can make industry level music in multi genres.. I can never be angry at that title, even though I would love to just simply be known as a rapper, there is far too much musical influence and complexity inside my head to be limited to just that title. I appreciate the fact that people are starting to accept that reality as part of my creativity and not force me to pick a lane. That’s literally the source of my genius,
the fact that I can switch genres effortlessly and make music in multiple lanes. I fully intend to do that in the future.
Where can people find out more about Dirty F White? what can we expect in the future?
You can just Google DirtyWhite, DirtyFWhite, any of my song titles, however you want to do it. @dirtyfwhite is my social media handle, across the board, all platforms. You can search “DirtyWhite” on all streaming services and find me. Thank you so much for this amazing opportunity to be interviewed by you guys and to share my passion with the world. Shoutout to Shawn and Anthony, once again. I love you guys. Thank you so much. Be prepared to see me hitting several huge tour dates this year and expanding our reach even farther…also several key collaborations as well are in the works. Please go subscribe to me youtube channel and stream my latest song “What A Time We Had”! DirtyWhite out!
© 2022, Seth "Digital Crates" Barmash. All rights reserved.
