Young, wild, and free — Is what comes to mind when thinking of the personality of legendary Death Row Records. Singer Danny Boy was the embodiment of all of that, and it still shines through today.
Danny Boy’s undeniable silky smooth voice was brought into Death Row in 1994 when he was 15 years old. He then debuted on Snoop Dogg’s soundtrack for his film “Murder Was the Case”. Danny has been a part of hip hop history ever since, and is best known for his soulful chorus on Tupac’s hit “I Ain’t Mad at Cha”.
Even after all of the years of ups, downs, tragic deaths, backlash and lawyers the loud and open energy of the Death Row family is felt through Danny Boy himself. It’s easy to imagine as if Suge and Tupac were in the room next to him. Their faces also glowing while talking of wild superstar memories and the knowledge that came with it. It made it even harder to talk about how too many new rappers like Lil Yachty and XXXTentacion disrespect Tupac and say he’s overrated. The environment was nothing short of authentic and @AtticaLundy PResent’s On The Rise Magazine was ready to dig into it.
Danny Boy shares about his relationships with the Death Row family, the music business today, and mental health/suicide in the black community. You’ll also see his background story of why he started his current efforts to increase mental health awareness and stop bullying in school.
@tarynprentice
People are excited to hear from you and what you’ve had to say. What made you come out with the book, “Stranded on Death Row”?
@iamdannyboy77
I began writing it 11 years ago, and this has just been an amazing journey of life that I’ve been given. The things that I’ve had an opportunity to experience…the music. Outside the entertainment part, everything I went through coming up I just thought was something that should be captured. I couldn’t understand how I made it through some of those things. I put a story together in the hope it will help somebody else to move forward.
@tarynprentice
What’s a topic in your book that will have the most surprising details?
@iamdannyboy77
The Death Row stories. It gives the audience an inside of what was really there. I was truly up under Suge Knight and always with Tupac Shakur. To be able to share stories about someone so big. They’re always asking me for stories, ‘Was Suge really beating everyone up? Did he piss on you??’ [laughs] You can’t imagine the questions people have asked along the way. It’s not a tell-all its a share-all. Being from the west side of Chicago coming up on food stamps…to getting an opportunity to make it to Hollywood and be around those guys, [it’s] a blessing.
@tarynprentice
Did he piss on you?
@iamdannyboy77
No [laughs] I wasn’t that freaky then.
@tarynprentice
What would be the most misconstrued thing about Tupac? What do you wish people understood?
@iamdannyboy77
People ask ‘was he really like that? Spittin in cameras and–’ I just want them to TOTALLY understand that Tupac understood the power that he held…the power that was trying to be released from him…as a kid that came up under the Black Panther Movement. His mother was such a powerful lady. Just to be around that and see him walk in that, that was a TRUE thing. A lot of people are TV rappers and talk about a bunch of shit they’ve never done. We thought [21 Savage] was FOR SURE from the hood, and we found as his ass was about to be deported.
@tarynprentice
[Laughing] Aye, but he could still be from the hood.
@iamdannyboy77
I’m not saying just because he’s from London or wherever [that he can’t be from the hood, but] make it clear. Tupac was clear. It was clear where he was from, It was clear what he was about. It doesn’t mean you can’t be Hollywood or that every rapper should have shot a gun, but be damn clear! Shit. I thought this nigga said ‘shawty’. I still haven’t heard the London accent.
Pac was a real dude. I hate that a lot of these fake ass niggas don’t get an opportunity to attend a Tupac class, and some do need a Suge Knight ass whooping.
@tarynprentice
What are some of these Tupac classes?
@iamdannyboy77
-To be able to sit in the studio with him and watch him work. After a lot of people had given up on him, to watch him work was amazing. The drive that he had…the gift of humbleness. To be able to share the spotlight he received when he got out of jail with everybody. You hear [artists] on the records that he’s done that you never heard of in your life, such as myself. That was something he didn’t have to do. He got a lot of independent artists that he was trying to shine the light on to help them in their careers. He believed in me… when there were other guys at the time that could have done the job.
-Tupac was the master of interviews. [Artists] don’t even know how to talk anymore to get through an interview where everybody understands. I mean I know how to talk to the hood, I’m from the hood too… but to be able to converse and answer questions and be an entertainer, a professional person. Not just the jewelry and all the shit you can get with it, but to be able to give the people what they deserve. If you listen to Pac in interviews…he taught you something. And, if you missed it, then you have to watch the interview again.
@tarynprentice
What’s his lesson that stuck with you the most?
@iamdannyboy77
I probably didn’t [understand] it until I became a man. Being able to look back, it was that he knew who he was. And, that’s the hardest thing in the world to know who you are. There are people around us that could ‘interrupt’ who you are and make you feel like you aren’t worthy, or like you’re somebody else. Tupac was Tupac 100% every time you see him.
I can’t play like it was all joy. Sometimes it was like “damn shut up please!” {chuckles}. Now that I look back, it’s like damn…He was always reading and teaching. He wasn’t just passing [a blunt] or a drink, he passed you knowledge [with it].
@tarynprentice
Interactions of new rappers and OG rappers?
@iamdannyboy77
We aren’t teaching these young dudes and then these young dudes aren’t listening. These rappers disrespect old rappers saying ‘Yo, I got more money than you. You ain’t shit’. Your momma your daddy ran the streets off of these [rappers] albums. Your mom was shaking her ass to these records. They weren’t paying [us back then]. We should be celebrating that you’re getting what you deserve IF you’re getting what you deserve. Most niggas ain’t got what they play like they got. You don’t own shit..you written. Car, ok. Jewelry, that’s cute. But no property, no business. One thing I learned from Suge, I call it Death Row University. You can have 600 billion dollars today and broke as shit and in jail tomorrow.
@tarynprentice
Tupac and Danny’s relationship?
@iamdannyboy77
Tupac respects everybody. I never felt like a little background singer [Impersonates big bro Tupac] ‘Nigga, come here Danny!’ [laughs]. He treated me as if [he] respected my gift for what I did. These rap-singing niggas, fake ass singers, they disrespect what it really is. So yes I think a whole lot needs Suge Knight beatings…red room meetings. These niggas need to be humbled.
@tarynprentice
Have you been humbled?
@iamdannyboy77
Fuck yeah. I probably had a little attitude, I was young just like these dudes…In the 90s Suge Knight was one of the most powerful people in the world! It was the president, Farrakhan, your mayor and then Suge Knight. And in the time the president, Farrakhan, and your mayor knew who Suge Knight was! I’m adopted by him, I’m running up under him, yea so sure I act like–you know, I was around millions and millions of dollars. But Nah I can’t remember a day that I treated people like shit, because of where I’m from. Or where I disrespected Snoop Dogg. How the fuck can I disrespect Snoop Dogg. Snoop Dogg, you made Death Row. So when I look at Snoop, if it wasn’t for Snoop, there would be no Danny Boy or Dogg Pound or (if there was no) Dr. Dre. Tupac wouldn’t have had an opportunity to become who he had become. Have I been humbled? I’ve been homeless.
God has gifted me with singing. But that doesn’t mean shit, I haven’t sold a million records. That puts you in a humbling position when you hear somebody like Jacquees sing (and sell a million records) [laughs]. Cuz it ain’t about singing. I used to think like oh man I gotta get a six-pack, but it ain’t about that.
@tarynprentice
What would you most change about your past in the industry?
@iamdannyboy
I always tell upcoming artists, it’s very important to know the business. I wish I spent more time reading about the business. I later did that. I prostituted my gift up until that point. Any time a studio was open, I would go [sing] *sings goofy notes*, every time someone would say something. I never thought of who wrote this?’ or the split sheets. The business part. The industry.
@tarynprentice
You’re still hearing songs with your voice that you didn’t even know was released?
@iamdannyboy77
YEA! Even the songs that I wrote. I wrote these songs at 16 and other people were getting paid for publishing. I knew I was in a publishing deal but I didn’t know, damn that’s where the big money is at. Suge was taking care of me but I KNOW he didn’t know. He was collecting advancements but not the royalties that were coming from it…You have to learn the business,I wish someone told me about investing in properties. I needed an adult that I could trust
@tarynprentice
Were there any adults in the situation… because everyone around seems really young?
@iamdannyboy77
Not really. My mother was sickly throughout my life. She had 7 strokes and 2 open heart surgeries, and while I was away she had a triple bypass. My father at the time of the deal was a senior and was doing construction. He enjoyed my singing. But when I would go home and have money and be on TV he would be like “Yeah that shit’s good but you need a job!” (laughs) And I’m like damn I’m on TV! So my old man told me the way he knew how. He wasn’t saying ‘well did you get your royalties?’, He lived a similar life where people abused [his gift and passion for construction].
@tarynprentice
What do you have to say about R&B today?
@iamdannyboy77
This is going to be quick…It ain’t shit. I’m not saying that I don’t respect what people are doing. Good, I’m glad you can make money off of some of this karaoke ass shit. Does it upset me? Yea. I’m not the only talented person or unsung person. You listen to these horrible ass lyrics and hear these misleading ass music.
@tarynprentice
Misleading?
@iamdannyboy77
We’re in a world where these young people are following everything. Stop telling me NWA did this shit back in the day. ‘Y’all had it when y’all had your music’. Yea there was some gangster rap around Death Row but certain shit just wasn’t allowed.
@tarynprentice
Like what?
@iamdannyboy77
When an OG spoke you shut your mouth up. Now there’s no respect barriers and we’re feeding any lyrics to people. I can make a song about percs, molly, I can make any song about anything right now and it’s turning on a new epidemic. Some shit that we weren’t even fucking doing. I got aunties and cousins and sisters that smoke crack. OK everybody do it . They smoke crack, they do heroin, they smoked weed. Maybe some did some wax , smoking embalming fluid, maybe so. But when these dumb ass niggas come out, we’re going to do all of this? There’s a nation that’s following it. There’s a young 13-year-old lil boy looking for a perc [or some molly] now.
We just have to be reminded that people are really listening and these days its some dumb ass people listening. When NWA was saying Fuck The Police, it was some niggas that were smart enough to know that “shit the police is here, be quiet!”. Everything can go right now. Anything can go and I blame it a lot on what we put in people’s ears.
I like City Girls, I like yall bitches. I’m calling them that because that’s who they present themselves as. That’s who they got young girls presenting themselves as. You got girls and niggas wanting to be city girls. (imitates) ‘rob a nigga nanana.”. But they’re somewhere in a real relationship eating steak, loving their nigga, getting pregnant.
@tarynprentice
One of them is in prison…for robbing niggas.
@iamdannyboy77
Right from robbing niggas. And shes rapping about it. Come on. We’re selling our people off. I guess that’s the thing that kept me from music for so long. I’ve been able to sing since I left Death Row; I’ve never been willing or able to compromise. All money ain’t good money to me. And I’m not going from Death Row to something like Death Row. Not going from Suge Knight to someone like Suge Knight.
What is R&B today? Rappers are on r&b charts. R&B singers collabing with rappers? They don’t even do that no more. There’s no room for a Danny Boy on a song like Tupac song because rappers are singing their hooks.
@tarynprentice
I know rappers like to say they like singing their own hooks to make sure their emotions are felt.
@iamdannyboy77
Now they want to be singers. They’ve talked about singers all their life ‘singers are gay’. Now they’re the rappers wearing dresses…purses and singing they own hooks. And then when a nigga like me come out and say they’re gay, motherfuckers point their finger at me. Get the fuck out of here. I ain’t listening.
@tarynprentice
Would you go back into writing?
@iamdannyboy77
I try to write. I try to collab with people. There are a few up and coming rappers that still believe in having a real singer on the hook. God bless me to work sometimes. It’s not a lot. Am I willing to write for other people? Yes. I’m just getting the confidence that Danny Boy ain’t too old to write a record and still try to put out some music. Because I’ve still never been able to put out a record that Danny Boy fully put Danny Boy behind. I want it so bad. After the small work, and I say small work with respect, that I had an opportunity to do on Death Row with Tupac, It’s amazing that people can still remember me 25 years later. I’m still noticed…What a blessing. I don’t take that for granted. I’m working on some music, I hope y’all will be listening, Yall know I’m crazy. I’ll be singing about all kinds of stuff…to girls and guys (laughs). But I’m not gay no more, I might as well say I’m bisexual. I learned I messed up.
@tarynprentice
You said you weren’t bisexual
@iamdannyboy77
Yea but I have to fix that. I’m sorry.
@tarynprentice
You said you didn’t want to keep bouncing from both men and women?
@iamdannyboy77
Yes because I didn’t want to be disrespectful. I don’t want to do what a lot of guys do. A lot of your favorite rappers, your favorite singers, basketball players, football players. I’m ain’t going to tell on none of yall, but I’m not the only one. Just sneaking around is a hard job, and I don’t know how to cheat like I used to. I always get caught. It’s a lot of energy. I say I’m not gay anymore … no one told me just say your bisexual. I’ve been ridiculed for being honest.its held against me
Lil Boosie was reaching out to me after seeing The Death Row Chronicles, he went on live ‘Danny Boy we gotta work!’. I’m sure a little while after making that, someone showed him my VladTV, and he and his people stopped answering. I’m not mad at that, but you can’t have a gay stylist if you’re going to just not talk to me. Get rid of your stylist, watch ALL your homies, cuz I’m not the only one. If you say you bi it’s like ‘oh for real cool! That the homie!”
@tarynprentice
But the truth is that you’re gay?
@iamdannyboy77
Yea the truth is I like what I like, I’m a grown-ass man. I’m a Scorpio. Shit, I should have just said I’m a freak. Maybe that would have gone better. Now Lil Nas X…he’s helping but he still kind of playing. He hasn’t really come out and opened his mouth and confirmed.
@tarynprentice
Do you think to be gay is a sin?
@iamdannyboy77
I don’t think so. I’m not going into Christians telling me about Sodom and Gomorrah. If you read the whole story there’s a lot of shit going on in Atlanta- oops i mean in Sodom and Gomorrah, or I mean in Chicago, or in Detroit [sarcastically]… When you get to heaven, or that time of judgment day, if it’s in an interview form, he will not be asking you questions about Danny. Unless he’s referring to how you treated me. Almost everything you do is a sin, so I’m sorry, so yea its a sin. But am I forgiven? If it’s right or wrong? I’m not talking about a messy [person]. I’m talking about somebody that did all the things that will make you think – ‘that’s a good person, the only thing the matter with him is he gay’.
@tarynprentice
What do you think Tupac would say if he knew you came out?
@iamdannyboy77
Shit, think he knew. I don’t know that he would be fine with it, but I do know he was intelligent enough to adjust who he loved. I’m not too sure of how comfortable he would be with me just coming with my boyfriend. He might have been cool if I brought my boyfriend AND girlfriend {chuckles]. Or would he have cussed me out when he found out? Or would he have said some things? Yea. Just like my own brothers and sister. Some of my people treated me shitty when I came out! But it took them to get passed the whole “look man I ain’t with that shit but you’re my brother.” I believe that, I was a friend of enough to him to at least have heard those words. I talk to Suge all the time. I talked to Suge yesterday and he joked like a motherfucker about it.
@tarynprentice
Seems like there mixed feeling towards Suge.
@iamdannyboy77
This week you may hear me say ‘Fuck Suge!’ Next week I’m going to be telling you how great he was. This is a man that gave me an opportunity that put me on a platform at a very young age and showed me a lot, treated me well. He believed in me. When he started going through it, I started going through it.
I don’t think Suge had the right people in his ear when he got locked up. If he did with the son, father, big brother- little brother relationship, whatever you want to call it, ( the relationship) there’s no way I would have went through the things I went through. Post that, Suge’s my brother. That’s a good nigga, I love him like a father. You’ll hear some things about him that upset me because it affected my musical career. When I went to other music companies they were scared to sign me because of him. I don’t care that Michele cut me off, from him I expected more. He said when my mother was on her death bed I told your mother that ima do everything I can to make sure you’re ok. I still get emotional, and my mothers been dead for over 21 years and I’m still upset sometimes when I think about that because you lied to my mother because you didn’t make sure I was ok.
@tarynprentice
Who in R&B is worth listening to now?
@iamdannyboy77
Jasmine Sullivan, I like Ro James, you know what I mean? Just the movement of Ro James. I just like real music. This other shit my little nieces and my kids are listening to this shit. If I’m not on top of my son, my son would be doing what this dumb shit is saying. I’m open to when he’s listening to it and tell me about it. You know the beat cool, I can understand some of the words.
@tarynprentice
Any rappers?
@iamdannyboy77
I mean …do I want to work with them yea i want to steal their platforms! Yes, I want to work with all yall assses. I would love to cuz they so many followers and shit. I can’t WAIT to do a hook with Cardi! Cuz I need that platform. But is she somebody where I’m like “OH MY GOD I CAN’T WAIT TO-” hell Nah.
@tarynprentice
What do you mostly not miss about your time in the music industry?
@iamdannyboy77
Back in the day, I used to be ready like “we finna to fight? We finna shoot this mutherfucker up! I’m with yall!” I’m too old for that shit, I get nervous if the wrong mutherfucker start shouting in church. I don’t want any problems. I don’t want to be around it…It’s about growth.
@tarynprentice
You did get shot at a lot?
@iamdannyboy77
When people were mad at Suge and Death Row I caught a lot of the backlash from that. A lot of those same dudes, Snoop and them they don’t talk to me I’m sure because of the closeness I had with Suge. They’ll speak…but if I send a message trying to get with them to do music, no. Daz calls me faggots all the time. Kurupt talks about me all the time. But I could care less because who the fuck are they?… It takes for a person to meet me to know me, to even erase that clock. And I’ve had the opportunity that probably would have never talked to me, and they’ve become great friends and people that call me now.
@tarynprentice
What are your thoughts around gun control?
@iamdannyboy77
Everybody needs a gun. These days. I got one, I keep one and I will blast one of these mutherfuckers. That’s why I am so strong with, hate me because I’m gay all you want, I get all kinds of death threats, I’m lighting your ass up. I’m going to be judged by 12, I won’t be carried by 6. Blast your life up, don’t shoot em in the head, shoot them in the head ass nigga. I will shoot your ass and go to church on Sunday morning.
@tarynprentice
We like to talk about mental health. What are your takes?
@iamdannyboy77
I’m glad and I appreciate that you guys talk about that. It’s a missed issue in our culture, especially in entertainment. Once I started talking to people that suffer from PTSD, I realize there’s a lot of people suffering from PTSD that never served in the armed forces. It could be from the hood, it could be from something traumatic that happened in their life. We aren’t people that go sit on a couch and talk to a counselor. Especially now we talk to social media, we just blurt it out but a lot of people are hurting. Especially people that have chased their dreams. And it seems like ‘damn no matter what I do I just can’t [seem to win]”
@tarynprentice
Was suicide ever an option?
@iamdannyboy77
Yes, I’ve been at that point where I wanted to die. Even when I wanted to die and commit
suicide, I still prayed for death. I just asked God, “Help me, don’t wake me up. I don’t want to– I’m done”. I never had the nerve or the strength to commit suicide. That’s a strong thing to go ahead and go through with. I was on the DL (down low) with someone and that’s what made me basically come out. He stepped off of a trash can in a room that we had, he took my necktie and put it on the back of a door hinge and hung himself. Around that time I was so suicidal, and God gave it to me 3D. He allowed me to see that situation and to live in its 3rd party…Anthony committed suicide because his father committed suicide when he was younger so to me it was a generational cycle…It’s a different type of hurt from when you’re hurting from grandma dying from a heart attack, even your best friend being killed…but to know someone that hurt themselves like that is a painful feeling. I think about it all the time. Every time I hear of suicide I relive that moment of denial. And it’s so so so prevalent in our community and in the LGBT community.
To learn more about Danny Boy, please follow him online and in his social media.
Booking/Features Dannyboysteward@gmail.com
IG @LegendaryDannyBoy
Twitter @iamdannyboy77
YouTube @DannyBoyMusic