A Conversation With Dende

After a breakout year in 2021, Dende has only elevated himself further into the music industry. In 2022 Dende has already performed multiple shows at SXSW, released a critically acclaimed EP this year (GO LISTEN TO PREGNANCY PACK HERE), and will be sharing a stage with Ty Dolla Sign, Miguel, and more legendary artists. And in the age of music run by social media, Dende is genuine and intuitive. Whether it’s jokes on twitter or sex questions on Tik-Tok, he brings a genuine, fresh persona to the table. He might be less mysterious than other R&B artists, but he’s just as talented.

How are you doing?

I’m in Jersey, I’m good. I’m doing a verse a day thing with a couple artists. 

You’re a very open dude. From sexuality, to race, loneliness, and self-hate you’ve discussed a multitude of important subjects. Has there been any themes or ideas you haven’t touched upon in your music that you’d like to talk about more? 

Ummm, I mean I’m always writing about stuff that is personal or something I’ve gone through. I’m constantly going through things. As anybody else would. I don’t think there is a theme, it’s just whatever happened that I’m going through. It’s sort of a way to vent. It really is just whatever is going on in my life at the time. 

Your stuff is super cohesive so that’s why I gotta ask that question. Do your themes and concepts form after the album is done then?
When I did a Happy Man I intentionally made those songs. What I’m doing right now for the project I’m working on it’s just me writing about what’s going on in my life and those songs are cohesive. 

Are you planning on rapping heavily again?

We’ll see with the rapping I can’t really say right now. 

Crossroads reminds me a lot of TDE in early 2010’s. A ton of extremely talented artists in an up and coming label are producing some of the most interesting underground music, and each of them have an interesting personality. From making fun of eachother on twitter, to showing an open love and consideration for one another, it’s really inspiring. How have they affected your artistic process, and parts of your personal life?

So before I got with Crossroads it was a toss up between a couple people. I think it was the best fit, there’s like 20 people. There’s artists and then there’s people who do other jobs. They’re very smart and know how to capitalize on things. For example: One day in Houston I went to Arby’s, and a picture of me blew up on the internet. Instead of letting it die down we capitalized on it. They made logos on the arby’s picture. We then sat down for a press release where Dende was kicked out of CXR for eating at Arby’s. We then used the follows and clicks off of that as a way to get promotion for the Pregnancy Pack. If I have an idea or something I need to get off my chest there is somebody I can actually talk to in CXR, but on the same plane I have people I can go to for business. It’s been pretty positive for me 

That’s super healthy. Having people that you don’t just need to be around, but want to be around, is important in music. 

Marketing as an artist, and having a unique sense of character in your marketing is really tough. You seem to thrive with a good combination of tact and humor. Never diving too far into the range of uncomfortability, but always trying to stay provocative. All in all, it’s obvious you put a lot of thought into marketing. What are your feelings on content creation outside of music? And how do you work with your team to conjure up ideas that you might put on tik-tok or twitter?

I see why that is what people think. I have more people tell me what I do market wise than tell me the opposite. To be honest I actually am winging it on most stuff! I think twitter is a joke so I treat it as such. I just kind of do something and it works out. Other jokes or ideas you might see are something that we sit down and discuss. But it’s pretty ridiculous. I don’t think I’m the best marketer, I just have stupid stuff and ideas and it works. On promoting myself, I’m just doing stuff. On the music side though, my team is very good at marketing as well. 

That works well for you though right? Your persona is natural, and people like genuine takes on things. I mean, I’m not psyched when I wake up and see a toe sucking tweet from you. At the same time though, it’s gutsy and genuine. At least it’s not boring, like damn, this is how my day started. 

In a conversation with Yoh, shoutout Yoh by the way, you stated that you pretty much get by financially through just music at this point. In previous years you worked multiple jobs and were always finding new ways to make money. Even in your previous albums you would mention the frustrations of being broke, and trying to get by with just pennies. How has your musical process changed because of this? Has being able to devote more time into music been good for you?

It’s just more fun. I get to spend a lot more time recording and writing than ever before. I don’t think the process has ever changed. I think I can just spend more time on it really. It’s way less stressful because I don’t have to work for someone else for 8 hours, and then drive lyft. It made me tired having to come home and make music after that. It’s way better to be doing work for myself, and having the energy to work on stuff myself. I also enjoy what I’m making right now and am in a pocket because I’m not forcing something to happen. Before I did music full time I would make a track for four hours and hate it the next day. 

Do you feel like that work-related stress was an important factor for creating your music?

I mean it made for stuff to write about but you can write about anything. You can write about how it rained today. 

Will we possibly be getting another short film from you? Your mind works proactively outside of music, and in my opinion, I’d love to see another film from you. 

Yeah I want to dive into that a lot. I’m actually planning on it. That’s definitely on the agenda. 

You are performing at the Lakewood Theater on the same stage as legends. Ty Dolla Sign, Miguel, Wale, and more incredible artists are included on that lineup. How does it feel to be acknowledged with those artists? Do you feel like you’ve broken a ceiling you set for yourself? 

What I tell you, part of me wants to be like “yeah, I deserve that” and the other part of me is like “this is ridiculous, it’s unreal.” But it feels good. It feels like all the hard work I did in the past years is finally paying off. I used to put on all of my old events, I used to throw all my shows in clothing stores, and now I’m performing in a 18,000 seat theater with Ty Dolla Sign, Miguel, Erykah Badu! It’s absolutely crazy. 

Did you feel like you were ever gonna get there

I knew I would. But not that quick. It’s absolutely wild that it happened so fast. I feel like music just started working for me so for that opportunity to happen right after it started working is crazy. I’ve done music since 2013 so I’ve been waiting on this. I didn’t expect this level of recognition to happen after I finally broke out though. 

Is this level of recognition overwhelming 

Nah, I’m not overwhelmed at all. I want to show out. I want to have the best set out of everybody. I wanna show that I deserve to be on the stage, that I’m just as good as the headliner. 

How was SXSW by the way?

It was amazing. I've been wanting to do SXSW since I was young. We did our CXR event and it was dope. It was everything I thought it would be, and more. 

Lastly, is there anything you’ve learned about yourself this year? 

I’ve learned that my words hold weight. Sometimes I should choose them wisely. I have definitely learned they matter. It was actually after a relationship I realized that I have to be more careful with my words. But hey, we live and learn!