Deante’ Hitchcock Speaks About “JUNKIE IN THE SUN” (Interview)
Atlanta’s own Deante’ Hitchcock is back with his next studio album, “Junkie in the Sun,” and it’s all his own expression literally in its rawest form. Samara Cyn, 6lack, Childish Major, Anna Field and J. Wes are the featured stars on this project. A man who is on a mission to sell 100,000 copies of his album independently, Deante’ is doing the work to bring back authenticity in selling art.
I am thankful to get his exclusive take on how “Junkie in The Sun” came to fruition:
“This is the first time that I've really made an album without the influence of label executives and A&R’s in my ear. You know what they usually like to drill to the artists. ‘We need this kind of song. We need a hit record.’ Whatever the case is. A big part of why ‘Junkie In The Sun’ turned out the way it did because it was just me & my boys and me & my thoughts. The people around me that I trust.”- Deante' Hitchcock on creating "Junkie In The Sun"
EB: Tell me about the process of putting Junkie in the Sun together. How were you set about creating an array of emotion on one album?
DH: This project expands from the last like three and a half years. “The Cycle” might have been the first verse I wrote from all the songs on this project myself. However, the majority of the tape came from this process that I was running with different people at different times throughout the recording period. We called it “Verse-a-days”. I had group chats with Swavay, Damoni, Ray Vaughn, Chris Patrick, Marco Plus, Ruben Vincent, and Ben Reilly, just to name a few. We didn’t just write something and put it in the chat. It was almost like an “iron sharpens iron” kind of thing. It's like “Damn, you snapped today. Now, I gotta go write my verse. I gotta get my shit done so I can drop my verse in the chat for that same flight feeling.” It just made it so nobody wanted to miss a day and nobody wanted to come off like they were slacking type. A lot of these songs came from that process.
He even shared details on his strategy on adding musical variety to this tape:
“We had a meeting last September and we realized that the larger part of the project felt really dark and heavy, and we needed some songs to brighten it up. So, a lot of the warmer songs came in the last 6 months: “Green Eyes,” “UNI,” “Electric Revival,” “Dance With Me,” “Paper N Power.” My personal favorite song from the album is easily “Almost There.” I can't even listen to it all the way through, especially the third verse. It feels so emotional for me.”
My personal top three are “Electric Revival,” “Funny Thing” and “Grass Greener.”
EB: What is the meaning behind “Junkie in the Sun”?
DH: I was talking about God. The sun is God. We are all junkies. We are all addicted or something. We all got something we were embarrassed about. Ashamed about. Whatever the case. But the sun's still shining on us anyway. God looks at us all the same way. No matter what we got going on or what we are going through. That's what I want folks to take away from it. No matter what you're ashamed, embarrassed, depressed, whatever the case was. I think no higher than the next man or the next person so don't think of yourself as lower than the next person. God is looking at us all the same way. We are all junkies in the sun.
EB: How do you feel now that the public has heard “Junkie in the Sun”?
DH: The reception has been amazing. Man, the reception has been overwhelming to say the least. And I'm thankful. Where I was in the creation process from like my partner's homegirls and all that. And a couple times, really, a lot of times, everybody's comment was like, bro, feel like you're free. Feel like you're making the stuff that you want to make.
Do not stream this album - go to this website to buy and directly support this album. You can find Deante’ Hitchcock on Instagram and Twitter and go listen to “Junkie in the Sun.”