My career in the entertainment industry has enabled me to work with a diverse range of talent. Through my years of experience, I've recognized two essential aspects. Industry professionals, whether famous stars or behind the scenes staff have fascinating stories to tell. Secondly, audiences are eager to listen to these stories which offer a glimpse into their lives and the evolution of their life stories. This podcast aims to share these narratives, providing information on how they evolved into their chosen career. We will delve into their journey to stardom, discuss their struggles and successes, and hear from people who help them achieve their goals. Get ready for intriguing behind the scenes stories and insights into the fascinating world of entertainment. Hi, I'm Tony Mantor. Welcome to Almost Live Nashville. Joining us today is David Paul Brooks, widely known as DPB. He's a trailblazing force in gospel rap, seamlessly blending powerful hip hop rhythms with uplifting Christian messages. As a Billboard charting artist, former member of the Grammy and dub nominated group DOC, Disciples of Christ, and a dynamic performer who shared stages with legends like Bootsy Collins, Kirk Franklin, and so many others, which enabled him to carve a unique space in the music industry. He's a songwriter, actor, clothing designer, motivational speaker, and mentor dedicated to empowering youth through his music and ministry. With chart-topping hits like Undefeated 3.0 and Brighter Day, DPB's electrifying performances and commitment to positive change continue to inspire audiences worldwide. We're thrilled to welcome him as he joins us to share his incredible journey with us. So before we dive into our episode, we'll be right back with an uninterrupted show right after a word from our sponsors. Thanks for coming on. No, for sure. Thank you for having me on. Oh, it's my pleasure. So if you would, give us a little information on what you do. Well, it's funny because I'm in New York. I was up there giving people the history on my TikTok channel about my life and about how my mom was a rock and roll singer. She opened up to Elvis Presley, James Brown, but she was school moms, Mabelia, and some of these people, Pig Me, Martin, I don't even know what happened to the people she talked about. But she opened up like that, and so music been in the history of my family forever. And when she actually gave it up to follow God, and then we end up being gospel singers. So we're actually legends here in Rockland County, New York, as the book's family singers. So I've been doing gospel music forever. Yeah, that's awesome. You also opened up for a lot of well-known people too. Even having that gospel background and leaving God for a moment and end up opening it for a lot of legends today, like Salt and Pepper, Kumo D. I mean, it goes down the line. Got Bootsy Collars on some of my stuff, different people like that. So and now I'm back doing gospel. Been doing gospel for 35 plus now, though. So that's kind of my background on music. So you started out on gospel. Was that more traditional style? Yes. So starting out on gospel, when did you make the transition to hip-hop and rap to incorporate that into your style? Well, I was probably kind of living both lives, because like New York is the home of hip-hop. So everybody wanted to be a rapper when it first started. Now this is before Run DMC. It's like, oh, you know, this rap thing, and then breaking, and everybody started breaking, pop-locking and all that stuff. And stuff like that. So even though I was born up in church, being in high school and stuff like that, that's what everybody did. So I wanted to do that. And I always followed my brother's footsteps because he was the only father figure I had. So he rapped. I wanted to rap. He played basketball. I played basketball. Everything he wanted to do, I ended up doing so. Rapping was part of it. My mom just didn't know I was doing rapping on the other side, or rap gospel wasn't even invented yet at that moment. So it was just doing it, because it was just part of I am going to church on Sunday, then I'll go somewhere with my brother and do some rapping, open it up for something, pepper and those like that type of stuff. Good. Yeah, that's great. With the rap being on the side, did you ever find yourself being pulled away from gospel, or did you always stay with that style of music? I always stayed in it. I loved music so much. My mom was my superhero. So I knew God was the most important thing to stick with, no matter what. So no matter what I did, stick with God, no matter. So I always did. Even doing that, I never said nothing wrong to you about nobody. You never did none of that type of stuff. It was always something trying to bring them into a positive light, or give a positive life to them. Yeah, that's great. Now, where was your recording? Was your recording in New York? Or did you find yourself traveling and recording in different places? Not actually. My brother-in-law bought an M1 keyboard, and I had a four track. So once I learned how to do some tracks and other voices in the four tracks, everything came out of my home in New York. And then of course, as you grow, there'll be producers, there'll be different things. And then, you know, there was a guy who I remember his name was Lorenzo. He was the first music studio I went to that was professional. And he loved everything I did so much. He wanted to make an album with me. And it was actually for free, because he said I was the first one to ever, oh, it's like $40 an hour, you know? And it's like, I only got enough for two hours. So he was doing the music and I stopped him. He's like, what are you stopping for? Because I only have enough for two hours. He said, you're the first person that ever came into my studio and stopped me. Others would just let me go and just tell me they had enough for, you know? And at that moment, he helped me make an album that never came out. But he was involved in that. And it's funny to listen to it today. But it started growing after that. It started meeting more professional musicians. It was more musical back then. It was samples and everything. As you evolved, as you learned, how did you see yourself changing and evolving at the same time? That's good. That's how I can be more of an inspiration and better. I got to a point where I believe kids can only be what they see. Kids can only be what they see. So I'm like, how can they be something? Everybody see all these rappers doing this and figure like they have to do it this way? Why can't I show up the right way to do it without the drugs, without all the other things? So it evolved in that way. What is lacked? I tried to bring what is lacked and produce something based off the lack that I feel like that it is. So if everybody's talking negative, why don't I be the one talking positive? Give them a solution of how this will work. Because everybody's going to go through problems in life. But why do we always glorify the problem? Yeah, absolutely. I remember a kid coming up to me and said, you get shot. I'm like, no, I don't want to get shot. I don't want to listen to you. See, I'm like, well, I don't really want you to listen to me. I don't want me to be shot. So I think that's what helped me evolve to let me know. All right, I got to be an example. If they don't see an example, like I call this bling for the cake. I know people like bling. So I'm like, all right, if I have that, first I will get a certain type of respect, just like sneakers. If I have a certain type of sneaker on, it gives a certain type of respect. So now I've got to listen. So I just got to make sure whatever they're listening to, it's got to be good. For them to say, yeah, he's been there. He knows what's going on. And so now you start to evolve that way. You start to learn people and you start to evolve based off the people. Yeah, that's just such a great way to look at it. When you try to do things positive, you try to do things the right way. You will always have those that will try to tug you down and take you the wrong way. How did you stay away from that? Work on the positive things with the people and those that followed you. So that way you could be that inspiration to them. How I was doing it. See, so I could just rap, but I think if you express something a certain way, more people will listen than criticize. You know what I'm saying? So I think some people, like I'm more of the loving type. People know like, oh, he cares for real. Like this ain't just like a joke. It ain't a gimmick for him. So I think it's how the presentation is. I didn't have that much. Like, if you know, it's funny. I have more people come against me in the church than I did that, not in the church. Yeah, that's sad. You know what I'm saying? Like you rapping in church, that ain't supposed to be. That ain't enough God. I have one pastor say, if God can use the jackass, he could use them. So it was more those type of things than it was anybody. Actually, it was somebody, Seklu, who was really big. I call Seklu in gospel. Seklu, who was really big, that said, man, you should do the gospel stuff. Because nobody ain't doing that. It was more, you know, people who didn't, who did not go to church that was telling me, that's what the hood needs. That's what we need. So I ain't get the same thing that the average person got because of how I would do it. Then my life being what I'm talking about, not just saying something because it's cool to say it. So people were watching me more so. So they're like, oh, that's real to him. So if it says it out of his mouth, I'm gonna let's build a him. That's just such a great way to look at it. I really like that. It wasn't too long after that that you got together with a group of guys and formed a band that become quite well known. Yeah. The Cypress of Christ. Yeah. Yeah. And they went on to do some pretty big things. Very big things. And being Grammy nominated, being dove nominated, being in that group, learn to write hooks better, learn how to be more radio friendly. Like there's a way, radio friendly way to write a song. That's very true. A lot of people don't know those. And being in a group like that, singers and rappers learned about hooks and I learned about bridges and a lot of rap songs, they don't have bridges. So if I did a bridge in my music now and what I do, and a lot of my songs are like, you can tell this boy is musically talented. They can't even put me in a rap category. Like in a lot of my songs now today, top 40, a dole contemporary, right now even country. Yeah, that's great. You know, I'm saying how many rappers can get on the country charts and the rapper write the song. So it's like, I learned to be like a Michael Jackson as a rapper. You know what I'm saying? So that's how I try to go about it. A lot of people don't know how to do it. So how long was you in that group? We're talking about eight or nine years, almost 10 years. Wow. That's a really good long time to be in it. We're considering pioneers in the Christian hip hop arena. Yeah. That's great. Grandmaster Flash, DOC. You know what I'm saying? That type of thing. So it'll be like that type. Yeah. That's a great band. DOC, Disciples of Christ. Yeah. The listeners don't know. They need to check them out for sure. So when that came to an end and then you became a solo artist once again. Now you just mentioned being part of that band helped you become a better songwriter. And in those 10 years, you grew in many different ways musically. So you started out as a solo artist, then you became part of a very successful group for 10 years. Then you transitioned back to a solo artist again. What were some of the differences that you noticed right away? It was hard because you're used to people with you. Like I didn't want to be by myself. Like it don't feel right being by myself trying to hold it down. So what I learned to do is I got family members and I'm getting dancers so I can always have somebody up on stage. Alright, somebody got to be up on stage with me at least. So I got dancers, they got my nephew. I just learned how to keep that writing and be who I was as a writer and I stuck with that. All my songs were just, they were very diverse. Like you could not figure me out because if I'm doing a rock song, I'm going authentically rock. We're going to go rock all the way. If I'm going to do country, let's go country. Now even though my song American Strong is like pop country, I can go country with it if I wanted to all the way. You just learn I got to find my identity. So like one of my first songs being a Solaris was Re-Identity. And of course it was like we'll change the industry using who, DPB. Let's make them just like me, RE-Identity. So I was like God was more than making me now. I'm shaping up and Re-Identity is what the song was called. And it's one of the coolest songs I've ever heard because in the song I'm like showing you how I'm being built. Just like if I was Frankenstein. You know what I'm saying? At least in my mind that's the way the video went based off the song. But it's just learning that transition was a really hard transition because you're used to three and four people being up on the stage to you by yourself. And then now you have to know how to handle a stage by yourself. Yeah, yeah. And that's a craft. You have to learn that craft. Sure. What label was you on during the band years? Star Soul. Star Soul Records, yeah. When you went solo, did you go with a record label or did you go independent? No, actually we went independent. Since then I've been independent. I did have an independent label that signed me later on called Donagene Records and seen some success there. But it was crazy. I'm seeing more success now than I've ever been. It was kind of cool to see it now. With the band you had Grammys and Dove Awards and all kinds of different accolades going. When you went solo, how did that work out for you? Did you pick up where you left off? Well, no. Because nobody don't know who you are. Like in today's age, it's all about numbers. Yeah, that's true. So people don't care if you've been Grammys nominated back then. They want to know what are you doing right now? What is the numbers now? How many bookings do you get right now? So it's like that, okay? So for me, I got out of it and I created this thing called the world of DPP. Okay, that's cool. I'm going to create my own world. I ain't worried about that no more. So I created my own world and in that world, I'm in fans that are faithful and dedicated to it. From that, just like for me, I say listening to the voice of God or when to do stuff. And me listening to the voice of God, unlike how other people probably have done stuff, like I pay $200 for a radio promoter and next to one of my songs is number 15 on the Billboard charts. Wow, that's great. You know what I'm saying? It's like I'm sneaking in without having no backing of anything. I ain't paying. I mean, this guy just like, man, he don't even know how God I'm born here. So it showed me, okay, my songs are really good. Yeah. I needed some backing to help it get to the place where I need to go. So I got my manager that's sitting right here, Brent Beck. He ended up putting stuff behind me and next thing you know, all my songs are, wow, reaching number one. Top 40 undefeated, reached number one. It was played 22,000 times in the Ukraine, broke a Spotify history. I'm like, okay, next, you know, the next five songs I'm bringing out, keep on going number one. And you know, people ain't hearing about it. That doesn't mean people know who I am, but there being number one on these, I think it's called nationalradioids.com. You can see my song right now, number three on three charts on there. Actually, our four charts, I think. Crazy country, top 40, Christian and adult contemporary. So you see me on all these charts. A lot of people don't know about it. Then I won the Josie award. I don't even think people know what it is. Actually, what is the Josie award? It's the Grammy of independent music. It's the largest independent music and I won one of those at a 75,000 people. I'm off 75,000 submissions and I won one of those. Yeah, that's great. I mean, everybody's getting to know here in Nashville what the Josie awards are. So that's a good thing for you. So it's funny. I get to a certain point. I don't even know how to convert with it because it's in my own world. It's like I got this own world and I'm achieving all these things. Me and my manager, because you know, my manager just, he just loved me. So it's almost like, bro, let's just do whatever you say, do it. I'm just doing it. And we're just achieving all these things and don't even know how to make it work. It's kind of funny because this is what you want to do as a solo artist. And I'm like, okay, now we got to figure out how we need a booker. Do we know anybody in the book? And then somebody say, because like I kind of took some time off from traveling to see what my music would do. So we can go to these awards and go to these film, like we go to film festivals and all this stuff. Cause we got movies, got many movies from our music, animations and all those different things of that nature. So we're trying to do different things. We've got a clothing line, shoe line, just different things. And we're so trying to, and not knowing like, tag, you ain't going to be able to find a booker. We don't have 80 engagements now, you know, or something like that. I'm like, if I have 80 engagements all at one time, I ain't going to need no booker. You know what I'm saying? Yeah, I get that. Now you've written a book too, right? I have two books out now right now. I have a book called No Bad Days because I haven't had a bad day in 15 years. So I'm teaching folks why they shouldn't have a bad day. The next one is D.P.B. Living a Life Undefeated. It has a mini movie, probably the first of its kind, a 196 page colored book that shows you my life of 30 plus years of being what it is. And I gave quotes on what I live by. And then people wrote in quotes from when they hear D.P.B. what do they see? What have they experienced? So I got about 50, 60 quotes of just random people that I've knew in my lifetime. And when they think of D.P.B. it's kind of a cool book. One of its kind, I don't even know how to sell it because it's so different. It's a $50 book, you know? So, but it's kind of cool, just a branch out and I'm watching it unfold in front of me, you know? I'm like, wow, we got a lot of stuff going on. Now we just need to know how to make it all work together. But it's my world. So it's like, we probably have to branch out of our world to create, you know, to create whatever else we need to create. But it's been working. Yeah, as long as it's working, that's all that matters. So where can they get the books? Now, the Amazon, you know, what Amazon is the no bad days book. Best seller right now, Amazon. This one is, you have to order it from me. We haven't put it up yet. Right now, a lot of family members, a lot of people when we go into places, oh, you got this book and I have it. It's a great desk book, like when somebody come in your house and it's just sitting there and it's just like, let me see, wow, this is kind of cool. And it was cool even right here when we're here in New York visiting my brother. He's seeing this like, man, whoever laid it out really laid it out well. And it's cool to hear that type of thing. Yeah, it's always great to have a good review. So give everyone your website address so they can check it out and hopefully they'll buy it from you. Okay, a world of DPB. So everything www.worldofdpb.com, all social medias, world of DPB. If you forget the DPB, always remember like this, David, in the butt out. You'll never forget it. World of DPB, all one word though, world of DPB. So everywhere you can get to me from based on world of DPB. Yeah, that's great. Hopefully they'll check it out. Where do you see yourself in say three to five years? What's your goals? What's your plans for the future? I want to do a worldwide tour. Okay, that's great. But it'd be like a hope type of for every undefeated type of tour to where you made it through some stuff. Don't stop now. Keep on going. You know what I'm saying? Just like releasing American strong. Come on, y'all. We live in the greatest country of anybody and we still can't get it together here. Politics shouldn't be the reason why we don't love each other. You know, someone on the line, we all bleed red. If somebody gets shot, it's going to be that same color blood. So we just need to learn to come together. We need to give each other hugs more. We need to, you know, that's just so I try to bring the solution to a problem. Instead of anybody talking about the problem, somebody got to have the solution to the problem. So I try to bring those things from bullying to peer pressure. So we have animation based off those things. We do a lot of animation now too. So it's like, it's having all these different things. The world of DBB. Yeah. That's a great way to look at things. So tell us a little bit more about yourself. I mean, you just gave us a little insight there, but let's go on a little bit deeper dive and what people can expect from what you're trying to do and what you actually are doing. So in my world, what I do is like, I'm a God man. I love God with all my heart. And I feel like what keeps me going and what I've learned keeps a lot of people going is God. I mean, I'm being honest with you. I think that's the foundation where you don't have nothing to go to. If every person turned a back on you, I know God won't. See, that's like, having a foundation like that is what keeps me going. So what keeps this whole thing functioning, the world of DBB, DBB music, all these different things is God. I want God to be the coolest thing because people try to discredit God. They're right. No God is like all that. So my thing is, all right, this is the reason why people are getting depressed. Like if you read my book, I feel like I got the whole thing for depression, like the solution for depression based off the Bible, based off, I got the solution for ADHD, based off the Bible. I got the solution based off PTSD. So it's all there. So the whole thing is giving everybody everything they need to have a no bad day for the rest of their lives. So we're believing for 50 million souls saved based off God. So that's the goal. Now you got all the social media. We just got to get it out and just let it do what it do to show folks, oh, somebody do care. Somebody really sees my problem and know how to get through it. Yeah, that's a great way of looking at it and a great way to help people as well. I feel like all those things are solved based off the Bible. Even if people don't like it or not, there's good foundational truths that still somebody can live an incredible life based off those foundational truths. So I got a TikTok show that I do every morning. A lot of people come to that and it's crazy because I'm showing how they should wake up every day. Don't let how you feel determine what your day is going to be because you can feel like you don't want to talk to nobody. Just because you feel that way doesn't mean that's what your day is supposed to be or you're mad at the world and nobody even said nothing to you. So I'm showing them how to get up, like having a solution to everyday problems and then I'll teach Bible stuff for folks to walk it out. When people hang with me, stuff don't really bother you. Yeah, because why should it? It's how I perceive something is how it's going to be. So if I perceive somebody is getting on me, I'm going to get offended. So I just believe the best of the best. It's like I just teach folks. So the goal is to know about me. It's a show, folks. This is what it is to live a life of no bad days. Yeah, yeah. By you doing all this, do you get a lot of people that reach out to you, either to pat you on the back or to try and have you help them with some of their issues? My manager can tell you people will call me all throughout the night, but I'll take the time with everybody because a lot of people don't know how to walk through stuff. I mean, people go to counseling. I noticed that it just makes them feel good for a second, but the counseling given them a solution to how to get through it. So I believe I got some cool techniques on how to, I mean, if you went into my mind, you would think I was a crazy fool. If I wanted your mind, you would think, yeah, that man crazy. Right. So nobody's exempt from the mind going nuts. If everybody can understand that who's watching, nobody's exempt from your mind going nuts. But then God got one thing in it that's amazing that I think it's not easy because you have to work on it. And that is take every thought captive. Now God knew your mind was going to go crazy, but he's trying to tell you it's my job to transform my mind because I got years and years of life stuff. Good, bad, crazy abuse. It's there. Not master those things. How much I like them, hate them or love them. And God tell you to take every thought captives. I have to figure out how do I do that? Because sometimes I might get go crazy and overwhelm me. Show us little things and techniques. I ain't trying to go off mark, but you know, That's okay. I mean, it's really good that you're trying to help people because that's really what this world needs is more people reaching out and helping others. For sure. That's my whole goal because anyone that's doing it for instant gratification. Well, they're doing it for the wrong reason. For sure. The beauty of helping others is you help them then down the road. You never know when you might be the one that needs the help and someone's there to give you a helping hand. That's the way it works. Sure. And I see it happen. So I just want to show everybody it can happen. You know what I'm saying? And so this has really been good. Is there anything that we haven't touched on that you'd like to talk about? Let me see. Let me see. Let me see. Let me see. Now, I mean, just go out there and listen to American strong. It's a great song. If you feel like you're being defeated, go listen to undefeated. If you want to have one of the greatest wake up songs in the world, I feel so good today. You know? And I even got a song called, If You Hold a Lot of Things In, A Lot of People Are Bound In Their Lives Because It's Hard for Them To Forgive. The song called Let It Go. It's good to let things go. And when you let it go, now you can fly and your life can finally shine. Instead of you living a place of depression because of something that might have happened to you 30 years ago. You can't get along. So I try to use songs to really help people like, this is the reason why I don't have bad days. Because I let it go. One more thing. I went for a call to everybody that ever didn't me wrong. Because God, I feel like God wanted me to do this. And he wanted me to call them and say I was sorry and I couldn't understand it. So I'm calling all these people that I felt in my life. I've found about 15 people in my life that I just ignored. And when I called them and said, I'm sorry, a weight lifted off me. Now when I talk about them, I ain't got to worry about all the stuff they did wrong. Because I let them go. I really let them go. And we cool now. So what cool is being free that you're not free. You know what I'm saying? Like, so God was really trying to free me up just because you avoid something doesn't mean you're free from it. So what he was trying to do was really free me from the stuff that was holding me back. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, that's great. I think you've got a really great attitude. I really think you've got a great thing going. This has been really good. Good conversation. Good information. I really appreciate you taking the time to join us today. For sure, man. Thank you for letting me be on. I appreciate you, man. For real. Absolutely. It's been my pleasure. Thanks again. This has been a Tony Mantua production. For more information, contact media at PlateauMusic.com.
