D.Worthy x Newstalgia Interview
One of Newstalgia's core missions is to build community through art, music, fashion and people. We are excited to introduce D.Worthy to the Newstalgia community.
Danitrius Worthy, or D.Worthy, exudes charisma everywhere he goes. When he talks, he commands attention. Growing up in Cleveland, Ohio and then moving to the West Coast to Washington State, he learned resilience and how to be open to any challenge that comes his way. Being drawn to music and fashion from a young age, D.Worthy has channeled his passion to living a life that serves others by providing inspiration at every turn.
We had the pleasure of sitting down virtually with D.Worthy and talking about everything from Paris Fashion Week to meeting Pharrell.
"It's all about the experience"
Starting off, we'd love to hear a quick intro - who you are, your journey that led you here and where you're going in the future
My name is D.Worthy. A multi hyphenate creative that goes from music, creative direction, fashion and overall just a motivator of people places and things. I run a brand called the BlowUpKids which is based on chasing your dream endlessly like a kid. I'm trying to be the Peter Pan of culture - take kids back to Never Neverland.
The reason that became my passion is because when I was younger I was in foster care. I had to go to foster care when I was 5 and 6 so I had to grow up extremely young. I was blessed to get my mom back and we moved from Cleveland to the Northwest and that's when I started to see I was different from every other kid. My outlet was creatively through music, through art, through fashion.
The 5 year old version of me looking at me now would be fuckin stoked.
As you touched on, art is a lot of people's way of getting that expression out whether it be music or fashion. We would love to know more about the Blow Up Kids.
The thing about the BlowUpKids is once I started this I was in college at Eastern Washington University in 2010 and my whole initiative is I want to be one of the greatest artists ever. I'm not ashamed to say that and I know that comes with great responsibility but once you set that bar for you, your community and your team, you start attracting that.
That's what the BlowUpKids is we're a team, a community of friends that not only believe in what I'm trying to accomplish, they know we're trying to accomplish a community goal. From that, I was able to develop relationships with my other best friend one of my creative directors Mark who owns the brand Incorporated out in Seattle.
Through that, that's how I got tied into the fashion world so that's when I started getting invited to Paris Fashion Week and been able to see the Louis Vuitton shows and a lot of shows featured in GQ and Vogue. I'm not out there swagging out on 2,000 dollar outfits. These are fits that are DIY that my boy made in his house and put together.
One of the craziest moments of my career, you know Pharrell is a big idol of mine. I was in Paris, I've gone to fashion week 7 times and this one particular time they lost our fuckin baggage. Imagine going to Paris Fashion Week with no gear bro. The Airbnb was shitty it was in the worst part of Paris 50 minutes from where we needed to be. We were like fuck it we're gonna make it happen. So we go to this party and right when we get there we run into Russell Westbrook and I walk in and I go yo that's fuckin Pharrell bro. I told my homie make sure you get this flick. I ran into Pharrell and got to tell him how his music saved me from depression. He's just a fuckin dope soul and we got to have a dope conversation and then I went to get the picture with him and the homie didn't get the picture bro. The thing about that is it's a sign that's not the moment I'm supposed to have with that person, there's a bigger moment to be had.
"I know my journey is deeper than the metrics can show"
It's like the conversation you had with him was more important than getting the picture. We'd love to learn more about your early influences were with music and fashion - what brands were you wearing coming up, the fashion in the pacific northwest etc.
Let me start from the beginning my earliest influences musically would have to be Master P, Lauryn Hill, Kanye West, Jay-Z and Pharrell. Those are the main people outside of like Tupac, I owe it all to them. Just picking up swag from the era of being in the 2000s that's my favorite era as far as fashion like FUBU and all of that shit.
My mom was a model and my grandma owned a dress shop so I'm inclined to fashion. I've always been around sowing machines and do it yourself but my cousin was my style icon. He had all the shoes and everything I could imagine. We used to have these sneaker competitions and outfit competitions. Every 4th of July or Thanksgiving I was trying to compete with the older cats like who's the flyest.
What that led me to when I moved to Washington I was always an internet kid so that's the first time I ever got on forums. There used to be this forum called Nike Talk and other forums that eventually became Nice Kicks and things like that. I was just up on the swag. But that opened the door to the internet and once you get the internet you start finding things like Bathing Ape and things like that. The Northwest is Nike country so when we moved out my sister got the Nike plug and it was on.
Once I got into the real real fashion it was dope because I was able to understand things early. You start developing your own personal taste. It's easy to be a hypebeast but once you learn about the designers and once you're blessed to go to the shows, the first show I ever went to was Raf Simons in Florence, Italy in 2016 and to see Raf's old shit exhibited at this particular fashion show and I got to meet Jerry Lorenzo from Fear of God and I had on the drawn on vans and the trench coat my homie made. Once you get validation from those people and you're wearing shit from Goodwill like they're spending 3,500 dollars on things and I'm a broke ass kid from the Northwest spending 100 dollars at Goodwill painting on shit and when they see you they're like damn that's real art.
My early influences is using what you have to make it work. If you believe in yourself and have a swag it could work. Right now my favorite influences are Tyler, the Creator, A$AP Nast that's a big one and obviously Rocky too. Not to keep name dropping these are just mementos on my path but when I met Rocky at the Dior show before I changed my name to D.Worthy I was Dior Worthy to show people that your self worth is your designer. I had the Dior Worthy piece at the Dior show and obviously a bootleg but Rocky was like yo that's fire you had the audacity to wear this at the Dior show. Bono was fuckin there. That's been my whole approach in fashion and music is fuck the big guys I'm gonna be me and somebody's gonna fuck with it because there's a kid out there like I'm not like them I'm like you.
Yeah man the do it yourself attitude, a lot of people relate to that but it's hard to actually execute. Most people are like go to Dover Street and pick up the most expensive thing in there but you gotta be comfortable in what you're wearing. You can match Gucci with something from the thrift store and it'll be even more fire.
Think about any trend it's all recycled. The thing I learned too is if you're at these shows and there's an icon you look up to, if they start doing something you feel inclined to don't feel like you're fucking biting. Success leaves footprints. It's like when baggy jeans came back all the homies that were at Goodwill they ready. It's one thing to copy somebody but the great artists steal. They know how to take good things from everybody and put it together.
"If you love D.Worthy, you're a fan of yourself"
Yeah that makes a lot of sense. We'd love to get into the music a little more, we listened to that Soda album and loved it - what were your inspirations behind that album and where that sound came from?
Basically what SODA stands for is Settling Only Develops Amateurs. If you never settle you're gonna be a professional. I love to make music that's tangible. Like next time when you're out and someone mentions soda, if you're following my music and marketing you're gonna be thinking about me. The producer I worked with is Gage Green he's done all of the production for all of my albums so far. Soda was that stamp that was like I know I'm in the right place I just gotta live myself through.
My music I like to describe as a love story. When you play my music you're with your girlfriend or boyfriend and you feel in love. When you're in love you're vulnerable and that's what makes my music so powerful is because it's vulnerable. I'm just trying to be a real person.
Yeah forsure and then transitioning into Secrets Keep Friends that was a very different type of vibe
That's a lot of fun. With my music it's usually pretty heavy but sonically that's where I'm at now it's all about fun bro. We've had such a dark year it's like bro we want to dance we want to have fun. If you cool I want you to be cool. I want that high school cool when you walk past and you like that dude is cool. Secrets Keep Friends was like let's be cool let's have people rollerskating and that's what music is missing. Shout out to SadLoka. That was my first collaboration tape with her. She brought the concepts of fun and dancing to life. She’s one of my favorite artist and I couldn’t have made that album without her and we got more music soon!
Yeah like you said, last year everyone's inside and you come with this alternative upbeat album that makes people want to ride out what's going on.
And that's why I keep making music keep making art. I know people are gonna resonate with it and feel a connection. My next album is called Time Will Tell, Pain Is Temporary comes out on the 3rd and it's just like more stories man. I'm excited man when I talk about my music it gets me so happy that's how I know I'm following my passion.
It's awesome to hear someone so passionate about their art, how they do it and how it got created
When it comes to the music shit we didn't start it so we could be famous. It's literally about someone hearing us. Even if I have one listener or a million listeners I'm blessed bro.
"I don't plan to stop until I'm great"
We want to hear a little more about what you're releasing on the 3rd and moving forward people you want to collaborate with, the fashion side where you see yourself going with that
I'm working on some stuff for the digital art space. Making my content live digitally. I'm big about moments so we're working on some NFT things for this album release. Live shows is gonna be huge for me and the character that I'm developing. As far as merchandise, the SODA brand will continue working to get some more pieces.
I'm extremely excited to have one of the first videos I directed release on the 3rd. From the planning to the little details on the Cd’s everything was planned out.
Are you happy with the lives of those around you? Are clout and fame worth the absence of peace?
“Pain Is Temporary” was created as a compass to answer that question. Handwritten CDs titled with emotions destroyed in the redemption of tranquility. Paying homage to a nostalgic era when making a playlist was everything. Just like the era of burning CDs, life is temporary.
However, emotions like love are eternal.
As far as collaborations, I've done some things in the past with Amine back in 2014 and I'm a big fan of his music. He taught me a lot of lessons especially being in a city so close to mine. He's definitely at the top of my list. I'm open to a lot of collaborations I'm just trying to build up the moments. When live shows come back and people can experience my music I'm just excited. And new music man I made 100 songs for this last album.
Can we get a release date for that?
I don't got one but I'm telling y'all I'm trying to make this my version of Thriller. I really want to be great bro. I don't plan to stop until I'm great.
One last thing about the brand, what's the first thing that comes to mind when you think of Newstalgia?
I think of two things. First I think of Nostalgia, Ultra Frank Ocean one of the greatest mixtapes of all time one of the best moments of my life and it inspires me to be an artist. Strawberry Swing is probably the song I would play at my funeral. After that, nostalgia is just my brand. Memories are Newstalgia, the early 2000s these glasses I got on they're nostalgic. This world wouldn't exist without nostalgia.