Get To Know DJ/Producer DeLon As He Talks New Music and Debunks Misconceptions

DJ/Producer DeLon, born Dilan Jayasingha, is not your average hip-hop talent. Born and raised in Los Angeles, with roots in Sri Lanka, the LA boy grew up with music is his heart starting his extensive track record in the industry beginning playing hip hop with his brother at the age of 12. He started to DJ and things took a natural progression from there.

With influences from N.W.A, Eazy E, and more artists from the Bay, DeLon goals in this industry were to rise above the normal caliber of the state of hip hop and exceed into something much greater. Fast forward to today, the self-proclaimed “straight edge artist,” who has worked with the likes of YG, Ty Dolla Sign, and Frankee Razor, has a new EP, Awake, on the horizon, a new music video for his latest single “For Real,” and a force in this industry that is demanding recognition.

I spoke with DeLon in an exclusive interview with Glambergirlblog where we discussed his sound, new music, and more. Check out some excerpts from our chat below.

On being a straight edge artist: “It’s definitely hard to step away from that stuff in hip hop. I had to create my own oasis. Like my studio, I’ve had YG, Ty Dolla Sign, I had a lot of rappers right here from LA in my studio and they all know there’s no drug taking, no drinking in my studio. They kind of know me as the straight edge guy, but I have to create an environment that makes sense to me.”

On his sound/misconceptions: “I would describe myself, I’m kind of more like a Dre in terms of a rapper because I produce a lot of artists and I find that most people think that…here’s the misconception people have about me. One, that I’m serious, and I’m not that serious at all. Two, is that I just rap, that’s bullsh*t because I produce everything I make, and three that I’m from Sri Lanka, naw dawg I’m from LA, born and raised, don’t get it twisted I’m from LA. I use to go to Project GLOW and freestyle battle on Thursday night all the time. The thing is I talk about serious subjects. I talk about women’s rights and feminism. I talk about being real and not portraying something that you’re not and so when I rap you sort of get this aggressive voice from me, like an Eminem, you don’t a Ludacris vibe from me.”

Photo: Don Bodin

On new music: “I released four singles recently. I released one called “Head High,” which was about being fed up with being put in a box and I shredded the mic on that one. I released another song called “The Echos of Pain” remix which was primarily for what was going on in India. There were a lot of Indian women being raped in India over the last couple of years. Ton of news coming out about that, so I got two Indian girls who rap/sing. I wrote a song for them, we did a video, and I released that song which was mainly for the South Asian public. Off my new project which is called Awake, I released a song called “Middle Earth” which is heavily embedded in spirituality and reincarnation and the body as it moves through lives from my viewpoint. And then I released a song called “For Real.” That song is about fake people in LA.”

On working with Frankee Razor: “First off Frankee is the sh*t, he’s f*cking talented. If I show you a snippet of the song we made you’re going to sh*t a brick cause it’s amazing. When you work with great people you get a great outcome. I sat down with Frankee and we talked about his life, what’s important to him, what makes him tick, what happened to him in the past. When I produce, I’m not a track guy. I don’t go sending people tracks, that’s not my thing. If I’m going to produce somebody, first I have to believe in them, second I have to belive that they have talent, and third I have to see that there might be a future for you in the music industry, so without any of those things I wouldn’t work with you. Frankee has all those attributes. We got together and spent a couple of hours in the studio the first day. The next day I wrote a chord progression he didn’t like it, he rewrote it, and he did his thing. He told me, ‘DeLon I don’t usually write with people in the studio but I’m very comfortable being around you and hanging out with you.’ He wrote the whole song in the booth while we were working as I’m helping him tweak the song to put it in the right organized manner and arrangement. He’s great, really a nice guy humble, with a great voice.”

On staying in the industry: “Number one advice is just keep making music, keep releasing music. Big mistake I made in 2010 I wasn’t releasing any music. I should have been because I had over 1,000 songs and like 10 albums that I could have released. I was scared that it wasn’t good enough. I was scared that people would judge me for it. And that was dumb of me to do that. I should have been releasing tracks every month. If you want longevity you have to produce products all the time. That’s my advice.”

Be on the look out for DeLon’s music video “For Real” debuting in a few weeks and catch him on tour with Eric Bellinger starting November 12 in Seattle. [For more info click HERE] Follow DeLon on social media @Delonmusic and visit delonmusic.com to stay up-to-date on all the amazing things he’s working on.

Follow Glambergirlblog.com on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram @Glambergirlblog

Photo:  Jiro