Why Dark Caesar...
“DarkCaesar” like my previous albums, has a unifying theme. My first album “Anything is Possible” was relatively direct. It told listeners that anything that they envisioned in their life was achievable as long as they worked hard at it. I also repeated the motto to myself as I went through various personal and career setbacks to get the album done. At this point it’s one of the mottos I use for personal motivation.
The title of my second album “DiggzTown” was really for people who know me well. Diggz is a nickname I picked up in college and it has been with me ever since. A lot of my good friends call me by this name so on the surface, DiggzTown is just an album about me. But it’s more than that. DiggzTown is an album where I gave people a closer look into what’s important to me and the values I try to live by. In that album I talked about my passion for Hip Hop, leaning on faith, and staying true to myself whether or not my chosen path was the most profitable. The point is God created something special in all of us and if we just follow that purpose then we’re already successful.
DarkCaesar has the same kind of approach. It can be interpreted very directly on the surface but below the surface a deeper meaning can be found. On the one hand, in Hip Hop we have all this talk of kings. Everyone is a king now and that’s actually cool because it’s much better than everyone saying they are a goon. But at the same time do we really know what it takes to be a king? DarKCaesar is a play on that. Obviously I’m black and caesar is another word for king. But for me it’s not that simple. Otherwise, I could have opted to call it Black Caesar and be done with it. I wanted the message in this album to be a lot more universal.
DarkCaesar refers to the metaphorical darknesses that we all may face in life. The “Dark” is when life looks bleak and chances for opportunity or success look limited. Some of us have made it through that darkness and now we are in the light of our lives or we’re in the peak times. This album deals with both the “Dark” and the “Light.” The message is if you’re in the “Dark” and in the struggle, you can make it out if you have faith and hope. You have to use that faith and hope to formulate a vision, create a plan of action, and work hard to complete that plan. Once you complete that plan and make it out of the “Dark” and into the “Light” you’ve conquered a lot of challenges and demons. You’re the ruler of that darkness in your life. In that way you are a DarkCaesar or a conqueror of darkness. You have a light inside of yourself that once unleashed, vanquishes darkness. I want this album to inspire and motivate people who might be in the dark to unleash the light inside and become a DarkCaesar.
As I completed the album, I also came to realize that album is also very personal to me because it really reflects back on the struggles I went through and how I felt about those struggles. From the vantage point of someone who is considered “successful” I realized that maybe the messages resonate even more once you’ve overcome certain challenges because when you overcome one challenge it’s not like life is just peaceful from then on. A higher level of success brings its own challenges and responsibilities. For me the idea is to do whatever I can with the talents I have to make a positive impact on society. So there is a struggle in becoming a DarkCaesar and then once you have attained that title, there is a higher challenge that comes as part of the responsibility that we all have to give back to society when we reach a certain level.
The album is coming soon and I genuinely think it’s the best work I’ve ever done. I think you’ll be able to enjoy the album whether you’re in the struggle, trying to maintain the success you’ve achieved, or looking out at society and thinking about how you can lend your efforts to help us make the world a better place.
-Karizmatic