Hip-hop artist 10griffy will release a music video for the title track of his upcoming record, “Lucid Conscience,” on Friday — exactly one week after he graduates from high school at North Pocono.
The young man behind the music, 18-year-old Danny Griffith is a native of Scranton, and even though he moved about ten minutes away when he was younger, he still spends most of his time there, he said.
The name of his act comes from the combination of the shortened version of his last name used by his friends as a nickname, and the number 10, used as a play on words to reference Ken Griffey Jr., whom Griffith considers “one of the greatest baseball players of all time.”
Hearing Griffith’s brand of dreamy, psychedelic hip-hop gives one the impression that he is a seasoned artist, but he only started writing and producing about a year and a half ago.
Griffith has been seriously playing guitar since he was “14 or 15,” he said, but he was never even interested in hip-hop.
“I was listening to a lot of older music. I didn’t really see potential in the newer music I was hearing,” he said. “Then my friend showed me this rap album that was pretty new, and I was blown away by how creative it was.”
The album was “Faces,” by Mac Miller. After he heard it, Griffith’s mind opened up and he started listening to all kinds of different music.
“It got me interested in producing and eventually … writing.”
Some of his biggest influences are modern hip-hop icons like Kendrick Lamar and ASAP Rocky, but Griffith also draws from artists like Jimmy Hendrix, Pink Floyd and The Doors.
“I like a lot of psychedelic rock, so I wanted to pull that in and make my own psychedelic hip-hop,” he said. He added that the rock influence is still there — he plays guitar on most of the tracks on his new record, and uses a lot of live instead of synthesized bass.
Griffith shared that his approach to writing the eight-track “Lucid Conscience” evolved from his longer 13-track debut mixtape, “Cereal Box Games.”
“I learned throughout making music that I would rush it because I wanted to just keep making music,” he said, “but lately I’ve just been trying to get in the right mindset with each track … and let the right stuff flow.”
The main theme of the record, Griffith said, is being aware of one’s thoughts, subconscious and otherwise.
“I learned that through meditation. Really just silencing everything and focusing on what’s going on through your head,” he said.
He explained that his writing process varies, but in general, “It’ll start with just making a beat … that can start a million different ways, whether it’s just putting down a drumline, or maybe I had something written on guitar, or I just had a little melody in my head. … From there, I’ll usually start writing.”
Griffith decided to take a creative approach to the release of his new record, releasing it little by little with a focus on visuals.
“I made this whole line of art, like a portfolio of pieces that I want to have (as) a design aspect for the album, just to give people a visual kind of feel for it,” he said. Griffith considers himself a fine artist — “but just, like, high school” — having taken four years of art.
Griffy’s release will be through On Tap Productions, a collective started by one of his friends now living in Pittsburgh.
Griffith released the title track on June 2, and after he releases the video for the song, there will be another single toward the middle of July, another single two weeks after that, and then a video. The entire record will come out during first week of August, although Griffith doesn’t have an exact target date. He does not have any performances booked in the area, but he hopes to soon.
To listen to his releases or to keep up with 10griffy, visit 10griffymusic.com.
