“I had to make a choice,” Weehawken musician, rapper, producer, singer-songwriter, and engineer Dave Cirino said last week. “So I took a leap of faith and decided to follow my dreams.”
Cirino’s leap paid off. Last month he got the sort of national break every independent artist dreams of. A song he wrote and performed called “Breath of Fresh” was featured on the fifth episode of NBC’s series “Up All Night” with Christina Applegate.
“Once you get national play, that opens up a whole other world of possibility,” Cirino said.
He performs frequently with the band that his 5-year-old niece Lillian named The Arttiks (“just because she liked it,” Cirino said), and he has created a series of YouTube how-to videos called “Dave Next Door,” which teaches viewers the ins and outs of starting a recording studio. His channel has around 5,000 subscribers.
“I took a leap of faith and decided to follow my dreams.” –Dave Cirino
____________
He and his brother Stephen (a.k.a. DJ Statle) have lived in Weehawken together for five years. They run a production company called Ghost Writers, and their studio, Purple Fox Digital, is also the brothers’ ASCAP syndicated publishing company signed with Aperture Music, a music licensing company.
Why Purple Fox? Cirino said the color purple evokes royalty and prestige, and the fox is known for its sly, mysterious qualities. “You never really know what it’s going to do,” he said, which is fitting given all of his different endeavors.
“As long as it’s music, I’ll do it,” Cirino said.
This wasn’t always the case.
Born to play
Cirino was born on an Air Force base in Delaware where his father was stationed. His father and mother, from Puerto Rico and Jamaica respectively, played a significant role in shaping his love for music. He took drum lessons, piano lessons, wrote music, and sang from a young age.
When Cirino was a teenager, he was heavily influenced by artists Nas, LL Cool J, and Louis Armstrong, shaping his music into a hiphop, R&B fusion style with an “old-school sound.” He continued to play and to write, but when it came time for college, he chose a more practical route.
He earned his degree from Montclair State in business, though deep down he wanted to study music. Once he graduated, he became an I.T. analyst at Liz Claiborne in North Bergen and remained there for four years.
“It wasn’t so great for my soul,” Cirino said. He struggled between the practical and the artistic approach to life, until one day fate stepped in and helped him make the right choice.
Cirino was looking to buy an MBox on Craigslist, and the person he bought it from happened to be an engineer from a Manhattan studio. The two got to talking and Cirino was offered an internship that lasted “three short months.”
But the deed was done. Cirino then enrolled in an eight-month engineering program in the city and learned how to start and run his own studio. His brother Stephen worked for Sony and had the right connections, and with him as partner, Cirino devoted his life to what he loved to do.
Back on track
“My music and artistry are a reflection of myself,” Cirino said, and described his style as Kanye and Soul Child meet LL Cool J and Pharrel Williams. He has found that most listeners don’t focus as much on the lyrics of a song as on the hooks and the beats.
“It’s sad,” he said, “because I’m very lyrical. I like to disguise the true meaning so people can piece it together like a puzzle.” He continued that his lyrics, at their core, largely echo his family, religion, and love of all things athletic.
After 2009, when Cirino released the aforementioned mix tape “Backpacks and Yak,” he found more success. He released the futuristic “Space Man,” which was a hit in Japan and built him a solid fan base there. In return, Cirino also became a fan of Japan, its language, and its aesthetic. He wrote “Tokyo Love” as a tribute.
Then came “Dragon Theory,” a hip hop-soul mix tape hosted by DJ Kool Kid, released in November. The songs Cirino wrote for the mix tape were inspired by his struggle to take the plunge and devote himself fully to music.
“Life is short,” Cirino said. “If you’re gonna’ do something, you have to do it 100 percent.”
Where does Cirino see himself in the future, now that he’s living his dream?
“It’s not about fame,” he said. “I wish to become a master of my craft, and I hope to keep getting better at all aspects of what I do. I think the true fans will appreciate that.”
His mix tape Dragon Theory can be found at www.davecirino.com.
Gennarose Pope may be reached at gpope@hudsonreporter.com