Artist, Producer DARIUS. uses his testimony to help others ‘Live By Faith’

WJBF – Artist and producer DARIUS. is using his life experiences to change the way audiences receive the Word of God and listen to contemporary gospel music.

DARIUS., who is also the lead pastor of Avenue Tampa, checks in with WJBF to talk about his album, Live By Faith (Live In Tampa) and working with the living legend Vanessa Bell Armstrong on his latest single, Greater.

Welcome to Celebrating Black Excellence. What inspired you to want to get involved with music?

You know, for me, music has always been a part of my childhood. I was born and raised into a family of music. So, I guess you can say it’s in the bloodline.

Now, you have been described to be a part of the next generation of contemporary Christian music. In your own words, how would you describe the current state of gospel music today?

I think that gospel music is evolving. That’s the way that I would express it. In it’s most true as an authentic form, it really is taking on a new expressions. I think the way that artists are being bold enough to present is really making gospel music set to be timeless and personal, and honestly, it can really live and transcend between generations and generations to come. So as long as we keep being bold and artists keep expressing themselves in new ways, the gospel music industry will continue to evolve. So that’s what I would say. I’d say it’s evolving.

Who are some your inspirations when it comes to music?

Definitely Stevie Wonder is a huge inspiration. On the gospel side, I would say I grew up listening to a ton of Smokey Norful, so a lot of people, sometimes they say I kind of sound like Smokey in some of your choices and things that I would do vocally. I loved that he was just a strong ballad male singer. You know, in gospel music, you have a lot of amazing female singers. So we didn’t have many, at least in my era that I knew of. Now, hindsight is 20/20. You know, B. Slade, John P. Kee, etc., but at the time, Smokey was just the name and the sound that inspired me the most in my music journey.

Now, speaking of your music, you released your debut solo album, Live By Faith (Live In Tampa) this year. Can you talk about the process when putting this project together?

Hmm. Long process, lots of hard work, lots of long hours of prayer… That album is a soundtrack to my life. It is all the expressions of faith of how God had to bring me through various mountains over the past 10 to 15 years, and each one of those experiences, I wrote a song about it. Now, you get to hear that. You get here how it is like the soundtrack of my life on the actual album. So, it really is my testimony in music form.

Now, speaking of hours, you did a rendition of Hrs And Hrs. You did like a gospel rendition of that. Can you talk about the inspiration of wanting to do that rendition and what was behind your creative process behind doing that?

So, it’s funny you say that because that little clip was a part of an outreach that we had at our ministry and at our church for creatives. The goal was to figure out a way to repackage the gospel in a way that they would sit long enough to listen. And so, we said, “You know what we’re going to do? We’re going to host a singers jam session called Pass the Mic, and we’re going to allow these singers to literally come in. Then, we’re going to flip R&B music.” We took hits of R&B, and we flipped it to gospel. Changed the lyrics with a familiar melody. Then, we added our faith on top of that and our message on top of that. And then, boom, that was just a short excerpt from that 1½ hour long broadcast. That was a couple of years ago, actually, and it ‘s just now starting to circulate virally on social media.

You have a brand new single, Greater, which is from your album. Please tell us about that.

Greater is all right now. Just went to radio, so you guys should be hearing that on a radio station near you. Very excited about the opportunity to collaborate with gospel royalty, gospel legend, Vanessa Bell Armstrong. Oh, my gosh. If you haven’t heard the song yet, she bodied the vamp. My brother actually is featured on that song as well, Samuel Washington, Jr. The three of us… God really got to use us to really bring this prophetic message to the world that you shall see greater, and people have loved it. Anybody who hears it has given us like raving reviews and raving feedback. So, if you want to hear it, check it out on all the streaming platforms: iTunes, YouTube, Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon music, etc., and just type in Greater by DARIUS. on the Live By Faith (Live In Tampa) album. But yeah man that was just the background of how that became and I’m excited for us to share that that music ministry with the world.

Now, what was it like for you to work with the legend, Vanessa Bell Armstrong?

It was surreal, man. It was crazy. I had to pinch my skin a couple of times because when she came in… First of all, she doesn’t give grandiose energy at all. She is super humble, super low maintenance, the sweetest person that you will ever meet. When she walked in to the rehearsal, she was like, “Why am I here? Seems like you and Sam got it.” We were like, “Oh, no, no, no, no, no, no, no.” I said that “the vamp won’t be a vamp without the Vanessa Bell Armstrong coming in and doing what only you can do,” and man, when she grabbed the mic, I mean, we were done. So, it was amazing. It was a very surreal experience and we are super, super grateful for that opportunity.

You are, as we mentioned, the lead pastor of Avenue Tampa. You are now renovating a former super center, and it will include a sanctuary, pantry, performance arts school, daycare, recording studio, soundstage, and so much more; however, it is next door to a gentlemen’s club. Can you talk about your decision and choosing this location for your facility?

We’ve always been disruptive even when our ministry started back in Tallahassee, we opened up our first location next to the liquor store, and people had their opinions about that, and here we are now. Fast forward years later, and God is still called us to disruptive discipleship, and He says, “Hey, I know there is a strip club right there, but this is going to be the church.” We are going to be the hands and feet of Jesus to offer an opportunity or an olive branch to anyone, patrons, employees, owners, whenever they are ready to yield to something higher than whatever they have been yielded to in their lives. So, my decision is what it’s always been: to engage the community. We didn’t come for church people. Our ministry is to reach those who need reaching. So yeah, it just aligned with our mission.

For people who want to know more about you or want to know more about your ministry, or if they want to hear your music, how can they do so?

Please follow me on all the social media platforms: @DARIUSWOfficial across Instagram, Facebook, YouTube as well as all of the music is on all digital streaming platforms: iTunes, Spotify, Deezer, you name it, and just have to look up: Live By Faith by DARIUS., and you’ll see all the music there, and I have other songs and things that we have released over the years for people to be able to connect with the music too.

Now before we close, is there an encouraging word that you can give somebody who may be watching right now?

This morning, I woke up maybe at 3:00 in the morning, and God sent me to Mark the 11th chapter, and it talked about how Jesus sent his disciples ahead of him to go get the donkey that he was going to ride into Jerusalem on. He said, “Look, you’re going to go find a cult that nobody has ever used before, and it is going to be tied up. I want you to untie it and bring it to me.” And the Word of the Lord says that “if anybody asks you, what are you doing with this donkey? What do you do? Tell them the Lord has need of it, and He’ll bring it back. So that is my word of encouragement to anybody who may be listening. If you felt like your purpose has been tied up, if you felt like you have been stagnant, and you haven’t had an opportunity to really ride out your purpose like you really desire to, literally, you are one word away from the Lord calling for your purpose, and it will be the biggest. The next call is going to be the biggest opportunity of purpose that you’ve ever had in your life because that donkey had no idea that it would serve the back for Jesus Christ, the son of man, the King of kings, the Messiah, to literally ride into the fulfillment of prophecy coming to die on the cross. So just because you haven’t been ridden on yet, your next ride will be your biggest and your greatest. So, it ties into my single Greater as in greater is on the way. That’s what I believe for anybody who is listening or watching this interview today.