DK aka Wayne Watts

DK is stepping his game up with this track “Soon As We Get Up.” Expect some rapping, some singing and more than a melodic rhythm on this one. Perfect for the clubs, DK brings a nice swag to this first single from his latest release “Windows Theory.” - 303 Magazine.com

Denver, CO (PRWEB) December 13, 2013

Formerly an artist on the Evergreen Music imprint, Wayne Watts has partnered with the Firelane Music & Media Entertainment production team to release his 1st single from the much anticipated full length album entitled “Windows Theory.” Wayne Watts is an artist on an independent label using the DIY paradigm to achieve success in the music industry.

“What I want people to get from this album is……
I want them to see themselves in the windows (songs)
And give them a chance to reflect on their lives.
On the good and the bad”

“As Soon As We Get Up” is currently listed in the top 10 on various globally recognized dj record pools.

“As Soon As We Get Up” is available on all of the major online music and download sites including Itunes, Amazon, Spotify and CD Baby. Get your copy today.

Listen here: https://soundcloud.com/firelane-music-media-ent/dk-aka-wayne-watts-soon-as-we.

For servicing, interviews or bookings, contact Channel Craft at Firelane Music & Media Entertainment, LLC at FirelaneMusicEnt(at)gmail(dot)com. - PRWeb

DK is stepping his game up with this track “Soon As We Get Up.” Expect some rapping, some singing and more than a melodic rhythm on this one. Perfect for the clubs, DK brings a nice swag to this first single from his latest release “Windows Theory.” - 303 Magazine

September 9th, 2010 11:26 pm by The Diamondback
With Great Power Comes Great Music?
When rapper DK, a.k.a. university alumnus Wayne Watt, came out with his song “Run Route 1” in 2009 — which sampled Jay-Z’s “Run This Town” — students were excited for their first, true College Park anthem.

Refusing to become a one-hit wonder, DK has released a new track titled “Terp Power,” which features a lot of same shout-outs as his first song, including Bel Air Hall, Byrd Stadium, La Plata Beach and Van Munching.

“First they took WaWa’s, then they took Santa Fe,” spits DK, referencing the recent closure of Santa Fe Cafe.

This song is virtually an updated version of DK’s original track. But it’s still just as sick.

“Well at least when we beat Duke we got a riot,” DK says of the March 4 riot on Route 1.

DK also does something “special” on this track. Something “that all Terps, like from freshman to alumni know”: A seemingly never-ending loop of fans singing their “Hey, You Suck” rendition of Gary Glitter’s “Rock ‘n Roll Pt. 2.”

“Stop trippin’ you wish you went to my college, and if you did scream this campus is ours,” DK adds.

While he has pride in the names of basketball greats Juan Dixon and Len Bias (“he would have been the greatest, I wish he didn’t try it”), DK makes it clear to his listeners that he himself is still a Terp at heart — as if you couldn’t already tell by the excessive namedropping and his ending line: “I went to UMD.”

Enjoy your very own “College Park exclusive”: Terp Power

You’re welcome.

-Kara Rose - The Diamond Back

DK aka Wayne Watts is a York, Pennsylvania hip-hop artist on the independent label Evergreen Music. His music features intricate, urban-based beats interlaced with solid rock guitar riff. - Penn Live.Com

By Nancy Chow


Wayne Watts, a senior communication major who goes by the pseudonym DK, isn't fazed by the challenge of opening for the pop-punk band All American Rejects, after winning the opportunity at the Student Entertainment Events' Battle for Art Attack.

“I love having the opportunity to open up for a different genre,” says Watts . “It will be great to have a different and diverse crowd. I feel that people who would buy an All American Rejects album would buy a hip hop record and vice versa.”

His fresh lyrics, smooth freestyling and engaging stage presence won over the crowd and judges, beating seven rock bands at the annual battle of the bands. There were two preliminary rounds and the final round was held on April 10.

“All the bands were terrific – Larkin's Call, College Park Projects, Random Access – they all put on a great show,” says Watts . “It feels good to be part of this event, where they're trying to give exposure to local bands.”

Music runs through his DNA: His father played bass and his mother played lead guitar in the R&B and funk band Destiny in Time. “My parents are rock stars,” he proudly says.

“We had a studio in the basement and I would stay down there and try to take in the music,” says Watts , who says his parents are his main musical influences. His hip-hop influences include Jay Z and Slick Rick.

He started rapping at 12, as he admitted he couldn't play an instrument like his parents, and released his first album at the age of 16 called That's My Boy on his father's label Evergreen Music. He plans to release his sophomore album, Tha Firelane Project, which he says has “old school type feel,” for the early summer on Evergreen.

Sophomore music major Ricky Rodriguez of Tino Productions helped produce and provide beats for the album. Rodriguez started learning piano and clarinet in elementary school, but as he got older he stopped taking lessons and started experimenting with music on his own by writing songs and using Fruity Loops, a digital audio workstation, in high school.

During the fall semester of his freshman year at the university, Rodriguez heard Watts on the phone talking to someone about beats outside of his hall and was intrigued. Rodriguez introduced himself to Watts and played “Ooo Yeah,” a song Rodriguez wrote, produced and sang. Watts was impressed and they hit it off.

“It's rare to find someone who enjoys [freestyling] as much as [ Watts ],” says Rodriguez. “He has no hesitation – he can freestyle with all these random catch lines. He's really good.”

Ever since October 2005, Rodriguez has been performing with Watts , electrifying local audiences. After graduating from the university, Watts hopes to take his performance to audiences across the nation.

“Music has been my main passion,” says Watts , who pursued his communication degree as a back-up for potential business ventures he may pursue in the future. In the meantime, Watts is trying to bring the fun back into hip hop.





Unwind Magazine
May 2007


- Unwind Magazine

By Alex Rush

During warm evenings on McKeldin Mall, senior communication major Wayne Watts, also known as DK, leaves fellow members of the university's hip-hop club, The Undergrounduates, holding their stomachs while laughing at lines like, "I got sticky like your grandmother's cabbage." And while students walking by usually just gape in awe, Watts is unfazed, dominating the circle of rappers with his melodic and witty freestyles.

DK, an up-and-coming emcee competing to open for Art Attack, Student Entertainment Events' annual concert - Watts has already reached the second round of the Battle for Art Attack competition, which allows the winning artist a spot in the event's line-up - and releasing his sophomore album, Tha Firelane Project, later this spring, is a rapper reminiscent of old-school hip-hop. He values rocking the crowd, and places originality and fun as his top priorities.

"Somewhere down the line, it became uncool to have fun in music," DK said. "Rappers of today are either really gangsta or hugging trees. I just want to be myself and make music that is relevant to me."

The jovial, 21-year-old Baltimore native with the wide smile promotes positive messages with his music, which he creates for an audience of all ages, DK said. In fact, DK refrains from using profanity in his raps so his family can feel comfortable listening to his records, he added.

A competitor in the The Battle for Art Attack - DK recently beat out three other hopefuls in the second round of the competition and will compete in the final round today - his entertaining live performances feature him both rapping and dancing, a combination not widespread in the hip-hop scene since Big Daddy Kane reigned in the late '80s. But DK has inherited his talent for performing: As the son of funk and R&B musicians, he would watch his parents' band record in their home studio.

Although DK first tried singing, he soon found he could rap instead, and began experimenting with the form at age 12, he said. While DK quickly perfected writing verses and songs, he could not perfect his handwriting, the rapper recalled. But this flaw was a blessing in disguise for the young rapper, who soon became an expert at freestyling because he could not read his own lines. For example, DK learned that any long word could be broken down into several smaller words, a skill that helped maintain his developing rhymes, he said.

"You could give [DK] random words and he'd just start freestyling about them," said sophomore Ricky Rodriguez, who helped produce Tha Firelane Project. "One day these kids were listening to him spit, and they would just start to say random words for him to incorporate into his rhymes, like 'computer,' or 'chicken' or 'teeth,' and he did it and kept up freestyling."

By the age of 17, DK had released his debut album, That's My Boy, on Evergreen Records, the label owned by his father, Wayne Anthony Watts. The album was sold in major record stores such as Sam Goody, and DK built up his rap resumé by opening for major artists such as Slum Village, Cee-Lo and The Clipse when they performed at this university in 2004.

Audiences can experience DK's catchy flow and magnetic personality on his soon-to-be-in-stores Tha Firelane Project. The album will also be released on Evergreen Records and is currently available online.

But the university's student body has already embraced DK. He's a favorite among Juke Joint performers and has even hosted the event several times. However, DK admits it has been difficult to balance schoolwork and a rap career. He values a college degree as a back-up plan, he said, but often expresses his frustration in lines such as ,"Communication is my major/ I like most of the teachers/ But in most of my classes/ I feel mostly like sleeping."

DK's father notes that although his son may feel college is a burden, his experiences as a student have allowed him to grow as an artist and a person.

"His writing style is much more profound and mature," Watts said.

Once DK graduates after enrolling in a summer semester, he plans to tour the nation.

"My goal is to lock down a group of loyal fans," he said.

Apart from cultivating a wide fan base, DK also hopes to "put B-more on the map" and show the nation that his native city is full of talented rappers, similar to the hip-hop-heavy reputations of Houston, Atlanta and Detroit.

"Baltimore City, they thought nothing of us/ They steal our slang, steal our clothes/ They steal our show, put it on HBO," DK raps about the Baltimore-based HBO show The Wire.

Regardless of the impact DK may have in the future, the man with an undeniable swagger and a warm heart has become a staple in the university's underground music scene, and the campus has influenced his rhymes as well.

"If he got the money then I'm heading to The Diner/ They got the best chicken waffles in the fryer," DK freestyled as Undergrounduate members smiled and bobbed their heads to h - The Diamondback

The Millennium Music Conference is supposed to be a showcase of regional music, on top of all the seminar brouhaha. Why is it then that the organizers have yet to put a single hip-hop act on the main stage at the Radisson? In a city as rich and diverse in culture as Harrisburg, why does the main showcase include naught but pre-packaged indie/pop/punk/rock/whatever acts?

I stayed at the Radisson for all of three acts on Saturday night. After only being impressed by one, I decided to blow that popsicle stand and head out on the town in search of something a little less mainstream. I found refuge in the Cameron St. Cafe at the corner of Market and Cameron.


On the small stage was hip-hop prodigy DK aka Wayne Watts. From York, and a resident of Baltimore, Wayne Watts is by far the best act that I have seen at MMC this year. He raps with a passion and power that mainstream rappers lack. He stood in front of a crowd of 30 rocking the mic like he was playing to 30,000. DK's rhymes are intelligent and relatable. He even threw in a quick shout out to Michael Phelps about the whole bong thing. By the end of the performance, I realized that there was only one word to describe Wayne Watts: real.

It was walking out of the Cameron St. Cafe that I started questioning the powers that be at MMC. Who decides who gets the main stage, anyway? And why don't they like rappers? Hip-hop is as much a respected music genre as emo. Just like other styles, it has its good, bad and ugly sides.

Hip-hop was supposed to be the next wave of counterculture, but was taken over by the morass of posers glamorizing hoes, drugs, money, and guns. However, if you sift through the crap you will find a few golden nuggets, and there is no need to hate. Hip-hop has something to say to the world, and with rappers like Wayne Watts out there, the message has the ability to get across.

If I don't see a hip-hop act at the Radisson next year, I swear I will call Kanye West and get him riled up about it. And I know you guys don't want that on your hands.

Patrick Salomon
English Communications Major/Philosophy Minor
Lebanon Valley Class of 2010
- The Patriot News

By Kristi Tousignant

Yo, this is a College Park exclusive. Maryland, stand up.

Students across campus, whether they holla from the north side or the south side, may have just found a unifying anthem in a new song that finally poses a question that many have asked themselves before: Who is gonna run Route 1 tonight?

University alumnus DK’s — a.k.a. Wayne Watt’s — newest university-themed song: “Run Route 1” is a spinoff of Jay-Z’s “Run This Town,” featuring Rihanna and Kanye West. And though the original announces Jay-Z’s arrival as king of the hip hop world, DK’s version celebrates all that is College Park.

“I love University of Maryland,” DK said. “It’s my baby. I’m glad I went there. I miss it.”

The lyrics of his newest song touch on every aspect of campus life. The rap brings up social networking sites like Twitter and Facebook, names many of the downtown bars and calls out “walk of shamers” after the All-Nighter and the “freshmen hoppin” on the Purple Shuttle Bus line.

For the past few years, DK has written and released back-to-school songs.

He releases the songs the first week of school each year, and they are usually covers of popular songs that he gives a university twist. He released “The Facebook Song” parts one and two in 2005; in 2007, it was “Can't Tell Me Nothing Cause I Graduated,” a rendition of Kanye West’s “Can’t tell me nothing”; in 2008 it was “Can’t Believe It (College Edition),” a cover of the popular T-Pain jam.

“One reason is it’s for alumni,” DK said. “It’s so that it’s there telling them about stuff they already know like the All-Nighter and The Diamondback and the Commons and the Incon. And it gives new students who come on campus an outlook on the campus already.”

During his time at the university, DK opened for bands like Slum Village, The Clipse, Fertile Ground and The All-American Rejects. He also performed frequently at Juke Joint events and at Sante Fe.

DK is also the lead MC in a band made-up of university students and alumni called Black Diamond. The seven-member band performs at venues around the Washington area.

“DK, he’s a real character for one,” Black Diamond trumpet and keyboard player Johnny Graham said. “He’s real fun. Sometimes rappers don’t really know music. DK, he knows music.”

After graduating in 2007, DK has been working to start his own music career. He released his second album, “Tha Firelane Project,” earlier this spring, and has been performing at colleges around the East Coast. The album was released by Evergreen Music — a label owned by his father.

But it’s not just all recording sessions and concert tours for DK. The artist also works as a substitute teacher at a middle school in York, Pennsylvania. He divides his time between teaching there and pursuing his music career in Baltimore.

DK said he enjoys teaching and said his students have even checked out his music on YouTube.

“It’s easy to balance,” DK said. “Being teacher shows how much music is important to kids.”

And having a positive impact on his middle school kids is part of the optimistic message DK wants to send with his music. He said his music is all about being who he is, and he wants to tell kids to enjoy life, go to college and get a degree.

“I’m not trying to sell kids short,” DK said. “A lot of times in hip-hop, the rapper is fibbing or lying or showing one side of life. I just want to be able to be authentic. I went to Maryland — I want to talk about stuff college kids would do.”

DK has music in his blood and has always loved recording. His parents were in a band before he was born (his mom plays guitar, his dad plays bass) and the family has always had a recording studio in or close to their home. The young Watts used to sneak down to his parent’s studio and watch various artists recording.

His dad, Wayne Watts, president of Evergreen Music, said he thought his son was more likely destined for a career in basketball than hip-hop. He said he remembers DK trying to record a rap song for the first time with a few friends when he was a kid. All his son would do was laugh when it came time to record.

Times changed as DK got older, though, when he wrote his first single around the age of 14 and dropped his first album called “That’s My Boy” his senior year of high school, also through Evergreen Music. DK referred to the album as old school hip-hop, reminiscent of ’90s favorites, like “The Fresh Prince of Bel Air”.

“It’s his passion,” Watts said. “He completed college like I wanted him to do. I feel good about it, and I love his kind of rap. We are headed in that direction. It’s working good from a company standpoint and from a personal standpoint.”

DK said he plans to devote his time to being a full-time music artist by next spring, just enough time to finish up the school year.

His newest album is supposed to be released on a CD format in December and he also expects to come to the university to perform so - The Diamond Back

Herk's "I Got Next" artist DK
DK, who is a graduate of The University of Maryland College Park, is originally from Baltimore, MD. DK's flow reminds people of Old School Hip Hop with a new age style. For more info on DK contact:
Wayne A. Watts, Evergreen Music
(410)383-8806 (Office) (410)952-3730 (Cell)
- WPGC 95.5FM.com

This campaign, aimed at Baltimore City metro area middle and high school youth is sponsored by the Abell Foundation, Safe Streets Program, and The University of Maryland Shock Trauma and features DK aka Wayne Watts on both PSA's and video denouncing destructive behaviors that impact our youth. - The Abell Foundation

Super group. That's the term that comes to mind when music fans think of bands such as Cream, Wu-Tang Clan and Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young, which are made up of musicians with individual accomplishments. But for Black Diamond, a hip-hop band made up of university students, the word also seems to fit.

The group has performed at Juke Joint and Santa Fe Cafe and has many more gigs lined up for the fall (including a stop tonight at Fe). Johnny Graham, a senior business major and local entrepreneur who heads Freestar Entertainment and Realeyez Magazine, formed the group this past summer by reaching out to old friends and friends of friends to assemble a band stylistically similar to The Roots for his record label.

Graham said he named the group Black Diamond because collecting such talented musicians in one band is "as rare as a black diamond in white sand."

Along with Graham on trumpet and keyboards, Black Diamond is made up entirely of university students and alumni already known around the campus for their solo exploits.

At its core are Wayne "DK" Watts, who graduated in 2007, and has released two albums and rocks the group's rhymes; Brittany Harrison, an English and secondary education double major, who started performing as a duo with Graham last year and is the group's lead singer; and Randy Coleman, who graduated in 2006, and also plays for College Park-based funk band Soul'd Out and plucks the bass.

William "The Prodigy" Fuller, an 18-year-old junior mechanical engineering major who is a frequent Juke Joint performer, mans the keyboards. Tim Gibson, a senior family science major who said his love of music helped him through a childhood spent bouncing around foster homes, plays the congas, timbales, the wood block, cowbell and rototoms (drums without a shell and with a definite pitch). Kwame Nkrumah Jr., a senior public health major who also plays in a campus go-go group and his family's band, plays the drums. And David Fakenle, a senior psychology and criminology double major who played percussion with Baltimore's Sankofa Dance Theater when he was a teenager, plays the djembe, a West African drum.

Despite the members' different backgrounds, Black Diamond's chemistry is undeniable. The group's rehearsals, which are held in the Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center, are lively jam sessions where the players perform both original songs and covers of hits such as "Paris, Tokyo," by Lupe Fiasco. DK freestyles over the beats, and Graham improvises funky trumpet solos.

The group doesn't have an album yet, but Graham said they plan to record after a slew of performance dates, most of which Graham arranged himself by utilizing the vast network of area club promoters he built up over the years.

"The sky's the limit," Graham said. "We've got no boundaries, and with this band, I feel like my dreams are coming true."

One may think Black Diamond would have a hard time getting together, due to the number of other responsibilities each group member has: Graham's got a whole company to run; DK releases podcasts and is recording a 2008 version of "Stop the Violence" as a public service announcement for the University of Maryland Medical Center; Coleman still tours with Soul'd Out; and everyone has school and work to worry about.

However, most seem to have their time management down pat.

"The schedule is really flexible," DK said. "We practice Mondays and Wednesdays, do weekly gigs, and there is still plenty of time for us to do our solo stuff."

For Black Diamond's show at Santa Fe Cafe, expect a jazzy, hip-hop jam band. There will be plenty of instrument solos and freestyle raps, as DK and Harrison will vibe and trade bars for duets, such as Erykah Badu's "Tyrone."

DK said he has known Graham for more than three years and was certain they would link up to make great music. And since Graham has so many connections, he is not surprised their collaboration is more than a duo.

"It was destined to happen," DK said.

- DiamondBack Online

If you weren’t a part of it, at least you got to witness” One day (and a day, not very far off), Mr. Watts will be quoting Drake’s line from Forever to describe his own place in the game. With the release of his birthday mixtape, entitled 24, DK steps into his grown-man shoes even more than on previous projects.

His subject matter is Rated M for Mature without being unrefined, which is what we have come to expect from the proud son of the DMV. Musically, his selections can most accurately be described as “experimental” (not the experimental genre, but that he experiments with different sounds than we are used to hearing from him). Watts tests out new lyrical styles with his faithful soul or jazzy samples, always careful to remain positive and expository. The truth about DK aka Wayne Watts is that he will never escape the posture of a teacher. Through and through, his goal appears to be personal development and passing the lessons of his own experience in generalizable ways to his listening audience.

The most exciting part about the mixtape inspired by the adventures of Jack Bauer is not what has remained consistent, but rather the things that we have not seen before. We are all accustomed to listening to the artist from “Run Route 1? or from “Stop this Train”, but the personal reflection of “Left-Hander’s Anthem” or lyrical complexity of “24/7? without losing the carefree attitude that rounds out his personality are what highlight the growth of DK as an artist. His departure from the cadence of his Slick Rick style for the major portions of the mixtape allows listeners to get a better view of the versatility of the birthday boy as well. The negative result of this departure will most likely prove to be the confusion of his long-time listeners in relation to his intended direction. The late 2009 version of Wayne Watts looks a little more like Will Smith met up with Wale, Drake, and Lupe for a makeover. He is simultaneously informative and positive, while remaining assertive and ambitious. The ability to express such range of thoughts with his uber-referential style will always develop into widespread appeal. He is the artist to look out for in DC/Maryland/Virginia area.

His grown-up talk, financial aspiration, and thematic changes even in storytelling give a snapshot of a 24 year old rapper who is ready to flex his muscles on the hip-hop game for those who have historically pigeon-holed his style. The important thing to remember is that 24 is a mixtape. If this is the preview to the movie, my suggestion is to buy your tickets. - Review Stacks

DK aka Wayne Watts is a national recording hip hop artist on the independent label, Evergreen Music(an associate member of NACA).

DK aka Wayne Watts honed his MC skills in his native city of Baltimore, Maryland and at the age of 15 astonished and entertained music executives and fellow hip hop/r&b artists while interning for the 2002 Billboard R&B/Hip Hop Awards and Conference in South Beach Miami, Florida.

Prior to interning for the 2003 Billboard R&B/Hip Hop Awards and Conference, DK aka Wayne Watts released his debut full-length CD, entitled "That's My Boy."

- Campus Activities Magazine