Melbourne-bred hip-hop artist DL is starting to make waves abroad after just dropping the icy, R&B-tinged break-up tune ‘No Time For Love’, featuring the Billboard-charting Sammie.
Already making waves on U.S, Australian & New Zealand radio, ‘No Time For Love’ blends DL’s effortlessly cool and lean back delivery with the smooth and sultry vocals of US-based R&B star Sammie. “It’s about an ex-girlfriend, who I fell out of love with” he explains. “It fell apart around us and I wrote it the way I felt about how we had ended up; cold and pretty brutal”.
DL originally wrote the verses for ‘No Time For Love’ to an instrumental he had. He then took it to Melbourne producer SB90, who helped to develop the track. From there, DL reached out to Sammie’s management in the United States. “I’ve been a fan of Sammie since the 2000s. His music is right in the sweet spot of what I love listening to – chilled, sexy R&B,” says DL.
As good fortune would have it, Sammie and his team loved the song and within a week, he’d sent back a demo of the hook and the bridge that he’d written. “His voice is light, and vocals are so clean. It’s exactly what this song needed to smooth out the ice-cold lyrics in my verses. It was a long-shot going for someone like Sammie, but I was stoked that he wanted to be a part of it,” says DL.
With an MO for delivering chilled hip-hop, injected with soulful R&B and a pop lean, DL’s distinctive melodic rasp and playful wordplay has cemented his place as one of Australia’s most exciting emerging artists. Exploring the highs and lows of love and life in his music, DL connects with people through melodic hooks, dynamic vocals, and expressive lyrics.
In the past decade, DL has scooped up awards, including ‘Song of the Year’ in the John Lennon Songwriting Contest (judged by John Legend and Bootsy Collins); supported accomplished R&B stars on tour including Keri Hilson and Bobby Valentino, and worked with established artists like Guy Sebastian (‘Battle Scars’, ‘Gold’), K. Young (‘I Like It’), and now Sammie