1. Question: Tell us about yourself
Answer: My name is Danny Rivera. My stage name is Enjetic, a name I started going by years ago due to my “energetic” style of freestyle rapping. I am a Hip-Hop artist from Long Island, New York.
2. Question: What makes you different as a person and an artist?
Answer: The first thing that sets me apart is my musical background. My father Eddie Rivera was a music artist manager. He worked with artists that were affiliated with the rap supergroup Def Squad, including Erick Sermon (formerly with EPMD) and Keith Murray. Early on, my father was involved with artists including Sam Jacobs (the percussionist for Run-D.M.C. who produced the 1985 single “Nightmares” by Dana Dane on Profile Records and was introduced to my dad by The Cosby Show’s Carl Payne). My dad later worked with Biz Markie, Chris Rios (aka Big Pun), Fat Joe, and Dinco D (from Leaders of the New School). We also had our own home recording studio on Long Island, which we called Artworks Studios (my dad is also a mixing and mastering engineer).
Aside from growing up among well-known artists, another thing that sets me apart is my deep love for music genres other than Hip-Hop. I study the sound of the jazz classics from the 1920’s as well as the culture and style of that era. I’m also very much into the vibe of flamenco music. I have a particular love for the Motown era of the 1960’s as far as the singing and production, the musical concepts, and the live performances of those artists. I’m also hugely into the 70’s and 80’s classic rock sounds of bands like Chicago, Kiss, Pink Floyd, Bon Jovi and Twisted Sister. I try to incorporate all of these different vibes, sounds and elements into my own music, which I think adds a certain diversity to what I do from a musical standpoint.
Finally, I think my role as a political activist is unique as well. For example, back in 2010 I was involved in an anti-bullying campaign, and I had a chance to work with and perform in front of various politicians, including at the United Nations in New York City. All these experiences have in turn helped to shape and develop me further as an artist.
3. Question: You have worked extremely hard on your debut solo album “Regenerated” which was released on Christmas Day 2021 and has garnered over 60K streams on Spotify within the first four days alone. What can you tell us about this album?
Answer: I think it’s fair to say that this album, which is my first full-length album that I recorded on my own without my mentor Charles Hamilton, is unique because it incorporates many different elements and sounds that I haven’t explored too much in my previous work. When you listen to this album, you won’t just hear pure Hip-Hop – you’ll also hear Pop, Reggae, R&B – all these different genres are definitely present throughout. So it’s an album that I feel is very diverse in that respect. It’s also the first time, from a musical standpoint, that I feel I have really been able to achieve more of a “mainstream” Hip-Hop sound as opposed to the more hardcore, raw style I employed on much of my previous work. What I find particularly exciting is the fact that the second track of the album, which is a song called “Let Her Know,” has done particularly well on Spotify and has really taken off and has pretty much gone “viral” at this point and carried the whole album.
4. Question: Tell us a bit about the inspiration behind the album “Regenerated.”
Answer: For me, “Regenerated” is about the fact that I had taken a break from being a Hip-Hop artist for a time, and I found that this time off gave me a renewed spirit – it basically allowed me to once again feel regenerated. I felt that the time was right to bring myself back into the game so to speak, and to make my musical statement. That’s basically what this album is all about. A musical “rebirth,” if you will; a renewed sense of purpose.
5. Question: Is there a song on the album that speaks to you the most?
Answer: I’d have to say that there are two songs on the album that really stand out to me – “Blocking,” which is about blocking out negative energies that might surround you, and “Let Her Know” which is about my fiancée Althea and is me basically letting her know that even after some difficult times in our relationship, I’m making it clear that I’m not going to leave her.
6. Question: What would you say is your main goal within the next few months?
Answer: My main goal is for the album “Regenerated” to make it to Billboard’s charts.
7. Question: What are some of your dream collaborations?
Answer: I’d love to collaborate with Kane Brown, 50 Cent, and Ed Sheeran. I’d definitely say that working with any of those artists would be totally amazing.
8. Question: Where do you see yourself in five years?
Answer: In five years, I can definitely see myself performing music around the world, as well as making a change in politics through my political activism and organizational affiliations.
9. Question: You dropped a lot of music this month (December 2021), including 3 singles, a five track EP and a full-length album. What was the inspiration behind releasing so much content?
Answer: First and foremost, my inspiration behind releasing all this material so quickly is to basically show people that I am back from my hiatus. I took some time off from the game to focus on myself, even though I was still known and talked about in the Hip-Hop “underground” during that time. Now, I basically want to show people that I can still perform and produce at a high level – a mainstream level - as well as to draw a crowd. For me, this period is basically my rebirth into the music industry. I consider “Regenerated” to be my premier album – the best original material I have ever released.
10. Question: Tell us more about your relationship with your mentor, frequent collaborator, and legend in his own right, Charles Hamilton.
Answer: Charles is like a brother to me. What’s funny is that I actually knew Charles going back to 2006 when I hit him up on MySpace, which was the big social media platform at that time. That was really the start of our friendship. However, I really didn’t get to see him much until many years later – 2016 to be exact, when I was invited to meet up with him at a recording session in Manhattan thanks to a mutual friend. By that point, Charles was already famous – he was signed to Republic Records and was gearing up for his debut full-length major label album, “Hamilton, Charles,” which was set to drop in two months. What’s incredible is the fact that on that night, in the studio, Charles made me freestyle rap for 45 minutes straight, just to see what I was capable of doing. He was shocked that I was actually able to go at it for so long. Incredibly, we ended up writing 34 songs that night – 3 albums worth of material. Some of these songs ended up coming out on a digital mixtape album called “Smart Water” which is available as a free download on a website called DatPiff. Our collaborations continued over the next several years, including the 2020 albums "Desparado" & “Timeless” which you can find on Spotify and other major platforms.
11. Question: How does it feel to finally release your own debut solo full-length album “Regenerated?”
Answer: It feels incredible. Like I explained, this album is basically a rebirth for me, and I consider it to be my premier album that I recorded on my own. I also wanna give a special shout out to my producer Voice Watkins, who is a strong producer and a good friend. I was introduced to Voice through a mutual friend.
12. Question: What can fans expect from you in 2022?
Answer: I have very high expectations for this album. I worked very hard on creating it and writing it, and I hope that people continue taking to it and loving it. I’m looking forward to what the new year has to offer, including collaborating with artists in many different genres. There is a young Pop singer from New York named Chris Milo who I am particularly impressed with. I have performed with Chris on a few occasions, and I have also seen him perform and trust me when I say he is the real deal and I definitely see big things happening for him. There are so many incredible artists out there. It’s a really exciting time for music with so much happening and so much talent out there, I really feel like the sky is the limit. I also plan to keep busy in the coming year with my activism in music including working with humanitarian groups. New music releases are also on the very close horizon.