Switching on the Light With Jimmy D

By: Jason Savio, March 8, 2012

Courtesy TATE MUSIC GROUP - Dennis rapper Jimmy D has seen the darker side of life on the Cape but now spreads a message of enlightenment through music.

Sometimes you just have to take a chance. Dennis hip hop artist Jimmy D did just that—and now has a record deal.

The son of a house painter and a nurse, Jimmy Driscoll was an athlete and class clown who fell into drugs and robbery while in high school. Now 27, he drew inspiration from his favorite hip-hop artists, Jay-Z, A Tribe Called Quest, and DMX to find a more positive path through music.

A refreshingly honest and down to earth artist, Jimmy D is an inspired and focused writer who has a lot to say. Last year, he threw caution to the wind and sent some of his original recordings to the Oklahoma record company, Tate Music Group.

Barely expecting a reply, he was rewarded with the good news that TMG wanted him to fly down south to record what would become his first album, Switching On The Light.

Switching On The Light is the culmination of a lot of different things for Jimmy D, but mostly it is a testament to the undying strength of the human spirit. Filled with hopes, dreams, and fears, Switching On The Light is an inspirational album that anyone can relate to.

InsideOUT: How would you describe Switching on the Light?

Jimmy D: I used to be into doing very bad things and I wanted to show the change that happened within me, so I could put it out there for other people, to almost like, awaken them. The music [is] like that also. It takes hip-hop music with the beat and I fused it in with rock and real live instruments. It’s right in the middle between rock and rap.

I/O: What inspired you to record this album?

Jimmy D: I would go home every night after working all day painting, and I couldn’t find a way out. I was like, “What am I going to do? Is this music ever going to go anywhere?” This whole thing is really for people that are on the Cape or in situations like that, who don’t feel they have hope or have a shot, or have anything. [My message is] that if you have a dream, to keep going at it. I want it to be a motivation for people to really figure themselves out and really enlighten themselves. That’s the “switching on the light,” the whole metaphor.

I/O: You’ve been open in saying that you went through some hard times, but that you found enlightenment through music. How did music help you?

Jimmy D: To be very blunt with it, I used to really think I was a gangster, so as I wrote, the lyrics I would write [back then], they just weren’t me. So I figured, “Well, who am I? How am I going to be able to put this performance in front of anybody if it’s not me?” And through that, I figured out who I was and what my real point in life was, inside—what I really stood for.

I/O: Your web site mentions John Lennon as an influence along side hip-hop artists such as Jay-Z. How does an artist such as Lennon fit into the equation?

Jimmy D: That’s where I get [my] spiritual side, making music for the spirit so that you can change people’s emotions, to actually change their vibration, which will then change their world and perception. Life is really about perception, and that’s what I try to focus on: how can you change people’s perceptions without being too overbearing?

I/O: Do you think it’s worked so far? Is Switching On The Light a good example of that?

Jimmy D: I think it’s a good example. It’s very hard. People are very set in what’s already working [but] I think there’s an awakening throughout the world right now… and I think that I’m on the cusp of that. I had this feeling that I had to make this CD for that. I think there’s going to be a lot of good change in the world soon.