Artist Profile: Dominsquis
Dominsquis, the experimental rapper and producer, has found his sound over the last couple of years, weaving industrial and electronic elements into his unique brand of hip-hop that encapsulates the energy contained within his dynamic creative drive, and, as he has done so, has found a mode of expression that has allowed him to process trauma, heartbreak, and all of the emotions his life has contained throughout his adolescence.
As a child, Dominsquis, although not a member of a necessarily musical family, was artistically nurtured by the Jamaican roots of his parents, hearing music from his ancestral country as well as a mix of Gospel, R&B, and the various pop hits his mother would play on the radio.
However, he did not gain an interest in making music until he entered high school. Upon hearing artists like Tyler, the Creator, Vince Staples, Little Simz, and Portishead for the first time, their driven sounds clicked immediately with his creative interest, and, as he grew older, he developed an obsession with expanding his music taste.
At 17, he watched the “Jeen-Yuhs” documentary, which utilizes exclusive footage to trace the artistic journey of Kanye West, with his sister and felt so inspired by West’s creative drive that he immediately went to his room and began to try his hand at producing.
At first, he attempted to emulate the sounds of producers he loved, including the succulent chords and melodies of artists like Pharrell Williams.
As he grew more comfortable in his production capabilities, however, and fell more deeply in love with the idiosyncratic sound of Vince Staples’ Big Fish Theory, he took on a more experimental, industrial sound that served as a better vessel for the raw energy he brought to his tracks.
His debut project, These Pearls Came wit a Gleam, therefore utilized this grungier sound in order to communicate the inherent confusion of adolescence, with the project’s final track, “My Own Way”, serving as the grand conclusion to the profound consciousness that Domisquis conveys throughout the tracklist.
His most recent project, ANDWEPARTIED…, centers more around a specific heartbreak in the artist’s life, tracing a convoluted narrative of friendship, love, loss, and healing through songs such as the rumbling “WHERE YA MIND AT” and the cascading “JAZZ ME B’”. More than just a musical exploration of these themes, however, the project helped Dominisquis to come to terms with his own emotional turmoil surrounding the event, serving, in a sense, as a closing of a chapter for the young artist.
“It felt really freeing for me to just put [the album] out like that, and it felt like proper closure, at least for myself. Aside from the closure I already gained from talking to the person and talking things out, I was still really messed up at the core. It was like a death in a sense… and I was reborn.”
Now, with two dynamic and sonically intriguing projects under his belt, he looks to press onward artistically, planning to release a new project sometime later this year under a new name: Parke. This album, more so than his previous projects, will represent a leap in his sound and experimentation: a simultaneous solidification of and departure from the themes and sonic motifs that dominated his first two projects. Centered around a fictitious character, his new album will not only be another step forward but also a deeper entrenchment into the conceptual approach he has taken with his music so far.
In short, no matter under what name he works, there is an exciting future ahead for the young artist.s
“The track-list is done. I'm just finishing up and making sure I nail everything around it because I genuinely believe it's one of the biggest things and one of the most important things I'll ever do. There's just a crazy energy and air around [the album] right now.”
