MDTA (MORE DEAD THAN ALIVE) • "River Phoenix"
MDTA, or More Dead Than Alive, is a Chicago native rapping out of Atlanta that should be on your radar. He raps with a serious side, and hits on the trends of 2018 but keeps a style of his own. Today, he's premiering with These Days the Smokeasac produced track "River Phoenix", referencing the speedball induced death of the young80's and 90's actor. Smokeasac, famed collaborator of the late, great Lil Peep works his magic here with trademark strings and booming bass, and MDTA makes the most of it. Discussing the horrors of heroin addiction, MDTA doesn't shy away from the demons chasing him and those around him. A talented artist only just getting started, check out our Q/A below to get familiar with MDTA and gain insight into his impressive track "River Phoenix"
What should new listeners know about MDTA (MORE DEAD THAN ALIVE)?
Listeners should know that More Dead Than Alive is a movement. I am a movement. This shit is definitely not a persona and its a whole lot more than just a fuckin name. More Dead Than Alive represents every mufucka out here that considers themselves dead to societal norms and other regular ass shit. We aint on that..We aint with that normal shit. I'm endorsing the fact that its ok to not be normal..I am not normal, I am not the norm, and I'ma strive every got damn day to convey that by doing against the norm shit with every got damn thing I do you feel me? For me, that begins with music. I love music and right now i'm on my journey of self expression with demonic, edgy horror aesthetics and dark ass trap. Listeners should also know that MDTA is from the Southside of the CHI. Woodlawn to be exact.
When it comes to “River Phoenix”, is there a message you wanted to send to those struggling or effected by addiction? What did you want to express through the music?
"River Phoenix" uses the real River Phoenix (1970-1993) as a muse and was inspired by his struggle with drug addiction - heroin more specifically. The message that I wanted to convey here is that yes, drug addiction is real, yes its an up hill battle to recovery, and yes there are demons that exist (in your mind) that want you to fail. I wanted to express the reality of addiction and the difficulty that goes with fighting it. I am a recovering addict myself and feel that the demons that manifest as a result of drug addiction are very real and that managing it is a choice we have to make daily. I have lost a lot of friends to heroin. That drug is the devil itself. I haven't lost any friends to shrooms though :) Which is my new drug of choice haha .
Smokeasac is an amazing producer, how did you two link? Were you a lil peep fan, and if so what did it mean to you being able to work with Smokeasac?
I was absolutely a Lil Peep fan, "Beamer Boy" "Honestly" and "Worlds Away" are some of my go to classics from him. Lil Peep was iconic in my eyes. Like...definitely one of the biggest things the "emo" scene has seen in a very long time. And for me, its almost surreal to be working alongside one of his more frequent collaborators in Smokeasac. I really hope that me and Smokeasac make waves with this release and i'd be lying if I said that I didn't want to have hits behind my name to the same extent that Lil Peep does with Smokeasac. Its an absolute honor to be in the presence of this greatness man.
One of my relatives owns and operates a clothing line called "Banswave" and he's actually plugged in with Don Krez who's done countless work on the underground scene. My cousin was able to send Don Krez some of my music which ultimately lead to the referral.
With this and your debut “Mirror” video behind you, what can we look forward to in the future? Any plans on performances around Chicago?
You can absolutely look forward to me dropping music every two weeks on my soundcloud/youtube outlets. I don't have any performances lined up as of yet, but we're currently looking at some opportunities to get on a few stages and go crazy.
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