We first heard D4L's insanely catchy (and radically minimalist) singles "Laffy Taffy" and "Betcha Can't Do It Like Me" on late night radio while driving around Atlanta this past July. In the space of only a few months, those tracks have grown from ATL mixshow favorites to surprise national hits, inspiring fans and foes alike - ads for D4L's Down 4 Life LP even proclaim "Don't front...you know you love it!"
We talked to group member Fabo while D4L was in the middle of a whirlwind promo tour last week, and he broke some of it down for us. Check what he had to say after the jump, and look for the D4L album in stores now. For more on some other new artists coming out of Atlanta, check out our Georgia Girls feature in F31, and the Maceo cover story (penned by Diplo) in F33.
Where are you guys right now?
Right now we’re in Dallas. We’re on a promo tour, you know how that is.
What’s life been like since the album came out?
Man, it’s just been like chaos, pandemonium, I can’t even describe it. I ain’t never seen nothing like this. You know, fans showing us a lot of love, gotta thank God.
What do you think about the criticism of "Laffy Taffy" as a novelty song?
Man, we were on the streets hard before the album even came out. We had a lot of hood credibility, people were already calling us – we was already doing the same thing. It’s just recently that its starting to become, you know, a big issue or whatever, that we gotta start listening out for everything that’s going on, cause it gets serious. We gotta start paying attention to what really happening. You know, so we’re learning at the same time, trying to stay together.
Is there beef between D4L and the Franchize Boyz right now?
Nah, we’re not endorsing the beef or nothing like that. Them niggas went and made the “Bubble Gum” [song], so if any cat got something to say to me he must be gay.
How’d the group get its start?
We’re from four different set of projects that’s around the Atlanta area, right there in that little vicinity on the west side. That’s why we couldn’t even get along with each other just growing up in our hoods. I couldn’t go in one hood, the other cats couldn’t come in another hood. It was basically like that. Mook-B was really always working, and I was always somewhere or another. Shawty-Lo, he was in the hood, doing his thing or whatever. We were just really encouraging them to stop everything they were doing and just come over and do this. And basically man, you know, by the grace of God we just started dropping a couple of songs at the club that people were just really feeling, really digging. And so we stuck to it, and I came up with “Betcha Can’t Do It Like Me,” and I was already doing a little dancing and stuff, a lot of moves, winning talent shows and stuff, and Mook-B went and put a seal on that deal and we went at it like that, we ain’t stop. This is our third CD, this ain’t our first CD, this our third CD, we had two underground CDs, you know.
Are you the one who invented the "Laffy Taffy" dance?
That’s me, I’m Mr. Chick-O-Stick. I don’t call it dancing, actually, I just call it doin’ it. It’s like catching the Holy Ghost in church, you don’t have no skills to catch the Holy Ghost, you just gotta believe.
What’s a typical D4L day like?
We’re original, dog. Typical day of a thug, cat coming up out the hood, seeing some money. Every thug, man, we don’t tell, we ain’t boasting on it like that, you know, the money’s in there. We got big diamonds on right now, the CD just came out, so that ain’t got nothing to do with that right there. The day in the life is the same thing, the hustle, surviving, trying to feed these kids. I’m standing right here with a cold right now, I’m like battling a little headache, I gotta jump up and go do radio in a minute or whatever. I was trying to rest up but the other cats resting up, so I gotta get on up and make this happen man.