Dar-1 has been a hip hop fan since birth with a high appreciation for several different styles and trends throughout the course of rap history. He began writing his own material in middle school and has competed in several talent shows where he has showcased his skills and has shown the ability to impress both hardcore hip hop fans and new listeners unfamiliar with the genre.

His clever sensible wordplay coupled with unique universal concepts draws a connection with a wide volume of listeners. Further inspiration for his craft was developed from slam poetry in college where he often participated and received significant respect from his peer poets. Dar-1 prides himself on being a highly talented rapper that is simply unpredictable, random and hard to define. As he explains, “Listeners are quick to put artists in a certain category, label, or box. I want to keep breaking that box until the listeners give up.”

As an entertainer Dar-1 has featured at SayWord Tuesdays, Wine Up, Tremont Music Hall, and Milestone as well as several other events and venues.  Dar-1’s first mixtape is Skool Daze (2014) inspired by his undergraduate years at the University of Dayton.  Skool Daze was followed up with the comic book themed Nitewing (2015) which was a more experimental release drawing inspiration from the DC comic book world as well as anime.  Currently Dar-1 has released his first all original music album Dar-1 Theory: Origin which contains features from talents such as Judah Wesley, Blackpearl, Luvleeh Poeticlocks, and others.

Dar-1 was born in Lake Jackson, TX, primarily has lived in Huntington, WV and went to college at the University of Dayton (Ohio). Now he resides in Charlotte, NC. He primarily draws from influence from hip hop culture, comic book culture, and anime culture to create his own unique sound and style.