Dangeruss

Ever since the Internets got word that Harmony Korine was making a movie called Spring Breakers featuring Selena Gomez, Gucci Mane and an insane-looking James Franco, the rapper/human meme Riff Raff has been taking credit for inspiring the role, even saying that he was offered it first but had to turn it down because he was in Europe.

In an interview with Fuse that hit the web yesterday, Riff said, "Obviously, the style is based on me. Obviously. I don't have to say that. People see the pictures, they think it's me." Last May, Franco denied claims that he was playing the Los Angeles-based rapper, telling GQ that the character was mostly based on, "This local Florida rapper named Dangeruss. He's fairly unknown, but he was down there in the place, living the life, and he became the biggest model for me and he's in the movie."

I did some research, and it turns out Dangeruss is an unsigned rapper from St. Petersburg, Florida, who, like Franco's character—named Alien in the film—is covered in mismatched tattoos and seems to have an aversion to shirts. Little is known about Dangeruss, but here's what I found out:

—He has 119 followers on Twitter.

—He loves cutlery and cookware.

—He looks like a racially ambiguous Gunplay.

—He has a mixtape on DatPiff called Armed and Dangeruss which has been downloaded 99 times. (Go ahead! Be the 100th!)

—He's really excited about Spring Breakers: most of the posts on his Facebook are related to the film, as is his "About" information on YouTube.

—He's one of those white rappers who, confoundingly enough, seems to be allowed to say the n-word and not get beaten up.

—His studio looks like DJay's in Hustle & Flow.

—He's kinda scary (I don't have a specific link for this. Just watch every Dangeruss video.)

Complicating the story further is the fact that Riff Raff and Korine recently appeared on the cover of Sneeze together, taking part in a joint interview claiming Franco was playing a character based on a bunch of white rappers from the South and Riff was simply slated to play a member of Franco's posse. Riff Raff has tweeted and instagrammed his disagreement with all of this, but he might just be doing it for the publicity.

Anyways, here's the best Dangeruss song. It's called "My Fork," and it appears to be a thinly-veiled metaphor about cooking crack.

Martin Spasov lives in Brooklyn. Far, far away from Dangeruss. Twat him at @RealMarvon - Vice Media, LLC.

Above is the music video for "I'm Poppin'" by Dangeruss, who you probably know as the white rapper James Franco's character Alien in Spring Breakers is based off of. We found Dangeruss a few months ago, and it turns out Dangeruss is actually kind of an incredible rapper and one of the realest dudes out in any capacity. He represents St. Petersburg, Florida, and his rhyming style is hardnosed and menacing, practical and swift. Just like Alien, Dangeruss speaks in odd poeticisms and carries himself with a sense of self-reliant mysticism that suggests he's too weird to live, too rare to die. He and I spoke on the phone earlier this week, discussing his life story, Spring Breakers, and why it's okay for him as a white dude to say the n-word but literally no one else is.

Noisey: How have the past few months been treating you?
Dangeruss: It’s been beautiful, man, because I work hard on the music. I feel great about having more people be able to find out about me, because I don’t have a big team or a machine behind me where I can get a lot of people knowing who I am, but a lot of the people who come across me are becoming fans for one reason or another. The ball just getting rolling. It’s a process.

Do you want to explain the concept of “I’m Poppin’?”
The song’s kinda self-explanatory. It’s about how most people feel, coming from where I come from. I wanted to do it without a real hook. The video came together so well because Kelly came down here and I was able to really take him where I be, give him a view of what the life like down here, know what I’m saying? It got to the point where I was gonna take the Big Boy Toys out, but I 86’d that because I didn’t wanna let too many people into the game in case there’s other people watching your videos besides your fans and music people.

What do you mean by “Big Boy Toys?”
Big Boy Toys. You know what I’m talking about. Big fire.

When did you start rapping?
I started rapping early, man. I started writing when I was like 12. I was in the streets a lot when I was young. I didn’t take music seriously, to me it was more of a hobby. When I was about 17, I dropped a mixtape. I did it just for me and my partners to listen to and just drive around in the hood. The neighborhood all had copies of it, but it wasn’t nobody trying to get big off of it. I was nine toes in the streets, and a pinky toe in the music, know what I’m saying? I just did it recreationally. Then I put out the “My Fork” record and it took off. I’m just trying to do something with this shit, man. “Hangin’ with the Dope Boys” got me in the movie, and ever since then, the ball been rolling.

Are you still in the streets?
I’m mostly focused on this music. I can’t be out there like I was. Every street nigga that’s been in the streets, their goal is to get out. I’m really focusing on this music as much as I can. You can ask Kellen; I took him around my partners; ain’t no stuntin’, ain’t no fakes. It’s all for real. He was actually in the zone; in the areas. I respect him, because he ain’t from here.

Tell me about your childhood. You were in the streets early.
Yeah, man. Early. Real early. My daddy was gone. My momma was gone. My grandmamma raised me and my brother. I read some article on the Internet the other day that said my momma and my daddy left and my grandmamma died when I was 13 and I took over the house and raised my brother and all, what the fuck? People mix all kinda shit up. My grandmamma raised me, she’s still alive. I wanted to clarify that. I ain’t really have nobody to say, “Hey nigga, you can’t really do this.” I was the man of the house early. I did what I had to do to make sure everything was straight. My role models are like my uncle; he grew up in the projects. He moved down here when I was about two. He was a real thoroughbred street dude. I was out there early, man. My grandmamma got sick, so I did what I did. I ain’t have no real direction.

Do you have any regrets in life?
None at all.

How many questions have people asked you about Spring Breakers?
Man, thousands. 90% probably the same. I respect that, though.

Do you feel like appearing in the movie helped you?
I don’t really have a team behind me, and I have a lot of good fans now who help spread the word. I get messages and emails from people all over the world, it’s actually kind of crazy. The movie was definitely a door that helped me get my name out there to people who weren’t familiar with me at the time.

How old are you?
I’m 26.

How long have you had dreadlocks for?
Ten years.

Why’d you decide to start growing them?
I don’t know. When I was younger, probably 15 or 16, I used to get what they call “fishbones.” They’re two big braids coming from these little braids. I got tired of having to sit there and have bitches doing my hair, so I said, “Fuck it, I’m gonna see if I can grow some dreads and not really worry about this shit.” When I started ‘em they was skinny, but I didn’t like that. I started putting them together and they just got bigger and bigger every time, and that’s how they ended up like this.

Would you ever cut them?
Never. I don’t wanna cut these things, man. I contemplated it, but it never got to where I was close to doing it. I think about how I’d look without ‘em, or sometimes they get in my way when I be sleepin’ and shit, but I couldn’t cut these thangs, man.

Why as a white dude can you say the n-word?
Imma give you a quick synopsis of what I believe. If you took a kitten or a puppy or a baby, what have you, and threw it into the woods and leave it with a pack of wolves, and those wolves raise that kitten or that puppy, teach it how to hunt, how to live like a wolf, and you go back a couple years later and see that kitten or that puppy living with the wolves, hunting with them wolves, is family to them wolves. At night when the moon comes up and the wolves start howling, who are you to tell that kitten or that puppy that he can’t howl with them wolves? It’s definitely not me opening any doors or being like, “It’s okay for other people to do it,” it’s just me. If some white folks come around me and say “nigga,” somebody fixin’ to get beat up. That’s just my personal thing. I’d never use it in a derogatory manner. It’s just like saying “my buddy,” or “my pal.”

Does St. Petersburg have a good rap scene right now?
Yeah. There’s a plethora of talent. It’s been like that for a while. It’s a small city; we’re overshadowed by Tamp, because Tampa’s a big business city. It’s a lot going on here, and if, God willing, I can open that door, I want to open that door for people to have a way to make their dreams come true and come out the hood. Coming from where we come from, everybody says, “Oh you could be a doctor, be a lawyer, something like that.” But coming out the hood, what’s the chances of that happening when you go through what we go through? You’re either balling, an athlete, or you do the music.

Anybody you want to shout out?
I’d definitely like to shout out Kellen, man, for lookin’ out on this video. He earned so much respect with me. I got nothing but love for him. Shout out the city, St. Pete, my brother Los, Money Mane, 40, Lee Dog, all my partners that came out for the video. And shout out to God for having my back through all this craziness from a youngster to now to get me to be able to get closer to my dreams.



Drew Millard saw Spring Breakers twice. He's on Twitter - @drewmillard - Vice Media, LLC.

James Franco‘s thug-life “Spring Breakers” character, Alien, wasn’t born out of thin air. In fact, he spent a lot of time with a real-life persona, Dangeruss, while making the Harmony Korine-directed film. Their friendship led to the music video for “Dope Boyz,” which MTV News is exclusively premiering, along with an essay from director Franco and candid photos of Dangeruss. Franco didn’t go about this project alone; he worked with film editors Andinh Ha and Pau Dalmases on the music video. These are his words about the experience.

I met Dangeruss through Harmony. Before I went down to St. Pete to play Alien in “Spring Breakers,” Harmony sent me innumerable videos and photos as references for my character. He drowned me in them. Harmony is a master of online research. Once he chooses a location to shoot, it turns out he is also a master at finding the most interesting and odd local places and characters. One of the last videos Harmony sent me was of a white guy in dreads, sitting in his car, rapping about Dope Boyz. This turned out to be Dangeruss, a local rapper who Harm had met at an audition and knew immediately that he was the real deal. He thought I should use Dangeruss as a main source of inspiration for my Florida gangster/mystic, Alien.

The same day I arrived, Harmony had me visit Danger at his apartment. I was surprised when we pulled into a rather nice sprawling housing development, country-club style, with fountains and manicured grass. I think there was even a driving range. When I met Danger, he was tall, thin as a stick, covered in tats and humble as hell. He was willing to help in any way. He told me about growing up in the bad part of town and having poetry as his only recourse when things got ugly. His involvement with the street and his involvement with hip-hop developed simultaneously. “While Peter Piper was picking peppers, I was selling yola at the corner store.” His lyrics are the highly autobiographical chronicle of surviving on the streets of St. Pete.

Harm and Dangeruss agreed that my character could sing one of Danger’s songs in the film, “Dope Boyz.” Dangeruss wrote out the lyrics for me and then performed it so I could see how he carried himself onstage. I was a little confused by one of the lyrics: “junkies at my door, they know the secret knock, it goes one time for the reefer, two times for the rock,” because it didn’t seem like any junkies would come to the door of that nice apartment. But as I got to know Dangeruss, I realized there were two spheres in his life, and the other one away from the one I was seeing was much darker.

Danger and I rapped onstage together for the film. It was a rush. We had an audience of hundreds on the beach, MTV style. It was my first live rap appearance. He led me through. I felt like a gangster. I didn’t want the relationship with Dangeruss to end so I asked him if I could film him for a video. I liked the idea of shooting him doing his daily routine, simple and autobiographical like his music. He watched basketball, he drove over to his friend’s house, they smoked blunts, they freestyled. Later, I flew Dangeruss to LA and we filmed more in the old movie palace downtown where Chaplin’s “City Lights” had premiered. He was epic. This video is the result.

By James Franco - MTV News, Viacom International, Inc.

When James Franco debuted in the Spring Breakers trailer as a gun touting, loud mouthed rapper Alien, some people wondered who he was trying to imitate, or at least where he received inspiration from to create such a dynamic role. While rapper Riff Raff claimed that Franco stepped into a role he was said to portray, but ultimately had to drop out of, it turns out rapper Riff Raff wasn’t the original inspiration behind the character’s swagger like he claimed to be.

Instead, Franco reveals to MTV his main inspiration in the form of a music video. Franco and “thug life” rapper Dangeruss sat down with MTV to reveal their collaborated music video, that sees Franco behind the camera directing the rapper for his “Dope Boyz” music video. In addition to collaborating with Dangeruss, Franco also worked with film editors Andinh Ha and Pau Dalmases to create a truly trippy rap video, a first for the man who has directed music videos for REM.

Of his connection with rapper Dangeruss, Franco told MTV:

“One of the last videos Harmony sent me was of a white guy in dreads, sitting in his car, rapping about Dope Boyz. This turned out to be Dangeruss, a local rapper who Harm had met at an audition and knew immediately that he was the real deal. He thought I should use Dangeruss as a main source of inspiration for my Florida gangster/mystic, Alien.”

James Franco and Dangeruss Spring Breakers
About the process of creating the music video Franco said:

“Danger and I rapped onstage together for the film. It was a rush. We had an audience of hundreds on the beach, MTV style. It was my first live rap appearance. He led me through. I felt like a gangster. I didn’t want the relationship with Dangeruss to end so I asked him if I could film him for a video. I liked the idea of shooting him doing his daily routine, simple and autobiographical like his music.”

Now that we’ve seen both Dangeruss and Riff Raff, and of course Franco as his character Alien, who do you think the actor resembles the most? - The Inquisitr News, Inc.