March 11th, 1990, a child of God was born with a bounty on his head to be destroyed by Satan himself. What’s up kings and queens? My name is Darwin A. Smalls, also known as D.A Smalls. I am a Christian lyricist born in Charleston, SC but raised up in the country part of Charleston, a small city called Cross. How things got started with me was that I was raised in a blended family.
I was adopted at the age of one by my grandfather. At which I got my first taste of mental, emotional, and physical abuse. I was raised by my stepmother, Sandra Collins, who is now deceased from fighting cancer. During the abuse, I learned to express my emotions through poetry. If poetry wasn’t a part of my life, I’m not gonna stunt with you, I might have been dead right now.
Poetry for me was a release from this world. It was a release from the abandonment of my biological mother and father, from a stepmother that raised me for years and left in a matter of 2 hours. It was a release from physical abuse from a father that was never taught how to love properly. From that moment on, I began to take care of myself by stealing, lying, and making poetry. Between the ages of 7 and 19, I had no idea that God gave me the strength to endure trials and tribulations.
The revealed to me my heart through a picture. I used to draw a heart with wings with a crown on top and a city in the background with the sun and the moon which meant I was going to give my heart to the world to create change. These are the things I used to tell my newfound stepmother (Angie White-Smith). Growing up, I used to listen to music that resonated with the pain I felt. My first taste of Christian Hip Hop music was watching Sister Act 2, The ending scene where two guys rapped over the ending song Joyful, Joyful.
I thought it was so cool. I was a part of a choir in high school where I was afforded the opportunity to rap our version of Joyful. I never thought I’d get picked for the part due to me being bullied, uncool, and too small. The music then took its toll on my life in a healthy way. After graduation, I found out that music was in my blood. My biological mother was a singer, and my biological father was a rapper, both of who I had never met. I started off as an inspirational gospel artist; in which I had a mentor by the name of Juan ‘PD’ Phillips who constantly told me to be myself with my music, even when provoked by other artists to do secular music.
I quickly gave up music to join the US Marine Corps because my life was in shambles. I was sleeping outside, eating out of garbage cans. My ambition to never go back to my old lifestyle allowed me to graduate top of my class while in the military. Music was still a part of my life every day. Something felt wrong giving it up completely. I began recording again in Okinawa Japan where I was stationed but never released anything. I completed my term in the military honorably and still didn’t want to come home.
So, I moved to Omaha, Nebraska where a series of events occurred that unfortunately made me lose my fiancé’, my place to stay, my job, and my money. I ended up having family members that resided in the area who quickly took me in. During that dark time, music enhanced, and so did my first introduction to God. I wanted to know who the Lord was so bad because I had tried everything but Him. I when outside in -30-degree weather and told myself that I wasn’t going to stop running until I heard God speak.
I heard a voice tell me to go back to the house after running about four miles, and I questioned if it was God’s voice because I hated running with a passion (lol). But I asked the Lord for a sign before I entered the home, and He gave it to me. I then went inside with all lights off. I asked the Lord “If this is truly you give me a hug” because I needed it. I then felt the warm and peaceful embrace of a fatherly hug. With tears down my eyes gave my life to Christ. My gift of music was heightened from that point.
My father paid for a plane ticket to come back to Charleston just for a month. Funny how we think that God isn’t a strategic planner. When I got back to Charleston, I faced so many old obstacles so much healing took place, and a strong desire to make music for the kids in church. It was almost time for me to go back to Nebraska and I told my mother I didn’t feel right leaving. My mother told me that she had prayed to God for me to stay.
I tried to rebuke it (lol). I asked the Lord for one more sign to let me know if I needed to stay or go. Being that I was in the country, I’m used to seeing shooting stars, but none had presented itself since I came back. So, I asked the Lord for a shooting star, and He didn’t give me one until two days before I was supposed to leave. I rejected the first shooting star and quickly asked for another. Needless to say, He gave me that too (lol). From there D.A. Smalls, a Christian lyricist was born.
I’ve now opened up for artists such as Bizzle and Datin from God Over Money. I’ve traveled to many different places, which I’m proud to say, under my organization, True Flaws Ent. doing motivational/inspirational speaking at schools, child protective services, camps, churches, and orphanages/group homes to let everyone know that they’re gifted and that they don’t have to be perfect to come to God.
We have merch that says “Flawed but Called”, meaning that we are all flawed individuals but we are stilled by God. I just want to impact the world with every gift that the Lord God has blessed me with. I now have two children, a boy (8) and a girl (1) who both depend on me to be the man of God that I am supposed to be. This is my story, but it’s just getting started.
March 11th, 1990, a child of God was born with a bounty on his head to be destroyed by Satan himself. What’s up kings and queens? My name is Darwin A. Smalls, also known as D.A Smalls. I am a Christian lyricist born in Charleston, SC but raised up in the country part of Charleston, a small city called Cross. How things got started with me was that I was raised in a blended family.
I was adopted at the age of one by my grandfather. At which I got my first taste of mental, emotional, and physical abuse. I was raised by my stepmother, Sandra Collins, who is now deceased from fighting cancer. During the abuse, I learned to express my emotions through poetry. If poetry wasn’t a part of my life, I’m not gonna stunt with you, I might have been dead right now.
Poetry for me was a release from this world. It was a release from the abandonment of my biological mother and father, from a stepmother that raised me for years and left in a matter of 2 hours. It was a release from physical abuse from a father that was never taught how to love properly. From that moment on, I began to take care of myself by stealing, lying, and making poetry. Between the ages of 7 and 19, I had no idea that God gave me the strength to endure trials and tribulations.
The revealed to me my heart through a picture. I used to draw a heart with wings with a crown on top and a city in the background with the sun and the moon which meant I was going to give my heart to the world to create change. These are the things I used to tell my newfound stepmother (Angie White-Smith). Growing up, I used to listen to music that resonated with the pain I felt. My first taste of Christian Hip Hop music was watching Sister Act 2, The ending scene where two guys rapped over the ending song Joyful, Joyful.
I thought it was so cool. I was a part of a choir in high school where I was afforded the opportunity to rap our version of Joyful. I never thought I’d get picked for the part due to me being bullied, uncool, and too small. The music then took its toll on my life in a healthy way. After graduation, I found out that music was in my blood. My biological mother was a singer, and my biological father was a rapper, both of who I had never met. I started off as an inspirational gospel artist; in which I had a mentor by the name of Juan ‘PD’ Phillips who constantly told me to be myself with my music, even when provoked by other artists to do secular music.
I quickly gave up music to join the US Marine Corps because my life was in shambles. I was sleeping outside, eating out of garbage cans. My ambition to never go back to my old lifestyle allowed me to graduate top of my class while in the military. Music was still a part of my life every day. Something felt wrong giving it up completely. I began recording again in Okinawa Japan where I was stationed but never released anything. I completed my term in the military honorably and still didn’t want to come home.
So, I moved to Omaha, Nebraska where a series of events occurred that unfortunately made me lose my fiancé’, my place to stay, my job, and my money. I ended up having family members that resided in the area who quickly took me in. During that dark time, music enhanced, and so did my first introduction to God. I wanted to know who the Lord was so bad because I had tried everything but Him. I when outside in -30-degree weather and told myself that I wasn’t going to stop running until I heard God speak.
I heard a voice tell me to go back to the house after running about four miles, and I questioned if it was God’s voice because I hated running with a passion (lol). But I asked the Lord for a sign before I entered the home, and He gave it to me. I then went inside with all lights off. I asked the Lord “If this is truly you give me a hug” because I needed it. I then felt the warm and peaceful embrace of a fatherly hug. With tears down my eyes gave my life to Christ. My gift of music was heightened from that point.
My father paid for a plane ticket to come back to Charleston just for a month. Funny how we think that God isn’t a strategic planner. When I got back to Charleston, I faced so many old obstacles so much healing took place, and a strong desire to make music for the kids in church. It was almost time for me to go back to Nebraska and I told my mother I didn’t feel right leaving. My mother told me that she had prayed to God for me to stay.
I tried to rebuke it (lol). I asked the Lord for one more sign to let me know if I needed to stay or go. Being that I was in the country, I’m used to seeing shooting stars, but none had presented itself since I came back. So, I asked the Lord for a shooting star, and He didn’t give me one until two days before I was supposed to leave. I rejected the first shooting star and quickly asked for another. Needless to say, He gave me that too (lol). From there D.A. Smalls, a Christian lyricist was born.
I’ve now opened up for artists such as Bizzle and Datin from God Over Money. I’ve traveled to many different places, which I’m proud to say, under my organization, True Flaws Ent. doing motivational/inspirational speaking at schools, child protective services, camps, churches, and orphanages/group homes to let everyone know that they’re gifted and that they don’t have to be perfect to come to God.
We have merch that says “Flawed but Called”, meaning that we are all flawed individuals but we are stilled by God. I just want to impact the world with every gift that the Lord God has blessed me with. I now have two children, a boy (8) and a girl (1) who both depend on me to be the man of God that I am supposed to be. This is my story, but it’s just getting started.
The Story of
D.A Smalls
