Interview: Junior Marvin’s Son Davo Talks New Music, Jamaican Roots And More

Jamaican-born R&B artist Davo has released a new track titled On The Run. The artist, whose real name is David Kerr, decided it was the perfect time to release a single while he still enjoyed the high of his role in the highly successful Bob Marley: One Love biopic, in which he portrayed his father, Junior Marvin.

“The inspiration behind it is just what my life has been recently after the movie [and] even before the movie,” he told DancehallMag.

“Like, my life life in the last like 10 years or so, I’ve been on the run with Tory [Lanez] and traveling all around the world be able to create and produce such good music. At the same time, it takes a lot. So, all of that together is inspiration behind the track—you know, dealing with my career and seeing the reactions to the lifestyle behind that.”

Produced by Rozart,  On The Run was released on March 25. 

Besides releasing tracks of his own, Davo also knows what it’s like to be on the production side of things, having worked with Rick Ross, Fabolous, Rich The Kid, 1804 Jackboy, Trippie Redd, and many others.

The Miami-bound entertainer said his father played an integral role in shaping his interest in music from a young age.

“I guess I decided early on in my life that this is what I wanted to do,” he said. “I remember one day when I was like five years old, my dad put me and my brothers in the car and asked us all individually, ‘what kind of music do you guys want to make? What kind of artist do you want to be?’ and my reply was to be a rapper.”

Davo added that Junior Marvin wasted no time in making that dream a reality. 

“Then dad took us to the record store and he said [to] look for want. I saw the cover art of the Snoop Dogg Doggy Style album and I chose it because it had a cartoon effect on the cover. The album was one of the best albums I’ve ever bought to this day, and after that, I proceeded to buy more albums like Tupac, BIG, Wu-Tang and therefore started my my journey to become a rapper. I started taking a serious in high school when I lived in New York, and I thought about how Tupac used to write lyrics. I started writing lyrics in class when I was bored and being in New York, everyone used to freestyle and that got me active in the early days in the ninth grade,” he said.

Davo said he hopes to collaborate with Young Thug and Kanye West, but has already receiving end of overwhelming support for his projects.

“I’ve been getting a lot of love since the music has dropped since the on the run has been released. I’ve been very receptive. All my fans are very happy to see me that dropping music again, and the movie took about two years to finalise and ever since then, I’ve just been getting ready to keep dropping every month. I’m dropping two or three songs a month until the album is ready for the summer and the album is ready so be on the look out,” he said.

Davo also noted that although he is based in the United States, his Jamaican roots form the core of his creativity.

“I definitely think a Jamaican fanbase is important because Jamaica is my home…This is where I get my style from in terms of a lot of my fashion and how I stand out as an artist. I feel like because I’m from Jamaica I have a lot to bring back to Jamaica… You know Jamaicans like to do everything. So, the fact that I excellent R&B hip-hop, you know and every other genre, like to mix Jamaican style with it. I always have to keep that in the loop.”