''Dream, Interrupted'' is an

instrumental hip hop Hip hop production is the creation of hip hop music in a recording studio. While the term encompasses all aspects of hip hop music creation, including recording the rapping of an MC, a turntablist or DJ providing a beat, playing samples and "s ...

album by

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

rapper Rapping (also rhyming, spitting, emceeing or MCing) is a musical form of vocal delivery that incorporates "rhyme, rhythmic speech, and street vernacular". It is performed or chanted, usually over a backing beat or musical accompaniment. The ...

producer Producer or producers may refer to: Occupations *Producer (agriculture), a farm operator *A stakeholder of economic production *Film producer, supervises the making of films **Executive producer, contributes to a film's budget and usually does not ...

Danny! Daniel Keith Swain (born August 18, 1983), known mononymously as Danny!, is an American rapper, record producer, singer, and composer. Swain rose to prominence after his debut performance on '' Late Night with Jimmy Fallon'', where he premiered ...

, and the fourth release under Danny's personal 1911 Music/Badenov Records

imprint Imprint or imprinting may refer to: Entertainment * ''Imprint'' (TV series), Canadian television series * "Imprint" (''Masters of Horror''), episode of TV show ''Masters of Horror'' * ''Imprint'' (film), a 2007 independent drama/thriller film ...

. ''Dream, Interrupted'' was released exclusively in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

(under Danny's

birth name A birth name is the name of a person given upon birth. The term may be applied to the surname, the given name, or the entire name. Where births are required to be officially registered, the entire name entered onto a birth certificate or birth r ...

, Daniel Swain) on August 14, 2006 (see

2006 in music This is a list of notable events in music that took place in the year 2006. Specific locations *2006 in British music *2006 in Irish music *2006 in Norwegian music *2006 in South Korean music *2006 in Swiss music Specific genres * 2006 i ...

) prior to seeing a stateside release the following year.

Overview

Prior to the release of ''Dream, Interrupted'', Danny had released three studio albums (''

The College Kicked-Out ''The College Kicked-Out'' is the debut album from American rapper/producer Danny! Originally slated for an October 12 release date, ''The College Kicked-Out'' finally saw the light of day on November 2 after being delayed by bootlegging. Ove ...

'', '' F.O.O.D.'' and ''

Charm Charm may refer to: Social science * Charisma, a person or thing's pronounced ability to attract others * Superficial charm, flattery, telling people what they want to hear Science and technology * Charm quark, a type of elementary particle * Ch ...

'') that showcased both his

rapping Rapping (also rhyming, spitting, emceeing or MCing) is a musical form of vocal delivery that incorporates "rhyme, rhythmic speech, and street vernacular". It is performed or chanted, usually over a backing beat or musical accompaniment. The ...

and his

production Production may refer to: Economics and business * Production (economics) * Production, the act of manufacturing goods * Production, in the outline of industrial organization, the act of making products (goods and services) * Production as a stati ...

skills; ''Dream, Interrupted'' helped shift the spotlight solely on Danny's

. Presumably, the record was released under Danny's full name in an effort to distinguish himself from

, his rapping

alter ego An alter ego (Latin for "other I", " doppelgänger") means an alternate self, which is believed to be distinct from a person's normal or true original personality. Finding one's alter ego will require finding one's other self, one with a differen ...

. The title itself is an allusion to Danny's well-publicized 2006 "retirement" in which he decided to briefly discontinue, or "interrupt", his long-time goal, or "dream", of hitting it big in the

music industry The music industry consists of the individuals and organizations that earn money by writing songs and musical compositions, creating and selling recorded music and sheet music, presenting concerts, as well as the organizations that aid, train, ...

. With the success of his third studio album ''Charm'' and his subsequent signing to

Definitive Jux Definitive Jux was a record label based in New York City. It was co-founded in 1999 by El-P and Amaechi Uzoigwe. History Definitive Jux was initially known as Def Jux. However, popular hip hop label Def Jam Recordings sued Def Jux over the name ...

Records for an EP and

music video A music video is a video of variable duration, that integrates a music song or a music album with imagery that is produced for promotion (marketing), promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a m ...

, Danny has since released a sequel to ''Dream, Interrupted'', aptly titled ''

Dream, Fulfilled Danny!'s second instrumental hip hop album, ''Dream, Fulfilled'', was released on April 23, 2007 (see 2007 in music) under the American rapper/producer's 1911 Music/Badenov Records imprint. The record is a sequel to Danny's 2006 instrumental albu ...

''. ''Dream, Interrupted'' opens and closes with, appropriately, portions of

The Sylvers The Sylvers were an American R&B family vocal group from Watts, Los Angeles, California. The Sylvers were a popular act during the 1970s, recording the hit singles "Fool's Paradise", "Boogie Fever", and "Hot Line (song), Hot Line". Prior to bec ...

' "Cry Of A Dreamer". Excerpts from a

Marvin Gaye Marvin Pentz Gay Jr., who also spelled his surname as Gaye (April 2, 1939 – April 1, 1984), was an American singer and songwriter. He helped to shape the sound of Motown in the 1960s, first as an in-house session player and later as a solo ar ...

interview are placed within the clips. The album's

tagline In entertainment, a tagline (alternatively spelled tag line) is a short text which serves to clarify a thought for, or is designed with a form of, dramatic effect. Many tagline slogans are reiterated phrases associated with an individual, so ...

, "23 years. 23 beats. 46 minutes. ''You'' do the math." helped listeners grasp the reason for Danny's choice of quantity of tracks and the overall length of the album (though the tagline is erroneous, as both the "Intro" and "Outro" aren't instrumentals at all, making the album comprise only 21 beats). The most common theory regarding ''Dream, Interrupteds format is that the number "23" was meant to represent the age of both Danny! the rapper and Daniel Swain the producer at the time of its release; the sum of 23 and 23, of course, is 46. This was later confirmed during an interview. The instrumental titles contain either subtle references to events in Danny's career, ethereal connotations or utter

nonsense Nonsense is a communication, via speech, writing, or any other symbolic system, that lacks any coherent meaning. Sometimes in ordinary usage, nonsense is synonymous with absurdity or the ridiculous To be ridiculous is to be something which is ...

. The "hidden" meanings behind song titles have been debated on several hip-hop

message boards An Internet forum, or message board, is an online discussion site where people can hold conversations in the form of posted messages. They differ from chat rooms in that messages are often longer than one line of text, and are at least temporar ...

Music

With many of the tracks clocking in at just over two minutes long, the concise exploration of various tracks made ''Dream, Interrupted'' very similar in style to

J Dilla J, or j, is the tenth letter in the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its usual name in English is ''jay'' (pronounced ), with a now-uncommon varia ...

's ''

Donuts A doughnut or donut () is a type of food made from leavened fried dough. It is popular in many countries and is prepared in various forms as a sweet snack that can be homemade or purchased in bakeries, supermarkets, food stalls, and fra ...

'', another instrumental album lauded in 2006 with an underlying theme and track titles containing seemingly subtle meanings. Musically, ''Dream, Interrupted'' picks up where ''Charm'' left off, with the album balancing a sophisticated yet very distinctly upbeat sound with a somber undertone. Over the course of the past few years Danny's production style has evolved from sped-up, "chopped" soul samples typical of most of his contemporaries to more ambient, jazz-infused offerings that seem to be a

hybrid Hybrid may refer to: Science * Hybrid (biology), an offspring resulting from cross-breeding ** Hybrid grape, grape varieties produced by cross-breeding two ''Vitis'' species ** Hybridity, the property of a hybrid plant which is a union of two dif ...

drum & bass Drum and bass (also written as drum & bass or drum'n'bass and commonly abbreviated as D&B, DnB, or D'n'B) is a genre of electronic dance music characterized by fast breakbeats (typically 165–185 beats per minute) with heavy bass and sub-ba ...

bossa nova Bossa nova () is a style of samba developed in the late 1950s and early 1960s in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. It is mainly characterized by a "different beat" that altered the harmonies with the introduction of unconventional chords and an innovativ ...

and

electronica Electronica is both a broad group of electronic-based music styles intended for listening rather than strictly for dancing and a music scene that started in the early 1990s in the United Kingdom. In the United States, the term is mostly used to r ...

. This could be attributed to his recent experimentation with sampling songs from out-of-print foreign film soundtracks, specifically from

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

and

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

, as well as sound library records from

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

. Thus, Danny's musical "evolution" is first documented here on such songs as "Listen", "Twilight Mist" and "Sea of Tomorrow". Occasionally, however, Danny will revert to the sound he first introduced on his earlier work; examples on ''Dream, Interrupted'' include "I'm Not Ready", "This Time Around" and "Salon Des Refuses".

Availability

For reasons still unknown, ''Dream, Interrupted'' was initially released in compact disc format in various parts of the United Kingdom. As a result, very few copies exist in the US and only a handful of music editors have ever even ''seen'' the actual record stateside. However, all of Danny's independent releases have been distributed in limited quantities, presumably due to a lack of a substantial budget. The scarcity of the record in the UK, the virtual nonexistence of copies in the United States, and the meager promotion of the album overall made ''Dream, Interrupted'' one of Danny's most mysterious and sought-after projects in late 2006, until it was re-released digitally the following year. For a while following its initial release little else was known about the album outside of its promotional tagline and the occasional interview that Danny would mention it in, when prompted. In 2008 Danny's third instrumental album ''

Dream, Extinguished ''Dream, Extinguished'' is an instrumental hip hop album by American producer/rapper Danny! It is the third and allegedly final installment in Danny's famed ''Dream...'' instrumental series and, like its predecessors, bears Danny's anthroponym ...

'' would significantly eclipse the amount of scantiness and subsequent infringement of ''Dream, Interrupted'' due to its abrupt cancellation. ''Dream, Interrupteds lack of publicity was a sharp contrast to the ubiquity of ''Charm'', released precisely five months prior.

Track listing

# "Intro" – 1:47 #* Contains a sample from "Cry Of A Dreamer" by

, from the 1973 album ''The Sylvers 2''. #* Produced by Daniel Swain # "Sky's The Limit" – 1:50 #* Contains a sample from "Moře Klidu" by Mahagon, from the 1978 album ''Mahagon''. #* Produced by Daniel Swain # "Can't Let It Go" – 1:43 #* Contains a sample from "Portuguese Love" by

Teena Marie Mary Christine Brockert (March 5, 1956 – December 26, 2010), known professionally as Teena Marie, was an American singer-songwriter, musician, composer, arranger, and producer. She was known by her childhood nickname Tina before taking the sta ...

, from the 1981 album ''It Must Be Magic''. #* Produced by Daniel Swain # "You're On My Mind" – 1:38 #* Contains a sample from "All I Want" by

Hiroshima is the capital of Hiroshima Prefecture in Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 1,199,391. The gross domestic product (GDP) in Greater Hiroshima, Hiroshima Urban Employment Area, was US$61.3 billion as of 2010. Kazumi Matsui h ...

, from the 1980 album ''Odori''. #* Produced by Daniel Swain # "Salon Des Refuses" – 1:24 #* Produced by Daniel Swain # "Love (Is What You Make It)" – 1:46 #* Contains a sample from "Time Is Love", by

Black Ivory Black Ivory is an American R&B group from Harlem, which had a number of hits in the 1970s, including "Don't Turn Around", " You and I", " Time Is Love", and "Will We Ever Come Together". History Early days The group was originally known as th ...

, from the 1972 album, ''Baby Won't You Change Your Mind''. #* Produced by Daniel Swain # "Loss For Words" – 1:50 #* Produced by Daniel Swain #* Contains a samples from "Humpy Dump", by The Vibrettes, from the 1973 album of the same name & "Lost Inside of you", by Al Hudson & the Soul Partners, from the 1978 album ''Spreading Love''. # "Jaded" – 2:00 #* Contains a sample from "Superstar", by

Bette Midler Bette Midler (;''Inside the Actors Studio'', 2004 born December 1, 1945) is an American singer, actress, comedian and author. Throughout her career, which spans over five decades, Midler has received List of awards and nominations received by Be ...

, from the 1972 album, ''The Divine Miss M''. #* Produced by Daniel Swain # "Same Song" – 1:50 #* Contains a sample from "City of Angels" by

The Miracles The Miracles (also known as Smokey Robinson and the Miracles from 1965 to 1972) were an American vocal group that was the first successful recording act for Berry Gordy's Motown Records, and one of the most important and most influential groups ...

, from the 1975 album of the same name. #* Produced by Daniel Swain # "Stardust" – 1:32 #* Produced by Daniel Swain # "Dream On" – 1:18 #* Produced by Daniel Swain #* Contains samples from "Amanda" by

Dionne Warwick Marie Dionne Warwick (; born December 12, 1940) is an American singer, actress, and television host. Warwick ranks among the 40 biggest U.S. hit makers between 1955 and 1999, based on her chart history on ''Billboards Hot 100 pop singles cha ...

, from the 1971 album '' The Love Machine''. # "Twilight Mist" – 2:18 #* Produced by Daniel Swain # "Child of the Night" – 1:48 #* Contains a sample from "If Your Heart Isn't In It" by

Atlantic Starr Atlantic Starr is an American band based in White Plains, New York. They are best known for the hits "Always", "Secret Lovers", "Send for Me", "Circles", "Silver Shadow" and " Masterpiece". History Atlantic Starr began in Greenburgh, New York ...

, from the 1986 album ''As The Band Turns''. #* Produced by Daniel Swain # "Best Of Me" – 2:59 #* Produced by Daniel Swain # "Diggin' On You" – 2:07 #* Contains samples from "Questions" by

Carrie Lucas Carrie Lucas (born November 5, 1945) is an American R&B singer, born in Carmel, California. In 1976, she was signed to Soul Train Records. Lucas released six studio albums over seven years, with Soul Train and Solar Records. Lucas was married ...

, from the 1978 album ''Street Corner Symphony''. #* Produced by Daniel Swain # "I'm Not Ready" – 2:53 #* Contains samples from "Stay with Me" by

Cherrelle Cheryl Anne Norton (born October 13, 1958), better known by her stage name Cherrelle, is an American R&B singer and songwriter who gained fame in the mid-1980s. Her signature hits include "I Didn't Mean to Turn You On", "Where Do I Run To", " Ev ...

, from the 1984 album ''Fragile''. #* Produced by Daniel Swain # "Born To Wander ('Til I'm Dead)" – 1:51 #* Contains samples from "Never Will I Merry" by Nancy Wilson &

Cannonball Adderley Julian Edwin "Cannonball" Adderley (September 15, 1928August 8, 1975) was an American jazz alto saxophonist of the hard bop era of the 1950s and 1960s. Adderley is perhaps best remembered for the 1966 soul jazz single "Mercy, Mercy, Mercy", whi ...

, from the 1961 album ''Nancy Wilson/Cannonball Adderley''. #* Produced by Daniel Swain # "Passion Fruit" – 1:33 #* Produced by Daniel Swain # "This Time Around" – 1:52 #* Contains a sample from "Didn't We" by

Thelma Houston Thelma Houston ( Jackson; born May 7, 1946) Retrieved . is an American singer. Beginning her recording career in the late 1960s, Houston scored a number-one hit record in 1977 with her recording of "Don't Leave Me This Way", which won the Grammy ...

, from the 1969 album ''Sunshower''. #* Produced by Daniel Swain # "Listen" – 3:40 #* Produced by Daniel Swain # "Sea of Tomorrow" – 2:36 #* Produced by Daniel Swain # "Outro" – 1:17 #* Produced by Daniel Swain # "Just A Dream...?" – 2:18 #* Contains samples from "Doing It My Way", by

Bobby Womack Robert Dwayne Womack (; March 4, 1944 – June 27, 2014) was an American singer, songwriter, musician, and record producer. Starting in the early 1950s as the lead singer of his family musical group the Valentinos and as Sam Cooke's backing guit ...

, from the 1974 album ''Looking For A Love Again''. #* Produced by Daniel Swain

Credits

* Daniel Swain - Executive Producer, Producer, Composer *

- Art Direction, Creative Director *Ezra Alexander - A&R *Gus Jones - Vibraphone *Olivia Bruyere - Keyboards *Linus Pomeroy - Keyboards *Genevieve De Lorme - Bass *Sinclair Devereux - Bass *Morgan Sherman - Guitar

References

External links

* "Dream, Interrupted" audio snippetscourtesy of Allmusic {{Authority control 2006 albums Danny! albums Instrumental hip hop albums