Darby O’Trill has been a steadily rising force in the juggalo/underground scene for over a decade now. From his earliest days working with Scumbag Worldwide (featuring a young Keagan Grimm) to his early SoundCloud uploads and solo albums like Cat Dead, Details Later, to linking up with juggalo super producer Devereaux for projects like Piecemeal (and everything after) to his signing with Lyrikal Snuff Productions in 2021 and eventually finding his home at Ouija Macc’s Chapter 17 Records imprint. Darby has had a long journey in this scene.
As of today, Darby’s fourth solo album for Chapter 17, Gator Lake, is available for pre order. Along with pre orders, the album’s first single, the Ouija Macc featuring “Shitstorm” is available on all digital outlets.
To celebrate the occasion, I sat down with Darby to discuss Gator Lake, his music taste, his evolving look and more.
Robbie Pankow: First and foremost, Darby, I want to officially thank you for allowing us to drop the release date and album info on the most recent episode of Do It For The Underground. It was really cool to get that look for us.
Darby O’Trill: Of course. I really appreciate y’all and what you do for the culture.
Plus, you were a part of the album(Editor’s Note: You’ll know what this means when the album is released)! No better place to break the news imo.
Robbie: Hell yeah, it was really fun to do that! Definitely my first skit on a rap album. Childhood dream come true on that one, for sure!
Darby: I’m really glad I was able to get you and the ICP With We boys on that skit for the album, I think it turned out mega fresh!
Robbie: Let’s talk about the album some. To start, Gator Lake is pretty different from your last album, Wil(low). What was your intention going into this album, especially in comparison to the last one?
Darby: So, with WIL(low), I feel like it was overall a more introspective album. I talked about a lot of personal things on that record. But with GATOR LaKE, I went into it really wanting to make the hardest wicked shit album I could. I wanted to kinda tone down the more depressive or emotional aspect of my music and do more fun, storytelling type junts. You’ll still get a couple of those introspective, relatable songs on this album, but overall it’s a lot more upbeat and fun, at least in my opinion.
Devereaux and I were talking about production aspects of it, and we wanted to have like an updated version of that old school wicked shit sound, with like, sludgy bass and grimy guitar and drum loops.
Robbie: That sludgy, almost wet sounding bass and grimy guitars definitely give me early Esham vibes. That 92-94 energy.
I really like that you’ve added a lot of those elements here, but still didn’t shy away from your signature sense of melody that make your hooks so sticky. I know your musical taste is a lot more varied than people might expect. Who are some of your influences when it comes to melody and hook writing?
Darby: Early Esham and Mike E Clark style production was definitely a huge influence on the sound of this record, so it’s tight you compared it to that. Those records are so influential to us and what we do, so it just makes sense to try to do our own spin on that sound.
See, besides the wicked shit, I’ve never been a huge rap head. I’ve always been more into rock, like alternative, metal and shit like that. I think everyone can kinda pick up that I’m a super Nu Metal mark, so bands like Korn, Orgy, Primer 55, Limp Bizkit and shit like that are huge influences on me. I’m also hella listening to a lot of 90s alt rock like Toadies, Local H, Alice in Chains, Pearl Jam, Dinosaur Jr and a lot of other bands like that. J Macis, the lead singer of Dinosaur Jr is a super big influence on how I layer my vocals. He does a lot of crazy layers and weird inflections with his voice. I definitely started doing, like, falsetto layers because of him.
Robbie: Damn, that’s awesome. I am a huge Dinosaur Jr fan, so that’s really cool to hear. Not a common influence in our scene at all.
Darby: No doubt. They have one of the most solid and consistent discographies of all time imo.
Robbie: Tell me a little bit about Gator Lake, the location, and how it fits in with your previous nature/location based records(Gully, Creek, Garden, Wil(low)).
Darby: GATOR LaKE is another stop on the path of the CReEK. Just through the GARDeN and past the WIL(low) awaits a dark place, shrouded by a thick green haze and the stench of rot.
It’s where the lost find themselves.
It’s the accumulation of the rage and sadness that plagues the world. Each tear humanity has dropped fills this lake, creating the home for the Suffergator, a massive pale crocodilian who feasts on the hatred of mankind.
Those who find their way to GATOR LaKE are required to make an offering to the beast in return for the answers they seek, but those who arrive with hearts fueled by hate don’t get jack shit. They’re devoured whole and become just another skull floating along the top of the waters.
The creek is the path that flows from our mind
The garden’s where fruits of our labors shall lie
The Wil(low) sometimes is the end of the line
Gator Lake is a place where madness is defined.
Robbie: Damn, that’s sick. As is the album cover. I assume you did the art?
Darby: Yeah, I did this cover. I’m really stoked how it came out, I spent a lot of time working on it, making it exactly what I envisioned in my head.
Usually I’ll doodle the concept for the cover and someone else will do it based on that, but this time I really felt it had to be me to make the final product.
Robbie: It came out great, probably my favorite one of your album covers to date.
Darby: Thank you, that means a lot. I really appreciate it.
Robbie: While we’re on the subject of your imagery, over the past couple of years, your look has developed from barefaced(is that the term?) to black triangles above your eye, to full white face added. What led to your decision to start painting up and is there any lore to the evolution of the design?
Darby: When I first started making music, back when I was 15 years old, I used to paint my face or wear masks and shit, that’s always been part of what I’ve wanted to do.
Over the years, I had done various different looks, wearing different masks, wrapping my head in bandages, or painting up with various different designs and I wanted to bring it back for a while now.
Right before I signed with LSP, I was wearing masks again. I would wear a painted up ski mask and occasionally have a custom rubber mask over it, but after talking to the people close to me, we decided that I should be barefaced as an LSP artist, because at the time, there was kinda an influx of theatrical acts and no one wanted me to get lost in the mix.
So when I signed with Chapter 17, I wanted to come out painted up again, but I didn’t want it to look disrespectful to the OGs. So, I took a little bit of time to build it back up. I would paint up at special events, then I started to introduce newer designs on promo posts, then I would do shows with just the black parts of the paint, occasionally posting pics of various different alternate designs of the paint I have now, until it finally felt right to just full time be painted up and that’s how I’m going to stay.
The paint represents my roots. This is how I started and this is how it was supposed to be. It’s part of my identity as an artist, whether or not anyone knew I had been doing it before or not. In all honesty, I always felt out of place doing shows or presenting myself without any type of “gimmick”. It never felt right. This is what is authentically me, and I felt like bringing it back. And really doing this the way I had envisioned has improved everything from my songwriting to my live performances.
The triangles represent birth, life, death, and the full circle that is eternity.
I’ll probably do variations of the paint but that main “Gator Claw”design will always be part of it.
Robbie: Back to the album, one of my favorite tracks on the album is “Randidaphobia”. Where did the concept for that one come from?
Darby: That’s one of my favorite junts on it too! It’s such a weird ass, but truly terrifying concept. It comes from watching a documentary on YouTube about phrogging, which is people living in homes that are already occupied. It’s like final boss level squatters. These motherfuckers will be living in your attic, or in some weird crawl space in your house, while you’re also living there. That shit scares the absolute fuck outta me. Imagine you’re like, taking a shit or fucking your partner and someone’s just like, in your walls watching it all happen? That shit is fucking INSANE! People do it in houses, stores, anywhere they can. But watching it made me think it would be a dope concept for a song, and something interesting to write about.
Robbie: Man, I heard about that years ago and it’s something that crosses my mind at least once a month. Any weird noise or whatever and like...”What if?” starts creeping through my head. If weed is involved? Forget about it. And like...how do these motherfuckers access food and bathrooms and shit? Just wait for you to leave or something? I gotta watch this documentary! I got a lot of questions.
Darby: Exactly! Man, if I’m smoking, I’ll hella bug out on shit like that. Is it a ghost? Is it someone living in the attic? Is it a swamp creature lurking outside waiting for me to slip up?
I’ll try to find the exact one I watched and send you the link, but I’ve watched a few about phrogging now and they all scare the shit outta me. If I found someone living in my house like that I would have no choice but to strangulate the soul out of their body.
Robbie: That or get to know them and get a cut of the rent. Hell, the best roommates are the ones you don’t even realize are home.
Darby: They getting pro rated at that point. PAY UP MAFACKO!
Robbie: You got Klokerk E on this album. How did you link up with those guys and who else in the larger juggalo/underground scene would you like to collaborate with in the future?
Darby: Man, Klokwerk E are super dope homies and they have been killing it the past few years and they’ve been one of, if not the most requested collab I get asked to do.
I’m really weird about doing collabs sometimes. Like, I want it to make sense and I finally had a track that felt like it made sense for both of us to be on. Our track on the record is called “Jezt N Death” which is our take on the classic “Heckles and Macabre” ideology that ICP had on Ringmaster. We all are branches off of the tree the clowns grew, so it’s cool to pay homage as well as add our own twist to something like that. And it just makes so much sense. The Wicked Shit is defined by horror and humor, and I feel like they are the best of the best when it comes to making songs that can get people to laugh, and I think I’m pretty decent at making some horrifying sounds.
I really wanted to do something big for all the ninjas that support what I do, so getting a feature that’s been hella requested, with people I fuck with on a personal level like that just made a lot of sense.
I’m never really too caught up I trying to get big collabs, to be honest. Like, if it happens and it makes sense then hell yeah, but if not it’s all good.
Obviously I would love to do a song with ICP that’s just them and I on a song. I think S.O.N and I would sound good on something together, too. He’s been killin’ it.
Robbie: Hell yeah, as a representative of Legion Realm, I am LEGALLY required to say that I would love to hear you and S.O.N on a track. And obviously, Darby and ICP on a Devereaux beat would go crazy.
Darby: Everything happens in due time, ya feel me?
Robbie: As we wind this down, let’s touch on the upcoming America’s Most Wicked Tour that you’re about to jump on with Ouija Macc. Without spoiling too much, I assume you’ll be playing some of this new Gator Lake material on the tour?
Darby: I’m really excited for this tour. We have a whole month of dropping the wicked shit across the states. And yeah, I will definitely be performing a lot of these nu songs on this tour. I’m helly stoked to perform em live.
Robbie: Hell yeah. This is an exciting time to be a Darby O’Trill fan and a C17 fan in general: new album, big tour. I hope it all goes even better than expected for you guys.
Any final thoughts on Gator Lake or like....anything at all that you wanna let people know before we wrap this up?
Darby: Thank you, dogg. I’m always excited when I’m about to drop a nu album, but this one is hitting different for me. I put in a lot of work on this record and I’m not gonna be a dickhead and shit on everyone else’s hard work and say this is better than anything else that’s dropped or is dropping this year, but I will say that this is the best album I have ever made and it’s going to stand as one of the dopest records to come out this year. Even if nothing else I have done has caught your attention, maybe give this one a chance. It’s a really fresh record created by juggalos for juggalos.
Robbie: I can absolutely agree to that. This is very likely my new favorite Darby O’Trill album. Especially with the CD bonus tracks included (Editor’s Note: GO BUY THE CD).
Thanks again for doing this and have fun on tour! We’ll be following closely.
Darby: Much love to you and everyone reading this! And to everyone that’s been been supporting, from the bottom my wretched rotting heart, thank you and I love you all. Y’all have helped me achieve so much and I’d be nothing without y’all,I hope ya dig GATOR Lake!
Gator Lake, the new album from Darby O’Trill, is available for pre order from Chapter 17 Records right now and available everywhere on October 23rd, 2026.