Amorphous is the hottest DJ on the internet right now — and he’s from Montco
His latest mashup has catapulted his moniker, Amorphous, into the national spotlight and earned him a collaboration with Fat Joe and DJ Khaled.
Jimir Reece Davis showed his predilection for music very early. When he was 4, he performed beatboxing sets for his family and rapped the lyrics to Jay-Z’s “Hard Knock Life” with the brim of his fitted cap facing backwards.
At the Montgomery County home where he grew up, there was a song for every occasion. They cooked to James Brown and Anita Baker. They cleaned to Marvin Gaye and danced to Kirk Franklin and Mary Mary.
Davis built on this foundation and is now one of the internet’s most popular DJs. He’s released several viral projects including an Aaliyah documentary and a mash-up album of Beyoncé and Jay-Z’s hits.
And his mix of Luther Vandross’ “Never Too Much” and Rihanna’s “Kiss It Better” has catapulted his moniker, Amorphous, into the national spotlight. He’s caught the attention of Issa Rae, Jazmine Sullivan, Oprah Winfrey, LL Cool J, John Legend, Chloe x Halle, MC Hammer, and other A-listers.
The song, renamed “Sunshine (The Light),” was picked up by Fat Joe and DJ Khaled, who released it as a single last month. The video for the track has amassed nearly seven million views on YouTube. The song debuted on the Billboard charts with three placements, most notably as number 10 on Rap Digital Song Sales.
“Virality doesn’t always turn into opportunity,” Davis, 23, said. “I’ve definitely had my share of viral moments but it wasn’t like money was raining down and I went from not being able to afford a cheeseburger to being able to buy a house with my mom. It really wasn’t until the pandemic when I started putting myself out there back to back to back.”
Davis grew up in Huntingdon Valley. He attended Abington Friends School and Lower Moreland High School. He graduated from Full Sail University in Orlando with a film degree in 2018. He moved to Los Angeles for a short time before returning to Orlando, where he currently lives.
The Inquirer talked to Davis about his family’s relationship to music, hardships he’s overcome, and how Fat Joe FaceTimed him from the studio.
This interview has been condensed and edited.
How did you become a DJ?
How I got into DJing started because I got into producing. So production was always a part of my identity.
I first started producing on Timbaland’s PSP game called Beaterator. That’s when I really got into it. I begged my dad to get me a production suite called Ableton, which is not cheap. So he got it for me for my birthday. I learned that suite on my own. I didn’t look at any tutorials because I was hardheaded as a kid. I wanted to do it on my own. Learning how to produce from scratch led me into making mixes just out of boredom. I never, until recently, looked at myself as a DJ because I look at DJing as a legitimate art: the art of blending, the art of mash-ups.
Let’s talk about your recent collaboration with Fat Joe and DJ Khaled.
That was right around the time Oprah had reached out. My Instagram was blowing up as well, so I had changed the account to a business profile to make it easier to see who was messaging me. I never check my requests because it was probably going to be some random crazy people. But for some reason, I decided to check it. The first person I see is Fat Joe. He was like, “Bro, I’m trying to reach out to you ASAP, what’s your number?” I messaged him my number and he FaceTimed me immediately.
He was just like, “You’re a genius, you’re a young king, you’re a legend. That Rihanna and that Luther; Luther is my favorite artist of all time, and you know I love RiRi. Dre from Cool & Dre sent me that video of you jamming and I just lost my mind. You really just inspired me. I’m in the studio right now. I just finished the record to your mash-up and Khaled’s right here.” So he flips the camera around and DJ Khaled was there. So they played me the track.
Everyone was just so willing to come together to make it work, figure it out, and put it out. It was just a mash-up I made in my bedroom and it just turned into an official track.
I read that you went through a difficult time in Los Angeles.
I should preface that by saying there were people that would have 100% helped me. It’s just a lesson to not be afraid to ask for help. I was living in a horrible situation out in LA. I was getting kicked out as I found out my mom was on life support. So I asked for a couple of more days to get my life together, but [the person that managed the property] was like, “Nope, you gotta give me the keys.”
I ended up staying with an incredible friend of mine, but I also had to get out of there. I was also not up-front about what the situation was. I didn’t want to be a burden to anyone. I just ended up sleeping in my car for like a day or two. It was one of the most scariest experiences.
When my mom woke up from being on life support, she found out what was going on and she sent me all the money she had. It wasn’t much but it was all that she had, but I wanted to go back home to Orlando. As much as it hurt to leave, I didn’t look at it like it was a failed dream. I looked at it as an opportunity to go home and regroup. I didn’t even have a map, I just knew where the highway was and I knew to head east. I drove 47 hours from LA to Florida.
What are you working on now?
My own album. There’s going to be stuff coming very, very soon. And also there’s some stuff happening behind the scenes to help out and use my platform for amazing causes. There’s something coming up involving social justice reform. There are just so many things I want to talk about. Colorism. The LGBTQ community that I’m a part of. I apologize for having to be so vague, but the element of surprise is a beautiful thing. I’m just so grateful for everyone’s support. It means the world to me.
Tell me about one of your favorite memories of family and music.
We used to have a yacht back in the day that my dad bought. He worked really hard for that boat. So when we would take our trips, he would be the captain of the ship. We would take it from Maryland to Florida, and on those trips, there was music blasting the entire time. Those are some of my earliest memories.
One specific memory that I have was when we were on that boat, it was late at night and we were in the middle of the ocean. Everyone else was downstairs just relaxing. I would always be the kid that wanted to be with my dad and see where we were going and learn about all the controls. I remember one night he was playing “Dance with My Father” by Luther Vandross. And what did we end up doing? I ended up dancing with my dad on the top of the boat, and it’s something that I will never, ever, ever, ever, forget.