Stage name and label of David Joshua Hawkins Burkitt — born October 1, 2004 in Belleville, Ontario. Every bar, every beat, every breath of this catalog is credited to God. This is the work of a man walking with the Holy Spirit and calling it out loud.
He picked up music at 9 years old in the family's childhood home in Tillsonburg, where his grandfather sat him down at a digital audio workstation and showed him how sound gets built. Music had been around him his whole life — but it took a harder road to turn him into a writer.
A rough stretch landed him in a group home. It was there, and after, back in his hometown of Petrolia at 15 and 16 years old, that the songwriting turned into freestyling — words showing up faster than he could plan them, which he says is the Spirit moving through him rather than a technique he learned.
He is a follower of the teachings of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, and describes himself as a prophet of God, a spiritual and political leader, and a messenger carrying the Holy Spirit into every session. He gives God the full credit — for the music, and for the gift of making it.
He is 21 now. Still struggling. Still walking with God. Still making it.
Ontario, CanadaHis grandfather introduces him to a DAW in the family's childhood home. The first songs get written before he's out of grade school.
After a difficult stretch that included time in a group home, songwriting turns into freestyling. This is where 9NIKKI9's voice as an artist actually starts.
His debut album drops. Half of it is fully freestyled — first take, no rewrites.
His second album releases exactly one year and change after the first — entirely freestyled, like the rest of his catalog since.
A home studio is built. All production now happens under his own roof — still struggling, still walking with God, still recording.
Half of this album was freestyled straight to the mic. A record about the fight that came before the peace — written by a kid who'd already been through a group home and out the other side.
Fully freestyled from top to bottom, like the rest of the catalog since. The title says what the whole project is: gratitude, out loud, over a beat.
Every record now gets made in-house. Studio 9NIKKI9 is a home studio built from the ground up — writing, freestyling, recording, and mixing all happening under one roof, no outside studio time required.
The gear runs digital through BandLab, paired with analog-to-digital hardware to capture the sound. The rest of it — the part that actually matters to him — he says is powered by the Holy Spirit, Jesus Christ of Nazareth, and the God of Abraham.
All the credit goes to God — the music, the gift, and every word that comes out freestyle.— 9NIKKI9