DNA and Christina, an award-winning, acclaimed poet who holds five national slam poetry titles, shared stories and songs that were underscored by the intimacy of the event, which included DJ Malc G on beats and Siah Rain'n and Luke William on sound. Christina kicked off the show with a cover of "Back to Black" — and we have to say, it could be considered better than Amy Winehouse's original. That was followed by "411," in which DNA's unparalleled rhymes are on full display, musing on budding love to its full flourish.
The song "21 Questions," meanwhile, plays off the ice-breaker game, with endearing lyrics that convey those butterfly moments when you're getting to know someone, while "Gin & Tonic" was inspired by a photo of Christina's mother enjoying the drink: "This song sounds like something I'd imagine her listening to in that photo," she explained.
While the couple's award-winning album LAWLESS: A Love Story was Christina's first big musical project, her vocals are pro — crystal-clear and mellifluous, like spectrums bursting from a finely cut diamond and smoke rising from ice. We also got to hear some of her spoken word in the poignant song "Motherless Child." That track sees DNA at his most vulnerable, reflecting on how his early years in foster care and being adopted affected him and his faith, while Christina envelopes a mother's perspective: "Sometimes, our mothers don't know what to do / Sometimes our mothers are praying to a God who is busy."
They closed out with "Big Wins," off of their award-winning album LAWLESS: A Love Story — a celebration of their mutual appreciation, motivation and true, genuine love. Nothing beats DNA's rhymes and verses, encased in an unmatched flow that brings even more significance to their meanings. Just check out the video of the performance below:
After the show, I sat down with the artists for a Q&A, during which our audience learned more about the couple, who met via Twitter (now X) during the pandemic. "Our relationship is really epistolary," Christina told us, explaining that they lived just blocks away and began exchanging letters during quarantine. That was also how her own grandparents got to know each other, she told us, and soon enough, she and DNA met and became inseparable.
Their connection is authentically displayed in the collaborative album, which they noted they wrote and recorded within a matter of two weeks. Unsurprising, as DNA also noted that Christina composed and wrote an entire song on the drive from Aurora to Fort Collins, when they performed at FoCoMX. And yes, she performed the piece just hours later. We got to hear that one, titled "Wilma Flintstone," at the members show, too — a tune that reminisces on growing up in the '80s, when commercials would be broadcast at 10 p.m. asking parents if they knew where their children were, and cartoons like The Jetsons occupied imaginations with flying cars. DNA told us that they just recorded the song; be sure to follow both Dominique Christina and DNA Picasso on social media to stay tuned for the release.
During the Q&A, DNA also spoke about the local scene and the work he is doing to shine light on it through the Colorado Music Industry Alliance, a nonprofit he founded last year that hosts networking mixers and is an incredible resource for local artists and music-industry workers. With a mission to amplify and platform the state's talent, it only makes sense that DNA recently received the MSU New Wave Leadership Award from the Colorado Business Committee for the Arts.
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