An NFL star finds confidence in making music

SANTA MONICA, California – About 30 minutes into Darren Waller’s recording session, a music producer asked him to make a small adjustment.

Waller, the Pro Bowl tight end for whom the Giants traded in March, was stationed at Interscope Records’ sprawling headquarters to finish two songs he made. He had only two hours left before his flight to Las Vegas, where his new wife, Kelsey Plum, was waiting.

As Waller’s song “Step” blared, he leaned into the mic and let out a “skrrt” – a drawn-out ad-lib that a local talent manager asked him to shorten and tighten. Within two minutes, Waller had found the solution, and the four music professionals in the room smiled and nodded to the beat Waller had produced.

A great-grandson of Thomas Waller, the swing pianist and composer known as Fats, his own music—primarily hip-hop songs that he raps, produces, and writes—has become more than just an escape from the football field as of late.

He had released four albums, recorded at home using only a computer, microphone and speakers before sending the tracks to a technician in Georgia. But in March, just a week after the Raiders traded him, Waller and 21 other NFL players attended a league-sponsored program to learn more about the music business by visiting Interscope, the record label that supported the careers of Tupac and Dr. Dre launched.

There, the players met with label executives, learned about revenue and marketing, and toured the studios. David Nieman, Interscope’s senior vice president of sports and gaming, listened to “Step” for the first time that day and was impressed with Waller’s presentation and wit.

“You could tell he understood and he took music seriously,” Neiman said in an interview. “You could tell he wasn’t just talking about it.”

Nieman invited Waller to fine-tune “Step” and another track, “Sweep,” at the label, which two years ago oversaw an 11-song soundtrack created exclusively for the hit Madden NFL video game. For Madden 24, due out in August, Nieman hoped to create a similar shorter album – known as an “extended play” – that would feature as many as six songs created by active NFL players; the game has typically only used songs from traditional artists.

“It’s cool to give players some representation,” Waller said. “We take this stuff seriously and we can make good music, so I’m thrilled to be one of the first people to put a stop to that.”

Waller, 30, a seven-year NFL veteran whose 6-foot-6 frame and athleticism make him a versatile receiving threat, has always used music as a pastime. He played the piano and was a member of his high school band while growing up in Georgia. But Waller’s passion for music became a necessary outlet when his life came to a crossroads. After the Baltimore Ravens selected Waller in the sixth round of the 2015 NFL Draft, he repeatedly failed league-mandated drug tests.

He said he began abusing painkillers in high school, and the addiction progressed to alcohol, marijuana and other drugs. After his second violation of the league’s substance abuse policy, the NFL suspended Waller for the entire 2017 season. In August 2017, he said, he nearly died after overdosing on fentanyl.

Waller began a 30-day rehabilitation program in Camden, Maine, and music became a central part of his recovery process. While there, juggling consulting meetings, he wrote lyrics in his spare time.

“That was probably the best means of expression I had“ Waller said. “Music for me was a way to bring things to life almost before they even happened and to build trust.”

After rehab, Waller briefly lived with his parents, Charlena and Dorian Waller, and worked at a grocery store. His father heard him making beats and swelled with pride. “I was over the moon about that because that’s part of my family’s heritage, and to see that in my son was really amazing,” said Dorian Waller.

Later in 2017, Darren Waller released his debut album, “Better bell wall”, 12 songs he rapped with lyrics about his life. In one of his songs, “Made Of,” he rapped, “I had to let go of my pride, reach down to see what I was afraid of, because if I had never gone to war with myself I would never have seen what I was made of.

After the NFL recovered Waller, he signed with the Raiders in November 2018 and was named to the Pro Bowl in the 2020 season after posting 1,196 receiving yards and nine touchdowns. He also broke the Raiders franchise record for receptions (107).

In one of the first major signings under General Manager Dave Ziegler and Coach Josh McDaniels, the Raiders signed Waller to a three-year contract extension with $22 million in guaranteed money in September 2022, making him one of the highest-paid tight ends in the league used to be.

But Waller missed eight games last season due to a hamstring injury. In his spare time, he began dating Plum, a star player for the WNBA’s Las Vegas Aces, shortly after meeting her while recording a podcast last April. He proposed to her in October during a farewell week for the Raiders, with Waller later telling McDaniels and Ziegler that the couple kept their impending nuptials confidential.

Before Waller and Plum could unveil their march wedding on Instagram, Ziegler and McDaniels told reporters about the upcoming nuptials during an off-the-record session at the NFL scouting combination. Waller said a public relations officer for his foundation told him that a Las Vegas Review Journal The reporter asked about the couple’s plans and their first public announcement a few days before the wedding.

“It was frustrating because you share information with people and you hope they keep it private, but I don’t think there was malice behind it,” Waller said.

Less than two weeks later — a day after the newlyweds returned from their honeymoon — Ziegler called to tell Waller that he had been traded to the Giants in exchange for a third-round draft pick. The move surprised Waller, he said, as he was preparing for off-season training. But with the Giants, he immediately becomes a top target for quarterback Daniel Jones, whose contract the team signed in March.

In April, Waller spent two days in a rented house near Scottsdale, Arizona, with the Giants offensive players, a trip Jones organized that allowed Waller to train and dine with his new teammates.

“I just met these guys, but already it seems like we have great chemistry, and things like that are important,” Waller said.

Organized team activities and mini camping in New Jersey keep Waller away from Plum, who still lives in Las Vegas. For now, Waller said he plans to spend the weekend with Plum and she will join him in New Jersey when her season ends.

While the WNBA regular season runs from May to September and the NFL season begins on September 7, their cross-country runs could continue until the end of October as the Aces battle for a second straight championship.

As Waller’s day at the studio drew to a close, he left in a car bound for Los Angeles International Airport for the short flight to Las Vegas, where he and Plum planned to attend a boxing match the next day.

“I once heard a friend say that ‘blessings can pile up so high that they start to look like problems,'” Waller said. “All things in my life right now are blessings, but there are times when it’s hard because there’s always something to do and little rest, but it’s important to keep the right perspective.”