THE GLOBAL BLUEPRINT — Worldwide

Sonny D504 & NewOrleansOwn D. Strong

Brothers in Creativity, Mentorship and Community Building

In New Orleans, it is difficult to separate music from life.

Here, music can be celebration, memory, protest, business, education, healing and sometimes simply a way for people to find one another. For brothers Derrick Anthony Strong, known as Sonny D504, and David Hercules Strong III, known as NewOrleansOwn D. Strong, that connection has shaped much more than their music careers.

Their story stretches from recording studios and football fields to classrooms, community centers, youth programs, churches, civic organizations and the streets of New Orleans. Along the way, they have worked as artists, mentors, organizers, athletes, coaches, educators, entrepreneurs and storytellers.

Their careers have taken very different turns, but the brothers have continued to come back to the same idea:

People need opportunities to discover what they are capable of becoming.

For Derrick and David, creativity has been one of the ways they create those opportunities.

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Two Brothers, Different Paths, One Creative Foundation

Derrick and David did not follow identical paths.

Derrick's life developed around music, visual art, writing, organizing and community advocacy. David built his own career through music and audio engineering while also spending nearly two decades involved in semi-professional football and youth coaching.

Those differences are part of what makes their partnership interesting.

One brother might be thinking about a song, a story or a community program while the other is thinking about sound engineering, football strategy or the development of a young athlete. Yet all of those experiences have contributed to the same larger story.

Their current work includes Sonny D504, NewOrleansOwn D. Strong, GoRealLA Strong, Gorealla Academy, CityPark and the expanding Tales of Anarchy universe.

But the story behind those names began long before the current catalog.

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Derrick Anthony Strong: Sonny D504

Derrick Strong's identity as Sonny D504 grew out of New Orleans culture and independent music.

In 2005, as a teen, Derrick would practice martial arts with his close friends and co-founding members of Gorealla Academy, Charles Burton, Robert Burton, and later recruiting Earl Wheeler, and Lionel Robertson into the music group. They began recording their first mixtapes in David's homemade studio, Made it thru the Streets and the Flood Vol 1., Animal Planet and Gorealla or Go Home Vol 1.

However, in 2010, tragedy struck as Earl was shot and killed in a random attack on Black Friday. This shook the foundation of Gorealla Academy and caused a ripple effect throughout the group.

Since then, the group no longer focused on being famous, instead choosing to zero in on city reform and conflict resolution through direct musical integration, a deterrent of gun violence.

For GoRealLA Ent., Music was never simply about recording a track and putting it online. Derrick became interested in the environment surrounding the music—the artists, audiences, venues, relationships and opportunities that allowed a creative community to survive, even spearheading several initiatives through his own personal funding.

That thinking eventually became part of the GoRealLA identity.

The philosophy was straightforward: artists should be authentic, develop their own voices and create opportunities for one another.

That spirit eventually became associated with the phrase:

“Gorealla or go home.”

For Derrick, the idea was bigger than a slogan. It reflected a belief that artists should bring their real experiences into their work and take responsibility for helping build the culture around them.

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Rap vs. Poetry: Building a Stage for Other Voices

One of the clearest examples of that philosophy was Rap vs. Poetry, a recurring New Orleans showcase that brought rappers, poets, musicians and spoken-word performers together.

A 2016 report by The Lens documented the weekly event at the Healing Center on St. Claude Avenue. Established artists and people just beginning to find their voices could share the same space.

That mattered.

For someone trying to become an artist, getting the first opportunity to stand in front of an audience can be just as important as having a finished song.

Rap vs. Poetry gave people that opportunity.

Derrick also saw the event as something more than a showcase. He viewed hip-hop and poetry as tools that could bring people together and create conversations around peace, unity and community.

David was part of that environment too.

The brothers were therefore building together long before their current projects carried recognizable names. They were already learning what happens when people are given a place to create.

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Icons for Peace

Derrick's community work eventually expanded beyond music events.

Through Icons for Peace, music, poetry, art and civic engagement became part of a larger effort to encourage young people to find constructive alternatives to violence and to become more involved in their communities.

His work brought him into contact with other community organizations and civic leaders, including people associated with the Isaiah Institute of New Orleans, Justice and Beyond, and the Black Business Collaborative.

This part of Derrick's story is important because it shows that his interest in community work did not suddenly appear after his music career.

The two developed together.

Music gave him a platform.

Community organizing gave him another way to use it.

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The Road Wasn't Straight

Derrick's story also includes setbacks that cannot simply be edited out of a biography.

Before becoming a teaching artist, organizer and advocate, he attended Delgado Community College and later graduated from Louisiana Technical College, developing skills that eventually led to his work as a licensed carpenter.

He worked in the construction trades, including work connected to homes affected by Hurricane Katrina and flooding.

His life also took a much harder turn.

Derrick spent approximately 18 months going back and forth to Orleans Parish Prison before eventually being released on probation.

That period became part of the larger story of his life—not because it defines him, but because it became something he had to move through.

His experiences with incarceration, poverty, violence and the criminal-justice system later informed his artwork, writing and community advocacy.

For Derrick, those experiences became reasons to talk more openly about what happens to people when opportunity disappears.

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When Art Became a Record of Reality

Derrick's visual art has often carried the same concerns as his music.

His drawings and writing have documented difficult experiences and conditions that he encountered, including during his time connected to Orleans Parish Prison.

That work helped bring another dimension to his creative identity.

He wasn't making art simply because he wanted something attractive to hang on a wall.

Sometimes he was documenting what he had seen.

Sometimes he was trying to make people pay attention.

Sometimes the artwork became a way of saying something that was difficult to explain in conversation.

For Derrick, art could be evidence, expression and communication at the same time.

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Surviving Violence Changed the Conversation

In 2016, Derrick survived being shot in New Orleans.

The shooting became another major turning point.

His recovery brought physical, financial and emotional challenges, but it also pushed him further into conversations about violence, survival and what communities can do to prevent other people from experiencing the same things.

His story was documented by outlets including VICE, The Trace, The Lens and WWNO.

But one of the most revealing parts of that period was what Derrick did afterward.

He kept showing up.

He continued making music.

He continued writing.

He continued speaking about peace.

And he continued working with young people.

At one point, WWNO documented Derrick reading to children at the Gentilly Community Center of Hope.

That image captures something important about his story.

Survival, for him, did not become the end of the story.

It became part of the reason to keep working.

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Faith, Service and Civic Engagement

Derrick's life has also moved through spiritual and civic spaces.

He later became a priest in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, adding another dimension to his understanding of service and responsibility.

He has also been involved with organizations and community networks including Justice and Beyond, KIPP Charter Schools, Excite Allstars INC., and the New Orleans International Vodou Committee.

These may seem like very different worlds from hip-hop.

For Derrick, however, they are connected by people.

Music brings people together.

Faith brings people together.

Civic work brings people together.

Community organizing brings people together.

The common thread is the relationship between people and the responsibility they have toward one another.

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From Artist to Teaching Artist

That philosophy eventually found another home in education.

Derrick's work as a teaching artist and certified mental-health and crisis-intervention paraprofessional has allowed him to work directly with young people through Young Audiences Charter Schools (YACS) and Young Artists Leading Artists (YALA).

This is a natural extension of what he had already been doing.

The difference is that the classroom provides another kind of stage.

Instead of performing for an audience, the teaching artist helps students participate.

Instead of simply telling young people what they should become, the mentor helps them experiment, make mistakes, discover interests and develop confidence.

The goal isn't to produce another Derrick Strong.

It is to help a young person discover who they are.

That distinction matters.

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David Hercules Strong III: NewOrleansOwn D. Strong

While Derrick's path moved through art, organizing and advocacy, David developed a different combination of skills.

Known professionally as NewOrleansOwn D. Strong, David has built his identity around music, audio production, athletics, coaching and professional development.

He graduated from Full Sail University, where he studied audio engineering.

That technical background gave him another perspective on the brothers' music.

Derrick might approach a project from the standpoint of an artist, writer or storyteller.

David can approach it from the standpoint of someone who understands the mechanics of recording and sound.

That combination has become useful throughout their collaborative work.

David has also worked as a certified medical insurance agent, demonstrating that his professional life has never been limited to entertainment.

His career reflects a willingness to develop skills in different fields while continuing to remain connected to music and community.

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David and the Football Field

If Derrick found one of his strongest forms of expression through art, David found another through football. Starting as a young boy playing park ball for Milne Boy's Home to high-school varsity at McDonough 35 Sr. High School, David navigated New Orleans through a facemask.

From 2005 through 2022, David played semi-professional football for teams including college football at Southeastern University, travel football with New Orleans Pitbulls, the New Orleans Hurricanes and the New Orleans Jaguars.

But playing was only one side of his involvement.

At the same time, David coached youth football.

That meant learning how to be both a competitor and a coach.

He experienced the pressure of being the person on the field responsible for his own performance, while also learning what it meant to stand on the sideline and help someone younger develop.

David won championships as both a player and a coach.

That achievement says something about his approach to athletics.

Winning requires preparation, discipline and teamwork.

Coaching requires patience.

You have to recognize that every player develops differently. You have to know when to push someone, when to correct them and when to encourage them.

Those lessons don't disappear when the game ends.

They follow you into life.

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Football Became Another Form of Mentorship

David's youth coaching and Derrick's work with young people may look different on the surface.

One happens on a football field.

The other might happen in a classroom, studio or arts program.

But the underlying relationship is similar.

A young person needs somebody willing to show up.

Somebody willing to teach.

Somebody willing to correct mistakes without making the person feel like the mistake defines them.

Somebody willing to say, in one form or another:

Keep going. You can get better.

That is mentorship.

And both brothers have experienced it from opposite sides—as people who were taught and as adults who now teach others.

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Music Became the Meeting Point

Eventually, all of these different experiences came back together through music.

Sonny D504 represents Derrick's individual artistic identity.

NewOrleansOwn D. Strong represents David's.

GoRealLA Strong grew into a broader platform for their music, events, collaborations and cultural work.

And CityPark took the collaborative idea even further.

Rather than limiting the project to the two brothers, CityPark brings together multiple artists, including Sonny D504, NewOrleansOwn D. Strong, Charlie Paycheck, Tatum Robertson, Barrett Province and LoLo.

That matters because collaboration has been part of the brothers' story from the beginning.

Rap vs. Poetry was collaborative.

Community organizing was collaborative.

Football was collaborative.

Mentorship is collaborative.

CityPark simply gives that philosophy another musical form.

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CityPark: More Than Two Brothers Making Music

CityPark represents a shift from individual artistry toward a larger group sound.

Different artists bring different backgrounds, personalities and musical instincts into the project.

That makes the project feel less like a single artist's statement and more like a conversation.

And that is very much in keeping with New Orleans.

The city's musical history has always been built through exchange—one musician influencing another, different styles meeting in the same neighborhood, younger artists learning from older ones and musicians borrowing ideas and turning them into something new.

CityPark fits into that tradition while giving the brothers another vehicle for their own creative direction.

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GoRealLA Strong and the Wider World

The brothers' music is no longer limited to the people who happen to walk into a New Orleans venue.

Digital distribution has allowed GoRealLA Strong's music to travel far beyond Louisiana, reaching listeners across the United States and internationally.

Their catalog has been distributed through major platforms and independent music services, giving listeners around the world access to their work.

That global reach is significant, but the foundation remains local.

The music travels because it began somewhere.

And for the Strong brothers, that somewhere is New Orleans.

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Tales of Anarchy: When Music Became a Universe

Then there is Tales of Anarchy.

The project takes the brothers' creative relationship into another territory entirely.

What began as storytelling and visual art has grown into an expansive fictional universe involving graphic novels, animation, characters, music and world-building.

Derrick serves as the central creative force behind the project, while David contributes to the broader creative process.

The project demonstrates something that has become increasingly obvious throughout their careers:

The brothers don't like staying inside one box.

A song can become a story.

A story can become a drawing.

A drawing can become a character.

A character can become part of a graphic novel.

A graphic novel can become animation.

And all of it can eventually connect back to music.

That is the world they have been building.

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Creativity as a Form of Community

When the brothers' careers are viewed separately, the pieces can seem unrelated.

Carpentry.

Hip-hop.

Audio engineering.

Football.

Coaching.

Education.

Faith.

Community organizing.

Visual art.

Animation.

Insurance.

Writing.

Mentorship.

But when viewed together, a pattern emerges.

Both brothers have repeatedly learned something and then found a way to pass that knowledge forward.

David learned football and eventually coached younger players.

He studied audio engineering and brought those skills into music.

Derrick learned trades, art, writing, organizing and performance, then carried those experiences into teaching and mentorship.

Neither brother's story is simply about personal achievement.

It is also about what happens when experience is shared.

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The Global Blueprint Starts at Home

There is an interesting contradiction at the center of the Strong brothers' work.

Their music is becoming increasingly global, but their message remains deeply connected to home.

The point of reaching another country isn't to leave New Orleans behind.

It is to carry something from New Orleans with you.

The rhythm.

The stories.

The struggles.

The humor.

The creativity.

The resilience.

The belief that people can make something out of circumstances that were never designed to make things easy.

That is why GoRealLA Strong and CityPark matter beyond the music itself.

They are part of a larger story about what independent artists can build when they refuse to separate their creative lives from their communities.

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A Legacy Measured in People

There are obvious ways to measure a music career.

Songs released.

Albums recorded.

Shows performed.

Streams accumulated.

Collaborations completed.

But those numbers only tell part of the story.

There is another way to measure a life in the arts.

Who got their first opportunity because you opened a door?

Who gained confidence because you took the time to teach them?

Who learned discipline on a football field?

Who discovered they could make art?

Who found another way to think about their circumstances?

Who decided not to give up?

Those questions are harder to put on a résumé.

They may also be more important.

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Brothers Still Building

Derrick Anthony Strong and David Hercules Strong III have taken very different roads to arrive at the same place.

Derrick's road has passed through carpentry, incarceration, music, visual art, recovery, faith, civic engagement, teaching and community advocacy.

David's has passed through audio engineering, insurance, semi-professional football, coaching, championships, music and youth development.

Their shared road runs through New Orleans.

It runs through GoRealLA Strong.

It runs through music.

It runs through mentorship.

And it continues through CityPark and Tales of Anarchy.

Their story is not really about two brothers who became artists.

It is about two brothers who kept finding new ways to use what they learned.

Sometimes that meant making music.

Sometimes it meant coaching a child.

Sometimes it meant standing in a classroom.

Sometimes it meant organizing an event.

Sometimes it meant creating a fictional world.

And sometimes it simply meant showing up when somebody else needed an example.

That may be the most human part of their story.

They are still building.

And they are still learning.

But they are also trying to leave something behind that other people can build upon.

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Create. Collaborate. Teach. Organize. Build.

That phrase captures much of what Derrick and David Strong have spent years doing.

Not perfectly.

Not without setbacks.

Not without detours.

But consistently.

From New Orleans music to youth football, from Rap vs. Poetry to teaching artists, from Gorealla Academy to Icons for Peace to Gorealla Strong to CityPark, from community organizing to Tales of Anarchy, from football, martial arts, track and archery, their work continues to move between art and everyday life.

And perhaps that is the real lesson of their journey:

A creative life does not have to be confined to one profession.

An artist can be a mentor.

A football player can become a coach.

A musician can become an organizer.

A carpenter can become a teacher.

A survivor can become an advocate.

A brother can become a collaborator.

And a local story can travel around the world without losing the place where it began.

For Derrick Anthony Strong and David Hercules Strong III, that place is New Orleans.

And the story is still being written.