Features

Feature: IzyBeats On Producing Jorja Smith’s “Be Honest” and Koffee’s “Toast” + New Music

Andron Cross, commonly known as IzyBeats, is a Grammy-winning music producer, songwriter and artist. The Jamaican hit maker is renowned for his work with international acts including Koffee, Jorja Smith, Burna Boy, Masego, Vybz Kartel, Alicia Keys and more. His infectious tagline, “Yo Izy, Are You Kidding Me?!” can be heard at the top of dancehall, R&B, afrobeats, hip-hop, reggae and reggaeton hits across the world, including on the 2018 breakout hits “Toast” and “W” from Koffee’s Grammy award-winning debut EP, Rapture.

Following the success of “Toast,” IzyBeats went on to create the chart-topping single “Be Honest” alongside Jorja Smith and Burna Boy in 2019. His most recent Grammy nod was for his work on Masego’s Studying Abroad: Extended Stay, which was recognized in the Best Progressive R&B Album category. His new first single as an artist, “Up Deh” featuring Konshens debuted today (11/11).

Terzel Ron caught up with IzyBeats to discuss his forthcoming debut project, Edgehill, working with the biggest artists in the world, and transitioning from working 9-5 jobs to winning Grammys.

The first thing I have to say is, I see the plaques on the wall, man. Congratulations! Your hard work is paying off every single day, and I love what I’m seeing in the back. You want to just walk me through some of those real quick?

Appreciate that, man. It was a Billboard number one.  That’s the Koffee album, the Rapture EP. The other one is Jorja Smith. Platinum. I went platinum with Jorja and Burna’s song, “Be Honest.” And then that one over there is “Toast” by Koffee.

“Toast” was Koffee’s breakthrough single, right? Was that the song that changed everything?

Yes, definitely. Absolutely. That was the one that changed the game and opened the gate. A lot of blessings.

Wow. What was life like before that?

Regular lifestyle, nine to five, but still putting in the extra, extra hours afterwards. You know, from five to five in the morning again, you know what I’m saying?   That’s how I was doing it. For real? For real. Like going to work at 09:00 a.m.. after reaching back from the studio at 05:00 a.m. Putting in time.

Tell me about that nine to five. What was the job?  

 Man, I had so many jobs, man. I was a real Jamaican! I used to work at a Chinese restaurant. And then the last job before the song took off, I was working at my mom’s office.  She’s a medical physician. So I was working at her private practice, and that’s how I was doing her billing for her.

Wow. Shout out to mom. Shout out to mom, man.

She was like, ‘you know what? You need to put more time into the music.’  She was like, ‘working with me is a little easier. So I’m going to give you a little bit more time.’ I’m going to bust your ass, but when you need to leave the bold decisions, I’m going to let you go.

You went from helping mom with billing to, ‘mom, don’t worry – I got all the bills.’  What’s that feeling like?

That’s the ultimate goal. Once [family] is out the way and they’re good, you can worry about everybody else around you. I mean, I’ve helped everybody else around me even before that, so it’s just something natural, you know what I mean?  

Do you remember what that feeling was when you were able to say, mom, we made it. We did it. There’s no need to work?

Absolutely. I mean, my mom still does work because she’s a doctor. She’s a physician. She has her practice, which she loves doing – taking care of patients, that’s her passion. So it was more so her saying, ‘go take care of your business now. Go take care of your business. Go handle that right now. This is the once in a lifetime opportunity.’ You know what I mean?

Talk to me about the family part of your music career, because when you have a dream, it’s your dream. Your family members may not get it, your friends may not get it. But what was it when you initially realized that you wanted to do this with your career? Was your family receptive to that?

For the most part, both sides – my dad, when he was still here, and my mom, everybody around me always knew it was going to happen. They just didn’t know when. Because of the dedication and the consistency I had when it came to music, everybody around me was like, just waiting for the time for something to kick off.  

They believed in you because they saw your work ethic.

Exactly. I recommend that for anybody pursuing whatever, you should always just be dedicated to it.  Be dedicated and consistent because, you know, you’ve got to let people see how serious you are.

I like to go back to the beginning when I interview, because I just figured there’s so many people who want to be artists. There’s so many people who want to be producers who look up to you. They have you as a poster on their walls and you may not even know it.

I wouldn’t even know. I don’t even see myself like that, honestly. I feel like the same guy to the corner store and go grab, like, a bottle of water. The regular dude, you know what I’m saying?  

That’s why I like to always go back and see what the upgrade was like. Maybe the kids who idolize you are like 15, 16 right now. At what age did you know that this is what you wanted to do with your life?  

Probably like 11, 12. I was always listening to music, but mainly I was listening to the instrumentals. I was trying to listen to the music, but I listened to the beat in the background. I always wanted to figure out, ‘how did they do that?’ It was just a natural curiosity. I would listen to Timbaland, and I was always studying. Like, ‘how did you incorporate a baby’s voice into the beat with Aaliyah? How did you put that baby sound in there?’ You know what I’m saying? How did he make it twist? Like, it was just amazing to me. I used to study instrumentals. That was my thing. I was listening to beats all night, listening to drums and listening to how the producers put stuff together.

Was Timbaland your main inspiration?

Growing up in Jamaica, when Timbaland was dominating, I was 11, 12 years old. He was like the highest level American producer for sure.  

Were you looking at any Jamaican producers?

Snow Cone was one of the dopest. Snow Cone and Sly & Robbie were some legendary dance producers.  I used to look up to them War 21 super. Like, them guys were crazy with drones and go crazy, that stuff they were doing.

At what age did you start to teach yourself production of the music?

I got my first computer in Jamaica, and then I came to Miami on a holiday trip after school. And that’s when my homeboy Desi told me there’s a program called Fruity Loops. I was like, ‘what the hell is that?’   And he showed it to me. And he opened it up. He started doing drums there. I was like, ‘oh, this is what they use.’ And that’s when I started, you know, digging deep to try to figure out how I can get this program.  And I got it, and I went back to Jamaica. When I put it on my own PC, I installed it. And I was just messing around with it, man. I just started teaching myself.

So you had the new program. Were you a kid in a candy store at that point?

I was a kid in a candy store. I didn’t know what the hell I was doing. I was just pressing everything and see what everything does. If it was a button that was going to blow up the whole house, I’m still going to end up pressing it because I wanted to know what it all did. Everything in the program, I was just pressing just to try. And that’s how I figured it out, because YouTube wasn’t around. YouTube was there, but it wasn’t something where you could find anything on it. You know what I mean? Tutorials or nothing like that.

So at this point, you’re hammering away at this new software, Fruity Loops and having fun making beats. But at what point did you ever start to believe, ‘hey, one day I want to win a Grammy. One day I want to work with the biggest artists in the world.’

You know what’s crazy? I never had the Grammys on my mind.  I was never looking forward to winning Grammys or something like that. My thing was, I want to know how they did this. I want to know how Timberland did that. That’s all I care about. How did they do it?  How do they make it sound this way? But I wasn’t really looking at it like, ‘oh, man. From this. I want to be rich, I want to have a Grammy.’ I was just loving the music.   I was just loving the sound. And that was it for wow, you know? And it just led to me just wanting to do music forever.

How many years was that when you first started to take music very seriously to when you got your first big placement?  

I started working on music very early. From when I was like 14, 15 is when I really was just going crazy. Like, I really want to do this. And I started making my brother sing when he was, when he was like eleven, I was twelve.  That was the only artist I could use. I didn’t know if he could sing yet. We were just like, let’s try it.   And he just started singing, and I was just making beats and I was just recording him, and that was me practicing. So I would say 15 to probably 20. I was taking it super seriously, trying to get on. And then my brother, I told you that was singing. He started singing and took music seriously too, which is dancing. We were going and he produced everything.  From that time until about late 2018 is when “Toast” took off. So just do the math. That’s when I really got on, man. But before that, we were releasing our own big stage, releasing our own albums, just doing that on our own.  

Back when you was Yaddman Izzy, huh?

Yes! Exactly. And then when “Toast” took off in 2018, that’s when everything took a heavy run. It was crazy.  

Tell me about your new single with Konshens, “Up Deh.” How did that record come about?

We would always see each other. Like every now and then I see him say ‘let’s link,’ you know? But we officially said, ‘alright, let’s do it.’ We booked a studio in Miami, more Play Studio, which is in the Winwood area. And we booked that studio and we just linked up on it. I started making a beat from nowhere, like from zero.   And then from there we just came up with the idea of and actually documented the whole session.

Those videos could be history one day.  

I documented most of the sessions that I had for the album that I did. Right now I’m actually working on a YouTube concept. It’s called “beats on a boat.” I’m just doing sessions on a boat. I invite other producers, other artists, other writers, and they come and we just make records.  

You’re dropping your debut album early next year. Why now?

I would say early this year, is when I started thinking like, I need to do this before I get to the point where I’m going to look back and say, ‘damn, I should have tried, I should have done more.’  I don’t want to live with that regret. And then my manager started finding opportunities or situations where I could get certain opportunities, and we started working from there. I didn’t even know that I already had the album done, had so many records done with so many people sitting there, just sitting there, and then the computer waiting. I already had the whole album on my computer.  Now is the time because I’ve successfully been producing from early 2019 to now, and I feel like over the years of just being in the room, networking, building relationships in the business, and meeting up with labels, knowing execs, knowing A&R’s everybody I need, getting all the plugs I need, I have all the connects.  When you get all the connections and everything that you want, you got to put them together and make it happen. You only get one chance to do certain things. And I feel like now is the time because I have everything behind that I need to make it happen.  I have all the pieces of the puzzle that’s required, so why not?  

There’s a lot of artists that started as producers and then became legends by being artists. We can go from Kanye, we could go to The Dream, we could go to Ne-yo.

Yeah, I wanted to do it, man, because over the years, I’ve been developing everybody else, giving everybody else a soft, showing them the way, like, helping them with their project.  

Over the years, everybody keep telling me, ‘you’re better than so many people.’ I keep hearing that. I was like, ‘you know what? Let me try this.’ Ever since “Toast,” I’m in more rooms. I tend to control the room now. And I just kept getting better at it.

Your debut project, Edgehill, is coming in early 2023. What made you think about that name for the project?  

Speaker 1 21:45 Well, I call it Edgehill because that’s the street where I was raised in Jamaica, on the beach. That’s my street name, where my house is. That’s where my father raised us. And with his passing a couple of years back, you know, I had to find a way to try to incorporate him into the project.   That was my best way to do it, being that he’s not here to see all this crazy success, because he was already looking at me crazy before I even got on. He was like, oh, you’re good at music. He was proud of me for just being good.  And now that I’ve achieved all of this and he’s not here to see it, it’s like I had to find a way to add him to my project. You know what I’m saying?

You’ve touched pretty much every part of the globe at this point with the artists that you work with.

It’s amazing. Just traveling opens my mind to so much more.  Every part that I’ve been to has different vibes, different inspiration, different things that you learn that you had no clue about.  

Paris has a whole different vibe. And just being there, you learn so much, and you just take from all of these places.  I

What is your favorite place that you’ve been to, outside of Jamaica?

I would say. I’d say London. London is special.

You’ve worked with Vybz Kartel, Alicia Keys, Burna Boy, H.E.R. Who are your top 3 favorite artists that you would love to work with?

Kodak Black! I love Kodak, man. Kodak is one of the best artists out right now. Rihanna is up there. Drake, of course, Chris Brown. That’s my top four. And of course I would say Burna Boy, but I did a song with him already. But I want to really link with Burna on some real music levels.

Is there any song on the new album that you are most excited to let people hear?

There’s one on there that I sing the whole song.  I’m really excited to see how people are going to react to that because nobody expects me to be blowing like that.

Do you have a five year plan that you have in terms of really taking over the industry as the main artist rather than behind the scenes?

Absolutely.   I want to be one of the greatest artists, producers on that list, you know what I’m saying? I’m trying to make it to the hall of Fame, you know what I’m saying? Yeah. So definitely in five years, I hope to be one of the main artists that people talk about that respect.  And I see myself being there. If I keep my mind clear and just keep focus, I think it’s going to happen. Another question is, we’re wrapping up, too.

Your tag, “Izzy are you kidding me?” How did that happen?

 It was my nephew’s son. He brought him to the studio when he was like, three years old at the time. And that was the only way for him to get to the studio that did it, because he had his son.  

He was like, ‘yeah, I’m bringing him because I need to be in the studio. And he brought him, but he was just sitting here quiet, taking in everything we’re doing. And just to entertain him, I said, ‘do in the booth. Go ahead, go say something. Enjoy.’ And I didn’t know it was recording. I just put him in there and put the mic down to his level and say, say something. And the first thing he said was, Yo, Izzy, are you kidding me? I was like, ‘that sounds good, say that again!’ But he was shy after that because he was frightened. I was like, Yo, I need him to sit exactly like that. But I ran into booths and realized it was recording. I was, like, ‘perfect. ‘

What are your top three favorite things in the world? Three things that you are always near and dear to your heart that could always make you laugh. Smile. That you can’t really live without.

My kids, my family.  Music, for sure. And the ocean. Being on the water. I love fishing. I love boats. I love the ocean. I love that. Yeah, man. I love that. That’s therapy for me.

Is there anybody that you could always count on to bring you back down to earth?

Oh, definitely. All my relatives, close family, everybody around me.  

Speaker 1 35:16 That’s close. Friends, my manager and you’ll check anybody at any given time. My pups, my mom, my pop is my. My stepdad to my brother. I was telling you about these huge father figures to me, as well.  Those people, man, those people in your corner have been around from before you got in. You know, those people check you out, man. You know?

Last question. You’ve been all over the world.  What is your favorite food?

There’s nothing like home fried fish festival Jamaican style food? Yes. There’s nothing that touches all, like, Jamaican food. Aki and saltfish.

Digital Cover

Feature: Ray Garrison (Silos Band)

Ray Garrison is a writer, producer, and EDM DJ based in Los Angeles, CA. The multi-dimensional artist blends the genres of Pop, Heavy Metal, and Nu Metal. In 2022, the Garrison teamed up with David Rhemann, the drummer for Grandson, to create the Silos band.

The band includes members Philip “Proto” Nielsen (bass), Nick Dromin (guitar), and Ramon Blanco. They are currently signed to Judge & Jury Records and released their first single, “Flowers” – a new take on Miley Cyrus‘ acclaimed hit – on March 17, 2023.

Sound of U Live caught up with Silos frontman Ray Garrison to talk about his musical journey, upcoming projects, and more.

When did your music journey begin?

I wanted to be able to record myself playing guitar and uh like I was listening to Blink-182, and I wanted to like the guitar melodies that made me feel like I was high or something so I was like I wanted to be able to do that myself and make it home. Iit really just started with me wanting to be able to listen to myself and then later I was like, ‘oh it would be cool if other people listen too.’

Who are your top three inspirations?

Blink 182, Eminem and Bring Me The Horizon.

When did you begin taking it really seriously?

When I was 16. I would drive home from private school and there was this pro audio shop that was on the way home in downtown Atlanta. I knew that like all the big Atlanta producers got their gear from there, like Jermaine Dupree, Bush Walker, all these big time guys. I would just stop in there and look at stuff and then I would eventually show the guy at the front of my demos and he was like, ‘oh this is cool.’ That was where it started and then I learned a lot from them.

Were you self-taught from there?

Yeah, you know, I was a combination of self taught and then every time I went into the studio to record I like was a mutant fly on the wall. I was extra attentive and asked a lot of questions. Just like information.

When did you join Silos?

Silos was born in November of 2022. I was a solo artist, and then my friend David just parted ways with Grandson, and he wanted to be in a project that was more oriented around a band. And at the time, I needed a good drummer, and I really liked David.

I’d known him for years, and I always wanted to work with him. So we kind of had a meeting, a lunch, and then decided to start working on a new project. And almost instantly, I knew I was going to no longer do a solo artist thing.

And I was going to just mix. Just like natural chemistry.

Do you guys have any music coming out for the rest of the year?

We got a song coming out in June with DJ, with someone coming out in July with Escape the Fate. Nice. The title of the next one is ‘Hold Me Close.’ Right now, we’re putting out all singles from the album. So, I think that album is going to drop in the fall. It’s going to be on vinyl and CD.

Are there any dream collaborations that you have?

I’d love to do a song with Oli Sykes from Bring Me the Horizon. I’d say it’s a closer goal, within two years.

Is there anything that you think people should know about you?

Yeah, we have an awesome fan base emerging. We have a Discord where we’re in touch with our fans and kind of have a continuous conversation. So I’m going to plug that. “Silos Fandom.” There’s a link for it on our Instagram stories highlights.

Features

Feature: Devon Thompson

What are you looking forward to the most in 2024?

No bullshit. No bullshit 2024. That’s what I’m looking forward to. I’m gonna like leave all the negative stuff behind and like try and change my mindset about certain things. So I feel like that’s, and also work harder and practice more. Just be more disciplined within myself, I think.

Can we say what those certain things are?

Yeah, practice sitting down and practicing my guitar every single day more. Because, it gets hard like when you play shows it’s easy to just like only play when you’re at shows or during band practice for me I want to sit down and be disciplined also not beat myself up over stuff that I can’t control.

A lot of people are really upset with themselves when they like especially living here when you feel like and you’re an artist and you feel like, ‘God, I wish I was doing more. I wish I could. Why don’t I have this, why don’t I have this,’ like you can’t control that the only thing you can control is your personal growth and what you put into it and like you know if if you got something like it you’ll get it out if you really work hard. You can’t just sit around, you can’t expect it to come to you. You have to work for it. I think that’s a really good piece of advice to give artists in general because you know we’re in a new game social media, and a lot of it is like creating content yourself, and I know artists are making a lot more of their own music videos in a way that I’ve never seen before, have you noticed that? – I have noticed that because, you know, TikTok did that. TikTok made like making your own mini music video a thing. So I actually think it’s amazing because it allows artists to have more freedom with what you do.

I think that’s really special and it’s really, but it’s also really, really hard to do that, because this is what you have to do. Every day, I’ve struggled with that. I used to hate it and now I’ve like changed my mindset we’re like no I’m gonna like do this and embrace it and really show people like what I’m about.

I think everything is easier when you have a team of people and people who just really like add to your circle as time goes on. They see your mission and your vision.

Has it been easy for you to find your team?

It, surprisingly, has been easy. It’s because I’ve been putting myself out there. It’s been easier. And I have a wonderful team that I’m working with right now already.

But I’m always looking for, like, expansion. We need more people involved. We need all the people involved. You know, your fans are your team. You know, you are your team. Like, everyone a part of it is important.

So, like, that being said, I’m always looking for new kingdom. to work with and being over minded So like I feel like it’s easier now.

What other goals do you have for the year?

My goals are to be be more social. I can easily double down and just just be by myself and working on stuff, but my plan this year is to make more friends and to be more social with my family, friends and with new people. I push myself further this year. My music breaks down barriers and standards for female guitar players. It’s a big one, because we’re still it’s still really stigmatized.

Talk to me about that stigma that female guitar players face.

So many women are scared to play guitar, and a lot of them tell me they’re like I am too scared to get up there and play it or even if they do play if they’re like, um, ‘I’m the rhythm guitar player,’ or whatever. You don’t see a lot of female guitar players out there because it’s so stigmatized. If they’re not like an insane shredder people are like you got them stuck it happens so much and i’m a Gibson sponsored artist, so i they saw something in me that gave me hope to keep pushing myself so now i tend to only play in three pieces. I’m the lead guitar player and lead vocalist this year. That’s what I’m going to push on people because I have some really not that good like okay like that’s fine.

It used to get to me and now I’m like just use that to practice practice and be disciplined and safe off it just do it you know that’s what I’m doing.

Do you think that female artists in general also get that sort of stigma and is it coming from the butthurt men?
Absolutely. Yeah, no totally. It’s the main the main thing like I get comments online that are like, you know They can be really really derogatory and and it’s you know what it’s Generally men or very jealous women who don’t like themselves and hate their lives. And I’m like, ‘why do girls girls hate me? Why do certain men hate me?’

And it’s nothing that you’ve done. It’s just you have to remember that there are people that just love to hate you out there.

They love it, especially because you’re doing what they want to do. They want to do what you’re doing. And you just have to, like, you literally just have to understand and recognize the personality traits. They’re like, no, that is not a person who is cool or, like, wants to help or even knows what they’re talking about. about, you know what I mean? Tell us a bit about the music that you have dropping this year though. Do we have anything to look forward to in the first few months? Actually, I have a new single coming out in like a week and a half. And my goal for this year is to have a songwriter and I want to be a part of it. really, really creative with what I’m doing this year. All my music videos are like mini movies type situations, like the Twilight Zone kind of, and I like creating… I really just want to pay homage to the universe and a whole… I mean, to put it simply, a sort of vibe on everything.

Like with my branding, with my merch, like this is… is I don’t know if you can see it – oh I have a lot of teeth in in like my merch stuff like that and in my songs just like really Really visceral and really guttural, but also have been also with an imperial edge And I want my music videos to translate that it’s gonna mean soon So I want to be cohesive so new singles out and then we’re gonna have and I have a lot of music dropping this year. And I’m playing a lot of shows shows and that’s what’s been happening this year So yeah in January 17th.

What’s are you releasing?

It’s called I love you, but it hurts like hell.

Who are some of your favorite musical inspirations from Los Angeles?

Well, I don’t don’t sound anything like her, but I love Phoebe Bridger’s ability to be anti. So like what LA is not, and I think that’s really cool.

So I like that she can do that. How about some of your most influential artists that you listen to growing up that have really kicked yourself? Yeah, growing up. Blondie is a big one for me.

I have a lot of 80s music and 70s music. has really shaped what I do. So Blondie and then a big big goth like inspiration to me, Suzy and the band she’s really big and then some newer stuff like or kind of newer some like some deftome stuff some my bloody Valentine stuff and it’s harder for me to find newer inspirations just because like I don’t know it’s just it’s it’s hard it’s hard for me and then uh yeah so

those are some of my inspirations for sure. Dice was there anything else that you want to grab about before being grabbed? Yeah I think that a lot of people don’t talk about again what I said before about how disparaging this can be and how how much self -doubt can be involved with this um and I have been my worst enemy base in doing this and um you know my I think a lot of that has to do with people you surround yourself with. You can tell who really supports you and who doesn’t and who are out to get you, who poses your friends, but they’re not. Make sure you surround yourself with loving people and people who value you really.

Some talk about it enough here, especially with people who aren’t from here and who are from here. It’s just like both. So find the right people who lift you up. Both of you guys are in a relationship sort of thing. And also, just walk out of the bullshit. It’s what I’m going to do this year and I’m going to work on it.

So for everyone who’s struggling out there with, you know, artist identity, sort of the like, “What am I doing?” You’re here for a reason, you’re here for a reason. And just believe in yourself. Believe in yourself.

Don’t talk but thank you for your time. Thank you so much.

Features

Feature: Leonte

Leonte here! Tell us a little bit about the different things that you do.

Yeah, so I mean, first and foremost, I’m a person. And I like to be that way. I come with a lot of emotions and a lot of ideas and feelings that I bring into my art and my work. I’m a model. I love to create very vivid images and stuff with posing and stuff like that. I’m also a creative director for a magazine called Lex Style Mag. It’s about creating a vibe between fashion and music, and really creating a home for that to collaborate and become real is something important for us.

But I also make music. I’m a singer. I make like alternative R&B, pop and rock vibes. I’m really just taking all of those and really just adding my own spice into it, adding a little bit of me and really my goal with that music is to create an environment and create an environment where people can feel emotions that they may not you know be privy to or may not have understanding of but you know they can empathize with the pain, empathize with the joy, empathize with the yearning, love, right? I want to create an environment that you can experience those things safely amazing so how long have you been doing modeling yeah so I’ve been modeling for 10 years I’ve been singing all my life I started off in my church choir shout out yeah so for like most people that started off in the church like singing was a big part of my life it was a big part of my life I expressed myself. I started making my own music physically about a year and a half, two years ago, is when I actually started that.

How has your journey in fashion really impacted your journey into music?

Honestly, I think the fashion in the music industry is so interwoven that it was like a seamless transition. I went from, you know, trying to figure out how to… create very vivid pictures and, you know, how to do really crazy poses to, like, saying, “Well, how do I create a vivid sound with my voice?

If I do this type of movement while I’m singing, will the sound come out differently from this?” Right? So everything just kind of translated differently, right? Saying like, “Okay, well, when I do this performance, I want to wear this type of outfit so that it conveys this message while I’m performing this song.” Right? Really aligning the fashion with the music and the tone with the environment to create a full image and a full picture is kind of where that fashion piece really really locked me in.

As you said, you are now involved in the magazine. What has it been like going from being the model to being the subject and actually having that creative control?

Honestly, becoming the creative director of Lex Style magazine is one of my biggest accomplishments today. I think being in charge of the visual outlook of a project such as Lex Style Mag has put a huge weight on my shoulders that I’d love to take on. It’s really giving me the opportunity to take my wildest dreams and put it out into a visual medium and share it with the world is something that I don’t take lightly. I think it’s something that takes a lot of time and effort, it takes a lot of attention and I think because of that I’ve been able to take all of my years of modeling and understanding what poses look good and what poses don’t.

Kind of the energy behind the photo and what clothes will look good and what poses. I’ve been really able to create really detailed outlines of like this that I want to create and I think that’s something that you know I’m looking to bring out the best in myself for this magazine and for others. I also do freelance creative direction for other brands, so it’s like always fun to be able to express myself in this place.

All of the work that you do is truly so inspirational and incredible. What do you think is the hardest part about continuing that?

Thank you so much for joining me. Being a artist and how you feel. I think the hardest part about consistently releasing creative pieces is understanding your value but also understanding the value of the people around you.

I think as, when you’re the model, everything’s centered around you and how you’re feeling and what you’re getting paid, like you’re, you know, the experience. you’re getting, but when you’re really the creative director, when you’re really at the top of that situation, it’s more about, okay, how do I make sure these people that are helping me create this vision that I have feel valued and feel, you know, I see the best of our abilities and feel comforted in these aspects. I think that’s one of the hardest things because, you know, obviously in this world, you live in and you want to cut down on costs as much as possible, but also it’s like, you want to pay. people what they’re worth, so they pay for what they’re worth. I like saw that, it’s like trying to get people with disabilities.

What has been like your biggest inspiration, both in fashion and music?

I played football in college. And so a big inspiration in my fashion sense was Odell Beckham Jr. Like, he was getting big and popular in football. His outfits on and off the field were always the same. The field outfits were always icy and dripped out with the signed sneakers, the custom likeness, you know, how he used to do it.

But then off the field, it was also him showing up to events drippy, showing his style off. I think things like that really pushed me to actually work towards being more creative with my outfits on and off the field. In terms of music, I think somebody that really inspired me was Juice Wrld, I think I will say “Lucid Dreams” came at a time that I needed it.

And I think, you know, just that being his day… debut, like, hit that popped off for him and that was the one that caught me and then ever since, like, I listened to every single song that he put out like, that was someone that really inspired me to be more of a leader, but he also inspired me to just be creative, I don’t think you could ever say, “Oh, Juice Wrld’s gonna rap like this on this flow.” It was always something completely different than his last song, something completely, you know, new but it had the same feel, the same environment around him, right? And, you know, he had a way of talking about like really hard subjects with a light tone that made him want to party while you’re listening to it, right? Which is something that I want to create, but also different. So for mine, like, I definitely don’t take as much of the drug abuse and alcoholism into my music. It’s complex idealist, you know, abandonment. Heartfelt pain. The concept of, like, where you’re supposed to be and, you know, like flirting. I want to do, like, really, like, take those archetypes and really create stories in my music. I think that’s really what I’m focusing on right now.

I think that’s really the beauty of music. You’re able to take inspiration, and take ideas, while also interacting with your own personality, your own blood, which is so incredible and great to see from you.

And what are we?

So what I’ll say right now is there’s going to be an influx of art, an influx of modeling and an influx of music. Right now my goal is in this 2023. year are to get three good releases and build up a catalog behind them so that I have a lot to push out for everybody, as well as create four really good covers and magazines to release out to the public and to collaborate with as many talented artists as I can. Like my goal is not to get up there by myself, my goal is to bring everybody out here at 50 and I think that when we create a community of people that support each other and uplift each other in this fashion and music space, that’s when we really drive, right? Because you’re only as good as your network, and it’s only as good as how many people you have with you in your team, right? And, you know, what they like to say is network federally, don’t network forward.

Because you never know who in your circle is going to be the next one up, and you’re all riding together. So that’s going to be good. there. So, it just supports people around you, it supports the day one, it’s going to come the day zero, it’s going to rock. Well, I am so very excited to see what’s next for Beyonce. Everybody should be on the watch for what’s coming next. He’s going to be hitting us with new music, have sure new books, new shoots. So please be on the lookout for him!