Paving the Way

As a twenty one year old rapper with not a lot of connections in the music industry and residing in a city where the music scene isn’t up to par it can be a struggle getting your music heard. Social media inclines your ability to spread your music but limits you as an artist in my opinion.

When I want to genuinely show someone my music I like to be face to face so I can see their reaction and so it gives me a better opportunity for a first impression. An online prescence only goes so far, it’s really just the artists persona in most cases. Which is good for more “followers” but not necessarily fans.

Every weekend on Friday or Saturday my manager and I will go downtown Kansas City and flood the streets with my music. I’ll usually perform 8-10 songs and just try to connect with as many people as I can. Showing literally everyone around me that music is what I’m most passionate about.

In 2018 is when this whole journey began. At the time I was a sophomore at the University of Missouri. School was never my strong suit, I’d constantly skip class so I could go record in the student center studio. By the next semester I was gone and back home to focus on music full time.

Fast forward a bit, I started my day job at Main Event in Independence, MO to earn money to keep chasing my dream. Around this time I had released little to no music but the craft was coming together. Early into the next year I met a nice engineer named Ricky Ramsey and he dipped my toe into this industry.

Ricky mixed and mastered my first tape “Gotta Start Somewhere” that I released on all platforms and gave me the confidence I needed to know to not ever give up on my dream. Artists you’re gonna know what I mean for what’s coming next, but basically that sound Ricky formed was not my vision.

So at the end of 2019 I had two tapes underneath my belt the second one being “Going Somewhere” mixed and mastered by Ricky as well but the music just was not what I hoped it would be. I felt like I was trying way too hard and not seeing the results people expected from me. Something needed to change.

Soon after, I met my current producer and friend, Benjamin Brummel through a mutual friend. Ben is creatively gifted, he loves to put your dreams into sounds and the work ethic is admirable. Least to say, Ben produced some of my greatest hits.

Which leads me to “Paving the Way”, an album produced by OntayBeats and Bnjmn. This 8 track masterpiece consists of stories about my ambitions, struggles and good times in life. I’m trying to inspire everyone around me to move forward in life no matter where you came from the ball IS in your court.

The album in the past month has racked up 18k streams just on Spotify and has a single “Done Playing” on there that has accumulated 25k streams between all of the platforms. The results are changing drastically from a year ago and the best way I can answer why is because of acquired knowledge and quality music.

Good strategies and time management are going to be the recipe for new upcoming artists. Make sure you’re making the most quality sounding record before you release it on all platforms and continuously write. Having a big catalogue is key, the more quality work you have is more appealing to A&R’s than a one hit wonder.

I appreciate everyone who read through my journey and how I plan to keep striving for better things. There is a music video attached to the article it’s called “The Anthem” and has shots included from all around the Kansas City area. Stay tuned for new music and go follow me on all socials @Volumeloud. Have a wonderful day and reach out if you have any questions at all!