From Church Musician to Tech Innovator: Looyay’s Story

What happens when a chance encounter at NAMM turns into a lasting friendship? In this captivating episode of "Relationships Worth More Than Money," we sit down with Looyay to explore their serendipitous meeting at the iconic networking and gear exhibition event. Looyay  shares his musical journey, from his early days of playing drums in church to mastering the guitar and piano. You'll be intrigued by his innovative creation—a bass guitar integrated with an MPK Mini—that caught Looyay  attention and sparked an ongoing professional relationship. This episode underscores the importance of maintaining connections in the music industry and how such relationships can flourish over time.

Imagine creating a groundbreaking musical instrument only to wrestle with the complexities of protecting your idea legally. We delve into the challenges and costs associated with securing patents and discuss the balance between product development and showcasing. Hear personal anecdotes about playing in a marching band, the desire to learn new instruments, and the invaluable support of family in creative pursuits. Looyay reflect on the inspiration they received from influential mentors and the bittersweet memories of missed opportunities for further musical education. Their discussion offers a nuanced perspective on the motivation and sacrifices required to relocate for creative ambitions.

Is a college education essential for aspiring artists, or can you succeed in the digital age without it? We weigh the benefits and drawbacks of formal education, highlighting the mentorship and critical feedback that college can offer. However, we caution against pursuing prestigious schools solely for their name and stress aligning educational choices with career goals. Hear about Looyay  frustrations with college TAs and his journey from an initial interest in accounting to a passion for marketing. Discover how understanding digital platforms can boost any business or personal brand and learn about the vital role a strong marketing team plays in achieving success. Join us for an insightful conversation that blends personal experiences with practical advice for musicians and entrepreneurs alike.

Relationships Worth More Than Money by Tweezy Kennedy & Marcus Alland
available on all streaming platforms!

Transcript

Speaker 1 0:31

All right, we on we live. Is it? Are they connected or yeah, I connect them.

Speaker 2 0:37

Yeah, I connect them. So we back man. Welcome back to Relationships Worth More Than Money. I'm on the left side, this time On the right. Who do I got?

Speaker 1 0:48

My name is Luye. I go by Luye. My name is Kyle. Yeah, l-o-o-y-a-y.

Speaker 2 0:56

That's how they can find you at Louie L-O-O-Y-A-Y. So I'm going to go back, because this is how I end up running into you. I want to say 2019, 2020, 2021, now I think it was 20,.

Speaker 1 1:13

Was it two names ago or was it three? I think it was 20. Was it two NAMs ago or was it three? I think it was two, it's two.

Speaker 2 1:18

Because I didn't go to the last. No, it was three. It was three, so it was 20?. Yeah, because I didn't go to the last one, for sure.

Speaker 1 1:25

Yeah, and we met the one before that. Yep, yep. Okay so that was 2023 June. No, no, no, april. Yeah, april, 2023. 22?. The last one was January of this year. Yeah, I didn't go to that one.

Speaker 2 1:46

Yeah, yeah, the one before was 23.

Speaker 1 1:50

Yeah, yeah, and that was in April, and then the 2022 one was in June. They've been shifting the times. Yeah, and that was in April and then the 2022 one was in June. Okay, they've been shifting the times.

Speaker 2 1:59

So 2023 is the last time I ran it to you and you had this dope equipment. Man, it was like I'd never seen it before. It was a bass guitar with a MPK connected like installed into it, the MPK Mini.

Speaker 1 2:17

I wish I had it on me. Right now it's in LA and I'm passing it between artists who want to demo it and check it out, so I haven't held it since. Yeah, yeah.

Speaker 2 2:32

Now are you the creator of that piece of gear?

Speaker 1 2:37

yeah, it's been. It's been tried a bunch of different times before. Um, like putting midi elements in a guitar or even having like a midi pickup on your guitar so when you like play, it outputs midi. Yeah, um, but this is the first one I think that has put uh guitar and keys on the guitar yeah, okay, all right, cool, and that's that's.

Speaker 2 3:04

When I saw it I was like yo, man, this is, I gotta meet you. I gotta know who you are because, like you know, that event now for one, if people don't know it's a networking establishment but at the same time it's also introducing you to the new gear that's coming out Right. So you get to try some of the gear, you get to find out what new mics is out, whatever, whatever you can think of all of this stuff, that's even here, they have it there. You know what I mean. So it's like you're testing out all of this equipment and you was just sitting on the side, like outside of the convention center, and you just had that damn bass man. And I'm like yo, I got to meet this dude and it was crazy because, of course, we networked and we exchanged handles, but we kept in contact. You know what I mean and I think that's the most important part. But take us back, man, to like how you even started all of this. Like where did the music? Did you have a music background? Where did it start?

Speaker 1 4:04

Yeah, yeah. So I grew up in church. I played drums in my church for like two years and I started to learn how to play guitar and piano. I kind of just my first instrument was the drums. I got a drum kit when I was 10. I didn't really start playing it until I was, like later in high school, like junior high school, fast forward, went to college for animation and visual effects. I've always been an artist and the school I went to they taught music, they taught film, they taught game art, like video game stuff and my roommate, Tripp dope, artist, out of Northern California.

Speaker 1 4:57

We went to high school together. We ended up going to college. We ended up rooming together and going to school together, yeah, and he was making music all the time. He raps, he's like an insane producer too. And yeah, in college I got really into music and bought ableton, bought the akai uh, what is it? The apc 40? Um, that was my first time like arranging. No, no, no, irrelevant. Uh, yeah, so I've, I've been making music pretty heavily since like 2020. No, no, sorry, 2012, 2011.

Speaker 2 5:39

Okay, yeah, Cool, cool, cool. How old are you? 33. 33, okay, all right you 38. 38?, yeah, yeah, so you was born. What 90? Yep, okay, yeah, so you got the background. You said what was the name of your friend in Northern California Tripp, tripp, t-r-i-i-p. His name sounds familiar. Was he out there?

Speaker 1 6:02

No, I don't think he's been doing NAMM.

Speaker 2 6:04

Okay, all right, cool. And what introduced you to NAMM? How did you find out about it? I oh, but how did you find?

Speaker 1 6:12

out about it. I oh so in the Bay Area, at the school I used to go to it was called Expression College they used to have events similar to NAMM that would be hosted there. And they what is it called Music Expo? Loic, loic, loic, l-o-i-c. Shout out, he runs the music expo, the SF Music Expo. And he hosted it at my school and I had always, ever since I had been to the first event, followed him. D-cap has done a few events there. Fire producer.

Speaker 2 6:57

Yeah, yeah, Shout out to D-Cap yeah yeah, yeah.

Protecting Creative Ideas and Musical Instruments

Speaker 1 7:01

But yeah, I met a few people there. That was the first event I had been where like instrument makers and companies go and like just have things on display for people to try out, and it's like a mini nam, yeah, and same thing. They'll have like panels where like dcap come in and like open up a session and then just walk everybody through like his process and stuff. And yeah, I think I found out about nam through following low and then I had never even thought about going until I built the prototype instrument and I was like that's perfect for me to bring there.

Speaker 2 7:45

Now, do you have any patents on that?

Speaker 1 7:48

I have it's protected creatively. I call it a ghetto patent, but I don't have like a formal.

Speaker 1 7:57

You should get it, man, that's what everybody tells me you should get it, man, Somebody already tried to like take it and they weren't able to. And also I was working on a project before the guitar. It was a website and I had gotten, had gotten like a provisional patent, and a provisional patent is like the, the pre-patent, yeah, and that was like 2400 and I uh yeah, and if you want to, and so a provisional patent gives you a year of cushion. And so I spent all this money and I was freaking out about I hired a patent lawyer, got the patent thing done and I spent all this money trying to protect the idea and I'm just going to put all my energy into making the product and displaying it instead of trying to like protect it.

Speaker 1 9:04

Not that it's not protected at all. But that wasn't like my first, and people have been telling me this since they've seen it Like yo, you need to. Someone's going to take that and I'm just like. You might be right, but I'm not. I'm not going to spend that money. Yeah, but I have. I've protected it in different ways. We might need to cut some of this out of the pot.

Speaker 2 9:28

Yeah, yeah, but yeah, but no, I think just man, like, because your creative vision of what you made is. You know what I mean. It's like man, I always want to make sure that everybody get their fair share and make sure that they're taken care of, because when it comes out it's definitely going to sell. Thanks, man, I appreciate it. I mean me. I'm trying to get into the guitar, learning how to play the guitar, because I played the drums, but I played in a marching band. I never played a set, got you. You know what I mean. So marching band and set is totally different. What did you play? Snare.

Speaker 2 10:07

I played them all Snare, tenor and bass. It just dep Depending on what my band director wanted me to play, and I was the lead snare. So it was just like, hey, you do what you want to do. Were you obsessed with?

Speaker 1 10:19

Drumline when it came out. I loved that movie.

Speaker 2 10:23

Yeah, because in Detroit, most of those bands emulate the historical black colleges bands, because that's where our band directors normally come from. Gotcha college's bands, because that's where our our band directors normally come from. Gotcha, um, so like. And in my performing arts school we was just a drum drum corps. We didn't have no other instruments, just snare, tenor, bass, cymbals and flag twirling. That was it, and we would like blow the other drummers out the roof. Like you know, I'm saying just how loud we were, and you know I mean, uh, efficient and um, you know doing all of the Just how loud we were, and you know what I mean efficient. You know doing all of the different rudiments and things of that nature. But yeah, man, what was the school called? Area E Academy, area E. Shout out to Area E Academy. It's closed now, man. Yeah, I went to a performing arts school my elementary and middle school. Yeah, man, it was a hell of a time. Shout out to Mr Mack too.

Speaker 1 11:16

I was about to say who was your director, Mr.

Speaker 2 11:18

Mack. Mr Mack was a Him and his brother. They both were band directors, cool. And when I went to this Christian school, before I went to Area E, faith Christian Academy, his older brother was there and he was teaching my brother how to play the saxophone. So my brother was playing the sax and brother how to play the saxophone. So my brother was playing the sax and I wanted to play the trumpet, you know what I mean. But it was too expensive. So you know what I mean.

Speaker 2 11:41

I ended up going to Area E and I was like, hey, mr Mack, you got a brother named Mr Mack too. And he was like, yeah, he's a band director too. Nice. So I knew I was good. You know what I mean. I knew I was good. You know what I mean. I knew, I knew he knew his stuff and yeah.

Speaker 2 11:59

But I got to high school, my band director the band director at high school was taught by Mr Matt, so he was trying to get all of us to come and be in his band. But I was like, nah, I want to be, I want to be a band geek. You know what I mean. And that's what I regret, man, because I wish I did stick to it. You know what I mean, because they really taught you multiple instruments. You know what I mean. And I was like damn, now I'm up here trying to figure out how to play the piano. I got my theory board you know what I mean Just my little cheat board, damn Playing and stuff like that. And I'm like man, if I would have stuck with it I would have been able to play multiple instruments. But it's never too late, true, you know what I'm saying. So I definitely want to get into, like the guitar, the bass, piano and a little bit of you know, a little bit of the brass. You know what I mean. But other than that, man, how did you get?

Speaker 1 13:03

here. So I came out here, I packed up all my stuff and I moved out here, because I didn't have access to the studio that I was making music at and yeah. So there was nothing. My living situation wouldn't have been conducive to the stuff I wanted to do, so my brother and my dad lived out here.

Speaker 2 13:16

Oh, okay, how about I say you got family out here Because you just packed up and just, he's like yo, bro, aren't you in the DMV? I was like yeah. He was like I'm here, I'm like what? Like no, she was just in Cali.

Speaker 1 13:42

Yeah, across the. You know what I mean the states like that. But it was, it wasn't like the the happiest move, but yeah, I just things weren't like clicking out there so yeah, yeah, and things felt like they were clicking more on like social media and like at NAMM and I was like I don't, I guess I don't where I'm at doesn't totally matter. So there's there's a lot less like art stuff out here, art jobs anyway. Yeah, then there was in, like the Bay Area, a lot of the art jobs out here, like military contracting or if you're gonna do like graphics for people, it's like you have to get like a clearance and uh, yeah, but so that's a that's a downside, I mean, but it's art enrichment too.

Speaker 2 14:24

Yeah yeah, richmond is big on art man, so you gotta check out richmond um a weekend or something. Just head down there and see what's up. Um, yeah, man, um.

Speaker 1 14:34

So you got a prototype here, right, yeah, so the one that everybody's seen on instagram is it's a bass guitar and I built that one. That's the prototype that I built because, um, I don't know how to make like circuit boards Right, I didn't go to school for that, and there's a bunch of like custom parts that I would have needed to make the one that I originally designed. So the one everybody's seen. To explain it, I'm sure we could throw like an image up or just go check out a video. It's a. It's the Akai MPK mini. I cut it in half. If you open it up, there's two circuit boards with a ribbon cable in between and I just chopped it open, split it apart and there's enough slack that I cut a body to put those two circuit boards in and then I put the pickups and the strings in between them. So that's just like a basic explanation of what it looks like.

Speaker 1 15:44

So this is the one that I designed in blender that I am trying to build. And what's blender? It's a. It's a free 3d software. Nice, you can like 3D model. It's amazing. They taught us Maya in school and I had my first actual job out of college. They taught us Blender because it's free and Blender is so sick. If you're at all into visuals, you can edit video on there. You can 3D model, you can render, you can animate. Really good program. Shout out Blender. Thank you for being free. Okay, and anyway. So I designed the six string.

Speaker 1 16:30

So sorry, the bass prototype. It's only a bass because the size of the mpk mini, right, um, and I don't play bass that well, I play like six string guitar a little bit better. And also like, sonically, I want to play like, I want to play more like lush, mid high range chords. I want the chords to be in that range. And then, um, because of the limited area for like keys, right, I imagine you play bass with the keys. So in my mind when I designed it, I was like I'll play bass on the keys, I'll play the higher stuff on the guitar and then drums, so on On the pad. Yeah, yeah, okay.

Speaker 1 17:15

So the prototype with the Akai it's only a bass because of the size of the Akai and putting a guitar neck which is smaller on that big box would have looked awkward. So it's only a bass for aesthetic purposes, right, but this is the version I want to build. Um, it's a. It's designed to be a six string. Yeah, it's also designed, uh, to have.

Speaker 1 17:45

It's also designed to sit horizontal, so you could sit it on like your desk, like like this here, yeah, and then pick it up if you want to play it, put it back down if you just want to use it as a synth, and then, all right, I should have drawn. I should have drawn the layout so, like this is keys right here, yeah, beat pads right here, and then, uh, pickups and then a neck, and this is as far as I got. Um, I was working on this in at a different shop that I built the prototype in, uh, but I had to rent space out to work on this. But, uh, I thought I was really proud of the the woodwork I did on this so you got, you got a little.

Speaker 2 18:28

Uh, is that carpentry in it?

Speaker 1 18:29

then right yeah lutherie is the word that they use for dang this thing heavy yeah, it's African. Uh, used for, damn this thing, heavy. Yeah, it's African. I forget what it's called. It's called wenge. It's in the middle, the brown, the dark brown, and I forget the. This is the same piece of. This is the same piece of wood that I built the original with. Wow, yeah, and it's a heavy wood.

Speaker 2 18:53

Yeah, probably too heavy To like If you had it on like shoulder strap or whatever. Yeah, probably too heavy To like if you had it on like shoulder strap or whatever.

Speaker 1 18:58

Yeah, yeah.

Speaker 2 18:59

How much does a normal guitar weigh?

Speaker 1 19:02

The bass I built, I think is between 8 and 10 pounds and I think, like a guitar, I think a bass shouldn't be more than like six, maybe five or six.

Speaker 2 19:23

Okay, yeah, yeah, man, it's smooth. You put in some work on this, man, so this one's gonna be the six string.

Speaker 1 19:32

This is the yeah, okay, it's a lot smaller of an instrument than the other one it's gonna be. I haven't cut here. I haven't had access to a wood shop since I left Cali, but yeah, so, yeah, this is the version I'm trying to build. Risked a week for that All right Nice man.

Speaker 2 19:57

So, other than that, what's, what's uh, how you like in dc.

Speaker 1 20:01

So far the dlv I honestly have not like ventured out a ton. I've been to the casino. That's not mgm. Yeah, that place is pretty cool. Yeah, um, I've been to a couple like uh drawing classes in in dc. Um, I've been out here and seen all the museums and all the touristy spots before because I've been out here before. It's cool. I like the weather, people are chill. It's a lot different than I mean not a ton different, but it's a different vibe than Northern California. I'm from Vacaville. Shout out, vacaville. It's between Sacramento. It's smack dab in the middle of Sacramento and Oakland Berkeley.

Speaker 2 20:52

San Francisco, you're in a bay bay.

Speaker 1 20:54

It's like 40 minutes north of the bay. We call it the bay because we want to feel cool. Yeah, but it's like it's a little bit of ways. Yeah, it's like 20 minutes north of Vallejo, a little bit north of Fairfield, yeah.

Speaker 2 21:08

We still good. All right, that's dope man. So what was childhood like man? Like coming up as a kid?

Speaker 1 21:20

It. What was childhood like man, like coming up as a kid? I was a military kid, moved around a lot, every, I think, six years, the longest that we stayed in a spot. What brand.

Speaker 2 21:32

Air Force. Okay, your dad was in. Both my parents, oh, nice, yeah, nice, did they retire?

Speaker 1 21:39

Yeah, yeah, they're still doing like contract work, so they're still connected in a way. But yeah, they retired.

Speaker 2 21:49

Yeah, they moved around a lot yeah.

Speaker 1 21:52

Colorado. I was born at the Air Force Academy Colorado, san Jose, california, virginia, germany, back to Colorado, back to California, and then I was in California from like 07 to last year. So I was there for you, were there for a minute the longest I've been in you there, for a minute yeah, you there for a minute?

Speaker 2 22:20

Yeah, that's 17 years. Yeah, damn. So. Yeah, you a Californian for real. Yeah, how old a kid.

Speaker 1 22:27

I lived. I've lived Santa Cruz, worked in San Jose for a minute, lived in Fairfield for a minute, lived up north in like Grass Valley for a minute. Vacaville's the spot I've lived at the most, but, yeah, up and down Northern California.

Benefits and Drawbacks of College

Speaker 2 22:45

Yeah, Now what would you say? You were?

Speaker 1 22:51

ex-Marines right.

Speaker 2 22:53

Yeah, I was in the Marines for 11 years. Thank you for your service. Appreciate it, man. Tell your 11 years thank you for your service. Appreciate it, man. Tell your parents thank you for their service. For sure, thank you. But yeah, man you, you maneuvered and became this artist and found a love for being, you know, a drummer in church, right, and now you're here. What do you feel like? Are some of the things that got you here? Like? Are the relationships that you've created the reason where you are right now, or do you feel that way?

Speaker 1 23:32

I think, yeah, I wouldn't. I don't know if you could separate your. I don't think a lot of people could separate like their love of music from like other people in their life, because it's not something. A lot of music you don't get connected to not entirely, but I feel like the music we connect to most is because you connected with it with other people. So, like I, some of the most influential people like like my roommate, paul um, my parents, uh, just like their music taste, my brother and sister have different type of tastes, different type of tastes. My aunt, pretty influential in my music taste, yeah yeah. As far as like career goes, I think I like to hate on college a lot and I like to tell younger people they don't need to go to college and maybe, especially if you're going to try to be an artist, maybe don't go to college.

Speaker 2 24:51

Why is?

Speaker 1 24:51

that I think for a while, my opinion's shifting on it. I think for a while I felt it's my my opinion shifting on it.

Speaker 1 24:58

I I think for a while I felt like, uh, with the rise of like youtube and realizing that I myself had to like learn things on youtube, um, I figured out how to do things that uh, that some people told me I needed to go to school to learn and there are some things like that, like tech, but my opinion has shifted a little bit toward uh, I think college is pretty cool because you learn to, uh, you get deadlines, you have like a handful, you have a handful of, like mentors, um, I don't know if I feel this way just because, like I've been missing college lately, uh, but yeah, my, my opinion is softening toward, uh, telling the younger generation not to go to school.

Speaker 1 25:51

It can be a complete waste of time for some people. Right, like I'm not, I'm not a successful, like I'm not making a ton of money being an artist, and like, not yet, not yet, my dad sent me to school with his, with his gi bill and like I, if I had to pay that myself, it would have been like a ton of money, yeah, so, and that's a big reason why I tell people like yo, like youtube, yeah, youtube, but I did benefit from it. So, and I'm learning that that it actually was like a decent so what?

Speaker 2 26:31

what do you feel like was the benefit?

Speaker 1 26:34

uh gears. Um, I I met some awesome artists that I went to school with that I'm still in contact with. I've seen some really cool artists like grow and do their thing and seen a lot of artists. A lot of people graduate and don't do anything with, like, what they, what they learn, but um, what was the question, my bad?

Speaker 2 27:03

What are some of the benefits from school? Benefits from school.

Speaker 1 27:07

Um, teachers, getting to know your teachers, cause they're in an art school. You're going to get teachers that have been in the industry. So, um, and, like I said, the school I went to was, uh, video games, film, music, so, yeah, just having somebody that's like in there and you get to see on a by by daily, like multiple times a week, ask them questions so much different than youtube, you get critique, critique, critique, critique, critique. That's huge. Uh, if you don't have anybody looking at your art and you're just your, your stuff's not gonna. Your stuff's gonna be way better. If you have people like telling you like yo, that sucks, I could tell you didn't really work that part on that part, right, you do better on this other part. That's like vital to like, I think, to any like artists. Um, Progress.

Speaker 2 28:18

So now you think that it's like a scale on good and bad, or good things to do in college and bad things, I feel terrible.

Speaker 1 28:26

I've told a couple kids like don't go to school. Yeah, thinking about that now I'm like ugh.

Speaker 2 28:33

I mean, they do have its perks, man.

Speaker 1 28:36

And it's not all good. Yeah, it's not Like I said you can go to college and waste your time. Right you can screw over four years of your life and not deal with it.

Speaker 2 28:47

Yeah. So I always tell people you can go, but you got to make sure what you're going for Right, because if not, you're just going to be wasting major after major after major. You're going to be bouncing around like a pinball and then, when it's finally time for you to decide, it's like all right, you did some amount of money in debt and you're going to work at Walmart or wherever.

Speaker 1 29:14

Wherever that's not going to help you, no offense but. If you go to school for something and then you end up working somewhere else. It's, that wasn't the plan, right?

Speaker 2 29:25

things change, but yeah but yeah, like I said, man, um, I'm with you some things, don't? You don't need to go to school for, yeah, what do you think?

Speaker 1 29:36

are the in the category of don't go to school? Um? I would. What do you think are the In the category of Don't go to school Um?

Speaker 2 29:43

I would say, uh, don't go to school For the, for the name, like the name of the school. Yeah, you know what I mean. You got. You got your, your Oklahoma's, your Texas's, you got all of this stuff. All the big name schools, right, yale, yeah, yale, harvard, brown, columbia. You know what I mean. All the big name schools, yale, harvard, brown, columbia. You know what I mean, all of those big name schools.

Frustrations With College TAs and Marketing

Speaker 2 30:08

But depending on what you're trying to do, man, it's not feasible. You know what I mean. And then you're stressing about the money, yeah, and you're not really enjoying it. And, like I said on the last episode, the most important part of college is the network. The network and the people that's in there at that school or in that area that you're doing and you're moving around in. That's the most important part, because those people build that relationship that I always say, the relationships worth more than money. It builds that. But a lot of the stuff that I don't like to add on to that the big name schools, the TAs, teachers, assistants I can't stand them Because they think they're the teacher and they think they're better than you and they're not going to pretty much. Well, my experience at Mason.

Speaker 1 31:04

I went to George Mason. I have a very specific person.

Speaker 2 31:06

Yeah, because they literally will act Like I literally got a 71 out of a class and all I needed was a 73. And the teacher was never really there. It was more of it was more of the them doing all of the work. Yeah, and I'm like yo, but you're not explaining it Like you're explaining it, like we're supposed to know how you do it. You're supposed to explain it Barney style. Break it down to where all of us can understand it Right, and they would never do it. So, yeah, man the TAs, what'd you go to school for? Marketing?

Speaker 2 31:43

Where at George Mason, right up the street. I started at NOVA, northern Virginia Community College, and I wanted to do accounting. But that's what my dad did and I was just like, nah, that's too much math and I love math. But at NOVA I'm just like nah, I still want to get a business degree. So I went for marketing or whatever my sister's about to go to school, for she just graduated, congrats.

Speaker 2 32:13

She's about to go to college. Yeah, marketing For marketing, it's dope man. It's dope because I think marketing to me, marketing is is one of the most valuable pieces to have in whatever you do in life. It don't have to be music, it don't have to be, uh, entrepreneurship if you know how to market yourself or market somebody else's brand, it's going to take off and it's going to and are going to listen because you study the market. You know what I'm saying. That's what it is.

Speaker 2 32:45

You're studying the market and if you're doing digital marketing, you're studying the social media, you're studying all of these different platforms and you're analyzing what works, what don't work, what should you put in front of something? If you're doing product works, what don't work, what should you put in front of something? If you're doing product placement, doing promotions, like it's a lot, man, and marketing is huge man, I think in order for your business to run smoothly, you need a hell of a marketing team to get it. Yeah, so marketing has been dope and I'm two classes away. I took like a year and a half, two years off. I'm about to finish it. Yeah, so marketing has been dope and I'm two classes away. I took like a year and a half, two years off. I'm about to finish it up, you know what I mean. So I can get the degree, because I never like starting something and not finishing. You know what I'm saying. I'm two classes away. You know what I'm saying.

Speaker 1 33:34

Did you stop at two classes, or have you been like did you stop at a certain time and then?

Speaker 2 33:41

you've been kind of like working. What a pandemic messed it all up, man. I was literally I was supposed to graduate 20, 20, 22. That was that was from nova I, I, I finished nova, but 2022 I was supposed to graduate. Like it just threw everything off, man. Like I mean, my grandma passed away in between all of that crap. Like mentally I wasn't there and so, yeah, I can go back. I just you know what I mean them loans. Loans kick in. After that GI Bill run out them loans kick in, man. So it's not a lot, though. So I can manage that and take care of it. So, yeah, I just want to do it. Plus my daughters, man. They in middle school and elementary now. So it's like I'm not about to. I don't even tell them to quit anything. So I'm not about to show them like, oh shit, I ain't going to college because you ain't even finished college. You know what I mean?

Speaker 2 34:39

You, know, what I mean. That's how I was man, but both my parents both got master's degrees, so it was like I can't not finish school. You know what I'm saying. So but yeah, so it's definitely pros and cons to it, but me personally, I would have stuck with music and not went to college if I knew, Because I started making beats while I was in the Marines.

Speaker 2 35:06

Gotcha and you know what I mean. Before I even started going to college, while I was in the military, I was still. I was working on music because I'm like oh, you can make beats off a computer. Yep, this is crazy. Like all right, bet, yeah. So I was working my way up. You know, I mean going from that to that machine. To, you know, I mean from the original machine. That was your first machine. No, the first one, yeah, the mk1. I had the mk1. I remember I had I got, I got the mpk over there mini. That was like my first setups I had bought. Um, it was like 2010.

Speaker 2 35:40

Yeah, I bought. I got my first MacBook 09. You know what I'm saying? And 2006,. When I got back from Iraq the first time, I got a Phantom X6. So that was my first standalone keyboard. Rob Markman Is that like a.

Speaker 1 36:00

it's a station too. Yeah yeah, there's like a computer in it.

Speaker 2 36:03

Yep. So it had like these big, like chip sound cards you can put in the back and just just make, make your beats and everything. And this was on megabytes. So this crazy like you know what I mean, I'm making beats off megabytes, now off megabytes, now we gigs. You know what I'm saying. So, yeah, man, it was.

Speaker 2 36:21

It was definitely a thing that I was like man, I wish I just would've stuck with the music and still play sports in high school, because this definitely would've pushed me further. But at the same time, YouTube helped me a lot. So you know what I mean. I don't knock it and I still keep going because I'm like, hey, the younger producers are dope and I'm learning from them and they're learning from me and when I go to these different showcases they hear my music. You know what I mean. It makes me understand and feel like, yep, I'm still doing it right, I'm doing something right, I'm on the right path. You know what I mean Because it's like I've been through all those failures.

Speaker 2 37:01

You know what I mean, and beats were trash, mixes were trash, but going to those showcases helped me. So I always tell people man, if it's something you really want to do, stick with it, but also have something to financially back it. You know what I mean. Don't just be a bum and just be making music without no money coming in, because then it's like it's not smart, it's not smart at all.

Speaker 2 37:28

You're hustling backwards. You know what I mean? You always want to hustle forward. So yeah, man, that's my spiel on it. But we got. Matter of fact, what's your top five music genres Genres, yeah, because I ain't going to say artists. Yeah, yeah, say genres.

Speaker 1 37:54

Um, that's tough. I almost want to break it down by like producer. Um, okay, we can do producer then. I like genres is actually a lot easier. Okay, I can fit like yeah you fit everybody yeah.

Speaker 1 38:14

Yeah, okay, um, I had a huge like so tough. There's like three rock genres that I really like. I like indie, like the what is it like? Early 2000s indie rock, um like uh, strokes. Uh, kings of leon definitely dope, oh, they're so good. Uh uh, block Party, um, anyway, uh, indie rock of like late 90s, early 2000s, um, the EDM scene, like right as like dubstep and like EDM's like between when Black Eyed black ip started doing edm and like 2016, like the festival, yeah, the adc, the electronic dance stuff. Like the biggest shows I've been to have been LA shows that were that and that's just like ingrained in my head and a lot of my music comes out dancey and kind of like festival-ish. Two um two um 90s ish. Hip-hop, like uh, lauren hill there's too many like hip-hop genres. Yeah, I might have to go artist on that one. Or producers, I could do hip-hop producers for sure.

Speaker 1 40:32

So indie rock, Indie rock.

Speaker 2 40:36

EDM, edm and 90s hip-hop 90s hip-hop.

Speaker 1 40:41

90s hip-hop uh, I've been listening to I think I've listened to more afro beats than I've listened to like any other genre over the past like three years um the beyonce lion king album was like my first like kind of view of it and I loved that. I listened to that album so many times I don't know if I could do a fifth, feel like I'll leave some stuff out. But yeah, I had a post part like screamo phase I've lived with, like I've lived in a lot of white neighborhoods. Yeah, tell that's.

Speaker 2 41:18

Don't know if you can tell that's Cali to me. You dress like you from Cali. That's what I just know for sure. Like that's the way they dress, you know what I mean? Yeah, but yeah, like the hair in your face, the emo joint, yeah, yeah.

Speaker 1 41:37

Pretty heavily into that for a minute. Yeah, I think I'll leave it at those four, okay.

Speaker 2 41:43

Yeah, all right, so let's leave the relative something I always do this thing called gym. You know, leave a gym, gym class. You got to leave some gyms or one gym to the public. You know what I mean. That can help somebody that's like you, that's a creative, that's creating their own instruments or creating whatever video games, whatever that is for them that they love to do. What's a gym you would leave with somebody.

Speaker 1 42:18

One I've always been kind of like excited to tell people about. If I ever got to like talk about the story of the guitar is that I I sketched the idea for the guitar before I went to school, before I learned how to 3d model. Um, and it was in a sketchbook and I keep all my sketchbooks, yeah, and I opened it up one day after I had learned all these skills and I was like I'm gonna 3d model that and then from me, 3d modeling that turned into I need to build that, and then so, um, yeah, keep, keep your old material. Keep looking at your old material, even if you did it when you were like a kid, um, like old beats, like don't, I wouldn't delete. If you can keep it.

Speaker 1 43:06

Um, if it doesn't take up too much space, if you can digitize your stuff, um, just don't throw away old material that you've created. If you're an artist and, um, I heard I heard journaling is really useful for people trying to like psychoanalyze themselves so they can see, they can like see pictures of themselves in the past and like record and go back I would. I would say, record things that you do and keep them, keep them, don't delete them. Okay, yeah, pretty much, keep, keep being an artist, don't delete them.

Speaker 2 43:39

Okay, yeah, pretty much, keep. Keep being an artist and don't throw away anything.

Speaker 1 43:47

Say it like that. I mean you should like let go of some stuff, but but the art, don't throw away the art. Don't throw away the art. Yeah, yeah, if you spent time on it and it might not seem like anything when you do it. I mean, we've all heard that, like a lot of people produce a song in 20 minutes that ends up being like the best thing they've ever made, right, and meanwhile they've been slaving away at other tracks for like years, yeah, uh. So yeah, don't keep all your stuff. Uh, yeah, keep all your art all right, cool.

Speaker 2 44:33

Well, man, um, my name is tweezy, for the right of me, my boy, lou Ye. Thank you for coming, man. I appreciate it. Man, I hope this inspires some more creatives. You know what I'm saying, because we've been talking for a long time, man. I've been trying to figure out a time to get you on here, set up the logistics and everything, and I was like you know what, let me just do it in the studio you know what I mean instead of just doing it out there or at Crescendo. Yeah, man, appreciate it.

Speaker 2 45:06

I appreciate it, man, and we definitely gonna work. And, like I always say, relationships worth more than money. This is, oh, deuces. Shout out to my bro, big John man rare love, rare love. This is the end. Oh, shout out to my bro, big John man, rare love, rare love. This is the end of this episode, by the way, not the end. This shit going to go forever. You know what I mean? Yes, sir.