Much love to Boston-based literary art magazine, The Middle Gray, for featuring 3 of my paintings in their newest issue. This marks my first art feature of the new year. The magazine features Dizzy, Ignorant Butterflies and Heartache Sit Down on pages 74-76. Check out the screenshots below and the full feature here.      

One of the most important things you can do to prepare for the year ahead is to create a budget for your musical activities. Having a budget will give you a much clearer look at where you want to go financially, how you’ll get there, and what your progress is along the way. We’ve broken down the process into 4 simple steps to help you create a budget: 1. Ask […]

Towards the end of 2013 my Solitaire painting was personally selected to be a part of the Santa Clarita City Hall’s Shadows group exhibition. Solitaire, along with the rest of the art, has been on display since December and will run through April 2014. Below is a picture taken with Marsha McLean, the former two-term mayor of Santa Clarita & current City Council member. Let me also add how honored I am to be the only black artist to be showing […]

With the help of BMI’s Nina Pacent, I’ve put together a list of ten things for you to examine when critiquing your songs, in order to make them both lyrically and melodically stronger. The Lyric 1. Do you have a strong opening line? The opening line of your song is the first and best chance to engage your listener in the story you’re about to tell.  Strong opening lines explain […]

Why you should be putting out more music Gone are the days when you’d record and release a new album every three or four years, throw all your promotional eggs into that one basket, tour non-stop for two years, and then repeat. Everything has changed, from the consumption habits of music fans to the costs and processes of music production. Nowadays — especially in the independent music world — the […]

Much respect to Thomas Agnew of Jenesis Magazine for reaching out to do an interview and feature on me in the newest issue of Jenesis Magazine. We sat down and discussed everything from my youth, the Slip N Slide days, Timber’s success and of course my artwork. Check out the screenshot below and click here to view the full feature.

Payola, in one form or another, is as old as the music business: Labels pay radio stations to broadcast their music, producers pay DJs to spin their records in the club, and promoters ask live bands to pay-to-play at their event. And it’s always been a hot topic amongst musicians. So if you’re an artist, should you ever have to pay-to-play? Here are two ways to look at it: Why You Shouldn’t […]

Major congratulations to my client Sermstyle for not only landing his first single, but also for his first single being a #1 HIT record!! As of Wednesday, Pitbull’s single “Timber” hit #1 on the Billboard charts, just days after hitting #1 in the UK. To date, Timber has also hit #1 in 51 markets globally and currently still #1 in Canada, Germany, Mexico & South Africa! The record is double Platinum in the U.S. […]

In an era of significantly shorter attention spans and increasingly distracted listeners, we, as songwriters, have an even greater responsibility to grab our audience as quickly as possible. The first place to do this is the song’s intro. The following tips will help hook your listeners into your song right away. 1. Keep your intro short and to the point I was backstage at a music conference a few years […]

First impressions are lasting impressions. Your actions on a daily basis reflect how you are perceived as an artist. Often you are seen before your music is heard. There are common tactics that are perceived as ‘amateur’… in other words, the artists that are really out there killing it and making a living from their music (whether on an indie or major level) aren’t going about promo in this way […]