KeythB

Today we’d like to introduce you to Andrew Bradley.

Andrew, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
It was all a dream when my brother would make music on his laptop and I’d write what I thought was the best raps ever, only performing it to get his opinion. No, like he was the only one that ever heard them. At that particular time, all I saw was rappers with cool clothes, fancy jewelry, fine woman and that’s mostly what the topic of their songs was. In middle school, I didn’t have those things and wasn’t interested in being someone I wasn’t so another interest of mine quickly grabbed my attention, Poetry. The Mos Defs and Commons and Lauryn Hills of the world opened my mind to ideas I didn’t know was cool to talk about, not knowing where that would lead me.

Fast forward to college after countless Mothers Day poems, Birthday poems, a few weddings and a whole lot of open mics even though I believed it was something I was good at I never seen it as a “way out” per se. Attending the Art Institute of Atlanta, right in the heart of music culture, is where I got persuaded to transform my spoken word into rap by my long term friend Vonte, who was already into music. Attending for Culinary Arts but focused on music from then own I found myself studying the culture and its history a lot, occasionally being mistaken for a relative of the great 3 Stacks. (strictly off of looks) This was a whole new world for me that introduced me to a lot more open mics, the legendary Apache Cafe & the A3C festival. This outlet, this journey has led me to SXSW which earned my brother and I a trip to California to attend a music conference among other small festivals and competitions. I now reside back in my hometown of South Carolina, working with a few dope producers to continue creating and pushing our culture forward but there’s no doubt that Atlanta has a lot to do with where I am musical.

Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way? Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
I don’t believe the road is smooth for anyone in the pursuit of something you truly care about. I mean, you fall in love with something you’re introduced to and it’s a hobby for you at first. It’s not about money or commercial success, strictly for the love of it. Then you realize your life revolves around this love and you know the saying, “it ain’t work if its something you enjoy doing”.

At some point, when you take it seriously, we forget why we started doing this in the first place and start focusing on opinions and critics. Self-criticism and doubt that though it was good enough for my friends and me will my love for this shine through in my work. I found that was a big struggle of mine when I actually started to look for acceptance and what other people felt was good music at the time. I don’t disagree that that doesn’t work for people but subject writing isn’t always the best route for people who uses this as a release and for expression. At the same time, though, everyone wants to be accepted and their story to be heard. So this road wasn’t as smooth as I liked it to be and though some potholes have been filled, some are still being worked on. - VoyageATL