tentaryn-blog

[tentaryn-blog]

D.y.y.o Faccina: 

Shot by Me

Styled by Dayo and Myself

Body Paint by Me

I spoke to Dayo aka D.y.y.o Faccina about living life as an artist in the city of Baltimore, MD. We talked about music, painting and being a part of Baltimore’s vibrant art community. Check out my interview with the artist below 

Taryn : What is your name? Dayo : My name is Dayo  

T: What’s your stage name? D: My stage name is D.y.y.o Faccina and it’s spelled different than my real name. 

T: How long have you been making art? D: I put my first song out, or my first serious single out in 2012. It was like November of 2012 so I would say a little bit under five years. But I would say as of 2015 I started really taking it seriously and thinking of it as something I wanted to make a career out of. 

T: So as a kid did you doodle or make music? Have you always been artsy or was it more of a coming of age thing? D: I did but I never really took it as more than a hobby or as something that really could affect people.

T: What kinds of art do you make? D: I do a little bit of painting and digital painting but mostly I’m trying to focus on music before I get into other things. Painting is kind of a supplement to the music as well. 

T: How so? D: You know I was never trained in painting or anything, so I kind of think about it sonically so when I paint I think about when I write a song. I try to do it in the same kind of style and think about the same concepts that I use in my music. I use the colors navy blue, red and gold a lot and I think if my music was colors it would be those colors. 

T:What does creative confidence mean to you? D: I think it means really trusting your ideas which might be kind of a cliché answer but I guess there will be times where I make a song and I’m not sure how I feel about it but then I show it to someone or perform it and I see their genuine reaction is that they like it. And that makes me trust my ideas more. Or having someone notice something very particular that you did and you’re like ‘oh wow I didn’t think anyone was going to pay attention to that small detail.’ Or people just telling you that they connect with your music or telling you to keep doing what you’re doing. Whenever I hear that it keeps me going. 

T: So you say you want to make art your career and the next question is how do you make art work for you outside of your natural inclination to make art how do you bring that into the practical world and make contributions to the community? D: I organize shows and I’m trying to fully fund my shows so I have full control over my presentation. And when I go out and represent myself as an artist I try to hold positive ideals. When I perform I try to set a standard of taste and show my work through action as opposed to talking my music up. Other than that I kind of try to represent for other artists in the Baltimore scene, especially to people who aren’t involved in the scene but want to be, I tell them other artists to check out like Joy Postell, Jpeg.mafia, Abdu Ali, Micah E. Wood, Bobbi Rush… lots of very talented artists in this area 

T: Who’s your favorite artist? D: I cant say this is my favorite but one of my favorites is Fela Kuti for sure. But it’s a hard question because there are so many artists like cinematographers, writers... I don’t know if I can pick a favorite but Fela Kuti is very up there. Top three for sure. I also very much like Jim Morrison, David Lynch, Quentin Tarantino, Tyler the Creator. In no particular order these are some artists I really admire. There are probably some I definitely left out for sure too.

T:Do you have a least favorite artist? D: I do… Ill think of a good one

T:(laughs) Well we can come back D: Yeah we’ll come back to that .

T: Favorite album this year? D: Definitily blkswn by Smino for sure .

T: Any honorable mentions? D: Okay uh Silk Noise Reflex by James Tillman, ON GAZ by A.CHAL, Fresh Air by Homeshake and yeah I think that’s good

T: Do you have any advice for someone who is starting out in the arts? D: You just gotta do it. A lot of people are like “oh I wanna do this or that” and its like do you really want to do that? Because if you really wanted to do it you would just do it and genuinely love and do it and that way you’ll do it well and it’ll make it to the right places where it needs to be seen and.. yeah. I mean if you don’t wanna do it for those reasons that’s cool too. Just do it and love doing it and have fun doing it

T: Plug one of your projects, most recent or favorite or both D: I guess most recent would be the upcoming album that’s about to come out title pending but yeah. Im gonna come out with a new album. Another good album by me is Scream EP and Sun EP from when I was Neroscream. It’s a two sides of the coin kind of deal so you can check those out too.

T: Final Question; Do you have a least favorite artist? D: George W. Bush. He’s actually a painter. Alright guy, least favorite artist though.

[tentaryn-blog]

Marcus Moody: 

Shot by Esther Lee and Myself 

Styled by Marcus Moody and Myself

Body Paint by Esther Lee and Myself

In my first installment of the “Directory” series, I got the chance to style, shoot and chat with the amazing Marcus Moody. At 23 He’s the Marketing Director of Words, Beats and Life and the founder of the University of Maryland’s Hip Hop Orchestra. Check out my interview with the artist below where we talk about the triumphs and trials of running an orchestra, how he got his start in music and more. 

Taryn : What is your name? Who are you? Marcus : My name is Marcus Moody, I’m 23 years old, I’m the director of marketing at Words, Beats and Life. Self-taught drum player, currently learning the bass and the piano… 

 T: Self-taught composer? M: And I’m a self-taught composer! Thanks for reminding me 

 T: Is your stage name the same as your name? M: My stage name right now is Moody but I feel like that’s gonna change for personal reasons. Um, it might get a little lighter. I just feel like when you say Moody people associate it with bad thoughts, negativity and depression. And I went through all that but I don’t want to focus too much on that. I kinda wanna live in the now… live in the “Shmood”. So maybe one day it’ll be Shmood. 

 T: What kind or kinds of art do you make? M: I’m a musician. And I haven’t started owning that until recently.

 T: What kind of music do you make? M: I like cinematic Hip Hop. I like hip hop where the production and the lyricism kind of take you on a ride. And right now, I’m into these sorts of ambient, spacey, shooting star type sounds or like vibey, chill music with some stank on it. You know a little “Unnnh” a little bass.                                                       

T: You mentioned that you were learning the bass earlier. How does that fit into your work? M: I feel like I need an instrument that allows me to move around and talk to people on stage. I just had a show that went really well but I feel like I really didn’t get to perform too much. I introduced the EP that I just released and I really just pressed play and nodded my head while other people rapped over my songs. But I love performing I love being able to play and channel that emotion live while something I’ve created is being presented to people. I just love living in that bubble of sound. 

T: How did you get your start in making music? M: I got my start in third grade. I played and still play the viola. I actually picked it on accident thinking it was a cello. And when the person at Music and Arts put it on the table I was extremely disappointed and then pointed to the instrument I thought it was and the man was like “nah bro that’s a cello. You got a viola.” Of course, at that point my mom had already paid for the viola soo.. 

 T: So, that’s what you’re playing. M: Yeah it was a wrap. I remember it was $888.16. I’ll never forget that shit. Huge purchase. But it actually changed my life. It gave me a new perspective on music. Because the viola never gets the melody and it never really has a funky bassline. It just sort of fills in the space. And you’ll notice if you hear an orchestra with a weak viola section, it just won’t hit the same. It doesn’t feel right… it feels incomplete. And it just kind of warped my perspective on music noticing that the melody or the hook or that addictive thing that you really focus on is only a small piece of the puzzle. There’s always a lot more and I always want to figure out what that more is. 

T: So, tell me about your experience with founding the Hip Hop Orchestra. M: Well essentially I felt like I couldn’t find a group that would let me express what I’d been doing with music throughout grade school. I felt sort of empty until I joined Sneaker Cartel, a Hip Hop entrepreneurship organization. We had producers, sneaker heads, people who want to go into fashion…. But the main idea behind it was to do something and create something. And that really motivated me to create the place I wanted to be and that was the Hip Hop Orchestra. Luckily I had friends who played instruments and were excited and interested in what I was working on. Working with them really stretched my skill set and introduced me to a whole new realm of communication. More and more people started joining and we ended up performing at the Kennedy Center, Afropunk Semi Finals, Art Attack opening up for T Pain. We’ve been in New York, Richmond, Arlington, DC and it’s been a blast. I’ve been able to write and compose about 6 or 7 original scores. I’ve been able to work with at least 75 people over the years and I’ve grown in ways I never thought I would. If not for the orchestra I probably would have dropped out of school and would never be where I am today. But because of it I’ve really been able to build a life for myself and I want to encourage other people to do that as well. Even if your idea is the most outlandish thing, if you see something or you feel something or have an idea that sticks with you and doesn’t go away follow it. 

 T: Being that you had to organize so many people and connect with so many people on a creative level, how do you feel like you kept your Creative Confidence up and what does it mean to you to have Creative Confidence? M: I think with the orchestra there’s a lot more openness than I anticipated there to be. In a traditional orchestra, the conductor is the ringleader and they just tell people what to play and they play their part as its written and move on. I think with me it was different because I really didn’t know how to communicate a lot of the parts to people, and so I was relying on them to just get what I was trying to say when I didn’t have the full intelligence or knowledge to communicate it. So, I think that really opened me up from the beginning to accepting criticisms, additions, suggestions, rearrangements – entire rearrangements of entire parts- and really accepting input from others, while still being focused on what I wanted it to feel and sound like. I know what I wanted it to feel like and I know I wasn’t the only person who could make that happen…

T: And you couldn’t make it happen by yourself? M: Right, I knew I couldn’t make it happen by myself, period. And I’m working with my peers. I was never an expert and I never wanted to come off like that. Because I realized how vulnerable I am to the interest of all the amazing people that joined HHO; I’m at their mercy, and if they choose one day to join another orchestra I can’t say ‘Hey wait you’re under contract’ you know, so people just do what they gotta do… And I think that motivated me to make the best music I possibly could, and pushed me to go as far as I possibly could. I feel like I never had a problem with creative control and autonomy because people really put their trust in what I wanted to create. I never really had to battle for autonomy because I was already trusted and I think that’s really the biggest thing that kept me going. Even when we sucked. And you know we went through that phase multiple times and you gotta own that. Or else you’ll never get better… 

T: Right, everybody has to go through that phase M: Right and there’s turnover, like there have been three completely different Hip Hop Orchestra’s. The one you’re in is like the latest…

T: I know we miss you! Come back! M: I miss ya’ll too but…

T: No, I get it. You know it’s just not the time anymore. M: And I want to really clear that up for people; I’m not leaving because I don’t want to be there. I want to be there and create and have the time to do it on this level but the turnover for HHO is just way too high. There have been at least three different orchestras and I have to hope that each group will be able to learn the music so fast and so well that we can actually do something. Luckily I had people there who were willing to grow with me and were really invested. HHO was a journey though, met a bunch of crazy people, got a lot of different opportunities because of it, for example my job. HHO was a huge thing on my resume. And it’s been a great ride, but I think it’s time to go, so I’m throwing a farewell show 

T: Yes! Farewell show! I’ll be singing. M: Hopefully sometime in November or December. Keep an ear out because It’s gonna be a great show. It’s our Farewell show and there’s no way I’m gonna let it suck because I love HHO. And I’m partly doing this just to say thank you because HHO and all the people in it really changed my life. Like consistently, for years. And I’m glad that I got to experience those four years of growth where I was put in so many positions to learn. Because sociology taught me that thriving isn’t reaching some plateau, thriving is growth. And if I never took the leap to start HHO, call student services and ask how to do this I don’t know where my life would be. So, moral of the story is create kids. Just do it, just create. And when you do you realize you can make anything you want. 

T: This is a good point for the next question which is do you have any advice for people who want to get a start in making art, or have never done art? M: Talk to your friends in the arts. Get to know what the real struggles of art are. Don’t just run through the starving artist narrative. Because there are various types of artists out there, from established artists to people who are just starting out. So, you gotta really know what’s going on because the artists’ life is a lot more work than a nine to five would be. But you get to do it on your own terms. So, get to know an artist. Create and get your work ethic up. Because if you can’t produce work you won’t be taken seriously.

T: Speaking of work, plug some of your own work M: I got a new project coming soon so keep an ear out, but you can peep my first project at http://soundcloud.com/shmoody93/sets/moody-ep  It's beautiful.

T: And what are some of your favorite albums that came out this year? M: DAMN by Kendrick of course, Green Twins by Nick Hakim, Sampha’s album Process and CTRL by SZA. 

 T: Great! Well that’s all the questions I’ve got for you. Thank you so much for sitting for my little interview. M: No problem!