We recently connected with Cvlii and have shared our conversation below.
Cvlii, appreciate you joining us today. When did you first know you wanted to pursue a creative/artistic path professionally?
“Well after I finished freshman year of college, and teaching myself how to mix and master majority of the time… I already had the creative talent to make music and sing so I created my first project “rated p-13” in 2018. After the response of that project I made some songs one of them being “Bottled message,” the biggest song in my catalogue actually, the response from that song sealed the deal for my seek after the career…. A lot of people has always said I had a gift for it but I guess I never realized how impactful it was , until I kind of got pass the insecurity of my voice and confidence to be seen and heard…”
Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.
“I got in the music industry about… I wanna say around … ummmm 2018ishh I was supposed to sign to a independent label called 3rd L records , then fast forward from that time I stayed independent, me and my friends was always posting on SoundCloud and distrokid and performing during the heavier times of Covid… We would go to different industry mixers and we have friends who are in the the content creation market and they kind of coexist with one another cause nowadays TikToker and YouTubers also make music… We started seeing our face card increase when we showed up to a mike-will made it event and we was in the VIP section with him , Willie joe and dj drama from generation now, my homie, Juno central on stage chopping it up with Jermaine Dupree and Mike will during beats by the bar… my guy sole from south by sole , my family over at Musiqal Mindz , my current collective I’m sport of called FREEMINDS with my guys Cantrell, retrolandy, the hbuc l… all of it really was like a snow ball effect and we still grinding but just more eyes are watching now.. I just got accepted distribution with Awal records who just got bought up by Sony records …. All of it is in Glory to my lord and savior… Jesus has really been on my side since ‘98 sooo none of the is without him….
What I do for the particularly in the Industry is make music , singing, songwriting , engineer mix and master myself , along with other friends of mine…
The thing that sticks out about me when people work with me is that , I give them room to just be… like the rules in my studio is just be you… if you weird be weird , imma laugh at the noises you make on the mic Lol, but ima still stand behind it , if you conscious, make me think… take me on a journey when you wit me , you digg… and the problem I solve for artist is mainly quality of sound , a lot of artist, commonly in the upcoming community, do not have the necessary funds for big fancy studios, with my expertise being able to see them smile at a polished sound , makes me smile , cause I remember how that made me feel when I mixed and masted my first song correctly and yeah…”
What can society do to ensure an environment that’s helpful to artists and creatives?
“Just be present… like I get life is going on and it’s an agenda with a to do list for everyone who has a heart beating, but 9 times out of 100 , every looking at they phone .. I’m looking at my phone now , and most of the time I’m on social media and out of the population of Americans , not even the whole world but in America alone someone is looking at they phone , they gonna be looking at the phone with this interview comes out…. So when we , as entertainers stay up late night , game planning a marketing campaign and strategy to grab your attention…. The best return of investment would be a simple like comment, a share with friends, for artists learning lyrics giving feedback all free things that we not selling I guess…”
Alright – so here’s a fun one. What do you think about NFTs?
“Mannn… that is for people who is deeply rooted in the internet business of currency and art… I’m young but I’m also old school, if it ain’t …like right in front of me and calls for me to download like 4 or 5 apps to work … I’m not gonna be into all that , I’m a Gemini it’s already 12 things I think about right now lol so that ain’t it … but eventually I’ll be hip when I purchase more capacity for my brain to think about it…”
Contact Info:
- Instagram: Instagram.com/cvlii
- Twitter: X.com/surferboy33
- Youtube: Cvlii