We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Desmond Travis. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Desmond below.

Desmond, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. We’d love to hear the backstory behind a risk you’ve taken – whether big or small, walk us through what it was like and how it ultimately turned out.

I honestly did not take enough risks in my life, or in being creative. It’s one of my biggest regrets. I think, for me, I lived to deeply in the fear of “what if…”. You know, “what if this doesn’t go right? What if I don’t gain an audience? What if no one likes what I do?” It actually paralyzed me creatively. I was basically overthinking things. I fully regret that.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

Well, let’s see. Between age 2 and 5, my dad gave me a vinyl record collection, and it grew from my older siblings adding onto it. I loved different genres and different styles of music, and would play them a lot. Just about every day. From there, I would become the DJ for my family’s house parties. I’m talking 5 years old, playing records for my older brothers and sisters while they’d party with their friends.

I also remember being fascinated with cameras and the images they created, in cinema and printed photos. I’d look in different magazines, in awe of how the images were captured. I’d watch movies, glued to the screen, whether it was the theatre or home, I paid so much attention to different details in the moving images that excited me creatively.

I became a teenager in the 1980s, so when it came to making my own art, I learned how to make beats through listening to hip hop, and learning how to sample, first by making loops on cassette tape, then sampler/drum machines. I stuck with the turntables and learn how to cuts, scratch, blend and mix. I did that well enough to start spinning at parties.

With images, I would use cameras that people in my family had, but I never really asked for my own. I didn’t think my family could afford such things, so I didn’t bother to ask for what I wanted. In high school though, I had photography class and cinema class in the 10th grade, where I learned the fundamentals of image capturing.

Back to DJ’ing though, it was the thing that took me furthest. Once I got out of high school, I got a job at Detroit’s bigest radio station, WJLB. Being there at age 19 in 1994 was huge to me! I started out as a phone operator, where I’d take song requests, and assist the night time on-air jock. I was sort of like a show producer. From there I became an actual show producer, mix show DJ, on-air personality, commercial producer/voiceover, music editor, and just all-around go-to guy. It was 15 years of total fun, and I loved it!

While I was in radio, I was also able to get around and be a part of Detroit’s hip hop scene. Friday nights at Saint Andrews Hall was where the hip hop heads would connect every Friday, and I was blessed by the resident DJ, House Shoes, by allowing me (and other DJs) to get on stage and do sets. Talk about a blast!

Around the same time, I befriended Proof (RIP), and most of the best rappers in the D at our Saturday meeting place, The Hip Hop Shop. There were some epic emcee battles that went on in that place. I was introduced to Denaun Porter, Eminem, and the rappers who would eventually become D12. I was the group’s DJ when Eminem came back to sign the guys to their record deal.

To this day, I still kick it with Denaun, who I look at as my brother…a guy I learned so much from. I’m still making beats, producing music, and I’m one of the lead engineers at one of Michigan’s largest recording studios, Mix Factory One.

As far as the lens, I have directed and edited lots of music videos and I’ve shot a great deal of photography. I’m gearing myself up now to do more art photography and releasing prints for the world to grab.

For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?

The most rewarding aspect of being a creative artist is the fact that aI get to bring love to the world through my art. I get to show compassion, and change someone positively, or at least spark a positive fire in people. I think the world is filled with too much individuality, selfishness, greed, and shortsightedness. I refuse to let us lose our true connection to each other, which is love. Since I’m given gifts of creativity, I keep in my heart to use them for good. Even if most of the world does not see things my way, I keep making my art for those who don’t mind my thought process being different from theirs. I do it for myself, and for those who do think the way that I do, and for those who accept life’s contrasts. What would the world be if we all saw one or two colors? Super bland. I’m thankful that I get to see and hear how and what I see and hear. I hope that makes sense.

What can society do to ensure an environment that’s helpful to artists and creatives?

Society can support artists and the arts by letting it all be just that: art. We concern ourselves way too much on money. I get that we have to work and earn a living, but the artistry suffers, and it’s what makes me sad. I wish more people would put more value on, and into, the world of art. That includes the artists ourselves. We need to hold our art much higher than we do. We should put more respect on it!

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://instagram.com/djddt1
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/desmond-travis-0ab1471/
• Twitter: http://x.com/djddt
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@DJDDT
• Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/mp3ddt

Image Credits

Photo 1 courtesy of Dante “DJ Tay” Ellis.