Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to DazeKid. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Hi DazeKid, thanks for joining us today. We’d love to hear about a project that you’ve worked on that’s meant a lot to you.

Man, every project has a meaning to it, but I would have to say DCV3: The Pain Behind the Smile is the most meaningful one that I’ve released. It’s the project I was the most vulnerable on. From the title, to the songs and soundbytes, even the order has meaning. And you can grasp that as you listen. The title touches on how we tend to hide our pain from the world with smiles and laughter while simultaneously directly references my personal smile. The cover is an actual mold of my mouth with a lit joint as the title forms in the smoke. From the intro all the way to Royalty, each song is like a release and recap of different events in life.

DazeKid, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

I go by Daze, DazeKid when on stage. I was born in Newark, NJ, raised between Newark and East Orange. I was raised Muslim and lived with my mom. Music wasn’t something she allowed in the house, especially not Hip-Hop. But my dad had a cd rack that I would explore every time I went to his house. He listened to everything from Jazz to Salsa but not Hip-Hop. So I would listen to whatever cds of his that I liked but I’d start tuning into radio stations like Power 105.1 and Hot97 and I eventually fell in love with Hip-Hop. I started writing my own lyrics around 13. I give credit to my step pops because it was an argument with him that made me write my first song. No beat, just raw emotions. From there, music became my way to express myself. At 15, a friend of mine was making beats on FL Studio and opened my mind to a whole new world. I later learned how to make my own beats, record myself and here we are now. I never truly had dreams of being a major artist, being on television or anything like that, but as I got older, I was more turned on to the idea of being able to sustain off my intellectual property. So around age 22, I started performing and getting familiar with the scene in Jersery. However I ended up moving to Tennessee a couple years later but the grind remained the same. I found the Hip-Hop scene and started doing open mics and shows around Knoxville and other cities. Fast forward, I’m currently in Orlando building and expanding in ways I haven’t done before.

Being that I’ve learned how to engineer my own sessions, I engineer sessions for other artist as well. The main service I have outside of music is a production company (FREELANE) I started with my brothers. We started out focusing on music videos and slowly expanded into short films and more cinematic style shooting. We still shoot music videos and have also ventured into covering live sports. We do weddings and any other event you can think of. That helps grow the network of clients and make room for potential music features in the future. It’s also a great way to experience new things. I was booked to shoot a basketball tournament in Mexio for a week. My first time going to Mexico and I get paid to go there. What’s better than that?

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

The most rewarding aspect is seeing the type of impact you and your art has on society and the people around you. It feels good to learn that something you did helped someone else in a positive way. I feel like art, being the form of expression that it is, as artist we should utilize that not only to entertain but to educate, to heal, to help mourn, etc. There’s plenty of playlist out there that were created with a feeling attached to it, whether is be happiness or sadness. I find it beautiful that we’re able to use words and sounds to help other people navigate their lives.

Is there mission driving your creative journey?

My overall mission is to build something that can help reshape the ghettos of our country and provide people in impoverished communities with a better way of living. I feel like there’s a lot that can be done and there’s always strength in numbers. The goal is to reach as many people as I can that want to reach the same or similar goal so that we can attain it together. I grew up in a rough city and I witnessed some horrible ways people are forced to survive out here. At this point, we are aware of the systems put in place to keep things the way they are. It’s about time we dismantle those systems and rebuild more efficient once.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://dazekid.bandcamp.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dazekid1908?igsh=MTc4a296aDEwcWVpOA==
• Twitter: https://x.com/lowestonthehill
• Youtube: https://youtube.com/yungdazekid?si=1hFXKe_jbbj3BWfD
• Soundcloud: https://on.soundcloud.com/y81320EAudUN5EU04Z

Image Credits

K-Mo Snaps
FREELANE Creations