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

Alright, BRYAN thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. We’d love to hear the story of how you went from this being just an idea to making it into something real.

My work lives at the intersection of music and storytelling. I was raised in poverty by a mother who battled bipolar and schizoaffective disorder, I grew up in a house full of music and naturally fell in love with music so much that I wanted to make my own. I had been recording music for years. I sat down and really decided to look at my experiences and then I record my experiences. I learned a lot from my upbringing not as a limitation, but as the foundation for a body of work centered on compassion and resilience. These early struggles sharpened my voice that now champions essential stories about mental health, hope, and the courage required to be unapologetically yourself.

Through introspective lyricism and spoken word, I leans into a level of vulnerability that serves as a powerful creative force. I’ve spent over 15 years proving that honesty matters more than image, using his platform as a vehicle for healing and truth. I feel as if my message is a necessary one for our current cultural moment: the very things that make you different are often the things that make your voice essential.

BRYAN, 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?

Bryan “Harvest Blaque” Hancock is a Perry F. Kendig Award Nominated actor, Writer, Slam poet and Hip-Hop Artist. Bryan is very passionate about community work and music. Bryan loves to share his life through music and spoken word poetry. He also works as a Activity Tech and artist for Carilion Adjunct therapy where he teaches Adolescent youth how to find their voice through music and poetry.

I think I am very resilient and self aware. A lot of people try to put me in the box that makes them feel comfortable but I feel it is very important to show that emotional intelligence matters. If it makes people uncomfortable, so be it. I create selfishly for myself and win or lose I refuse to play it safe. Everybody wants to fit in but I am realizing that is way better to stand out. It is better to find comfort in the discomfort. I make music that I believe in and I don’t really follow trends. Being an independent artist is hard but I’d rather be me and move how I want than be a slave to insecurities and the algorithm. We need now more than ever artist who really want to be renegades and not play it safe and that is what I intend on doing.

What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?

I use to be someone who would half way do a project but I recently stayed the course and did a full rollout of my last album “The Care Package”. I got with a team that believed in me. worked with up and coming producer and black comic book artist who collaborated with me on my vision. My album was a critically acclaimed sleeper hit. The progress was slow and I am not quite where I want to be but I am further than where I was and now we have a product that I am proud of. The vinyl sales are strong in demand and people beyond streaming sites have genuine conversations about my art.

We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.

Staying the course beyond the naysayers and the sad people who throw rocks and hide their hands. We live in a culture where people will quickly throw dirt on your name and it is important to still stay the course and be the flowers that sprout out regardless. sometimes we have to give ourselves the flowers we deserve. The internet has a way of giving people a false sense of entitlement and a false sense of courage. There is nothing brave about internet slander and even adults we can cyberbully.. People often will say things on the internet that they wouldn’t dare say in person. I’ve experience this a lot but my problems aren’t greater than anyone else’s. I am breathing so I’ve beaten 100% of my circumstances. I use the pain to make lemonade out of these sour lemons. Whatever highs and lows, right and wrongs I’ve experienced, I want to evolve from it all with purpose. to leave things better than I found it. I am fallible and human and sometimes when under the microscope of societal pressures from having a platform people often assume that you are not supposed to have layers and they rather you just be the feel good even when you don’t feel good. I found that sometimes hurt in life will come from the people you love the most. When moments where I’ve been misunderstood arose in my life, there was nothing I could do with people who were committed to misunderstanding me. I still stayed in my lane and out of the way to be my best and to give my best. It is important to also do a gut check and shed ego , apologize when wrong, as well as strip off the lies imposed on us by others. Not everybody who says that they love you does and not everyone who says that they are about your cause is. We live in an age of energy vampires and folks who sometimes think that you can be a stepping stone to whatever it is that they want out of life. I’ve learned that in a lot of instances that people can take and idea off of your dream factory conveyor belt but they’ll never take you because your heart is the factory, they can try to defame and hurt you but they can’t ever undo what God built. I am an imperfect man holding a key to perfection. I search those moments that have been tough to be teachable and better than yesterday. Having the good sense to let go of what no longer serves you to grow. So many people will try to tell everybody but you about you and all you have to do is show the world who you truly are even if it make some others uncomfortable, you gotta keep going.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/harvestblaque/?hl=en
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/HarvestBlaque
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bryan-hancock-44289a84/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@harvestblaque
• Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/harvest-blaque
• Other: Spotify https://open.spotify.com/artist/7y8Lk8kmoYPlIx3Xfu3ANW?si=Wy1jObaoROqMT8qiwWFwSw