We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Jaughn Meshack a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Jaughn, appreciate you joining us today. Can you talk to us about a project that’s meant a lot to you?
The Designer Artillery series has no doubt grown into one of the best musical masterpieces OF ALL TIME. 3 albums completed, the Trilogy has almost been completely visualized with our very own created players & gameplay. This is non-biasedly my favorite body of work because of the versatility, unique visuals, demonstration of lyricism, originality, and just how organically it came about. So Designer Artillery the series is more than just weapons made from you’re favorite designer fashion brands, it’s actually a story about the people who decided to open up the actual store, and evolves as the store becomes more successful. Not only do the lyrics explain how useful, overpowering, convenient, and stylish the weapons are, they also give references to the customers and now wielders of them as well. The DA series has what you call “Shelf Life” where you can listen to it 3 years later, and finally understand a certain reference or bar to any anime, gaming, fiction character, item, and/or special move. And if you watch the videos which we created, it epitomizes how talented we are as a group in Greyspot Syndicate. The best part is, Designer Artillery perfectly utilizes Elemental Rounds, how each weapon can switch and have different output effects when necessary.
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
Codename; Uh Oh Tre Five, music producer, video editor, model, actor, & business owner. I make music while playing video games, then put the same music I made over highlights of me playing the game, creating a whole new audiovisual experience. Getting the timing right is the most important part when making the videos. I always synchronize so when the bass drops, hi-hats hit, or a break in the verse happens, its matches with the video perfectly. My favorite part is always making the intro. Sometimes I have a song in mind, sometimes I’ll take recommendations, and sometimes I do a little research to discover a new tune, but I know if I can get the intro right to bring you into the story, then the rest will just come to me. The most underrated and overlooked part is the outro and transitions. With 94% of my videos the ending of one will be correlated to the beginning of the next in some shape form or fashion. This id quite difficult to achieve sing how the videos are not always created and posted in chronological order. At one point, I’ve had a video in the vault for almost most 2 years before being posted, just so it would be presented and aligned properly. I wanted to be viewed as one big story, only thing I want the viewers to do tho is put themselves in the players’ shoes, as if they were on the screen, as if they purchased and were using Designer Artillery, as if they were utilizing elemental rounds in their scuffles. I would much prefer they enjoy the imagination of having certain abilities, rather than just viewing it as me playing games.
What can society do to ensure an environment that’s helpful to artists and creatives?
Support the homies man, I cant stress that enough. I doesn’t cost anything to show love, share a song, tell another friend, or at least try to understand someones artistic expression. Many people cant think for themselves, and will just say they like something just because 4 out of the last 5 people said they do, thats a fact there’s been studies on it. View it for what it is rather than how you see that person. People will always rave, be in awe, and fall in love with a celebrity just because more people know what they’re doing, even though plenty of people are doing it better. Everybody has heard a song on soundcloud, seen a video on youtube, randomly came across a tiktok or tweet and said “why doesn’t this have more views!?” And in contrast, everyone has heard a song, seen a video, or come across something and asks “How did this get so many views?” So just getting the content out there to the next person that might like it, means so much to the artists because you never know who’s watching, and what could inspire anybody. Best part if, if your homie blows up, then it’s a higher chance you get to meet that favorite celebrity with or through your supportee. Anything is possible and anything could happen, an emoji here and there, repost now and then, and a “Hey I saw your thing,” “I heard that one song” “This is dope you should do an [xyz]” always means alot and keeps the artists going.
What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?
The most rewarding part about making music and putting together these videos, is by far viewing the finished product. Based off the fact that I can literally turn my thoughts into reality is so satisfying. I’ll break it down step by step, my personal experience, on how I turn nothing into something: At some point I’m feeling some type of way, so I decide to turn that feeling into a song. I hear the the song, and say to myself; “This would look really nice, going along with this song.” Get the footage, edit it together with the song, song gets released, people hear and share the song, done. Now I have physical money in my pocket based off a feeling I felt a while ago that somehow a bunch of strangers of different races, ages, backgrounds and struggles all feel, want to feel or have felt sometime in their life. We are human, we all have experiences, all have trials, so being able to turn mine into an audiovisual showcase theres no true way to describe the pride and relief of being able to do so. The fact that I’m able to make them all connect, keep it organic, and demonstrate my creativity and style jus shows part of my true character.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: @UhOhTreFive
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wETUE419Ovc&list=PLFWa-KwpopggQPn1Z8yVbhSfZwPEBxlbY
Image Credits
Jaughn Meshack