We caught up with the brilliant and insightful C-Def a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
C-Def, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Can you take us back in time to the first dollar you earned as a creative – how did it happen? What’s the story?
The first dollar I earned was at 12 years old, it was from a mixtape I produced myself with some free YouTube beats, a rock band microphone taped to my wall and the audacity recording program. I was selling these mixtapes at school and on Venice beach, in all honesty.. I was 12, I just started rapping. It wasn’t the greatest. It was the fact that random people were willing to support a young kid with a dream that opened my eyes to the possibility. Little did I know 3 years later I would actually get paid perform my first show!
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
I am a 27 year old hip hop artist and record label owner from Santa Clarita, CA. A community in Los Angeles county. My interest in instruments and music peaked at age 8. I started playing guitar and piano, shortly after I started writing. That’s where my heart fell into. By age 12 I started freestyle rapping and attempting to write and learn the basics of hip hop music, I started making my own mixtapes and selling them at local beaches,. at school and in downtown areas. This was met with backlash and bullying from my peers through the rest of my school years, I never once stopped. I kept putting mixtapes out, performing little shows, jumping into freestyle battles. By 15, I was paid to perform at someone’s birthday party. It was makeshift and on the fly, but I did it! Shortly after I was accepted into a community based program through my high school that would provide me not only opportunity to grow, it provided opportunity to learn the music business. I quickly found that was what peaked my interest. Through this program I gained the skills, the team and knowledge needed to start making a career in the business.
I started performing regularly, building and networking my team as I grew. I then took this team and started doing shows on the infamous Sunset Strip in Hollywood. My friend and business partner Yung Chubbz and I have recently started a record label titled “Tha Cutt Factory Records” it is currently based in Los Angeles and Cincinnati. Our mission is to help spread providethe resources needed to succeed in the music business to our artists and communities alike. Our end goal is to impact communities nationally and create a network dedicated to progression in music & arts. We currently have 6 artists on our label roster with already released music and more coming. We are currently working with local organizations in both Los Angeles and Cincinnati on some pretty cool ideas!
We want to benefit arts and entertainment, it saved my life and kept me out of trouble. Now it’s our turn to give back.
Any resources you can share with us that might be helpful to other creatives?
I wish I knew how many organizations and resources are really out here trying to fund and help musicians who are aspiring for a career in the business. It would have made my journey so much easier in the beginning, but I’m glad I learned the way I did. It was purely through supply and demand meeting trial and error. It taught me that not everything comes easy in life and in fact, Sometimes it’s better to take the road less traveled, you’ll still make it to your destination. You’ll just have wisdom behind you when you get there.
How can we best help foster a strong, supportive environment for artists and creatives?
I CANNOT STRESS THIS ENOUGH, if you TRULY support your friend who is a creative or business owner. Support their business and buy their products, repost their pages, tell your friends. It’s that simple. If your friend makes music, pay $1.29 on iTunes, or download it on Spotify, buy tickets to their show even if you can’t make it. Don’t ask them for handouts. That’s weak. Literally every shred of support matters and can make OR break that person trying to make it.
Also, stop doubting your friends ambitions, help uplift them. Literally anything is possible. Ridiculing me is all my peers did to me growing up. It’s not helpful. It’s not a “reality check”. The real fact of the matter is that there is an extreme amount of money to be made in music and arts. You just gotta get creative and build a community of support.
Contact Info:
- Website: Https://Linktr.ee/official_cdef
- Instagram: @official_cdef
- Twitter: @official_cdef
- Other: Follow my record label @thacuttfactory on Instagram!