We recently connected with Abanga Etuk and have shared our conversation below.
Alright, Abanga thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. What did your parents do right and how has that impacted you in your life and career?
My parents have instilled a massive work ethic in me to the point where I have been working since I was 14 years old. I remember myself being in elementary school sweeping up hair at the barber shop and receiving a small allowance for it. I then I’m middle school was partnered with radio shack while living in Colorado, and they would also pay me a reasonable allowance as well. I always have to have money coming in and as they always say. As long as someone owes you money, you’ll never be broke.
Abanga, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?
As most artists get their start in the church, I took a bit of my choir experience and intertwined it with my band experience, and I continued with band for about 4 years. I began to create short melodies to a lot of the songs we would play. But of course keeping them to myself. I then began writing thought out poetry in the 7th grade, and that same year I began to place my writings over instrumentals that I was search on YouTube. The ones that didn’t align were of course tweaked, and rearranged until I realized that if I just “flowed” differently, I could keep it exactly how I intended to say it. Flow and precision is what I continued to work on as I began to upload a lot of my experiments on SoundCloud. (Which was in its prime at the time.) I received a lot of supporting comments over time and I continued with it. In 2014 instagram came about and that was my newest platform to showcase my skills. It wasn’t until 2019 and the times of quarantine where I actually began to place my artistry onto streaming platforms. It’s one thing to be complimented by familiar faces, but it’s an ever better feeling to be supported by individuals completely out of your region. It’s an extremely great feeling.
Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?
I feel as artists, our biggest issue will always be friends and family. It may be an odd thing to read, but it’s proven they will be the very last group of people to support you. People who are around you everyday witnessing the work you are putting in, the sacrifices you are making, and still would not support you in any way. Any one who does not support your dream needs to be pushed to the back burner, the same ones who never support you; will also continue to be present in your life JUST IN CASE you make it. They’d then like to mention all those times you went without to make things happen. If you aren’t confident in yourself and your craft you may find yourself taking offense to this. Resilience takes you further than your skill will. A legend, an icon, or even a corporation that once wasn’t interested in you could easily do full circle with any song, any video, any interview! I always keep a smile on my face not only because I’m genuinely happy, but because thats what sells. You can be as talented as you want to be, walking around frowned up and antisocial gets you absolutely nowhere in the industry.
In your view, what can society to do to best support artists, creatives and a thriving creative ecosystem?
In my opinion the underground artist scene runs circles around the industry artists, all day long. So many extremely talented people in the world who has never been heard of because they don’t feel worthy enough to chase their own dreams. If we could get a piece of the spotlight that are shed on the megastars we could really place a crack in the current state of artistry, not just rap. I hear a lot of my peers complaining about certain things their favorite artists may/may not do, and I take it into consideration as well. For every complaint I hear I guarantee I can name a local artist to fulfill that need. They don’t have 1M followers but they have million dollar flows. Just give us the chance.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://music.apple.com/us/artist/abanga-etuk/1502953532
- Instagram: Bangathemenace
- Facebook: Etuk Abanga
- Twitter: Bangathemenace
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@jaysosupreme
Image Credits
The showers that I have provided pictures of are from my job @West Shore Home. I am a shower and bath installer and wanted to show some finished work. I’ve also provided a picture of my two children Odysseus (Doberman) and Azula (Bull Terrier). Also an extra picture of me 😂