We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Amon Hartley a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Amon, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Have you ever had an amazing boss, mentor or leader leading you? Can you us a story or anecdote that helps illustrate why this person was such a great leader and the impact they had on you or their team?
I have a lot of great mentors such as OTR CHAZ and Pyrex Whippa, but one that will never be forgotten is Whiteboy. Whiteboy was not only a mentor, but he was a brother to me. Whiteboy helped me get to the position I’m in today. He would bring me around people I should know, help me form relationships with them, and teach me things about making beats that I never thought to do. Some days we would sit in the studio for hours making beats, and one thing he told me that stuck with me was ” Always remember that you make me proud.” Sadly, Whiteboy is no longer with us today, but my main focus is to make him proud of me every single day.
Amon, 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’m a music producer from Baltimore, Maryland and I also attend Clark Atlanta University. My dad is a DJ, and I have been around music since I was a kid. Watching my dad growing up, I fell in love with music, and decided I wanted to make my own music. I’ve been making beats since I was in the 9th grade, and I am now a Senior in college, graduating in May with a bachelor’s degree in business administration. I think what sets me apart from other producers is that I actually put my feelings into my beats. Every beat I make is based on my thoughts, and what I’m feeling at the moment. I like to use my beats as a form of me venting, because I put my pain and feelings into these beats. I’m most proud of my recent signing to OST, a producer label under producer/artist Pyrex Whippa.
What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?
To me, the most rewarding part of being a person who creates music is seeing how it makes everybody else feel. It’s a surreal feeling to have people tell me that they love my beats, or when they hear my tag listening to an artist’s song. It makes me happy knowing people love the outcome of what I make, and it makes me excited for people to hear my next beat.
We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.
In the music industry, it’s not what you know, it’s who you know. The music industry can also be stagnant sometimes, and you have to just be patient. Coming up as a music producer, I had to learn to just wait my turn and not get discouraged. There are still times I don’t make the cut for a project, or a producer is getting more placements than me. I learned to embrace it and just clap for everybody ahead of me, mostly people I have worked with. I realized you cannot measure someone else’s success to your career because there will be many
more opportunities. Comparison is the thief of joy.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/prodbyayemon/
Image Credits
@24k.visuals
@visualsbyjboy1
@cribshots
@otrchaz
@pyrexwhippa
@digital.ost