We recently connected with Bishop Lloyd and have shared our conversation below.
Bishop, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Let’s start with a story that highlights an important way in which your brand diverges from the industry standard.
Almost everything I do tends to deviate from industry standard. Typically it’s because of the lack of funding for my creative services or the lack of time for such services. I’m also a part of a business called NOBAN WORLD, a rap group called 602castncrew, and a band called SolFooD. Although each of the collectives I’m a part of have talented individuals, we often have to do things out of the norm due to time constraints or lack of resources. Even preparing for our first show, SolFooD only had so much time to get a set together because of lack of communication. We basically improvised our entire set.
As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?
I started animating my own short films and even was working on a TV show at one point during my middle school years but set it aside until about high school to focus on sports. I attended Georgia State University where I met the members of 602catncrew. Originally I just wanted to be an engineer to make money but being around the group got me into rapping as well. As time passed and I became more in tune with my identity as an artist, I started incorporating my animating and drawing abilities as part of my “package” for lack of a better term. Over time, the cover arts I would do for myself started drawing attention from other artists who enjoyed my art style. Now in 2024, I offer cover arts, animation, and sound engineering as services for other artists. I’m self taught in pretty much everything I offer so I have a very unique style for my commissions.
Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?
While working on my first album ever my laptop crashed. I did have my album backed up, but the edits to some of the songs were completely gone meaning I would have to start the mixing process over again. At the time I didn’t have the money to for a new laptop so my friends came together to buy a new one for my birthday. Their generosity helped me complete the album and I still don’t have the words to describe how that amazing it is to have them in my life. Unfortunately, after about three months of using the new laptop, it crashed as well. Having learned my lesson, I backed up EVERYTHING, or so I thought. I actually lost an entire animation I was working on because it wasn’t backed up correctly. It hurt my confidence to start anything large scale again out of fear I would lose it all and have to start over again. But here I am, starting up a few big projects at the same time in 2024 that I couldn’t be any more excited about. I would hate to have to start over again, but I know I could do it.
How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?
When I came to college, I was still trying to be a collegiate athlete. That didn’t work out so I decided to pursue a degree in film at Georgia State. I learned Pro Tools and Media composer while attending Georgia Film Academy through a program at my university. Everything was looking up until the COVID pandemic that struck in the middle of my junior year. The film industry notably suffered during that time and I was suffering from COVID related illnesses for about a year and a half. During these events, I made the decision to see the music and visual arts I was creating through to the end. For the last almost four years, I haven’t looked back.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://linktr.ee/rokkai
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rokkai_/?hl=en
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/rokkai_?lang=en
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC_9iaYT2APCvMsJ7Zmopk-A
Image Credits
Photo Credits: @amandaalea_ @kingk.rula @givannideltotorici @e.perezart