We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Brandon Pope a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Brandon, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. How did you learn to do what you do? Knowing what you know now, what could you have done to speed up your learning process? What skills do you think were most essential? What obstacles stood in the way of learning more?

I learned how to produce music through my old neighbor he put me on to FL STUDIO. I kept interacting with the software over time improving my skills and knowledge overall. I could have sped up the process if I knew how to study properly, I was like 15 I barely studied anything let alone knew how to properly study the subject. When it comes to Deejaying I was taught by Dj Oodie and Mc Jay Da Kid. I specifically remember they saying “Stop using both hands, use one for the Wheel and one for the crossfader and just copying the song to the other wheel” After that I began practicing for like years. Practice is SO IMPORTANT!!! In both Deejaying and Producing. It helps you get familiar with your tools which helps you be creative without impedance. The only obstacles that stood in the way of me learning more was wasted time with petty jobs petty relationships and regular life challenges.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

I got into production in 2009 and Deejaying later in 2012. I always liked music and was playing instruments young. My cousin met friends in school from Decatur high and linked with them as they started making music in the home of a parent who was apart of a local band. They exposed me to this lifestyle this process this hustle. Later I began making my own productions and took the craft throughout life to work with various artists. I got into Deejaying because I was a party promoter… at the age of 15 yes lol … and some of the first Deejays i ever heard of were DJ REDD DJ YOUNGSTA AND DJ KID KOBY ROC. Being on the scene trying to network and push beats I noticed the money that was coming through these events and decided I want to Dj too because thats where the money at. Fast forward 10 years later Its the single best decision Ive made in my life.

What I feel sets me apart from ALL other Deejays and Producers simply is that I am me… there is only one of me and no duplicates. I put my life my perspective my emotions into my craft. So it can never be like someone else… Also as an instrumentalist, I really know and understand music theory. A good teacher once told me that people will fear or envy me in this industry because you can compose music mix music record music and play music not many in the industry can do it all. So I humbly just keep goin while my focus is to show audiences and artists Im different and Im the best…
I am most proud of my haters the nay sayers people who doubted me or told me to quit. Sometimes opposition will get you down and depressed about the direction of your life. I never forgot my reasons why Im in this industry in the first place so when I say Im proud of my haters Its because I prevail through all the emotional distraught, smear campaigns, betrayal, and negativity. Every time I prevail the next show gets better the next batch of beats go harder, new clients tap in, audiences get larger, doors open and I walk through them with new found confidence and sense of calm even in the midst of storms. As of summer 2022 thats 10 years experience of being a Deejay and music producer.

Alright – so here’s a fun one. What do you think about NFTs?

Perfect question.. Ive been studying Crypto and NFTs non stop for like 9 months now. The concept of the NFT is actually AMAZING. In this present day this is an emerging market and its utility is low in the world. The royalties that can be generated from NFTs being sold is my biggest pull to the industry. I personally got to the last step of the process to make an NFT just to learn. You can program your NFT to pay you up to 20% (I think) in royalties EVERY TIME IT SELLS FROM BUYER TO BUYER!!! The question is now do you think people will buy your music NFTs and sell them to someone else for a profit while also generating a royalties back to the creator. If you bought an NFT beat from me would you use the beat or try to sell it to another artist for the high.. This is the current scenario but I believe new innovations in the future will pave the way for NFT royalties to be generated in music streaming leaving payouts in the hands of consistent unchanging protocol vs people working at a company.

Is there something you think non-creatives will struggle to understand about your journey as a creative?

This is a good one… hate to put division in the air but THERE IS A MAJOR DIFFERENCE in the lifestyle of a creative vs a non creative individual. Not saying people who work regular jobs aren’t creative… im pretty sure jobs want to hire creative people but people who have chosen their lives to be lived in pursuit of a creative passion live differently. Two quotes I love to say to people…One “Art is pain” meaning the beautiful paintings sculptures music plays films architecture fashions and flavors ALL DERIVE FROM PAIN. As humans pain stress and levels of difficulty naturally exist in our minds and in life. The Art of overcoming these three things in any industries is literally art itself. Example you can argue the invention of the wheel a work of art maybe it was a sculpture design that could ease the pain stress and difficulty levels of human transportation.. And two “Express myself or die”
By this I mean me personally Id rather die than live in a world where I couldn’t express myself remember art is pain right so if you dont express your self that pain will eventually… slowly yet surely kill you. LIFE IS FULL OF UNCERTAINTY but living as a creative you are certain of your abilities to make something out of nothing. Lets monetize this pain !!!!!

Contact Info:

• Website: Www.bdpsoundz.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/BDPSOUNDZ
• Youtube: https://youtube.com/c/BDPSOUNDZ
• Other: https://hihello.me/p/1d89a078-a81b-4b75-9265-067cc59598ee