We recently connected with Brandon Russell and have shared our conversation below.
Brandon, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. We’d love to hear about when you first realized that you wanted to pursue a creative path professionally.
The first time I knew for sure that I was made and born to rap and create music was at my 5th grade talent show (a long time ago lol). I started with a deep love for reading and writing poetry. Then I began adding my words to the music from when we used to rap/freestyle in the school cafeteria at lunch or on the bus. Me and some friends basically took a song from the Ledgendary Memphis, TN group, Three 6 Mafia, and made it into our own! We then got our outfits together, practiced, performed, and ended up winning the talent show! We got too rap the song on the intercom for a whole two weeks either in the morning or before school was ending! Just the impact it had on other students and even the teachers just ignited a fire in me that still burns til this day mane! It’s why I love making music and motivating others with it! Getting to see their reaction and facial expressions when I’m performing and getting to hear them compliment it, relate to it, and feel something from it is why I love what I love! It’s no greater feeling…
Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers
My name is Brandon Russell aka MINDFRAME. I’m a Rapper, Singer, Songwriter, and Entrepreneur born and raised in Memphis, TN. Im a Army Veteran and college graduate from the Tennessee State University! I own, manage, and create my own merchandise associated with my Music Brand and also my own clothing line, #ABKLLD Clothing (AirBornKings,LifeLongDreams). All of music and content (music videos, docuseries, interviews, etc.), clothing line and merchandise items are available for purchase on my official website! www.thankgodimframe.com
We’d love to hear the story of how you built up your social media audience?
I built my fanbase and social media the old fashioned way! NETWORKING and being in the element of my passion. Also, just consistently working and perfecting your craft shows that you are serious…and when they see that you are, they will hear, follow, or learn about you and become interested in more. So doing artist showcases, interviews, open mics, etc. Also learning how to use social media to your advantage as far as placement ads and having professional and eye catching content to post. This increases your chances on going viral or building real, authentic traction.
Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?
While serving in the military, I was deployed to Kuwait and Qatar for almost a year. Which means that’s how long I had to put my music on hold and be away from family and friends. Or atleast I assumed…lol. I made up in my mind that I wasn’t going to just let that happen because there had to be something I can do! So I invested in a new MacBook, loaded it with tools I needed (recording programs), bought a USB studio grade microphone, and took youtube classes on how to record myself. I didn’t get extremely good, but I learned enough to be able to lay my vocals down and send it back home to be mixed and mastered. I did however get depressed seeing everyone else blow up, improve, and makes moves with their music. It made me feel like I was being left behind and all my buzz was going down the drain. BUT, I immediately got myself out of that way of thinking and started to focus on what I COULD do instead of what I COULDN’T! So I was fortunate enough to land some virtual interviews or some on the phone, still make and release new music, and was able to get one of my songs on the radio back in the States at over 10 stations! One of my videos was also able to get over 100k views on YouTube as well! What topped it off was I even granted the opportunity to perform in front of over 2,000 my fellow troops and battle buddies while deployed! I could have stayed negative and depressed and just let time go by… but thats not in my nature! If it’s one thing I learned from my years in the military, it was RESILIENCY!
Contact Info:
- Website: www.thankgodimframe.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/Thankgodimframe/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thankgodimframe/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/ThankGodImFrame
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/c/ThankGodImFRAME