We were lucky to catch up with Carmine Prophets recently and have shared our conversation below.
Carmine, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Have you been able to earn a full-time living from your creative work? If so, can you walk us through your journey and how you made it happen? Was it like that from day one? If not, what were some of the major steps and milestones and do you think you could have sped up the process somehow knowing what you know now?
Yes I make my income from music. I started making music when I was 13/14 In Dallas, TX where I was born, at first I was doing it for fun and I had a group of friends in high school who were really talented but I had never seen a dollar from music until I was 20 when I had sold my first 3 beats. At the time, I had already been making beats for about 5-6 years, I was making music pretty much everyday but I knew that I had a-lot of work to do. I moved to Nashville from Dallas in 2016 and didn’t know any rappers or producers but I was being referred to more as a producer not a musician to the East Nashville band scene, I was mainly helping with the band “The Bumbs” who had been formed by Aaron Endelman AKA Merc, when I was producing for an artist it would be for mainly Seth Endelman AKA Jah Frida who was also in the band. “The Bumbs” had been consistently playing shows multiple times a week, sometimes multiple shows a day and making connections in the city. During that time I was working jobs like everyone else, just trying to pay rent, eat food, and use my off time to make music until the sun came back up. Near the end of 2017 I tried to quit my job and do music full time, but it didn’t end up working out and I found myself at another job. In 2018 my 2 musician friends 11 Bey and Endre On Purpose moved to Nashville and we formed the music group/label, “Its Like That Records”. We were playing shows, hosting listening parties for albums, and making music with all different types of artists. I was producing and rapping during this time, and at the same time we all had jobs that we had dreamed of quitting and pursuing our music careers full time. During this time I had been meeting more people with interests of working with me and buying beats from me. It was eventually when Jett Pratt AKA OddMoon asked me “would you be willing to record me and a couple of people for 60$?” left me saying “Yeah, I can do that,” not knowing that would change my entire path of becoming a true producer. Before this I already had the knowledge of audio engineering, as a producer I think it’s very vital to know about mixing or vocal production when making music in general, but I had no thought of getting paid for it, I just wanted to sell beats and make money from the royalties, I never wanted to be an engineer, but I never minded recording my friends for the sake of the records we were making. After OddMoon called me for that first session it would start a new way of being a true producer in the ability to make a song from start to finish based on how me and the artist hear it. During that time my good friend Derrick aka DTL Jams who was a legendary DJ in the city and had always gotten me shows was slowly able to give me some of his DJ gigs in the city and I was able to start my DJ career. Just like engineering, I never really had the idea of me being a DJ but it opened a new lane for me to showcase my versatile taste in music and to provide good energy to play at clubs, venues, events, as well as being the DJ for performers at all different types of shows. The combination of selling beats, booking studio sessions, and DJing had formed the ability to quit my day job and use my time to work on music full time and have the availability to play more shows. Overtime I had been able to increase my prices while also getting better at each craft that I was pursuing, I even ended up doing the mixes and doing the mastering for songs and albums. And that idea still trips me out, these things that I originally didn’t want to do ended up increasing the potential for the outcome of the main thing I wanted to do which was to be a producer and an artist. I think whatever your craft is, it’s important to take every opportunity to make it work, even when it leaves you learning about things you didn’t want or think you would have interest in, cause it could leave you feeling more complete then before. Sometimes people confuse not feeling inspired with the feeling of fatigue which can make someone confused. It’s like this, at a normal job you usually have a 6 hour shift sometimes more depending on the job, you have to ask yourself can you give the same amount of time towards the thing you love to do? There are 2 types of people in the world, a person who says they can’t and a person who says they can, and they’re both right. I think discipline is important, but it feels better when you’re tired at the end of the day doing what you love to do all day rather than work somewhere where you don’t want to.
Where did you get your discipline from?
I got my discipline from being first generation of immigrant parents, and my discipline for the industry from just watching my older brother pursue his craft at a young age while me doing what young brothers do and copying him in some way. My older brother did film and photography so I was always observing hard work, discipline as well as just staying creative. He had made a music video for Usher when he was 17 and I was 12, he had interviewed Timbaland on the red carpet when He was 18 and I was 13, so I always had a distant connection with people in the industry and just people who were creative in general. As I got older and pursued music I had used all of the past knowledge of things I learned in film and just applied to the music industry. To this day I’m always doing research on finding what’s new and fresh in the creative world and business world. From doing that I have been always very vocal and open about giving advice to artists/people who need it. I always give artists or producers information about distribution/ label opportunities/ artwork/ music videos/ studio equipment/ mixing and recording tips. It makes me most proud to help artists and creatives just like me to get to where they want to be, cause everybody deserves that recognition. What I want people to know about me is that I never see them as a commodity that the industry might see them as, I see them as talented individuals and more importantly, human beings that deal with problems just like everyone else. The most important thing in the industry that is just as important as being talented is making relationships and keeping those relationships solid, but if you’re an adaptable person it shouldn’t be hard for you, I love knowing that people that I work with are people that I consider my very close friends. They can call me for anything really.
Is there a particular goal or mission driving your creative journey?
The goal that I always try to hit is making something that people will want to listen to or watch over and over again, that’s always been the goal just for music as a whole. But I can say that over these years I’ve had this idea of creating a solo debut album that would feature me as an artist as well as highlighting artists that I work with. A my version of “The Chronic 2001” if you will. I’m still working on it today but I’ve been getting closer and closer to it, I eventually will find a stopping point and will want to wrap a pretty bow around it but it’ll happen in due time, once I get this money right. I’ve been showing people close to me some songs over the past 5 years but I’m still working and perfecting it. I love how overtime I’ve been learning and working with new artists to lead me in the right direction.
Is there something you think non-creatives will struggle to understand about your journey as a creative? Maybe you can provide some insight – you never know who might benefit from the enlightenment.
I feel like whatever you choose you should love it, regardless of it being a creative field. You can be a business person but knowing how to conduct a conversation could be seen as an art form. Even someone doing accounting or being a lawyer takes time and effort to be better at it, if that were the case we wouldn’t be able to put the word “good” or “bad” in front of something, cause you could have a good or bad lawyer or a good or bad accountant. I believe you can be successful in whatever you choose, and I do believe that the definition of success can be subjective to the individual. Even if you’re not the greatest at doing something that you don’t necessarily want to do, it could still be for a greater reason. Sometimes it’s just about surviving, sometimes its about providing for other people like your family, whatever it is you can be “great” at it, and I think providing for your children or loved ones is still “great”.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/carmineprophets/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/carmineprophets
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/carmineprophets
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCSPeBug0eGnsH7kFMpKnLcQ
- Other: Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/7rDiE0ZUcsK1A7JQRe997r?si=VcjdK2uvSyC1vwLB6zge6w Apple Music : https://music.apple.com/us/artist/carmine-prophets/1292809659
Image Credits
Ryan Jones Victor Reed, Johnathan Freeland, Neon Leaf Media