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

Chel, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Earning a full time living from one’s creative career can be incredibly difficult. Have you been able to do so and if so, can you share some of the key parts of your journey and any important advice or lessons that might help creatives who haven’t been able to yet?

Committing to work as a full time artist is one of the hardest but most rewarding things to do. Our careers are a constant uphill/downhill battle but our passion keeps the gas in the tank to keep going. I was lucky enough to find a stable way to do what I love and be able to make a living doing so by treating my artistry as a business rather than just a dream. Dreams do come true, but you have to put in the work to accomplish this. Ive been a hip hop artist practically all my life since my early teenage days having a slew of great success and accomplishments but nothing enough to quit my job for. Around 2016 my vision began to get clear that I wanted to leave my full time job working for Apple and pursue my career full time as an artist. Through a mutual musician friend I was introduced into the world of Sync and licensing. It started with being hired for a one off vocal part used for a K-pop inspired hip hop record out in Korea for a commercial. At the time I knew nothing of what this was as all I was needed to do is say like two or three lines. Well those two or three lines that took less than ten minutes to record put five hundred bucks in my pocket and an agreement to collect back end royalties. This was the beginning for me and since then I make well over just five hundred bucks for a few lines haha.

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 am a hip hop artist/songwriter from Detroit MI, now residing in Southern California. I got into the sync and licensing world in 2016 through various collaborations with other artists in the industry. I also record, mix and master my own works and offer services in this field to other artists as well. Songwriting is something I have always done since I was a young kid. I have had success in writing for other artists as well from indie to platinum selling artists such as Faith Evans. If I had to say what sets myself apart from other artists in my field, is my knack for sports-themed music. I was a part time athlete myself growing up playing football and one of my favorite parts of games was our huddle chants we created slapping our thigh pads and chanting with the team “How yall feel, fired up” haha. Those were the good ole days but a memory Ive always held onto dearly. That intensity, the feeling it gives you before going out to compete on the field are some of the emotions I channel when creating my sports anthems for Television and video games. As a artist, Ive accomplished a lot, but one of the biggest accomplishments Im most proud of is winning the 2022 Production music award for Best hip/hop rap production music track for my song, “Win or Loose This What I Do” produced by platinum selling production duo, The MIDI MAFIA who’s production credits range from 50 cent (21 questions), Frank Ocean (Swim Good), J Lo ( Hold it Don’t Drop It) to many more! This year I was also nominated for the 2023 production music awards for best production music in Television Advertising for my song “Legends” used for the reveal commercial of Acura’s all new Integra Type S.

In your view, what can society to do to best support artists, creatives and a thriving creative ecosystem?

As a hip hop artist, Ive always wished society as a whole could have a better understanding of our craft. I know the edge, and some of the lyrics could at time create a stereotype around what hip hop is, but it’s merely a small portion of the representation of the art. Art in itself is a form of expression and therefore to be authentically expressed, the good, the bad and the ugly at times will be represented. I think having this perspective of what we do could open up a lot more opportunities for upcoming artists to showcase their skills. The good thing about today’s music world is we have the online world which allows artists to hustle and showcase their work to the masses, but I think we can do better with venues that actually supports upcoming artists instead of just well established ones. This in my opinion will provide atmospheres for artists to network and learn of new opportunities maybe they never knew about like what I do for a living, Synch and licensing.

For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?

Id say being able to do what I love as opposed to just doing what I have to do. Being an artist is no easy task at all, but nothing beats being able to feed my family doing what I love most.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: instagram.com/chelstrong
• Linkedin: www.linkedin.com/in/chelson-strong-4b642367
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/Chel_Strong
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCs5-7ZDbxCQPn99vfGr0ZmA

Image Credits
Bryan “Bam” Martinez