We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Colin Shotts. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Colin below.

Colin, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Did you always know you wanted to pursue a creative or artistic career? When did you first know?

When I first moved to Nashville, I was a film, creator and photographer.
I’ve always had a passion for music, so naturally, I surrounded myself with the up-and-coming artist of the area, and tried to make as many connections as I could.
This led to me having more and more time behind-the-scenes as far as being in the studio and watching the whole process unfold.
I often got to be backstage and see all the inner workings of a musical artist.
This was the first time I decided to pursue this as a career for myself.
I saw firsthand that if these guys could do it then, so could I, especially with my given skill set.

Colin, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

My name is Colin Shotts, and I am a southern hip-hop artist.
I was raised on the Kentucky and Tennessee border, so Music has always been a big part of my life and culture.
My grandparents were musicians; My father played the piano, and my mother was a great singer.
So naturally, I grew up, singing and performing with my family.
I knew from a young age that I would love to grow up and be an entertainer, and an artist that could spread joy to people through relating to them.
The music business is a scary place. Everyone is out to take what you have to offer and make a quick buck off of it without much regard to you as an artist.
This proves challenging, especially in today’s over saturated market of wannabe artists.
Not to mention, I am a Caucasian rapper, which is often frowned on by the African-American HipHop community, which creates yet another hurdle that I have to cross.
I’m not complaining I love a good challenge and I feel I improve to anyone through my lyrics just who I am.
They can see that I’m not another fake wannabe artist.
I have sat in awe of many shocked faces after their first listen to one of my tapes.
It’s also very hard to grow in this industry without having a lot of capital, so that also proves very challenging to my growth as an artist.
I do everything independent all funding comes for me myself and my family.
All of my equipment, my energy everything comes from in-house.
I thank all my friends for their continued support.

Have you ever had to pivot?

During the pandemic in 2020 I made the decision to move back from Nashville Tennessee to my hometown in West Kentucky, and grow some roots with my family.
This made it especially challenging for my career because there aren’t any HipHop artist making it out of western Kentucky.
This area is known for its country music and its bluegrass and folk scene and so I’ve had to blend a lot of my art with other artist, and kind of mesh to make a unique sound and product.
Nashville, there’s no shortage of hip-hop artist, producers, shows, and clubs, which made it very easy to connect with the community and make new partnerships.
While some look at this as an obstacle, I’m gonna keep doing what I always do and creating, and taking the challenge on full force.

What can society do to ensure an environment that’s helpful to artists and creatives?

I think more & more people are starting to give independent artists a chance.
I see this a lot in the country music community as well. Even myself have turned away from radio and TV music to the artist that is doing everything on their own, trying to make it up from the bottom.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/colin_shotts?igsh=MTI2ZW53dHlseGphOQ%3D%3D&utm_source=qr
• Youtube: https://youtube.com/@colin_shotts?si=iWeVFz4sVKYfdBFm