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

Alright, Corey thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Can you talk to us about a project that’s meant a lot to you?

To date, my debut vocal rap album Preston & Wolfe ( named after the street intersection of the therapy office I went to where its located ) continues to hold a dear place to my heart. I started working on the album back in 2017 after going to therapy for the first time ever in my life after negative emotional experiences. I’m thankful for the people that supported me in going. The session was a free one, the therapist and my uncle were friends so he looked out for me. I received so much insight not only about myself but about others and how emotions, mental health and the factors that influence how we deal with them. After that I worked for the next 3 years producing the instrumentals and writing raps for the first time in my life and finally releasing it in August 2020. It was such a great experience just putting myself out there like that, I was selling merch and everything. And to receive so much support and well meaning words I was very happy that I took that step and completed it. It means alot more to me now because I am sadly back in the place that inspried me to make the album due to my late best friend, ( Mike OhMy ) who featured on Room To Grow, the second album suddenly passing away in November 2021, as well as my Grandma Bonnie passing in July 2022. But I hold on to the memories thats attached with them and their involvement and inspiration in Preston & Wolfe.

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?

As far as my business goes, I currently have a an LLC Cl Productions, that is intended to be a music production service company. I market myself as a producer, songwriter, and composer, whatever what is in within my musical abilites for someone’s project, primarily visual media, I offer them. On top of being a good musician I don’t feel like thats enough for me, I value being geninune, and not trying to be something I’m not especially when I’m working with someone. I like to be friendly because thats who I actually am, I treat a client like anyone I would meet on the street, with respect first always. It’s one thing to be good at what you do but are you a pleasure to work with?

For a little while now, I have been into film scoring, I started piano lessons at 8, and began producing at 12, and I just got into film scoring and sync licensing music when I was about 23. I’ve done a few projects for indie film makers and animators mainly. From working with Rising Tide Creatives pitching episodes to Amazon, to Nigerian animator Moshood Ridwan composing the demo theme song for his show that has since been picked up by Cartoon Netowrk Africa Garbage Boy and Trashcan ( congratulations to the composers of the new theme and show music!) I’ve done alot. And i’m still learning and growing as a music business person and a person in general!

Do you think there is something that non-creatives might struggle to understand about your journey as a creative? Maybe you can shed some light?

When it comes to being in the creative field, I’ll just speak for music since that’s what I’m most familiar with. Being a musician can sometimes be isolating. It’s been times where instead of me going out or anything I would have to spend a few hours working on a project to make a deadline. If you don’t have friends or a partner or just a supportive collective of people that understands it’ll kind of be hard to connect with people that don’t do what you do, or at least have the same mindset. At least for me.

Another thing, people thats not interested in entrepreneurship ( which is completely ok of course or moving in any freelance like direction will have to understand that the things we do and how we move won’t be conventional. Unless you plan on being a music teacher or anything that has a steady paycheck whether hourly or salary. I can’t just walk in a building, and punch in a clock for 8 hours a day as a music producer. The money is up and down, the times are odd, and no project is the same.

Uncertainty is a big thing too, outside of the business just us as creatively, its alot of up and down. It’ll be times where when I thought I could afford to get a studio session and then having to cancel because of a bill . And realizing that having an idea does not mean that it’ll always be able to executed, and I have had to eat that alot of times especially due to finances.

And also from a music teacher stand point, I want them to realize that they know alot more than they think they do they just don’t know the lingo yet. Lack of talent doesn’t mean lack of possibility. Even if you’re not good at it immediately, as long as you have the passion and love learning something new, you can always give it a try. You don’t have a lack of talent, you just haven’t found the resources or the right people to adjust to your learning style and train you right!

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

I try not to celebrate being strong too much because I don’t want to shame myself for when I have a ” weak ” moment.

But life for the last 2 years has definitely been a rough one, at least my outlook of it. 2021 was especially a bad time. It was alot of changes. Other than the fallouts that I had with people earlier that year, the event that really rocked me was losing my best-friend Mike OhMy in November 2021. I was on the phone with him right before he passed and I was the last one to talk with him. I won’t go into detail but it has been rough, but I have been dealing with it alot better. July 2022 I lost my grandmother suddenly as well right after a family cookout. All in all though despite that I am thankful that our last interactions were positive ones.

Grief has been a focal point in my life since then, and I wasn’t always dealing with it as well as I am now. I honestly didn’t thank that I would make it through. My health declined, my mental and emotional strength declined and I wasn’t heading in a good direction, physically, mentally, spiritually.

But fast forward in September 2023 I have been in therapy since April, and I have been alot more conscious of my diet habits and diving deeper into my music than ever before, I even signed up for a swim class and took up boxing all within the past year. On the outside to most people these may look like regular things, however the amount of work that I had to do to get to this point is huge for me. And while I might not call it resiliency, I like to call it willpower.

With experiencing grief I have been on a soul searching journey, or I guess a spiritual quest. I don’t belong to any faith but I do believe in a spiritual realm, or realms and I have been enjoying studying different faiths and practices to help me along my life long journey with grief.

I like to think that whatever is watching over me with benevolent intentions, I like to think that it gave me a strong sense of my willpower. And that no matter what I go through, even when it feels like my will to go on and find joy is gone, I know it’s always somewhere in me, and I feel that I found that will again to move through life and go back to the things that I enjoy, which in theory takes alot of strength.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bycoreylaury/
• Linkedin: Corey Laury
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCyKY89VQYmcXiOGWWt0_DEA