We recently connected with CRIM and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, CRIM thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Did you always know you wanted to pursue a creative or artistic career? When did you first know?

I’ve had multiple moments where I saw the signs that I should take on music professionally throughout my life. My pops would have the kids on my block join in on cyphers with him outside of our house when I was 8, I won a talent show in my class when I was about 11 or 12, I would skip class in high school (kids don’t do this lol) just to hop in the cyphers with my other classmates, but there’s one defining moment that made me think “Damn, I could REALLY do this foreal!”

My senior year of high school we had mock elections and a Grammy’s ceremony to announce “Best Dressed” and “Class Clown” stuff like that. Then I noticed that there was a category for “Best Rapper” and I said “Bet.” I wasn’t popular in school, so I made sure to campaign hard in the short amount of time that we had before voting ended. My friends and I put up posters all throughout the school, I would rap for the more popular kids to attempt to secure their votes, I HUSTLED!!!

Then Grammy night arrives. I put on a dress and heels for the event which is crazy because you’ll never catch me dead in a dress ever again lmao! I was insanely nervous and pessimistic about everything because the other person running against me was much more popular so it was damn near a guarantee for them to win.

“And now we’re at the Best Rapper Category” one of my classmates announces. They named everyone that got nominated, myself included, and then they announce the male Best Rapper winner which was my homie Fuzz. “And the Female Best Rapper Award goes to……” At this point I was just happy to be having a good time at the awards show with all of my friends, accepted defeat and didn’t care to win at all. THEY CALLED MY NAME AS THE WINNER. I was so shocked and did NOT prepare to walk onstage with those damn heels on lmao!!!

At that moment I thought, wow. I had people that don’t even know me, vote and support me in that moment. At 17-years-old at the time, I took that moment, got focused, locked in, and started recording music with my friends. And now damn near 15 years later, I am still very much in love with HipHop just as much if not more than I was when I was a kid. Humble beginnings.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

Well to start off, hey guys!! My name is CRIM, formerly known as Crimson Alchemist. I was born and raised on the east side of Detroit, MI, and I am a HipHop Artist, aspiring Voice Actor, host on rare occasions, and a songwriter.

I initially got into my profession by being inspired by my dad, who was a HipHop Artist and a DJ in his younger years. In high school, I joined a group created by my friends and we started meeting up to record music. Once we all graduated, we started hitting up open mics throughout the city of Detroit, hoping to connect with other creatives and get other opportunities to perform at showcases/concerts.

One of the things that I’m most proud of is my resilience and humility that I’ve gained throughout my music career. Over countless times I’ve stepped away from music out of frustration, disappointment, and exhaustion from burning myself out. I had to learn to give myself grace but also understand that creating music is much more bigger than me now. My music has the ability to inspire others to create groundbreaking music, which inspires others and so on and so forth.

I want people to know that I take my craft seriously, and whenever I work with other people I guarantee to give the best product as humanly possible. What sets me apart is that it’s not all about money for me. I made a promise to myself that if I create a song that I can’t honestly play on repeat and enjoy as a listener, I will scrap it and go back to the drawing board until I do so. This isn’t just my livelihood, this isn’t some hobby that I picked up to pass time. HipHop is MY LIFE.

Are there any books, videos or other content that you feel have meaningfully impacted your thinking?

There’s a book that people have been telling me to read for years because of my previous artist name and once I read it, a ton of things really started to make sense to me. The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho is one of my favorite books of all time.

For those that don’t know, it is a fictional story about a boy named Santiago, a shepherd boy that has a reoccurring dream about a treasure hidden by the pyramids of Egypt. He then goes on a quest to fulfill his “personal legend” and comes across different individuals from all walks of life that teach him valuable life lessons that he can hold onto for the rest of his life.

Despite being told about the book for years, I was meant to read that book at that very point in my life. I wasn’t ready to read it any sooner than that. Certain parts of the book had me shook, because the lessons that Santiago would learn, were insanely similar to the lessons I was learning during that time period of my life. To this day I keep a physical copy of that book and try to revisit it at least once a year.

Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?

I’ve had to pivot plenty of times! Just about every 9-5 that I’ve worked, I’ve told myself, “This will be my last job I ever work for someone else.” Granted I’m still working one to this day (boooo lmao!) but it also reminds me that things aren’t necessarily gonna happen when you want them to, but when they’re supposed to. I know my work ethic and talents can and WILL take me to the next level. I feel myself getting closer to what’s meant for me every single day that I am fortunate enough to wake up.

A couple of years ago I stepped away from music entirely, and for the first time in my life I moved out of state. No friends, no family, just me, my suitcase and my duffel bag filled with what felt like my entire life heading to unknown territory. I felt so defeated because I just knew that at that time I’d be much further in my career. Creating a deadline for myself was a mistake in its own. It took for me to move away to get inspired all over again and give music another try. Once I decided to come back to music and to Detroit, it was then where I realized this is what I was born to do. Music is my purpose. I love every bit of it. The creating process, performing, networking, traveling, discovering newfound loves within it, I love it all.

Every pivot, every misstep, every single “no” that I’ve gotten from people that misunderstood my music or just didn’t necessarily like it, was needed for my growth as an artist, and as a human being. I’m grateful for all the twists and turns I’ve had to overcome. There wouldn’t be a CRIM without them.

Contact Info:

• Website: http://callmecrim.bandcamp.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/callmecrim_/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/share/1CuLmq7SY7/?mibextid=wwXIfr
• Twitter: https://x.com/callmecrim_?s=21&t=Emx0U7E20-UJPmEq8Np0dw
• Youtube: https://youtube.com/@callmecrim_313?si=fMjPckyXYZMgTPih
• Other: https://open.spotify.com/track/4zdZ2z4TveoCjnZMXZRwvr?si=7dxpOC46RLmJvCF0GYWH2g

Image Credits
@acronymis @xlogram @shotsbyauzzie @roamingroachphotography