We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Curve The GR8 a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Curve, thanks for joining us today. Did you always know you wanted to pursue a creative or artistic career? When did you first know?

Instead of trying to pinpoint one defining moment, I’d rather talk about what actually shaped my artistic path: human enthusiasm, revelation, and the way creativity becomes a catalyst for transformation.

What influences me most as an artist is the way humans use art to transmute experience — how a song, a story, or a visual can shift someone’s orientation toward themselves, society, or the world. That ability to create meaning, to spark clarity or emotion in another human being, is what pulled me into artistry long before I ever called it a profession.

I’ve always been enamored with the attention artists can hold, but not in a superficial way. I’m fascinated by the ontological destination that art creates — how material forms like music, film, or performance become gateways into deeper ideas, philosophies, theories, and observations.

The artists I grew up on showed me that creativity isn’t just entertainment; it’s a vehicle for storytelling, allegory, revelation, and emotional connection. It’s how we turn our inner world into something people can feel, interpret, or grow from.

That’s the truth of why I create. Not because of a single moment, but because art is the most powerful medium humans have for expressing who we are and who we can become.

Curve, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

For readers who may not know me yet — my name is CurveTheGR8, an independent hip-hop artist, producer, engineer, and entertainment entrepreneur from Denver, Colorado. My entry into music wasn’t planned or strategic; it was something that naturally emerged from who I was becoming.

I started rapping because I had notebooks full of verses long before I ever had the confidence to share them. Around 14–15 I began writing seriously, and by 16 I finally built up the courage to actually rap out loud. To be honest, I used to think being a rapper was corny — because not every rapper was 50 Cent. A lot of people were rapping about things they didn’t live or believe in, and I refused to become that.

My first “studio” setup was an iPhone sitting next to a speaker playing an instrumental while I recorded into the Voice Memo app. I uploaded those early attempts to SoundCloud, and that was the beginning.

As I kept going, I linked up with Deshant (Sensei3Moons), and we formed 999ThaClan — the name he officially created. Later, my brother Kyle V., known as R.I.C.O (Really In Colorado), joined us. Most of our early music came from my first home studio: cheap Amazon equipment and a hand-me-down laptop from my uncle that could barely run a DAW. But I was determined. I took it upon myself to learn the entire creative pipeline — pre-production, recording, mixing, mastering.

Eventually I earned a degree from Full Sail University, which allowed me to upgrade both my skillset and my studio equipment. Life happened and the group shifted — but the brotherhood remains. Today, I operate independently while still honoring where I came from.

I’ve worked out of several studios in Denver, including the well-known Get Busy Livin Studios, but my foundation has always been built in my own space — my own creative world.

Right now, I consider myself a full-blown artist and entertainment mogul in the making. I see the business and the art as the same expression. I produce my own music, I’m preparing to launch my beat store, and I work as a mixing and mastering engineer for exclusive clients.

What sets me apart

What sets me apart is the depth I bring to everything I do — depth of awareness, enthusiasm, curiosity, participation, and coherence. I don’t just make music. I create meaning, structure, and worlds. My brand blends artistry, philosophy, and intentional design. I treat hip-hop as both expression and architecture.

What problems I solve

For my clients, I provide clarity and elevation.
I take raw ideas, unmixed vocals, or unshaped concepts and turn them into polished, intentional art.
For my listeners, I provide a sense of awakening — music that speaks to potential, identity, selfhood, and transformation.

What I’m most proud of

Pride is a complicated word, but what I’m most fond of is my potential — and getting to witness it scale. I’m blessed to wake up every day and simply be. Whether I’m a rapper, a son, a partner, or an artist, I am grateful to exist in a way that allows me to grow and express myself.

What I want people to know about my work

Everything I create comes from intention, depth, and an authentic place.
My brand is rooted in truth.
My art is rooted in evolution.
My mission is to make people feel more aligned with who they can become.

I’m building something long-term — a universe, not just a catalog. And everything I release is another piece of that world.

What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?

For me, the most rewarding part of being an artist is self-expression — but more specifically, the recursive process of witnessing, being witnessed, and witnessing myself. Art creates this loop where I’m expressing something internal, the world reflects it back, and in that reflection I learn something new about who I am. That cycle is endlessly meaningful to me.

I also love the puzzle-making and puzzle-solving aspect of creativity. Every song, every idea, every visual is a problem you get to decode and shape into something coherent. It’s both engineering and emotion, structure and freedom.

That combination — self-expression, reflection, and solving creative puzzles — is what makes being an artist feel alive to me.

Have you ever had to pivot?

I pivot constantly — honestly, pivoting has become one of my core life skills. What I learned early on, through years of experimenting with spirituality, ritual, and different forms of self-study, is that the only way to truly learn or evolve is to first admit you don’t know everything. You have to empty yourself before you can be filled with something new.

There’s a line in “The Message”:
“A child is born with no state of mind, blind to the ways of mankind.”
That’s the clean slate. That’s the mindset required to pivot efficiently — removing preconceived assumptions, ego, and the illusion of certainty so you can actually adapt to what life is showing you.

My life is full of those micro-pivots. Every time something changes — in my career, my creativity, or my personal life — I return to that baseline:
be empty, be open, be teachable.
That orientation allows me to adjust quickly, learn what needs to be learned, and stay aligned with what I’m becoming.

So for me, pivoting isn’t a one-time moment. It’s a practice, a way of moving through the world with flexibility, awareness, and humility.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://linktr.ee/CurveTheGR8?utm_source=ig&utm_medium=social&utm_content=link_in_bio&fbclid=PAZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAc3J0YwZhcHBfaWQMMjU2MjgxMDQwNTU4AAGn8iGldj3ihUZQCvEci_lEk8iA3DQ3DkAFg_f-HUzRouN22XzcpFbA7QiV9so_aem_aEl_ValFgrd9jkDu91zV-w
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theofficialgr8/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@CurveTheGR8
• Other: https://tr.ee/ZRdg4u_Hn8

Image Credits

@Chance.macintosh IG
@TypeShitJorge IG