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

Alright, Dean thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Are you happier as a creative? Do you sometimes think about what it would be like to just have a regular job? Can you talk to us about how you think through these emotions?

I grew up very religious. The majority of all male figures in my life where pastors of some sort and my mother relied on the church to help guide her children. It was the environment she was raised in and found comfort in knowing the village she chose to raise her children in, was one her mother would be proud of. seeing that she was also a devout Christian. When I was in 4th grade, one of the many schools I attended had a program where they would bring people from different careers to put on a presentation for all the kids. Something to get us excited about learning for the week. Here is where I discovered that anyone could just decide to be a creative. Before I believed that you had to be chosen, that art couldn’t be made by me. Art is only made by special people chosen by God and I was not one of them. At this time I believed I was a demon possibly possessed so there’s no way possible God would choose me to be an Artist. I was convinced by my family and those close to me that because of my “unruly” personality, non stop talking and my urge to “test God” he must have intended for me to be one of his Warriors or a lawyer for some reason, so that’s what I focused on for a large part of my childhood to teenage years, “being a Warrior for God and Art isn’t meant for me.” This type of focus is not good for someone who’s heart only beats for creativity. So naturally I was never happy and took it out on everyone else around me. By the time I reached 8th grade my mother met a lady who convinced her to let me audition for an art school.I attended “Broad ripple high school for the arts and humanities.” My “last chance school “ before I was sent to “secondary school.” I remember singing a Christian song and reading a monologue from the Disney movie lion king and I got in. This school changed my life. Although it took some time to change my behavior and be introduced to new ideas, I started to believe and know for a fact art is where I am supposed to be. I still had the thoughts and lessons of a super religious family and extended family of the church telling me that I need to have a life of purpose and stability and the only way that is possible is to fall into Gods purpose. For me that means getting a practical job in the church or doing construction for the church because my step dad is a contractor and that’s what he did being so heavily involved in the church. By the time I was in 10th grade at the art school I had really found my calling. I ended up doing a program called “AMTC” which allowed me opportunities to travel to Atlanta to audition for a small part in the movie “Hunger Games To Kill A Mockingjay” and I got it. I ended up leaving broad ripple and joining an online school so I could spend 2 and half months filming in Atlanta. A 18 year old in Atlanta shooting a high budget film by myself with no family for the first time. This experience cemented my mind in what I am doing with my life. I completely funded the trip everything myself all while doing school no one could tell me anything. So I full sent “Artist” as a career. As I am finishing school I see all my friends and family in church graduating and going to college to continue their education so they can get jobs. I’m auditioning, taking vocal classes and working at Amazon warehouse to fund myself. I didn’t go to college. Seeing all my friends have the college experience and I’m working a warehouse barely making it started to make me regret not going to college and by this time I’ve done everything possible in Indiana art wise so naturally it’s time to leave home. In the middle of the night January 2019 I threw everything I owned into a mini van a drove to California from Indiana in one and less then a half a day only stopping for gas. I had about one good year of auditioning and getting to learn myself and then the pandemic hit. All the art training and drive I had meant nothing in a world we couldn’t gather to show the art in. That’s when the big depression hit, the thoughts of I should have went to college or studied more with my step dad so I could I don’t know build a house because I was broke broke. Being one of 1000000 artists stuck in LA, not able to do the thing you abandoned your previous life for starts to really take a tole on your mental. So knowing what it took to get me here and all the people I had to leave behind for it. All to amount to me sitting in a room just killed me. At this time I was in a relationship with a woman who was also going through similar experiences. I put out music and videos during the pandemic but was not able to catch anything major and neither was she. She couldn’t handle it am to well so she took to drugs and eventually passed away from an overdose. That took an even greater hit to me because I’m left here thinking “if you just would have finished school or learned construction you would have something to fall back on and pay all these bills and she wouldn’t have been this stressed and you could have taken care of her.“ Everything I did up till that point felt as if I wasted my whole life I truly gave up in those moments. Luckily I made enough friends and enough of an impact on others lives that they decided that it wasn’t the end of my story. They took me in and helped me find who I am today. I joined a collective called HiiiTriiibe and we make music and art and we put on events for the people. Everything we do is for unity of people and to show no matter where you come from you can create ANYTHING and be ANYTHING if you believe in yourself and others. No we are not rich hell I might be the brokest I’ve ever been but with my guys and the fact I make music for MY soul I never doubt my purpose anymore.

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?

My name is Dean Cee I represent a creative collective called “ HiiiTriiibe.” We are a music based collective created out of the need for creativity and direction. We are a bunch of music lovers from different walks of life brought together by the urge to create. We believe that anyone can be whatever version of themselves they want as long as they work for it. Nothing is impossible all things possible together. We throw events throughout LA allowing artist or all calibers to share their art. Our goal is to show the world art can look like anything and come from anyone. We provide music engineering and event planning as well as our own products like organic juices. We got created this collective to fill a need brought to us because the industry is very hard to get into. We are set apart because for us it really is about the Triiibe. Together as community including you we can make anything happen. Every person that works with us or has an event with us feels empowered and can continue it with theirs own ventures.

Is there mission driving your creative journey?

The industry is very gatekeepy, so it doesn’t allow many artist to showcase their art let alone get an opportunity to feed their families. The mission of mine is to create a platform in which artist have the opportunity to showcase their art just like any major label artists. I want to create a festival in which the main focus is independent artist one that is just as popular as Coachella or any other major music festival, but the focus is on indie artist rather than major labels and with my plan, I believe it’s completely possible and extremely profitable. All while giving light to those that deserve it.

How can we best help foster a strong, supportive environment for artists and creatives?

Society and social media has convinced us that only a certain demographic in art deserves support and it’s those represented by major labels or big money. That art isn’t valued unless it brings big monetary value. That we can walk past the woman on the street. singing an original and that one note completely crush your soul because you hear her years of dedication. Yet she can’t afford to eat meanwhile baby shark hits RIAA Diamond status and only like 4 people eat off that. Because as a society we share and promote these nothing trendy things but when our friend post something that is equally as bad or 10x better we can’t share it or go to bat just as hard because it’s not “trendy” we should share and create with local artists just as much as people they don’t know because they will look cooler. We need to put more merit on finding new art then recycling the old.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://Hiiitriiibe.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dean.ceee?igsh=MWQ1ZGUxMzBkMA==
• Youtube: https://youtube.com/@deancee_?si=_Xg1lxIyXwnHT99q
• Other: https://www.tiktok.com/@dean.cee?_t=8n96T5uCXip&_r=1

Image Credits

Abigail Elizabeth

https://www.instagram.com/abigailelizabeth.png?igsh=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==