We recently connected with Derek Taylor and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Derek, thanks for joining us today. Do you feel you or your work has ever been misunderstood or mischaracterized? If so, tell us the story and how/why it happened and if there are any interesting learnings or insights you took from the experience?

Growing up biracial it’s always been a identity problem too white for black people or too black for white people. I’m seen as either Hispanic or Arabic to others especially with my hair grown out now. On top of that my facial image tends to give people a unsettled feeling as I’m always angry and unapproachable. I gotten use to being misunderstood and trying to fit in and that’s why music was my gateway to express tons of feelings I have. I realized the sound I go for with more screaming vocals doesn’t help my case but it’s been the best learning experience I’ve had with music so far. People see me perform and never see that style coming so now it feels that I can use the mischaracterization to benefit me in a way where I’m okay with that

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?

I got into music pretty late compared to others. I started listening to hip hop when I was 11 and before that, only what I heard on the radio was as engaged as it got for me. I studied music on every level I could throughout my youth. I dealt with strong depression that lead me to write poems every once in awhile which turned into music. I want to showcase my emotion by screaming on rock/metal beats but also my love for writing lyrics when I make other genres. My goal is to build a community with people who love my music and become a songwriter for other artist. I listen to varieties of music genres which inspires me to be able to write any style. I can’t please everyone but I want it to be at a point where someone can say a song I make isn’t for them but its not bad.

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

I love to read specifically Comics and Manga. Shane on the schools who claim that it doesn’t count as reading!!! I’ve been reading this Manga called Vagabond and I feel like this book is shaping my whole life in a direction I never thought I needed. It’s about a samurai who wasn’t to be the greatest and earn the name “Invincible Under the Sun” but he needs to learn what it truly means to be invincible you go through this growth with the samurai to learn that invincible is only just a word. A story of self reflect and true happiness. It reminds me on how I wanted to be the best at music and be acknowledged for it when truly I had to look at myself and understand what I really want which was not to be the best but happy making a living off what I love to do

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

The funny thing about this is I’ve gone semi viral before racking in over 100,000 views on YouTube and over 500,000 plays on streaming sites. I have moments when I can tell i have what it takes to draw attention but I always fall short on capitalizing it. I felt unprepared plenty of times but I know if I did it before I can do it again. I’ve restarted a couple times and I’ll keep doing it until I get the formula right

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/fettifuego_/
• Facebook: https://m.facebook.com/fetti.fuego.5
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/fettifuego_?lang=en
• Youtube: https://m.youtube.com/channel/UC4qpsWmokV9ncQZjkP58zIQ

Image Credits
Ig: @desean.knight for the photos with purple filter