We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Fred Croney. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Fred below.

Hi Fred, thanks for joining us today. Are you able to earn a full-time living from your creative work? If so, can you walk us through your journey and how you made it happen?

In 2015 I was performing at Cosmic Charlie’s, on Euclid Avenue. The crowd was maybe a hundred and fifty people. My closest friends were there and at the time I had considered it the apex performance of my career, as each new headlining show was at the time. One by one I watched as groups broke off towards the bar in the back of the venue. I was out of my element and still relatively inexperienced at how to win over an unfamiliar crowd. My grasp on the audience was slipping away from me against my strongest will. Halfway through the show, there were only maybe a dozen people watching my performance, with over a hundred huddled in awkward circles surrounding the alcohol. At that time, I truly felt like there was nobody in the city behind me. Two difficult years later I met Billy, the first person to invest in me, and a good friend. He helped me elevate my image, brand, and reinvigorated me at the time I needed it the most. Billy is no longer with us, but today I can say I have a strong network supporting me and my career. Such as my blossoming collaboration with the God of the Hills, who last year launched me on my first national tour. At my penultimate stop in Brooklyn, I was scouted by an agent from Roc Nation, who set me up with an interview at their Manhattan headquarters the next day. Afterwards, looking over the city from their rooftop office, I felt like even though I haven’t blown up yet, I finally saw the career path laid out in front of me.
Since my national tour I have carried the momentum forward. These days I have content schedules, a dozen performances booked out for the rest of the year, a manager. It still isn’t paying the bills, but I see the trajectory ahead where it will, and I’m excited for it.

Fred, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

My name is Fredd C. I am a Lexington native and nationally performing rap artist. For the past 15 together with my long-time friend and producer Cory D, we have cultivated our fan base while propelling the Lexington rap scene forward with some of the largest underground concerts the city has seen in this decade.

Much of our music exemplifies my struggles, my pursuit of happiness, and the underdog saga of an underground rapper turned national brand. I am proud of the immense growth I have accomplished as an artist, but more importantly how my art has pushed me to grow as a person.

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

You know the feeling you get when you hear a song that lifts you out of a bad mood? The euphoria that carries with you throughout the day as the song plays over in your head? If I can give someone that feeling that music has given me, to me that’s all that really matters. Not the money, or the notoriety, but the knowledge that I’m connecting on the individual level to someone who needs it.

Looking back, are there any resources you wish you knew about earlier in your creative journey?

There is an abundance of resources that could have helped me through struggles that I know I am unaware of even to this day. Believe it or not a year ago, I was not even aware that there was such a thing as art grants. A few months ago my manager was showing me a long list that were available on a state funded website, and that’s when he explained the concept to me. When I first saw how much money was out there able to be applied to, I was actually angry. How is there even so many resources ‘up for grabs’ when I’ve had to work so hard for it? I would just encourage other artists and small business owners to search online for ‘art grants’ and dig, dig, dig.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://freddc.shop/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/freddkyc/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/freddcmusic
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@Freddc
• Other: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lzBzZNW2BI8

Image Credits
ALL image credits of Brian Campbell of BCS Photography