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

Ha$e, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Can you take us back in time to the first dollar you earned as a creative – how did it happen? What’s the story?

I think I’d made a little money here and there before, but the time that stands out is when I did a show with a band called Brainsleeve at 529 in East Atlanta Village, and one of the guys came up to me with an envelope after the show with my name on it. But like, my stage name, Ha$e. I couldn’t believe it! It was also the longest show I’d done solo at that point, about 45 minutes, and I felt totally in control and comfortable in a way that I hadn’t ever before. Honestly, the money was icing on the cake, but that was a massive moment for me and I still have that envelope to this day.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers

I’m Ha$e, a rapper/songwriter residing in Atlanta, originally from Frisco, TX. I’m a Pisces first of all, so I’ve always been a daydreamer, and writing raps was one of the first ways I found myself able to bring those daysdreams out into the real world. After that, I found that I love to create everything around the music as well, from the visual design to the marketing, I love to shape really unique and original moments.

I just released an album this summer titled SEALAB RADIO, and for that I created a whole fictional world, Oshun City, where the album is ‘set’ and everything from the radio station, Wet-FM, to the radio personalities, and really flesh out the details. It was a huge accomplishment for me and one I’m super proud of, especially since I got most of my closest friends to collaborate with me on it and make their own stamp in Oshun City.

In that same vein, I love to collaborate and strategize. I’m a part of a collective called 93 Supreme and through that I want to get out even more stories in the near future.

We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?

100% the most important adjustment I’ve made is actually accepting help and collaboration from others in my space. I am always ready to pick up a new tool, say engineering in Logic or learning Photoshop, and for a long time I just was over-controlling in my creative process. I took the ‘one-man-army’ thing way too serious. I really opened up the door to collaboration with my last album, from ANiMAL who engineered the whole project which is a first for me, to all the people who contributed verses, or even just feedback on a song. Music is inherently meant to be shared even in the process of creating it. I still write all my raps, though.

For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?

Honestly, it’s what I like to call seeing your kids come into the world and thrive. That could be a song, a painting, an idea taken from the aether and brought into the real world. And then once you bring it out and you share it, that idea takes on a life of its own, it may mean things to another person that you never even intended, but it’s all subjective so it’s just as valid. I just recently became the father of an actual human as well, and I see a lot of parallels in that too. Just this idea that you can put your whole heart into something and shape and mold it, but once it’s out in the world it’s going to do it’s own thing. So that’s the most rewarding part of it for me.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: hasemoney

Image Credits
Brandon Thorpe & B.A.T. CREATIIIONS NETWORK @B.A.T.CREATIIIONS D Walker Photography @d_walker_photography