We were lucky to catch up with Indubes recently and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Indubes, thanks for joining us today. How did you learn to do what you do? Knowing what you know now, what could you have done to speed up your learning process? What skills do you think were most essential? What obstacles stood in the way of learning more?

I grew up freestyling with friends from a young age. After a few years of doing it as a pastime, I started getting it down on paper. Eventually, I ventured into sampling and beat production, and everything else took off from there.

I should have freestyled more and drunk less. In recent years, I’ve calmed down quite a bit, but I spent too much of my late teens and early twenties having fun and not enough time working on my craft. Everyone has their own journey, their own trials and tribulations, so I don’t regret it. In terms of freestyling, improvisational rapping is a great workout for the creative centers of the brain, as well as overall wit and cognitive speed. Writing helped with a repertoire of rhyme words and ways to creatively use those words to paint a picturesque work of art. Freestyling helped with finding more complex rhyme schemes, grooves, and rhythms to use in my writing. I feel like people don’t freestyle much anymore; it used to be a much more prevalent pastime.

Unwavering dedication and belief in myself—that’s what it takes. I know that sounds a little corny, but it’s true. There have been countless times I’ve contemplated giving up. That is the artist’s struggle: you constantly jump between hating your art and thinking it’s great. No matter what you think of yourself or your art on any given day, just keep going and keep creating.

The only real obstacle I faced was myself. The “good times” took over for a bit. Although I was still making and releasing music, I didn’t progress as fast as I wanted to. Like I said before, we all have our journeys; thankfully, mine is more focused and productive these days.

Indubes, 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?

I’m an underground hip-hop artist based in Austin. I was raised here and am an original Austinite. I make and release all my music independently under my label, Steady Decadent Collective. I’m anything but traditional hip-hop; I love experimentation. And being an original Austinite, you know I have to keep it weird. Growing up, I listened to a lot of different old-school and underground hip-hop, but I was definitely most influenced by Aesop Rock, MF DOOM, Eyedea & Abilities, and Atmosphere. My music is really a story of my life; the more you listen, the more you’ll get to know me. As Slug of Atmosphere says, in the song “It Goes”, “My fans know me better than my friends do.”

You can listen to my music on any preferred platform (Spotify, iTunes, YouTube, Amazon, etc.).

Any resources you can share with us that might be helpful to other creatives?

Yeah, absolutely. I struggled financially for a while, trying to find a balance between working a day job and working on my craft. City and government grants for artists are great for struggling artists. Whether you use the money to fund a new project or to pay rent while you focus on a project, the financial support really helps you avoid the stress of working so much just to stay afloat, which can dampen your creative abilities.

Is there a particular goal or mission driving your creative journey?

I’d really like to own and operate a professional recording studio. I’ve been slowly accumulating gear over the years for recording and mixing and have a fairly decent home studio, but I’d like to have a commercial space to work in.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/indubes/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@indubes
• Other: https://open.spotify.com/artist/0CiwXRSxY7DVSDus0MW8ty?si=6BFij027RRechHGkOaR5Hw